summer cleaning

placemats
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

after feeling like friday was a wash in terms of accomplishing anything other than sleep and getting over my excruciating headache, i filled saturday with much needed chores and errands. we started the day by getting our teeth cleaned. then had lunch at a new viet resto in little saigon—xanh—which was ok. on the way home, we stopped at target for cat litter and weren't able to escape from the vortex that is target without a cart full of stuff. we then squeezed in a quick stop for groceries where i picked out some gerber daisies for inspiration/motivation before heading home.

the house has been in various states of disorganization and general messyness, so i was anxious to sweep, mop, wash dishes, do laundry and put things away. on top of that, i finally unpacked my boxes of work, so no more huge box blocking the path to the door. luckily, most of the work i shipped home made it back in one piece. even the spanish moss survived weeks in total darkness without water. amazing. i really want to turn it into some kind of nest or a dress or shoes you could wear to always feel the ground beneath your feet.

we had time for a walk around the neighborhood where we met a friendly neighbor—cookie—who clued us in on two of the homes for sale. the day ended with us watching juno, which was lovely.

today, i finished the placemats that i have been working on intermittently during snatches of time here and there. the top stitching was less than perfect, but i learned something new—slip stitching, and that went rather well. i like the fabric combination, which coordinates with the kitchen decor. the wood grain is joel dewberry, and the bird in clouds fabric is a japanese design--etsuko furya. both were purchased from the purl warehouse in irvine. the other side is a full panel of the japanese fabric. the pattern can be found in amy butler's in stitches. reinforced with timtex, they are nice and sturdy, although more difficult to store as they can't be rolled up. i've already managed to drop some turmeric stained tofu on them, so i think i will make some simpler ones sans timtex for every day use.

i even managed to drop off some knives to be sharpened (finally).

though i didn't work on art this weekend, i feel so much better now that the house isn't so chaotic. in the midst of the busy weekend, i had another idea for a project using shredded tissues and making my own wind machine of sorts...more on that later.

knitted fo : juliet

knitted fo
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i actually completed one of my to dos yesterday and finally put buttons on this. i loved the yarn and the pattern so much i wanted to find the right buttons.

knit with art fibers' kyoto (silk, mohair, wool blend)
i love that there is minimal finishing. knit from the top down. fairly easy. i ended up going down a needle size on the bottom part so it wouldn't be so flared. it stretched some after blocking. i would have preferred the top section to be a little shorter. other than that i think it came out beautifully, owing much to the lovely yarn. the silk gives it a silvery sheen.

permission to art

warning: materials in process
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

Sometimes I think creativity is magic; it's not a matter of finding an idea, but allowing the idea to find you. - Maya Lin

i haven't allowed myself the time to work on art much since returning from vacation. instead, i've been going about the business of daily life- chores, extra work to pay for vacation off. soon...i will be very sad if it doesn't happen soon.

10 years ago

recently, i discovered an interesting meme on a friend's blog. Per wikipedia:
A meme (pronounced /miːm/)^[1] consists of any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Examples include thoughts, ideas, theories, practices, habits, songs, dances and moods and terms such as race, culture, and ethnicity. Memes propagate themselves and can move through a "culture" in a manner similar to the behavior of a virus.

not sure if it is narcissicistic, exhibitionist or self-reflective, but i find myself drawn to personality tests and such. without further ado (i've noticed myself including these rather trite sayings in my "vernacular". they're like catchy christmas songs that you can't get out of your head.):

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
i was living in the mission district in san francisco with three other nerds. we threw an espionage-themed house party in which we wired the house with webcams and broadcasted to monitors & tvs in the house and the website. * the photo above photo is of me as a half cyborg human agent. of course, i wasn't a total party animal. by day i worked a 9 to 5 job at charles schwab, and by night, i was painting and taking a class on typography.

2. Five things on my to-do list today?
- pick up a book on hold from the library
- change my haircut appt
- solder some leds
- get the motivation to put buttons on juliet and finally finish the damn thing
- clean the catbox
- water plants...oh wait, that's six. shit.

3. Snacks I enjoy
i was asked this at a workshop recently. didn't realize snacks were such a vital part of our culture. anyhoo....
trader joe's parmesan garlic pita chips, terra chips, coconut chunks, trader joe's organic mini cheese sandwiches, gummy cokes, choco-coconut pocky, fruit, oh and chips & queso

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire (no particular order)
make art full-time.
support my boyfriend so he could make art full time.
buy my mom a house in california near family.
buy land along the coast and design and build a leed-certified home using alternative sources of energy with a large studio, power tools, lots of ridiculous gadgets; grow my own vegetables.
give money to charities and fund research in alternative energy.
i should probably pay off credit card debt, too.

