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Archive for February, 2008

SOEX’s monster drawing rally and Jesse Balmer’s monsters

February 23, 2008 at 8:05 pm · Filed under all, local event, cool art

Jesse's drawing 2
Jesse's drawing 1
There’s a really quiet guy in my print making class whose sketch book caught everyone’s attention. He is Jesse Balmer, started drawing when he was six, and it takes him no more than 30 minutes to do some rather complicated drawings such as these ones. He literally spends every minute, no, actually second, on drawing. Geez, I don’t know if I can ever be as productive as him.

Jesse also participated in last night’s Southern Exposure’s 8th annual Monster Drawing Rally at the Verdi Club. I was there late, but saw his monster drawings on the wall with the red sold stickers on. It was a great event. Totally packed, but fun! The evening had 120 artists drawing simultaneously at four one-hour shifts. As the drawings are completed they are hung on the walls and available for purchase at $60 each. When an artwork is desired by multiple buyers, the lucky buyer is chosen through lottery.
soex1
soex2
soex3

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Tax seminar for the Artists

February 10, 2008 at 3:14 pm · Filed under all, local event

Attention all poor artists! There’s a half-day seminar on the essentials of income tax for individual artists of all disciplines & small arts businesses, presented by California Lawyers for the Arts on March 8th, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm, at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising,55 Stockton Street, 5th Floor. Topics include record keeping, form 1040, Schedule C and self-employment schedule, deductions, hobby losses, home offices and more. Seminar fee (around 20 bucks) includes the tax workbook The Art of Deduction at no additional charge. You can download a registration form. Tax stands for: Torture Artist suX…. :))

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Daydream and 18th World Wide Sketchcrawl

February 10, 2008 at 2:09 pm · Filed under all, local event

I was daydreaming in a lazy sunny afternoon that an anonymous donor made me an overnight property owner in the neighborhood, and I would start an art club hosting drawing parties regularly. My big nice yard would be turned into “Cinéma de Cole” sometime, with friends sit around the fire watching cool art films projected onto the back wall of the house after the barbeque. I use to do that ten years ago in Switzerland with friends in warm summer evenings. But of course, my cell phone rang, and I woke up poor and starving like a real artist:)

But hey! Drawing parties aren’t impossible. As I was thinking of getting a small group of artist together for a drawing afternoon, I learned about the 18th World Wide Sketchcrawl on March 29th, 2008. It is a global drawing marathon; artists are organized in different places taking a day to journal and draw all that is around them, and share the drawings at the end of the day. The San Francisco group is still discussing the drawing location, and I will post the result here as soon as the decision is made. You may find many sketches and event photos at SketchCrawl.com and in the forums.

I will definitely join if I am not out of town that day!

20b8

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Happy New Year of the Golden Rat!

February 10, 2008 at 1:52 pm · Filed under all, cool art, Niana did it

I felt like an inflated beach ball after last night’s huge dinner in my Chinese friend’s house. They cooked more than we could handle, but leftovers are good, as it symbolize abundance. Rat is a good sign in Chinese horoscope, but I bet any rat in the world doesn’t get nearly as much respect as their family members in Karni Mata Temple in India. When I was there last November, I was amazed when rats were fed milk and food, and they were treated like God. Indians believe the rat houses the soul of the Goddess Karni Mata. The temple is crowded with newly weds wishing to be blessed. I paid the camera fee and walked away with tons of photos. But I decided to take my socks off before I put my shoes back on at the entrance of the temple:)
rat temple2
rat temple1

Back to the Chinese New Year. There’s a spring festival celebration at the Chinese Cultural Center in San Francisco on Feb. 23 & 24. I designed their 2008 poster, which reflects the Chinese puzzle program of the center and their upcoming exhibitions. Like it?
my poster

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