ah~, it’s so nice to be on the street with my drawings.  i started busking at the fringe festival here in saskatoon last night.  this is my first fringe since elijah came along.  and this is my first time ever being away from elijah for more than an hour.

i’ve been showing my drawings at galleries nowadays, which is very nice.  but i really like being on the street, where most of the people who come by are there just to look around, not because they’re particularly interested in art or in my drawings.  i like the randomness of having people stumble upon my work and seeing their reactions, good and bad.

the busking areas at the fringe have been very busy already this year.  i’ve been setting up on broadway, near 10th.  i have a little table with books of prints and postcards that people can browse through at their own speed.  there are a couple little stands that i put single prints in, so people can see them from a distance walking by.

some of the prints and postcards are of my newer drawings that i’ve never made into prints before.  the only one of the newer drawings that i’ve shown in saskatoon before is ‘new wings’.  the other new drawings are on first view, but i’ve already put the images up on my blog.

for the fringe festival i do a different printing technique than the archival prints i sell in my online shop.  they’re not as expensive to make, so i can sell the 8.5 x 11 prints for $10.  postcards are sold for $2 each, or 6 for $10 (i’m from kansai, i have to offer a good deal).  people keep telling me the prices are way too cheap.  i want them to be cheap enough that even little kids don’t have to worry about the cost if they find an image of mine they want to take home.

this year i’ve already had a lot of people coming up to me who know me from somewhere — my blog readers, people who remember me from previous shows in saskatoon, and even some asian girls who saw my drawings in the hong kong fashion magazine, milk.

a couple people asked for my autograph.  i double-checked to make sure they weren’t out of their minds.

i got a few negative reactions — people saying ‘urrghh’, or ‘creepy’ — but not as many as i was expecting.  one older woman did sniff at me with a disapproving face, which i was glad to see.  i don’t know why, but those negative comments don’t hurt me anymore.  i kind of enjoy them.  a couple of harsh comments go a long way to motivate me to draw more.

i ran into some of the local artists as well — artist kris moffatt, poet taylor leedahl who is representing local book company jackpine press, artist carole epp, and young artist michael.  i’m hoping to meet the artist kristin bjornerud who will be back in saskatoon for the summer from hamilton.

if you’re in saskatoon, come and see me on the street at the fringe festival!  you can say whatever you want, and you don’t have to pretend to be nice.  i’ll be happy to see you anyway.

“calcium keeps me calm”, color pencils on paper, 2005

i’m showing these two drawings at affordable art fair in new york city. they will be represented by mauger modern gallery in UK.

“drain your brain”, color pencils on paper, 2006

the show is from june 12 to 15. there will be a preview cocktail party on june 11. if you are around in new york during that time, please drop by and enjoy!

oh, the drawings are for sale.

The Affordable Art Fair New York City

June 12 - june 15

Visitor Information

Where: The Altman Building / Metropolitan Pavilion
135 West 18th Street, NYC

When: Private Preview Cocktail Reception, June 11th, 2008
Open to public, June 12th - 15th, 2008

Press: June 11th, 5-6pm

Fair Hours:

Wed	June 11,	6pm - 9pm
		Private Preview Cocktail Reception
Thu	June 12,	12pm - 9pm
Fri	June 13,	12pm - 8pm
Sat	June 14,	12pm - 8pm
Sun	June 15,	12pm - 5pm

Please note that there will be no admission to the fair 20 minutes prior to closing.
Admission:
General Admission $17/day
Students and Seniors $12/day
Group discount rates $10/day
Children under 12 FREE

Father’s Day, Sun, June 15th
Father’s get in free with their children

Private Preview

wednesday, June 11, 2008, 6-9pm

Please join us on opening night for our Private Preview Cocktail Reception and be among the first to preview AAF NYC 2008.
Free drinks will be served.

Advance tickets are available for purchase at a discounted rate of $25.00 for one or $40.00 for two.

To purchase tickets, please call 212 255 2003 or email with your payment information.

