The Red Balloon 1

While I enjoyed watching movies like Meet Me in St. Louis and Cinderella when I was a child, my brother liked to watch The Red Balloon. I found the movie a little too sad. I watched it, but all the balloons in the world could not change the fact that the awesome red balloon is murdered by a mob of boys. BOOOOOOO. My brother recently moved into a new place, and he wanted me to give him some paintings to hang on the wall. He suggested I paint some stills from The Red Balloon, so I rewatched the film. It is so beautifully done. Every still could make a wonderful painting. However, the red balloon is still killed at the end and it is still sad. Here is the first painting I did.

On another note, GO GIANTS!

Boy with Bear

Here is my first drawing of the boy with bear photo (as seen in post from Sept. 15). More to come.

9/3/10 to 9/11/10

Apparently I have a doppelganger in L.A. with the last name Fletcher. I have a proposition for her. Want to come up here every Friday, go to my work, and pretend to be me while I take the day off? No. Well let me know if you change your mind.

I took this past Friday off and was a tourist for a day in my hometown. I went to the cliff house and the zoo. At the zoo I rode the train, swooned over two baby monkeys, and considered buying a sloth doll to keep me company when my live sloth was not around (Mr. Brown). It was a grand old time.

8/25/10 to 9/2/10

Highlights of this weekend:

Going to a wedding. It is always a good time celebrating love and drinking free booze. Plus, when you go with Mike, you never know when he is going to break his glass. He may even break it as the bride and groom are saying their vows.

Throwing a party and getting to see some good friends.

Walking with Arrow, Max, and Whitney at Fort Funston and watching Arrow ignore his groupies (two mini poodles who loved nothing more than following Arrow around and smelling his butt).

Going to my dad's birthday party. I got him an old Marlene Dietrich record and Julie London record. He played them. It was the first time I really appreciated the difference between records and cds. It sounded like Marlene Dietrich was singing live in the next room. Awesome.

Low light of this weekend:

Having someone puke in my bathtub. Definitely not cool, but one must pay the party gods.

8/19/10 to 8/24/10

I finished reading Jane Eyre yesterday. I have not read it since I was in middle school. My review: a governess, plus a passionate man, plus a crazy woman locked in a room who likes to start fires, makes for a good story.

The things I will/might do this weekend:
go to a barn dance
watch a baseball game
drive to Santa Cruz to ride the giant dipper
buy a dress to attend a wedding
go to a birthday dinner
sleep, sleep, sleep
watch some ultimate

A happy weekend to all, and to all a happy weekend.

boy with bear

Hello hot stuff,

I was sorting through the photo bin at Scrap. I was about to give up when I dug deep and pulled a pile of photos up from the bottom of the bin, and this is what I found. A boy with a baby bear on a leash. Yes please. Sign me up. I love this photo. Be on the lookout for a painting of this picture. I have not started it yet, but it is only a matter of time.

The highlight of my day: my outfit

The lowpoint of my day: the stifling heat in my office due to the broken ac

8/10/10 to 8/18/10

Three-day weekends are wonderful. How I spent my weekend:

Watching Mad Men

Floating down the Russian River on a daisy

Eating corn and mint watermelon with lime

Walking with the girls, plus my boys, Mike and Arrow

Going to the movies, I saw The Kids are Alright (you know what? I think those kids are going to be alright)

Reading Jane Eyre

8/1/10 to 8/9/10

7/23/10 to 7/31/10

"Do leprechauns get punched in the face or have their cars stolen?"

--Nicolas Cage in Next

7/15 to 7/22

These photos are from 7/17 when I went to SLO to hang out with Dre and Danelle. We made a lovely picnic made from our farmers' market purchases while we sat on a rock overlooking the ocean. It was glorious.
Today, while walking with Amy back to work from lunch, a woman turned the corner with her hand held out in front of her and walked toward us as if she wanted us to give her something. As she did this she said, "hate, I hate the haters."

Halloween

This entry goes out to Danelle, a true Disney lover. This drawing is based on a photo of my brother from Halloween many years ago. He always had great ideas for his cosumes and went all out. One year he was the invisible man, another he was Jack the prumpkin head from Return to Oz. The boy trick or treated with a pumkin on his head. I never knew what I wanted to be, and I would make my mom try to read my mind and then get mad at her when it wasn't exactly what I wanted.

The month before Halloween:

Mom: What do you want to be?

Me: I don't know.

A week before Halloween.

Mom: What do you want to be?

Me: . . . I don't know.

The day of Halloween:

Mom: You can be a penguin and where this white botton down shirt with a black coat. Here is a nose.

