Stella Art (ongoing gallery)

Hi everybody!  I know I'm never seen here on livejournal, but there's a concert on Friday in Prospect Park that promises to be amazing!   Here's what the event's promotional website has to say: 

Real-life couple Gheorghiu and Alagna will sing popular operatic highlights by Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Massenet, Catalani, and others. Romanian-born Ion Marin, a frequent collaborator of the couple both on stage and in the recording studio, will be on the podium leading the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. "I'm thrilled to be singing in the Met's special public park concert this summer," says Gheorghiu. "I can't think of a more romantic night than singing under the stars with my husband, Roberto, and the wonderful Met orchestra." 

I hope people can join me!  Give me a call if you think you might be able to show up, and we can arrange to meet and strategize seating and such. 

Met Summer Concert: Live in Prospect Park
Ball Field area of Long Meadow in Brooklyn's Prospect Park
Friday, June 20, 2008, 8:00 P.M.
Rain Date: Saturday, June 21

So I have noticed that the rest of the world has finally caught up in realizing that Ira Glass is totally hot.  Apparently Salon.com voted him one of the sexiest men living in 2007.  This I find very worrisome.  It's like when your favorite band suddenly goes all popular and you feel happy for them but at the same time you feel the death of a very powerful connection between you and them (that only you of course knew actually existed, but whatever!).  I mean, Ira is my formerly semi-obscure radio-personality boyfriend!  The only person who has a right to come between me and Ira is Anaheed Alani (ha!  to those of you who would have finished that sentence with "is Jeremy," clearly you do not know how deep my love for Ira goes).  So all you guys 'n gals out there in radio and Showtime land, be warned, I'm damn scrappy, so y'all better leave Ira alone!  

I thought I'd start one of those "I mention a thing and then other people leave comments mentioning their take on that thing" things.   Anyway, my thing: Least Favorite Words.  I'm going to list four words that I HATE.  And then hopefully people will post comments with four words they hate.  This is not a hatred based in any way on the word's meaning, but purely on how the shape of the word sounds to me in my head, and when I say it aloud.  Really ICKY-sounding words.  Anyway, my four are:

-youngster (I can't remember what first prompted me to despise the sound of this word, but it's been one that people torture me with for a while now)
-palimpsest (ick, say it aloud and it sounds like blimp meets incest, and WHY is this moderately unusual word following me around like a creepy stalker?)
-slake (*deep shudder*)
-antebellum (I haven't even had to use this word since the last time I took an American history course, and yet its unpleasantness is such that it still comes to my mind when I think of words that piss me off). 

What are some words that y'all hate?

For dinner tonight, I cooked up some basic dry ramen with shredded leftover cooked chicken from the fridge, plus broccoli cut into little weeny pieces and a healthy dose of sriracha hot sauce.  It was totally delicious.  

Hi y'all.  In case anyone was wanting up-to-the-minute information about that Quilt show, I didn't make the first round cut and have been sent a polite rejection email.  Oh well... This is the trend.  Now I am off to work at my official Starving Artist Job - appropriate, no?

So, the other day, pyrogenic was visiting, and we were discussing my obsession with adopting a doggie of my very own, even though I'm not allowed to have a dog in my current place, so my obsession is just masochistic at present.  And pyrogenic decided that the bizarre and exotic sounding breed mixes that kept turning up on Petfinder, which site I was surfing for my (at the moment purely theoretical) Doggie of Destiny, should have a new designation other than simply Mutt.  Take Beagle/Lhasa Apso, or Pomeranian/Chihuahua, or Great Dane/Springer Spaniel, or Pug/American Eskimo Dog... these crazy mixes shall now be called Fusion Dogs!  This may revolutionize the country's opinions about what makes a trendy doggie, since who wouldn't want a Fusion Dog? Cross cultural, with the implication that anyone with a fascinating mix of doggie like this must be very worldly and knowledgeable.  And plus, on Halloween, you could make your critter a costume that looks just as bizarre and sickeningly trendy as the interior of a fusion restaurant!  

So, in today's news, my new New York State driver's license arrived today in the mail, and now more than ever I miss my Washington license, which was very pretty, shiny, laminated-y, vertical-y (because I got it before I had turned 21 and that's the smart way they make it easy for people selling alcohol and box cutters to tell if you're old enough to handle your liquor and sharp objects). All around, my old license was visually and physically superior to my new stupid, fake-looking NY license, and on this basis alone I am starting to question my decision to change my ID to this state. But what's done is done, and now if I like, I can legally drive around. Here. In New York City. Ha. Ha, ha.

ANYWAY, STUFF, for YOU, my favorite friend-types. I have many things I am looking to part with, as I own far too much CRA... I mean, really neat stuff. Here is a list, let me know by leaving a comment on this post if you would like these things, and know that you then have to either come and get them in the next few weeks or remind me to bring them when I am about to visit you. But if you come here to take away my things, I may feed you nice foods as an incentive, as I am a freakish hermit and do not like leaving my house.

