Hooked on phonics

I'm back to work on Alki today after a few-day hiatus, and I'm excited about it. Work doesn't usually inspire such positive feelings, but how can I resist this story? Here's the paragraph I'm starting with today:

"As the heat of summer weighed down on us, we began making plans to leave Florida. This time we wanted to leave the state legally. In order to make sure we would not be in violation of the court, we asked our attorney, Mr. ----, to double check with the judge and HRS, restating our desire to leave and start a new life in California. Mr. ---- wrote us a letter informing us that we could leave the state as long as we followed the court's stipulation granting ---- visitation. Given the good news, we made arrangements to continue the estate probate from California. We also figured out what we should do about Kara's dog bite case."

So much going on! And about my family. It's an exciting project to be working on.

Right now, we're at the tail end of the fact-checking/first-read-through stage. Soon, we'll be working on the structure (chapter breaks) and order (chronology) of parts of the story, and then comes the final editing stages(!), which is even more exciting - to be finished at long last and sharing the whole story with everyone.

P.S. I was bitten in the face by a German Shepherd when I was 4 years old. Thankfully, a talented plastic surgeon was called in and he did a great job patching me up. No follow up surgeries necessary. All that's left is some minimal scarring and a hefty fear of German Shepherds. :) -sorry German Shepherd lovers.

Rocking the runway

On Saturday, Brianna modeled in a fashion show organized by a local Relay for Life team to raise money for breast cancer research. Here's Brianna modeling a dress from a local clothing boutique. I think Brianna has a Ralph Lauren vibe in this.

To view more of Brianna's videos, check out her Youtube page.

Model pics

Mom, Brianna and I just put together a disc of our favorite picks from some of Brianna's various photo shoots. These were test shoots, an industry term we picked up in L.A., meaning photo shoots done for free - the photographer or designer gets a free model and the model gets some free shots for her portoflio.

Trompe l'oeil gifts

Recently, my mom painted two pieces commissioned by my brother's girlfriend to celebrate their anniversary. Of course, when the pieces were finished and we were shipping them, we wanted to keep them! My mom will just have to commission herself to do another set of lovely trompes.

Working on Alki, After the Drunkalog

I found this quote while editing my dad's book:

View what is universal in the mundane world of everyday experience and find hope in it.

That's a wonderful idea, and it reminds me of a quote from my mom's artist statement:

I try to bring out a subtle inherent quietness that the viewer can be drawn into...I endeavor to capture the everyday items and scenes that are a part of our lives, but that we lightly pass over, take for granted, or completely ignore...Through experiencing the beauty of our ordinary life we are able to create a mutual solitude.

Finding happiness and beauty in daily life seems like an admirable goal. I know when I'm looking around me during my day, I feel good when I notice something lovely, usually an interesting detail, like the shape of a flower bud or the play of light on something. I feel connected to that detail, that moment, that space in the universe. And feeling "connected" is a nice sensation.
Have a great day everyone!

New times

We had an exciting Friday evening last week. My mom had a show opening at Davis and Cline Gallery, and everything went very well. It was overwhelming and humbling for me to see my mom's work on the walls. I love her paintings, and I'm very proud of her.

So many people came to the gallery during the three-hour First Friday Art Walk. I had fun talking with friends and strangers alike about the new pieces.

In the show, my mom included a few of her traditional pieces, the ones people usually associate with my mom's name, Jhenna Quinn Lewis, like simple compositions of one or two objects on a table with a dark, or moody background. The gallery owner, John Davis, gave us a cool phrase to use to describe my mom's dark backgrounds when he praised her for her skill at creating "complex black" backgrounds.

My mom's newer works are trompe l'oeils (a French phrase meaning "to deceive, or trick, the eye" and is pronounced in English like tr-ahm-ploy). To read more about the pieces in this show, there's a short essay written by my dad, which we used as the introduction to a Blurb book we put together (click here to preview the book and read the essay), and an article by Vickie Aldous printed in the Ashland Daily Tidings (click here to read the article).