Me: NO! I hate it.

Yes, I was a halloween costume BRAT.

7/6/10 to 7/14/10

On Friday, 7/9, I was lucky to get to go to lunch with Granny (Mike's grandmother), Mike, and Arrow. It was a lovely day filled with great company. I may have accidentally dropped root beer all over Granny's lunch, but Granny seemed to like her soggy burger. (Just kidding. Mike replaced it like a good grandson.)

On the following Monday, Mike and I learned that Granny had a bad fall. Mike's family visited her in the hospital, and they were all able to say their goodbyes.

Mike gave her a letter I wrote. For the past couple of years, Granny had been my faithful pen pal. Getting her letters in the mail was always a highlight in my day.

She died a couple of days later at the age of 93. I am fortunate and happy that I was able to know her. I would like to write her one last letter. I don't know if it is too late, but I would like to think it isn't.

Dear Granny,

Thank you for your kindness, humor, and your cursive filled letters. Thank you for always being a joy to be around. You were always thanking us for spending time with you, but no thanks were ever needed. It was a privilege to have known you. You will be missed.

Love, your pen pal,

Claire

Where have I seen this before?

Are you ready to play Where have I seen this before? There are three elements in this journal entry that reference past journal entries. Can you spot any of them? The most obvious is the whale. The whale made an appearance in my January entry. This page is directly behind that other whale, and the watercolor bled through the page, so I drew him on this page and added another wash of paint. The other two elements are harder to spot, especially considering the spread I stole from is not posted on this blog. MUHAHA. I am actually surprised that I have not posted it before. I will try to post it shortly for comparison. In the meantime, I will let you stew over what parts I took. Is it the cloud? Is it the umbrella? Is it the tree? The suspense is killing you, I know, but we all must pass some day.
On a random note, I had pine nut syndrome at the beginning of the week. It sucked, and now I am afraid of eating pesto. I love pesto, even if my dad thinks it is overrated. Alas pesto, we will just have to love each other from afar.

6/27/10 to 7/5/10

Sorry for the quality of the last two images. I am experimenting with my scanner to see if it can scan okay images from my journal. The scanner is not very big, so the scans come out a little blurry.

Looking back at the entries for these days makes me happy because I realize I am making the best of summer even though I am still working full time. Here are some things I have enjoyed doing this summer:

Going to Healdsburg and floating down the Russian River

Seeing the Musee d'Orsay exhibit at the De Young

Seeing A Secret in Their Eyes with my dad

Taking walks around my favorite lake in Golden Gate park with Arrow and my sister

Sitting in the sun drinking iced chai tea

Reading

Forcing myself to wear dresses on warm days

June 3rd to June 26th

The other day I saw a dead pigeon on the sidewalk. Nothing like a little death to end my day. Which reminds me of last night, when I watched some Ms. Marple. Gosh, I love an old woman who solves murders while drinking tea and knitting.

Today I saw a construction site gone wild, and I don't mean there were large construction workers showing off their man boobs. A digger must have hit a main water pipe, and a flood of water was gushing out of the ground at least 20 feet high. It looked like a geyser in the middle of the city.

Since June 26th, I have started drawing daily pictures again. I am going to keep it up this time . . . honest . . . but maybe not. We'll see.

the journey is the destination

One of the books that has had the biggest influence on my life is The Journey is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon. His journals inspired me to keep my own journals, which, as this blog attests, I still keep today.

Last night I dreamt a shark attacked me, but since the ocean was in an office building, I was able to escape down a hallway with no water. I was not afraid in the dream. In fact I much preferred it to the other dream I had where an insect or alien had laid eggs in my hand, and I had to tear back some of my skin to try to push the eggs out. It was gross. Sorry if I just grossed you out. I probably should have kept that dream to myself. Oh well. Pleasant dreams.

Outfits

This is for anyone who stays up at night wondering "what did Claire wear on April 10th 2010?" Now your curiosity can be satisfied. I have started to keep drawing lists in my journal to help me remember things like what I wore and what books I read. I am currently reading Moonraker, the third book in the James Bond series. It is a fun read, but it does make me want to sleep with Daniel Craig--even if he is gay as Brennen insists he is.

Cool Camp 2010

Got back from Cool Camp on Sunday. A list of things to remember about this year:

waterfall

water basketball

shooting stars

running water

James Bond and Sylvester Bond "You're teeth look sharp. Can I see you naked?"