STUFF:
- 1 bottle Bubble Jet Set 2000, 32 ounces, unopened. This stuff is WAY COOL. Use it to make prints on fabric, right from your inkjet printer. If you don't know how to use it, it's pretty easy, also non-toxic.
- 1 little storage drawer-thingy from the hardware store. 30 little plastic drawers that pull out and are just the right size to hold little objects, specifically things you might use in art or fixing electronic things.
- Clothing. A velvet shirt, slightly too tight in the arms for me, but basically a "medium" size. Very lovely and bluish.
- Clothing. A knitted dark grey zip-up hoodie that is very stylin'. It's too small for me but would probably be fine for a girl who is slightly shorter in the torso and has smaller boobies.
- Clothing. A couple of basic skirts that are too small for me but are good for a girl who has round-ish hips that are slightly smaller than mine. (Hey! It's not my fault I can't keep small enough for my clothes anymore. I work in a coffee shop... YOU try saying no to delicious scones that come fresh daily to your workplace and see if all your skirts stay baggy for more than a month!)
- A couple of sets of very pretty notecards featuring artwork by Nick Bantock, from the Griffin & Sabine trilogy.
-Movie poster from Cold Comfort Farm. Large size, cool looking.
- One BAG O' FABRIC. Scraps of many types. Fun to sew or cut or wrap around things so they don't break when you send them to your family.

So that's the STUFF. I hope somebody wants it, and look forward to seeing you all at my lovely home in the near future!

This is my take on Illustration Friday's theme for the week of July 27, 2007, 'Moon,' - I had an entirely different idea originally involving a photo of very pale tiny polished stones and the little cut glass jewels I keep finding on the streets of New York to represent the Moon, but it simply didn't look ethereal enough with the original photograph, so I added various other elements - if you look closely, the original photograph is still in there, obscured by the darkness!

Here's my take on "Poem" - the title is "Poem, via Exquisite Corpse Method," and it's all about making bullshit poetry that is fun and doesn't claim to be high art.

This charming clay figure is my response to Illustration Friday's theme for the week of July 13, 'Discovery' - our bodies are always such a delightful mystery, both inside and out. What a discovery to make, eh!

Hi all! Is it not awesomely appropriate that the week I happen to discover Illustration Friday, the theme just happens to be "Geeky" ? And so there was no way I could fail to submit something for this week, and here it is: http://lookcloselypress.blogspot.com/2007/07/geeky.html I'm thinking "Geeky, old style, yo!"

Ha ha, can you all believe I actually said I'd re-post one of these every week? Well, you probably believe I SAID I'd do it, and probably, smartly, decided I was totally lying to you. Anyway, Here's #4! Don't I look hot in my tank top? Fabric supplied for the shirt by ikyoto.

I just found this one on the website of artist Dylan Meconis, whose work I found while puttering about the web. This image ROCKS. She's got the style totally down for both things she's parodying.

http://www.projectkooky.com/dylan/art/illo/content/html/battlestar.html

This is FUNNY. Also, STUPID. Enjoy!


ridiculous website

Hi out there! This message is for PYROGENIC and EXTENSIONOFBOB, regarding my zine. Josh, do you have a zine submission for me yet? Please email your image to me ASAP at: lookcloselypress [at] yahoo [dot] com. Marian, could you just send me a blank email at the same address with the subject "BACKWARDS Writer EXTENSIONOFBOB" ? Thanks in advance to both of you.
peace,
stella

Hi everybody. I know there are SEVERAL creative people out there who read my livejournal and who have not yet signed up for the zine. I'm still looking for Artists AND writers for this project, and you all should get involved. It's not like it's that much work, or that much pressure! Anyway, go see the link here: http://www.etsy.com/forums_topic.php?thread_id=29339&page_id=1 and then if you don't have an Etsy account, just reply here on Livejournal, and I'll add you to the zine list, if there's room which there will be.

SUBMIT.

Hi all, if you don't have an ETSY shop set up, just post a reply here and if there's still room for submissions, I'll make sure you're on the list. Thanks!

Hi everyone! I've decided to start a zine, and I am looking for submissions from anyone who can submit either art or writing. More details (a whole lot of them, in fact) can be found here: http://www.etsy.com/forums_topic.php?thread_id=29339 and I'd love to have all of you submit art or writing. Submit! Submit! This zine has a really great concept, so SUBMIT!

Stella out.

Hi everyone. Based on suggestions from various people I met selling art on the street, and also on advice from Kari Love, I have created a shop on the website etsy.com to sell my stuff. You all can now behold it in all its neatness. lookcloselypress.etsy.com Neat!