Back from Minnesota

Taking notes

some notes of the week.

I take a lot of notes with my camera. I don't really think about it, I do it all the time. I transfer the content of the memory card on the computer almost every night. I keep them uncategorized (until I am about to use them), the order is chronological.

I never know what I will do with them, but I use some of them in every painting I make.



Sometimes it can take years. Like the photo I am using now to make a portrait of a gardener who came to take care of the backyard of the house we rent. He was from Mexico and he barely spoke English, but we talked anyway. One day, when he was working here, I asked him if I could take some pictures of him - some portraits. He agreed. Shortly after that period, he did not come back.

When I go through the pictures I took, looking for something, I copy some of them in folders like: elements, plants, desert, border, landscapes, people, portraits, houses...
I also have some folders containing pictures that I found on the internet: war, soldiers, Marcos, Rigoberta Menchu, Virginia Tech, news, Obama, global warming, space....
From there I start mixing and layering.

Earthquake 4.1 last night

Last night I woke up at4:35, I felt the house shaking (for me strongly) for 2 seconds. This morning I checked on the USGS website. The magnitude was only 4.1. The epicenter was 52 miles NNE from San Diego.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey was holding a state-wide earthquake drill to raise awareness about emergency preparedness in case a 7.8. quake hit California.

One thing struck me when I was listening to KPBS last week: someone called and said that it is important to always have a pair of shoes close to the bed. If a strong earthquake hit, the windows are likely to break and there will be glass everywhere. She was saying that a doctor she knows told her about the bad injuries people had after walking in the glass at night without shoes. I do not remember which earthquake it was about.

Since my childhood I remember hearing my father talking about the San Andreas fault and the movements of the different plate tectonics. He was a structural geologist specialized in tectonics. He would draw beautiful diagrams with colors to show me and my sister how it works. The first time he went to the US he visited the area of the fault.

Now I live here, and I do not think too much about it, although it is on my mind. We'll see.

San Diego CityBeat: Best of San Diego party Extravanganza

I went to the Children's Museum last night, for the first time without my children. The place looked and felt totally different: the night, the lights, the crowd, the music... There was an interesting food and beer tasting from local restaurants and breweries.









In a dim light, artists were painting in the basement.


Zirk Ubu

Zirk Ubu performed on the first floor: colorful, fast, funny, surprising, irreverent.









There was an interesting black humored strip tease dance: Death arrives on the scene and seats down. A woman appears and starts dancing for him. She is naked. Well, she wears a fitted costume painted like a naked body. Death seems bored. Then the woman removes her "skin" and reveals her muscles. Death is not interested. She removes her muscles and we see her blood vessels, her heart. Death looks more closely. She then removes her blood vessels and now she is a skeleton. Death loves it!


Second floor, on the outside balcony
(where usually the children make tons of bubbles)


The pillow fight room

I went upstairs, to the pillow fight room. It's my children's favorite area in the museum: last Saturday they spent three hours in there! But last night there were only adults. A lot of people arriving at the door (it is kind of hidden, at the end of a corridor) could not believe the room existed: "Do they really have a pillow fight room? Is it permanent of just for tonight?".
A huge fight was going on, the tires like pillows were flying high!





San Diego CityBeat
The New Children's Museum

Mail Art d'Ivan Sigg

Merci Ivan pour ton dessin voyageur, oiseau de passage et migrateur!

Bret J. Barrett at Caffe Forte

Brett J. Barrett

The poetic, eclectic, atomic, terrific world of Brett Barrett.
And the frames which come with it.







Caffe Forte
3880 Grim Ave
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 283-4710

Bailout Package: Gallery Benefit / all works $100 at Spacecraft Studio

David Adey


Craig Kane - "Love"


Richard Gleaves and "Love"

A lot of pieces were sold when we arrived at Spacecraft Studio. Works by David Adey, Miki Iwasaki, Craig Kane, Matt Wedel, Cara heslip, Zuri Waters and many more artists. Lots of drawings, a few sculptures. My favorite: "Love" by Craig Kane. So light in every way. A fresh breeze. Also three sleek wooden sculptures by Miki Iwasaki.


Richard Gleaves, Kyle and Kevin Freitas
next to Miki Iwasaki's sculptures: "Love and Hate",
Life is temporary", "Smoke and Mirrors" (all three: wood with nails)

I don't know how this Gallery Benefit show can help (if sold, all the items represent a total of $4700) but I really hope Spacecraft Studio will not close.


Spacecraft Studio
San Diego, CA 92104
info@spacecraftstudio.com