local art // wonderspaces

A few weeks ago, a sponsored facebook post popped up in my feed about Wonderspaces, a pop-up art exhibit here in San Diego, so after taking a quick peek at their website, I thought, "Yep. I wanna check that out." Bonus: my sister-in-law was going to be visiting soon, so I wanted to take her and make a fun afternoon out of it. There she is above! And that cool archway is called the Pulse Portal by Davis McCarty.

This was one of my favorites, called Come Together by Michael Murphy. At first, it doesn't look like any distinguishable shape or object, although still very cool in an abstract way. But if you keep walking around it, and stand in a certain spot, it begins to take a new form, and looks like this:

So cool, right?

The Last Word by Illegal Art was pretty neat. We each wrote a note of our own, and added it to the wall.

ADA by Karina Smigla-Bobinski was really fun to interact with. By pushing it around the room, it "draws" on the walls with its charcoal tips. The attendant in the room told us this was inspired by Ada Lovelace, who was a pioneer in computer science.

The Neon Tunnel by Kitsch Nitsch reminded me of being in a funhouse.

The photos really don't do this piece justice. Thousands of multicolor nylon cords hanging from floor to ceiling make up Sweet Spot by Shawn Causey and Mark Daniell.

We had fun playing with our shadows, courtesy of Danielle Strle's You + Your Shadow installation.

Not Myself Today by Partners For Mental Health. We weren't exactly sure if we were supposed to remove a pin, but I can relate to that "Hangry" pin SO MUCH. If I'm frustrated/stressed/upset, there's a 90% chance I just need some fries.

A Religious Experience by Adam Belt was hands down our favorite installation at Wonderspaces, but because we were inside a near-completely dark space, my iPhone camera couldn't even come close to capturing what it really looked like in there. We had to wait about five minutes to let our eyes adjust, and that's when we could truly see the hundreds of light rays coming in through the tiny holes in the ceiling and walls. It was beautiful. Before my eyes adjusted, I got the sense of being out in the wilderness, where the lack of ambient and city lights allows you to see a gorgeous, star-filled night sky. But then after my eyes adjusted, the individual rays of light looked almost tangible. I kind of got some Interstellar vibes from being in it too (that scene in Murph's bedroom where the dust is falling down in perfect lines). You should really click here to see better (and more) photos of this incredible installation.

There were a few other exhibits that I saw, but didn't take photos of (Bonus video on my instagram though!). I'm really glad I went though. You can read more about Wonderspaces and its different installations here!

finding new art // Andrea Tavarez Boeta

Living in San Diego means there's usually several art walks that happen every year. They're outdoor events that cover several streets, and hundreds of artists display and sell their art to the public over the course of two days. I've gone to my fair share while living here, and while they're generally fun, most of the art I see there just isn't my cup of tea. I always see tons of HDR-ed-to-death ocean pier shots (boring), weird metal scrap art in the shape of cats (just why?) and pretty-but-meh abstract watercolors. I know art is subjective, and what may seem boring to me may be the bee's knees to someone else, but.....yeah. I'm totally coming off as an art snob, aren't I. I'm the worst.

So yesterday at the Mission Federal ArtWalk in Little Italy, I felt like I struck gold when my friends and I came across Andrea Tavarez Boeta's booth. She's an artist from Tijuana, and the first piece I saw that drew me in was a small framed piece using blue string. I loved how minimal and delicate it was, and now I'm regretting not taking some photos of her pieces that she had on display. And then I saw her nude woman piece, and thought, "She gets me."

I don't remember where I read(or heard) this quote, but the saying goes, "Only buy art that you really, really love." And I did. And I'm so happy this gets to live in my house for me to enjoy. Even my husband likes it, yay!

Bonus: Even her business card is cooler than anything I'll ever make.

You can see more of Andrea's work on her website. And now I need to brush up on my Spanish so I can fan-girl her inbox :)

personal work // blended portraits

New year, new blog post! 2016 feels so weird to type, like we're living in the future. I'm not ready for it. But on the plus side, I was inspired to give the 'ole blog a makeover, so I did. New theme layout, more minimal, and it just feels more like me. And today, I want to take a break from the momming/twin posts, and share some portrait work I did back in 2014.

I wanted to do something interesting with some of the portraits in my archives, and I was partly inspired by my ego sum series, where I merged bits of nature to my own self-portraits. I created some of these images on my iPhone using the Image Blender app, and I created others in Photoshop.

The original portrait of Mio was from a fashion shoot collaboration back in 2014 (which I just realized I never blogged about! Must. Remedy.), and the rain on glass image was something I shot at home.

I merged a photo of foggy woods from a trip to the east coast with a portrait of Kristina that I took in Yosemite. Sometimes I have to experiment with blending different background images until I find a combination that just feels right and looks right.

I love this one so much. I shot this portrait of Kaila in my studio, and months later, I snapped the background image with my phone at a car wash from inside my car. Instead of soapy bubbles, I saw something that reminded me of the cosmos, something otherworldly. In Photoshop, I added the light effects around Kaila's face.

I shot a beautiful series of nudes of my dear friend Debbie, and decided to merge one of them with a simple iPhone shot of a succulent plant. You can see the original image of Debbie here.

Another portrait of Mio merged with tree and sky from my backyard.

I decided to play around with an older self-portrait from 2012 and blend it with a coastline image from Big Sur. I did this one in the Blender Image app, so the image quality isn't great, but I still quite like it.

And now I'm inspired again to create more of these this year :)

current inspirations

Heart to Mouth High from bart hess 

1// This creepy/fantastic rubbery take on love (as seen above)

2// This made me laugh.

3// The peculiar and surreal photography of Yung Cheng Lin.

4// I'm not usually a fan of Bon Iver, but their new song for Zach Braff's new film might change my mind.

5// These embroidered landscapes are beautiful.

buy some artwork!

Are your walls looking a little bare? Is it high time you upgraded from the posters you had on your wall in college? Are you sick of buying all your artwork from Ikea?

 Well I'm excited to offer prints of my work for sale! This is something I've been meaning to get around to FOREVER, but I finally found the perfect platform to sell my work through. I'm selling my work through Fine Art America, and their products are of top quality. All prints are produced using professional-grade Epson printers, on acid-free paper and canvases with archival inks to guarantee that your prints last a lifetime without fading or loss of color. There's also tons of other options, such as getting them framed/matted, metal print, acrylic print, etc.

 You can take a look at my store HERE, or alternatively, you can shop directly from my website HERE.

 I don't have a ton of images in my store right now, just some of my portraits and travel images. If there's something you would like to purchase and it's not in the store, please let me know, and I can add it for you!

bits of home // june

1// This is definitely my most covered wall in my house. Some people like a sparse, minimal office, but not this girl. My eyeballs like to look at color, and art, and funny cards, and a flea market mirror from Spain.

2// I pre-ordered Wendy MacNaughton's Meanwhile in San Francisco months ago, and it finally arrived last week. It is delightful and full of illustrations, and you should buy it immediately. The cover even turns into a poster! My short visit to San Francisco last year felt like it lasted only five minutes, so this book reminds me that I need to give the city a proper visit soon.

3// This little guy wasn't doing so hot until I moved him to a shadier spot in my backyard, and then bam! Thrive city. I'm getting better at this keeping-plants-alive game, I promise.

4// I've talked about my small camera hoard before, so nothing new here. But I quite like how they look on the built-in shelves in the office.

how to write the bio for your lifestyle blog

I found this illustrated gem here, and it was too perfect/funny/a-little-depressing not to share :)