We had a few hours to kill before my cousin’s wedding (in December), so Matthew and I decided to escape the hotel and visit the Gateway Arch. There was a momentary break in the clouds just after we arrived that created some really nice reflections on its stainless steel skin. I had the 35mm lens with me (instead of my usual 21mm), hence the tightly framed, almost abstract perspective of these shots.

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Stephanie and I have been looking forward to taking a linocut class with Eric Rewitzer for a long time, but we didn’t have the time (or space of mind) to do so until February. The class took place at 3 Fish Studios, Eric and his wife Annie’s inspiring studio, set in the Dogpatch with an incredible view of San Francisco Bay.

I knew in advance that I wanted to make a print of our new digs to use as a card announcing our change of address. I had in mind a very controlled, high-contrast style, but the end result looked almost dreamy, like an illustration from a children’s book (about a girl looking out the window on a rainy day).

Compared to what the other folks in the class produced (check out Stephanie’s amazing print of her hennaed feet), mine turned out kind of plain, but over time its quiet simplicity has grown on me. Plus it’s our home! We ended up sending all the cards to family in the US and France, but I held on to one ghost print (a second print from the same inking) to eventually frame and hang.

Tracing a reversed photo of our building

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49 Mile Scenic Drive Sleepy Seagull from SFlocal.net (thx Kim!)

The stubble gives the tattoo a certain je ne sais quoi, dontcha think? For more Sanfranciscanalia, check out 3 Fish Studios’ Scenic Drives paintings and my Park at 90 Degrees t-shirt.

To the casual outside observer, my mom has “a Santa problem”, which we playfully tease her about every Christmas (even though we all secretly love it). She morbidly taunts us that when she’s dead and gone, her Santa problem will become our problem—our inheritance won’t be counted in thousands of dollars, it will be thousands of Santas, muahahaha!

Well, it seems she’s not content to wait until she’s dead and gone. This year I got a very cool Santa Claus of my own, custom-made by Michelle Treichler, complete with a stack of Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies and miniature reproductions of Woman’s Day Magazine (where the recipe first appeared).

Santa, just chillin’ on the mantle with a plate of Melt-in-the-Mouths

…and now that Kiva has relocated to 5th and Howard, I am one of them:

“Programmers”, a sketch from Meanwhile, 6th and Mission by Wendy MacNaughton

Tonight Kiva was welcomed to the 5th Street neighborhood by The Hub, a sort of coworking space on steroids. After work we walked over to be welcomed (and wined), and I discovered none other than Wendy MacNaughton’s sketches from Meanwhile, 6th and Mission on display in the gallery space. Unlike the linear display of her sketches on The Rumpus, here she had arranged them in two dimensions, to form a sort of visual map.

5th Street Map by Wendy MacNaughton at The Hub