Period pieces with modern musical numbers

Cole in drag

Indiana Jones with sock puppets

"Look at me. I'm fat. I have poop on my face. I'm pathetic."

the mysterious Ms. Cole

Batman vs. Superman

Blue Moon

Werepires

Clown cars

bobcats

Sophie the cat

film crew

bowling

Hans

camp fire

young adults who will always be children in my eyes

Annie Hayworth

My adoring fans have spoken (all four of them), and they requested more blog entries. So here I am, giving my fans what they want. In return, I only ask for love, praise, money, and your firstborn child. I am most generous; now kiss my ring. Here is another drawing based on The Birds by Hitchcock. This is Annie Hayworth. She is a brunette and a spinster, so she must be killed by the birds. Those are the rules of Mr. Hitchcock. In real life, the actress who played Annie lived to the age of 71, and got married three times. Take that Hitchcock.

bears and hawaii

When I open my journal, this is the first thing I see. I just got back from playing in a frisbee tournament in Hawaii. Man I could really drink a Chi Chi or a Pina colada right now. Hawaii was wonderful.

The Birds

Here is a quick watercolor study I did from a still of The Birds. This is the scene where Tippi Hedren is attacked by birds in the upstairs bedroom. Hitchcock told her that mechanical birds would be used. Instead, ravens, crows, and gulls were flung at her for five days. Rubber bands were used to clamp their beaks shut. When Cary Grant visited the set, he told her, "I think you're the bravest lady I've ever met." After the shoot, she had nightmares of flapping wings.

Man:What are you doing for work today honey?

Tippi: I'm going to go to a studio set and have live birds flung at me while a fat man watches.

Man: Awesome.

purple balloon

Yesterday I saw a purple balloon floating in the bay. It looked like a sailboat, indecisively making its way in the water. It was the highlight of my day.

Full Spread

whales, dwarf antelopes, and new york city

I'm back. Where have I been? Mystery . . . mystery (said in the voice of a ghost in a haunted house). I'm a scorpio, so I was born mysterious, or maybe not. Here is what I have been up to:

new job, same company, very busy

frisbee, club nationals

holidays, wonderful holidays

wearing onesie pajamas

trip to NYC, visiting old friends, seeing rehearsals of my dad's play

For Christmas I got a new journal. My old one was falling apart, and I stopped working in it. My new one is purple and ready for action. Here is the first entry from my trip to NYC.

they were once children

Isn't it entertaining looking through old family photos? Each decade has it's on distinctive style. Your mother goes from a toddler to a teenager. Your grandparents go from dead to alive. The photos become little windows into the past.
Have you ever wanted to enter an old family photo? If so, do tell.

girl

Claire's thought for the day:I am so glad I am a girl.

August 6th 2009

birds and procrastination

Smarty Pants: Run, run for it! Why aren't you running?
Procrastination: Oh, you wanted me to run now? I was going to do that later.
Smarty pants: Too late. Your dead.
Procrastination: What happened?!
Smarty pants: The zombie dinosaur ate you. I'm sorry, but you should have listened to me.
Procrastination: but...but... it is so hard to do stuff. I try, but then I get overwhelmed and don't know where to start, and then I don't do anything.
Smarty pants: Baby steps.
Procrastination: What about Bob right?
Smarty pants: totally
Procrastination: Yah, I watched that instead of doing my work the other day. It was awesome.
Smarty pants: Want to go watch it right now?
Procrastination: if it means all I have to do is sit on my ass, then YES!

cats and emotional attachments to cars

My old car named big mama, a 1992 Toyota previa, is no longer. She reliably took me on many a trip, acquiring over 200,000 miles traveled along the way. She drove strong to the very end. (I gave her up to acquire a newer, more fuel efficient car.) The other day I found myself petting the steering wheel, holding back tears as I told her how much I loved her. True story. My family had this car since I was a kid, and I inherited it in High School. The memories I had in that car were many and wonderful.
Cool Camp travels
dance parties
'tempted by the fruit of another' sing-along
Frisbee Tournaments
Family trips to school
So long my dear big mama. I love you.

old friends

This weekend will be filled with friends. I am going to have lunch with one of my oldest friends and go to a party for my friend the Goblin who is moving to DC. Come to think of it, they are both old friends.
The image above is a portrait of me and my friend. Just kidding. It is the creepy shining girls. 'Come play with us Danny, forever, and ever.'
They are not my friends. They may not come to my birthday party, and I will not play with them forever and ever...okay, maybe just one game.

Gnome Wedding

I attended a gnome wedding last weekend. They would not allow me to take any pictures since they are not supposed to exist. Lame. I had to content myself with drawing pictures of the ceremony. I accidentally stepped on, and killed, this snail shortly after drawing this picture. My bad.

a black eye and cute houses

A wise person once said, 'Women with black eyes are awesome.' I couldn't agree more wise person, couldn't agree more. So it just so happens I have a black eye...interesting, did not see that coming.
I wish I could take a stroll in the above drawing. Anyone have a magic spell that will turn me into a drawing so that I can enter into illustrations? If you do, let me know on the down low. C-Bear out.

