Souvenir Turned Art

A few months ago, our talented friend Rich invited us to Magic Castle. Now, anyone who's lived in LA can tell you these few things about the legendary place:

a) The first rule about Magic Castle is you don't talk about Magic Castle.
b) Only members (and their guests) can gain entrance to Magic Castle.
c) Only magicians can become members of the Magic Castle.
d) Stop saying Magic Castle.

Meaning, this was our one and only chance! We dutifully studied the website and the very strict dress code: men had to wear ties, unless they were wearing "turtlenecks (that can be folded over), bolo ties, ascots, jeweled collars, ruffled collars and banded collars." Hmm. Women had to wear dresses or "an evening pant suit ensemble."

So we donned our best bolo ties and pant suits and spent a mindblowing night exploring hallways with weird magic paraphernalia and history, watching different magic shows, drinking very strong cocktails, and listening to a piano played by the resident ghost, Irma (Irma also took requests and played some popular rock standards that came out way after she died).

Anyhoo, this is all just to say that the best part of our night was that they had an on-location silhouette artist who would look at you and cut out your freakin' silhouette in that old timey way in under five mintues! Seriously? This guy was crazy talented. You basically pose under a light so that your shadow projects on a wall, and then he snip-snip-snips away and voila, you get to take home these souvenirs of your "impression."

Now, anyone who knows Alex enough can tell you that this silhouette is pretty damn close. (Mine, on the other hand, gave me a bit more schnozz than I hope to have). Then I got to thinking...

Add a black frame...

Lop off the cheezy playing card motifs...

And now you have some personalized his-and-her art.

That definitely ain't my nose, but I'll take the eyelash extensions he gave me.

Coming soon...my plan for our new framed silhouettes!

Hanging Wall Art (Part II)

Ever since I took out my hammer, I've been on an art-hanging bender, finally putting up all those pieces of art we've had laying around. It can sometimes take me up to two years to get around to hanging things on the wall, so I consider this pretty good progress considering that we're only in month #2 of living here in our cozy little duplex in the Hancock Park neck of Hollywood.

After last week's little project putting up my grid of Cassia Beck photo prints, I decided to get working again on the office and hung up an awesome print that was a gift from a good friend who is equal parts Star Wars and Aliens enthusiast as my beau. I constructed a tableau with prints from John Derrian that I framed in some inexpensive Ikea wood, and put it right by my desk to inspire me when I'm wondering what to blog about.

It's Winnie the Pooh as Star Wars! Bear = Chewbaca! What?

I'm loving these prints of children's books illustrations of nerdfest movies that are popping up here and there. Recently A. won a print of Pixar animator/awesome illustrator Josh Cooley's depiction of the most memorable scene in the classic movie Alien (and the one that scarred me for life as a child) from Skylight Books in Los Feliz. It's now hanging in our living room among otherwise serene and femme-y decor. I find the dichotomy between the two hilarious.

Game over, man! Game over!

Next, I finally hung up this awesome framed print that we bought from my friend Eric Nakamura at his always-entertaining store, Giant Robot. We were passing by after eating a delish meal of hand-pulled Tsukeme noodles at Tsujita on Sawtelle Blvd, and I popped my head in the store and happened to see my man! Walked in to say hello and walked out with this rad limited edition print from husband and wife artists Kozyndan.

ATTACK! ATTACK!

Are those pink monkeys made of cherry blossoms attacking innocent Japanese bystanders? Why, yes. I saw this at GR's last art show and loved it. Since the shape was very long, this goes in our hallway.

Last, but certainly not least, is this print that I picked up from an antique/resale shop on Fairfax. I saw this among a pile of old prints and had to have it. It was only $3!

woof.

I have no idea when/where it's from, but it's apparently from an era when people drew portraits of their pets and put their names in quotes. This is "Byron." That is a front view of "Byron's" head.

Yay, art!

How Math Class Finally Came in Handy

Two years ago I bought these tiny 4x4 prints from British photographer Cassia Beck. Something about her work really reminds me of my early childhood in Denville, New Jersey. Maybe it's the vintagey feel, and maybe it's the perspective -- so much of it is "from the bottom looking up" that it reminds me of being a kid and having everything tower over me. But I mainly think it's the colors and the subjects. Everything she shoots looks foggily like something I've seen before in my life.

I chose 9 of her prints, which was like choosing goodies from a candy shop! They then sat around in my desk for the past 2 years because apparently no manufacturer has ever had the brilliant idea to MAKE 4 x 4 size frames, dammit. Finally, after fruitless searches at Ikea, Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and the rest, I gave up and brought them to a frame shop in LA.

I decided to group them together to create one larger "piece" that reflects images that resonate very strongly with me. This one's my favorite. It reminds me of the forsythia that grew on the border of our yard in my childhood home.

achoo!

I lived on Magnolia Avenue, so we naturally had magnolia trees in our front yard and all the way down the street. This perspective is something I saw a lot.

This too. This reminds me of noticing telephone wires on my street for the first time in my life, and learning all about cardinals and bluejays by watching those little perchers waiting for my brother to come home from school.

chirp chirp chirp

Ok, this one I just like. It's a tea cup. I likes me some tea. This makes me think of sitting in a deserted coffee shop at night.

i'm so lonely

This one too. It makes me feel like I should be typing this on a cute vintage typewriter instead of this worn out Mac Book Pro. Beep boop boop beep technology.

clickety clack clack clack

This one makes me think of the lake at the park we used to go to for family picnics. The frozen one that my childhood dog Ginger ran onto during the winter to chase after ducks and then crashed through the ice into freezing cold water. Don't cry for her, she's already dead.

squawk!

We had tulips planted in a bed in a row along the front of our house, so they were probably the first flower I remember becoming super acquainted with.

This one reminds me of my brother's toy box when we were little. Man, how we smashed the crap outta those cars! They've recently been recycled and passed onto my brother's son/ my nephew, along with a battered Voltron and a green He-Man Battlecat/Cringer figurine, which stayed surprisingly newish over the past 25 years. A family heirloom, I suppose.

vroooooooom!

Here's a pic of the actual childhood. My 2 favorite things about this: 1) I'm holding the construction hat dog upside down, and 2) my brother is holding a very real looking weapon.

I carefully measured the space between two of our windows in the living room so that I could create a uber-symmetrical canvas. Lessee,  58" divided by 2, divided by another 2, minus 2 inches for the frame....gee, math is haaaaaaard.

excuse me, ma'am. no photos please.

Here's the final product! If I were to do it again,  I woulda shelled out the extra $100 for the matte, to make them bigger. Oh well. It's like having a mini photo gallery in our living room. Don't worry, I fixed the crooked upper right frame after the photo, ALRIGHT?

The blue phone hidden in the left corner is a prop from my short film, Mouthbreather.

On a side note, the apple blossoms I picked up from Rolling Greens the other day are opening quite nicely.

I like to live on the edge.

And my new rug for the office finally came in. I love chevron! And so does this guy.

What a cat-astrophe!