I Love Ferris Wheels
Originally uploaded by Karon
Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Originally uploaded by Karon
The Folklife Festival has outdone themselves with an amazing Bhutan Buddist temple in the middle of the mall. I spent a few hours on the mall and only made it through the Bhutan sections of the festival so I have NASA and Texas still to go. Yes, Bhutan, NASA and Texas is a strange combination, I have no idea how the Smithsonian comes up with these festival choices.
Edit to add: This image is part of the Smithsonian Photography Initiative slideshow of the “Best of the 2008 Festival”.
Money Has Changed Hands
I can now say I have officially sold my first photos as I have delivered said pieces to one of the buyers and received money. Whohoo! Three more deliveries to make. I sold six pieces and am doing a trade with another artist for one her prints for a total of seven Artomatic framed photos that I will not have to find a home for in my apartment.
Memorial Day Weekend
The weather gods finally came through. After a spring of rainy weekends, the long Memorial Day weekend was spectacular. A little too spectacular in the sun department for me. I learned the hard way that when wearing a deep v-necked tshirt means I need to add extra sunscreen under the shirt on the left side. My camera strap pulled the shirt over enough that I have a bright red stripe of sunburn just on the left of my neck. I also learned that SPF 15 isn’t enough even on days that don’t hit 80 degrees as I have strange half circles of burnt flesh on my arms just around my elbows. I was trying to figure out just how that happened when I realized it matched the position of my arms holding my camera up to my face. As long as I keep my arms bent, it doesn’t look strange. The SPF 30 wasn’t quite enough for my face as I’m pink and my nose is very pink. Oh yeah, I’m real pretty.
Other than that, I had marvelous weekend. I spent most of Friday at the Reynold’s Center. I took a special tour of the piece MVSEVM by David Becks. It has been one of my favorite works there so it was fun to learn more about it. I also toured the Color Field, Edward Steichen and Zaida Ben-Yusuf shows. Had a lovely dinner at the bar at Central and then went to Iron Man which is every bit as good as people have been saying.
Saturday was a quiet day cleaning and working on Disney photos. Sunday was Rolling Thunder and sunburn. I had planned on going to Artomatic Sunday night but made the mistake of sitting down when I got home from several hours on the mall. Today was laundry and groceries. But the groceries came from the ever fun Super H Asian grocery store. Amazing selection fish including live eels and sea cucumber which I didn’t realize was edible. I stuck to the tuna and salmon. Alas, tomorrow I must return to work.
My Artomatic Display
Originally uploaded by Karon
Turned out much busier than how I saw it in my head but thankfully the labels helped to anchor the photos.. I wanted a backdrop that would catch a visitor’s eye from across the room and I do think it works for that. I already have much better ideas for next year.
I made a sale opening weekend which absolutely thrilled me. Granted, it isn’t completely real until after the show when money and art change hands but the email asking to buy a photo made my day.
This Friday is Meet the Artists night so it is a great time to come see the show. http://artomatic.org/
Cathedral Illumination
Britt, Erica and I caught the first night of the National Cathedral “Lighting to Unite” illumination show tonight. It is absolutely gorgeous and runs from sunset to midnight tonight, Saturday and Sunday so there is time to see it. I suspect it is less crowded if you go after the families have left to put the kids to bed.
JAPAN! culture + hyperculture at the Kennedy Center
This is a marvelous festival and everyone local should take the time to stop by before it closes on the 17th. The Kennedy Center is open till 10pm each night so it is easy to stop by after work. You can’t stop getting a big grin when you walk into a yellow room with black polka dots.
Unfortunately the play I saw Saturday afternoon, Shintoku-Maru, was only for this weeked which is a shame as it was absolutely insane to watch. Ninety minutes in a language I don’t understand with no subtitles but yet I loved every minute. Any play/musical/modernized Noh that starts and ends with men using belt sanders against metal plates to rain sparks down on the stage is a good time. The visuals were amazing and between the synopsis and the classic nature of the plot is was easy to follow.