Larry or...?

This is Larry...or is it? I have named him Larry, but I am not quite sure I like the name. Let me know if you have any other suggestions. Perhaps Wilbert or George? Anyway, I am a little in love with him; although, I am conflicted. Can I really love someone named Larry? I just don't know.

stealing candy from a baby and loving every minute of it

My camping trip was filled with: a jesus-loving motorcycle gang, dear friends, a hungry mob of mosquitoes, a mud pit, kittens, lord voldemort, watermelons, and so much more. It was wonderful, WONDERFUL I tell you. Now I am back at work, looking outside, wishing I could move my desk across the street and into the sun. Anyone want to help?

Easter Sunday

Here is a drawing of my mother, grandmother, and some of my aunts and uncles, all dressed up for Easter. I love their outfits. It makes me want a completely vintage wardrobe. What's holding me back? Comfort. Glorious comfort. I like to be able to run and frolic at a moments notice, which means jeans and sneakers please.

June 5th-June 10th

I am going on a week-long camping trip tomorrow, so there will be no new entries until I get back.
What I am looking forward to:
trees
creek (if it is running)
birds
kittens
card games
sunsets
the night sky
shooting stars
storytelling
reading
frozen grapes
swimming

girl with a pail

i'm a girl with a pail
why are you sad?
i'm not sad
you look sad
no, i was just holding in a fart
oh...that smelled
...sorry

Daily Picture Diary May 28th-June 4th

Here is a day to day picture diary from my life from May 28th-June 4th. I am going to try to post my daily picture diary either in a compilation like this at the end of each week or post one a day.
Last night was magnificent. As I walked the almost deserted streets of San Francisco at 8pm I marveled at how exceptionally beautiful it was out and how sad it was that most people were indoors and missing it. Then my feet started to hurt from all the walking I was doing, and I just wanted to join everyone indoors and sit down.

Jump

Who is happy the weekend is here? oh me, I am, I am. I swung on some swings today which made me feel like a kid and reminded me that it is summer (both good things). Big shout out to my old college ultimate team, the Burning Skirts, who are the number one woman's college team in the nation. WOOOOOOOO AHHHHHHHH!

This post was a long time in coming. These were the other two paintings in my Rosemary's Baby series. You can see the other painting below.
This weekend I am going down to Santa Barbara to play in a tournament. I am super excited to see all my SB pals. My old college team is playing in Nationals this weekend. Go Skirties! Burning F***ing Skirts! Elie is a goblin (okay that has nothing to do with the skirts winning, but everything to do with Elie being a goblin)!

search for a dog

Mike and I have been thinking about getting a dog. Last Sunday we met a dog named Ivan who took hold of our hearts in his little paws and wouldn't let go. On Sunday night we were already coming up with possible names: Wally, Buster, Pip. Unfortunately, when we went back to the shelter a day later, he had been adopted half an hour before we got there. NOOOOOOO! Part of me thinks I should be relieved, and the selfish part of me that likes my responsible-free life is a little bit relieved, but another part of me wants Ivan to let go of my heart already. So long dear Ivan. May your new home be full of fire hydrants and dog treats.

balloons

I saw a clip from The Red Balloon today. That movie depressed me as a kid, but I watched it a lot because my brother always put it on. What a beautiful film.

I'm on a boat

A trip to the Cemetery

delicate creatures doing indelicate things... 2

I am quite happy it is Friday. I had a dream the other night that a lion was attacking me. I was not scared. For some reason I knew I would be alright, maybe I was aware it was a dream, and I was happy to see a lion up close. Last night I had a dream that every dog I came across charged at me and nipped at my hands. Now that scared me. I wonder what it means to dream of animals attacking you.

Boat, me in diapers, and text

Here is a recent spread from my journal. I wish I could see the sea made out of paper.

delicate creatures

did I just sleep with the devil?

My work is having an employee art show tonight and I deiced to make some new pieces. The past week I have been totally stressed out for various boring reasons and I wished that I could submit some older work. Instead, I forced myself to complete three new pieces. Here is the first in the series of finished paintings based on film stills from the film Rosemary's Baby. I am not a hundred percent happy with how my images turned out, but I am happy that I created some new work rather than depending on old standbys. I need a new work strategy. I think from now on I am going to tackle everything with the Rocky theme song playing in my head. If nothing else, it will make me laugh.