5. Places I have lived
saigon, vietnam
galveston, tx
austin, tx
san francisco, ca
rancho santa margarita, ca
long beach, ca

6. Jobs I have had
sno cone stand attendant
research assistant at university lab
barista & general manager at a 24hr coffee shop
administrative assistant
hostess
web producer
project manager
new media director
graphic designer

if you read this, you have been tagged.

5 haiku mashup

by dao nguyen

mashup: in music, a dj samples two or more songs to create a new song

flutter, fluid waste,
here, now, she needs a gallon
of india ink

old and melted sounds--long, slow,
silencio muy grande,
falling is like this

pool of unsung words
smells of summer, hot paper,
i found that on the ground

the transparent self
stories of my ancestors
rise, not fall from hands

blowing, sucking soul
becoming flesh, i taste bile,
feather falls from nest

.......................................................

this was written using words culled from questionnaires and process created by poet Andrew Sullivan which he originally used to write a poem for an exhibition for Robin Hill. fellow artists filled out questionnaires based on their responses to my own work. this poem is a collaboration between others' responses and my own appropriation/filtration/creation/thoughts about recently completed work exploring process and material using my snot-filled tissues as a primary material.

little knitting

orangina
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

since our vacation, my knitting has been almost non-existent. true, i had some time on the flight out, but after that, i was just too busy. starting up again was a little awkward. i hadn't worked on this for weeks, and had to refresh my memory. overall, a fairly straightforward pattern. sweater construction consisted of two rectangles seamed together. i was feeling better about the seaming, but still not enjoying it as much as the rest of the process.

the post-project doldrums are blowing through. the other two projects i'm working on are either too simple and thus boring or too attention intensive to inspire a hungering to work on. apparently, word games and programming are more engaging. speaking of the latter, i can't iterate enough how much i hate microsoft and its crappy browser.

tan tan restauarnt

texas summer 08
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

my mom knows where the good food is. this is why i turned out to be such a food fanatic. i was spoiled by her cooking and taste buds.

on a recent visit, because we had been busily remodeling her bathroom (don't ask me why, i'm compulsive that way) late into the evening, tan tan, one of the few places open late, is where we went for dinner (lucky for us). the decor seems to have taken some cues from eighties music videos--i'm talking about the pervasive pink lighting. they've also embraced technology. while you wait for a seat, because it is a hoppin' even at 11pm at night, you can watch slideshows with photos of food on the large flat panels and grow hungrier by the minute and end up over-ordering when you are finally seated. not sure what it is about some of the asian restaurants, but the waitstaff can be rather impatient to take your order or maybe i just take a long time. with so many choices and images of food floating around, it's a challenge!

i was told the won ton noodle soup ( photo: http://www.flickr.com/... ) is one of their specialties, so we ordered a bowl to share. the broth was flavorful. the wontons were really good and fresh, and the noodles were firm. my aunt insisted we get crab or lobster. we opted for the crab with ginger and scallion so we would have room for a few other entrees. it was fresh and bathed in a subtly flavored brown sauce.

other entrees included the the delicate ma po bean curd which was cooked in a slightly spicy brown sauce with bits of ground pork and sprinkled with green onions, seafood fried rice (yum!), and salt and pepper shrimp, which had been deep fried for a crispy, slightly battered skin then sauteed with jalapenos and onions.

everything was consistent and delicious.

great advice

warning: materials in process
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder, wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling, gasping, confusing, itching, scratching, mumbling, bumbling, grumbling, humbling, stumbling, scrambling, hitching, hatching, bitching, moaning, groaning, honing, boning...searching, perching, besmirching, grinding grinding grinding away at yourself. stop it and just DO...trust and tickle somthing inside you, your "weird humor." you belong in the most secret part of you. don't worry about cool, make your own uncool...if you fear, make it work for you--draw and paint your fear and anxiety. and stop worrying about big, deep things such as "to decide on a purpose and way of life..." you must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. then you will be able to DO! i have much confidence in you and even though you are tormenting yourself, the work you do is very good. try and do some BAD work/ the worst you can think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell.

Sol LeWitt's advice to Eva Hesse in a letter. April 14, 1965

I saw an exhibit of LeWitt's work at the Austin Museum of Art. I find the mathematical and logical but arbitrary rules in his work interesting. though his work is not exactly moving, this letter is.

Bruce Mau Design : An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

Here are a few items from Bruce Mau Design's Incomplete Manifesto for growth. You can find the complete list here. This applies to any creative endeavor.

1. Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

2. Forget about good. Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.

3. Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.

4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child). Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.

