MEET EL ANATSUI, THE AFRICAN ARTIST

http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2009/02/22/style/t/index.html?hp#pageName=22nigeria

This is the man who created the large wall hanging that stopped me in my tracks at the De Young museum at the entrance to the Yves St. Laurent show. It was like a metal quilt, pieced together by using aluminum bottle caps that had been pressed and strung on wire. The artist is El Antsui, who lives in Nigeria. I took a photo which is here. Check out the links to read more. He is my new favorite artist. See better pictures of the work at these links.

http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/at/at090224humble_but_sooo_sexy

glass spheres

These fragile glass spheres were at the Bellevue Art Museum a few months ago.

Mossy Inspiration

Here's a picture of some moss growing out of a concrete railing up on the top Queen Anne hill. It's amazing to me that so much green can flourish on the cold, gray concrete. I think it's pretty.

City by the Bay

These men are real although they look like a painting. They ate a huge amount of food starting with shark fin soup and fried whole crab. The restaurant was the R and J Lounge. Highly recommended.














I took a trip to San Francisco last week. I love that city. I came home all inspired and wanting to travel even more. Here are some pictures.

Weathered Wood

These are some pictures I took around the neighborhood where I work in South Lake Union. The patina of the paint on the weathered wood is so pretty and random.

Putting on my traveling shoes

I'm leaving for a three day trip to San Francisco tomorrow. I'm going to visit the de Young Museum to see the Yves St. Laurent retrospective. He was one of the greatest fashion designers who ever lived. There's an Andy Warhol thing going on there too. I'll be seeing friends Marcy and Sas from the Taos art retreat I went to last July. I'm leaving some unscheduled time for wandering and serendipity and I've got my sketchbook, pens and a gluestick in my backpack. I'm good to go.