Tickets will be available for purchase at the door. $35.00 for one or $50.00 for two.

this drawing is called “mighty righty”. i drew it for a group show called “100 stories” at hosfelt gallery in NYC (april 11th to may 31st).

i’ve been breastfeeding elijah ever since he was born. i chose to feed one breast at a time. that means i would feed from the right breast at let’s say 2 am and the next feeding would be from the left one. nurses told me to feed from both sides about 10 mins per breast, and to always start with the breast that i finished with last time because better milk would come out from it. but it seemed to me that i might as well keep feeding him from one single breast from start to finish. that way, he’d get from thin milk to thick milk for sure. plus i wouldn’t have to interrupt him.

so that’s been my breastfeeding style. it was really interesting to see my breasts’ size change before and after feeding. before a feeding, both breasts would swell like a melon and get really hard. after the feeding, the one i used for feeding would turn soft and rather sad looking. and the other one would start shooting milk to release the pressure, so i had to press a towel over it.

i sometimes forgot which breast i used for the last feeding, especially in the middle of night when i was half asleep. my left breast coped fine with that, but my right one, oh boy. she would get really swollen and bumpy and her veins would stick out. if it went on too long my breast would look like biologically engineered cantaloupe with tumors.

and it would be very very painful — too full and too hard. i could pump some milk out, but i couldn’t empty as much milk with a breast pump or using my hands as elijah could with his powerful drinking.

so i must confess i had to poke elijah’s arm in the middle of night a couple of times, so he’d wake up and want to suck milk from my overfull right breast. luckily he won’t remember…

tonight is the opening of a group show called, “the ornament show” at J Flynn gallery in costa mesa, california.

these are my ornaments. the red ones are called “severe pain pin cushions”. i created these severe pain pin cushions last year. they are the only somewhat useful toys in my useless toy collections. for one thing, they come with a wrist band. they are for sale at J Flynn gallery as well as in my online shop.

in addition to my useless toy collection, i made this “milk head-chan” (centre) for this ornament show. this is the character shows up in my matchboxes. i hand-stitched her face. i wanted to make her as ugly+cute as possible. i think this ugliness will brighten the holiday spirit even more. this is available at J Flynn gallery. please contact J Flynn gallery, if you are interested in them.

UPDATE

OC register’s art critic’s blog on ornaments…

title:: “boku datte gyu-nyu- (i’m also milk)”

(SOLD)

this is one of my matchbox drawings for a group show coming up at double punch gallery in san francisco in november. the show is called “tinyshop“ — everything has to be tiny (maximum size 6 x 6″).

check out “tinyshop” blog to see other artists.

opening:: november 24th saturday, 6-9pm

(click the image to view close up)

milk magazine (fashion & culture magazine from hong kong), asked me about my favorite websites. videosift is by far the most entertaining website that i like. nowadays, i don’t really have time to browse websites, but i check videosift everyday to find something amusing. paul and i joined as a sifter over a year ago. we post videos that we both like.

at one point, plastiquemonkey became the number one sifter on videosift. i screensaved it because i knew it wouldn’t last long. as a matter of fact, it lasted about 5 minutes. another sifter, name deputydog, passed us right away and shot up to the top. but then he stopped sifting and started his own very popular website.

my 5 favorite websites:

1. VideoSift
   –> this is a community website where people submit videos and the community votes on them. it’s an amazing selection. finding a favorite sifter is like finding a gem box - full of fascinating things. my favorite sifters are “rickegee“, “farhad2000” and “mlx“.
2. Deputy Dog
   –> a very entertaining blog by someone i met through videosift. he has a great talent for finding interesting things.
3. Kanshin Kuukan (”Interest Space”)
   –> a japanese community site where people write about whatever interests them. i click on random tags and read things that are new to me.
4. Design*Sponge
   –> probably my favorite design blog.
5. Go-Kyokun (”Your Daily Lesson”)
   –> a japanese website where people send in puns and funny lines. judges decide which line will get published — one per day. it’s very funny and i can start my day with a good laugh.

milk magazine sent me a copy of #318, which has an article about the “untitled love project” group show at thinkspace gallery in los angeles. i sent them a drawing called “soul pumping”.

(click the image to view close up)

thanks for showing my drawing!

what do you think, elijah?

do you like the head gear?

W~~~~~~~H~~~~~~~Y~~~~~~~?????

via choggie