5. Go deep. The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.

6. Capture accidents. The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.

they're all pretty good, but i really like #2. it's difficult to hold back the judging mind--to refrain from applying value judgments to what is in front of you, but i do agree that in art and in life, being patient can lead to new insight.

benley: a vietnamese kitchen

benley: a vietnamese kitchen
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

benley does not really serve traditional vietnamese food. it's also a little pricier than what you expect from the traditional vietnamese restaurants, but like i said--this place does not really serve traditional vietnamese food. it serves the essence of vietnamese food, whose flavors are filtered through a contemporary sensibility.

i love that there's a good, contemporary take on vietnamese food in long beach. vietnamese food has had influences from chinese and french and other cultures that have tried to force their ways on vietnamese people, and although warring cultural domination sucks, the positive, is that there is a richness and diversity in subsequent culture and food in an evolving identity, but back to the food...

benley brings it all together. on my recent visit, we tried a variety of dishes, all quite good. for appetizers, we had the pork and shrimp eggrolls, taste of pho with rare beef, and taste of vermicelli with bbq pork. the filling for the eggrolls was right on. the egg roll wrapper, which is the kind used on chinese egg rolls is not what i consider traditional vietnamese wrapper ( i prefer the translucent wrapper ), but it seems popular. even my mom began using it. the pho broth was not the best i have had, but it was tasty and a great introduction for people who have never had pho before. fish sauce was good and great with the vermicelli and bbq pork. the dominant flavor there was the lemongrass.

these appetizers were most like what you would find at your average viet resto, but i thought the food that shined were the entrees, which included the lemongrass chicken (ga xao xa ot), shaken (beef) filet (bo luc lac), short rib stew (bo kho), catfish tomato confit, seared salmon, ong choy - actually more like water spinach - sauteed in garlic (rao muong xao toi).

lemongrass chicken : strong lemongrass flavor with a spicy chili kick, served with bok choy

shaken filet : sweet and salty marinated beef cubes sauteed with bell peppers. this was my favorite in terms of flavor

short rib stew: there were some complex, cinnamon-clove sweet, salty flavors in this stew which could have been more intense as i am accustomed to.

catfish tomato confit : catfish was tasty, but i actually liked the stewed tomatos best in this dish.

seared salmon : nicely prepared.

ong choy : a simple dish, but i love the combination of fresh greens and garlic.

for dessert we had the panna cotta (light, yogurty, buttermilk and very unusual), valrhona chocolate cake (good, standard chocolate dessert), and cassava cake ( nutty, spongy, creamy, excellent!). if you like beany asian desserts or are adventurous, you should definitely try the cassava cake.

my only complaint is that to the detriment of the resto, it appears dark and closed from a corner of the strip mall. the interiors are nice, but could use more lighting. of course this hasn't stopped people coming for the great food.

click here for food photography

texas summer 08

texas summer 08
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

mike had an segd conference to attend, so we visited my mom in houston where we engaged in some minor remodeling of her bathroom, ate lots of food, visited a museum, then returned to austin where we caught up with friends, visited a few area hotspots including the wildflower center, umlauf sculpture garden, lockhart and ate more food.

view the photojournal of our trip

houston museum of fine art

texas summer 08
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

fung's kitchen : dim sum yum

texas summer 08
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i love dim sum, so my mom brought us here when i came to visit. fung's is a typical chinese palace of dim sum complete with stone dogs, buddha statue, throngs of people waiting for tables, carts pushed by non-english speaking ladies and large banquet hall. everything was fresh, looked and tasted really good.

they have both shrimp and pork shu mai. the har gow was thickly stuffed with shrimp in a fine translucent skin. because of the high volume of business, everything we ordered came hot. one of my favorites of the meal were the shrimp balls covered with sticky rice. the cai lan (chinese broccoli) was perfectly green and crispy. the seafood pan fried noodle dish was delicious. the only negative were the desserts we selected--the almond tofu & tofu in ginger sauce--which were a little bland. it took a little while for us to get the check, but overall, i thought the service was fine.

on a jet plane

texas summer 08
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i am catching up on blogging, editing photos and doing a little bit of research today after being away for two weeks. here is a shot of long beach (i think), from our flight out. i love window seats, and making out the details of the city from above. i remember being over denver and counting the number of football fields (and schools). amazing.

small cool 2008

home sweet home
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

we live in a relatively small ~700 sq ft one bedroom with two cats. when i moved in over three years ago, it seemed a luxury having this amount of space to myself and my things after living in tight spaces in san francisco, then a single room in my grandparents' home. now, with the addition of a boyfriend and second cat and the accumulation of our collective stuff, it's a definite challenge to make the space work and to make work in the space, especially as i continue to make bigger and bigger work. i'm lucky that we also have a garage space.

for these reasons, i loved looking through this year's finalists and winners in the small cool 2008 contest on apartment therapy. it's inspiring to see what solutions people come to when working within the constraints of limited spaces.

we could have more space, but we could have less money or less time for what matters. i must make do. my time often seems limited, but the feeling of a space can affect how productive or not i am. the desire to decorate or simply solve some issue in how i use or feel home is a part of evolving in a space. lately, my thoughts have gone to the garage, and how i can organize and get rid of things to make it more useful for making art.