I absolutely gave up on weeknotes last year, but I have sort of missed doing some type of regularly scheduled update, so I'm making it easier on myself by not having to think in small increments - because sometimes nothing happens in a week. So, here's some recent things for mostly August, and I reserve the right to do whatever time frame I fancy in the future.

• I passed my 10 year anniversary in San Francisco - so I should have done a weeknotes especially for that (522 weeks, or something?).
• I really did start counting because I thought it was going to be more like 3 to 5.
• This month I had my first group art show! The Wave Collective Space has been showing my paintings for the last couple weeks and will do into next month.
• If you've been paying attention, you'll realise that technically wasn't my first show, because I did display some paintings with the Jean Henry School of Art when I was on sabbatical after Code for America broke me, but I don't really think of those paintings as art, so much as things I made to learn to oil paint. The things I put in the Wave show were art I made just to make myself happy.
• I say happy, but I continue to be too embarrased to actually speak to anyone about painting in an IRL situation. I went to a gallery show last weekend (and bought an oil painting) and the artist was there and she was this incredibly articulate and thoughtful speaker about her art (and young!) and it just blew my mind. All my role models are youth.

I'm excited to share that I've been invited to display three of my Touchless Interfaces paintings at a show with the Wave Collective, along-side 8 other great artists in their curated exhibition "Shapes and Bodies".

The exhibition will be open at Wave Collective Space, 440 Haight St, San Francisco, from August 4th to September 16th 2023.

There's an opening reception at the gallery on the 4th August between 6 - 9pm, which I'll be in attendance at. Come say hi!

It's the last day of our winter holiday and I was thinking to myself that I ought to have done a Year Notes, like all the cool kids, but I just couldn't be bothered. Much like weeknotes, I've lost the joy of making little updates recently, so I've decided not to push it.

Quick recap, though:

• Omicron arrived, and I count myself forever lucky to have a good, local, group of friends who immediately decided to cut out all the indoor restaurant and bar trips and all the fun stuff, and return to only gathering inside if everyone tested first, within our little social bubble. Consequently, I was able to have Christmas Eve at our house with a couple folks, and Christmas dinner at someone else's and be at a very small NYE gathering.
• Still haven't caught COVID!
• Monica invited me to an event a few weeks back - a popup at a friend of hers' bar where a few local makers were selling their wares, one of whom ended up being me. First time selling art in person! What I learned is: Framed prints sell best, people will be really sweet and nice and I won't know how to react in any way except with a lot of self-deprecation, and selling originals is much more psychologically challenging than anticipated.
• A couple of original paintings at the pop-up went to friends, so I know roughly where they are in the world, but I sold an original watercolour of a crow to a stranger and I actually feel a weird sense of loss about it. Like, it's gone and I'll never see it again? Completely unexpected emotional attachment to a thing I made explicitly for the purpose of selling.
• Finished another semester of Japanese and am putting that down for a little while, but ikebana is still going well (grade 6 now!) and I've got enough paid contract work to keep me off the streets.
• Not much else to note. I think I'm probably done with week notes for a while. I got back into them at the start of 2020 thinking it would be a way to pass the year of corona, but it feels like too much drudgery wrapping up a second year in this state. Maybe I'll switch to monthly notes for a bit. Anyway - I make it 553 weeks of my life living in this place they definitely misnamed the United States of America! Who knew it would be so long.

I'm attending my first ever pop-up on Sunday 14th, along with some other lovely local artists and craftspersons! I'll be at The Royale in San Francisco from 4pm - 7pm selling limited edition prints and original paintings. Come by, say hi, have a drink! Maybe also pet a dog? I hear there are often pups at The Royale.

The Royale, 800 Post Street, San Francisco

Sunday 14th November 2021, 4 - 6pm

• Just minutes after hitting publish on last week's notes, my mum emailed me to inform me that my dad had been rushed to hospital with severe pancreatitis. Pretty sure it was our fault for encouraing a week of eating cheese, cake, icecream and red wine. He's home again now on bed rest, minus his gallbladder. Sorry, dad!
• This week I did a little experiment on myself and vlogged a week of doing art. I'm incredibly self-conscious about it, but if you want to go have a laugh at me, it's over here.
• That's about it. The video covers most of the week, but if you can't bear to hear my voice, it goes: finished 3 paintings, started a new semester of Japanese lessons, went to ikebana and did some meetings.