Strolling down Valencia Street

Paxton Gate
Mural on Clarion Alley
Through the window of the Curiosity Shoppe

Recently strolled down Valencia Street in San Francisco. There are always cool murals to look at on Clarion Alley. A lot of fabulous new shops have opened. Check out the Curiosity Shoppe. I love the shelf, that is made of different sized boxes. Amazing though is the art installation they have right now, of bats hanging from branches. You can faintly make them out on the right side of the box shelf. They sell stationary, gifts and whimsical curiosities also from their web site.
New is also Five and Diamond, a clothing and jewelry boutique. Their look reminds me of Victorian Cowboys Wild West Cabaret. They have amazing leather items.
Of course Paxton Gate is still my favorite. I bought there a beautiful glass crocodile's eye and some very sparkling oval shaped fool's gold.

Eric Joyner: Painter of Toy Robots

"The usual suspects"

"The last Tin Man"


"The Incident"

"Time Travelers"

Believe it or not, but toy robots have been somewhat a theme in my marriage. On our first Christmas together Scott gave me a red toy robot and read science fiction stories out loud to me. Connecting to the symbols from the beginning of our love story, I gave Scott a tiny little toy robot for our 10th wedding anniversary. This year for his birthday and our 15th wedding anniversary together, I had a special surprise for him. A couple of years ago when we visited La Luz de Jesus gallery in LA, we saw a beautiful small painting of a toy robot and admired it very much. This September we saw an exhibition by the same artist, Eric Joyner at the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco. Afterwards I checked out Eric's web site and saw that he had prints of his paintings for sale. I knew immediately that this was my present for Scott. The best part of this present was, that we visited Eric's studio and Scott didn't know where we were going until we rang Eric's door bell. A perfect surprise! Eric was so gracious and fun, showing us his art, although he was getting ready to pack for a show in Vegas. It was hard to pick out a print, because they are all wonderful, but I think Scott picked the best "The Time Travelers" (last image). I love the composition of the two scenes meeting in the middle. Samurai warriors fighting robots is the ultimate little boy dream. It is also interesting in the sense of two worlds colliding: the old japan versus the new.

A beautiful ring

This is my anniversary present from Scott: a lovely John Hardy ring. It is somewhat reminiscent of Eastern European jewelry with its hammered, gold dome in the center. I love John Hardy jewelry and Scott has found many pieces for me on ebay.

Our 15th Wedding Anniversay

This is how it all started: 15 years ago Scott and I were married in the beautiful old City hall of Frankfurt, Germany. My mother and my best friend Petra were witnesses. Also my grandmother Helene and uncle Lothar were present.

We celebrated our anniversary yesterday in San Francisco at Absinthe, a wonderful romantic French restaurant. The food was delicious: oysters, wild mushroom risotto and pork confit. The waiter and staff were really sweet and brought out this plate to wish us a "happy anniversary".

Scott and me blissfully celebrating this special day at Absinthe.

I bought this midnight blue, sequins silk dress on ebay about 1,5 years ago and never wore it. I was hiding it away in my closet and waiting for the right occasion. Well, yesterday was the day!
I felt like a mermaid in it - wrapped in shimmering scales.

Ephemeral Lingerie

Ephemeral Lingerie - paper cut out 2003
Showing "Ephemeral Lingerie" and "Forever Sexy" at Balazoo Gallery in the Mission, San Francisco, 2004
Art Opening of Stencilart.org's show in San Francisco 2003

I had the good fortune of exhibiting two of my cut outs some time ago at two art exhibitions in San Francisco. "Ephemeral Lingerie" is very dear to me - not only because it took a long time, but because I like the surreal notion of paper underwear. I always think I should follow up with some other garments.

The queen of papel picado

Margarita Fick is a Mexican artist I have admired for a while. We bought one of her papel picados in Oaxaca. Her work is absolutely exceptional. I found this web site, where she sells her art and you can read up on her.

Dia de los Muertos and Papel Picados

our day of the dead altar in 2004 - the year Johnny Cash died
Our ofrenda (altar) in 2005
ofrenda 2006 with my paper cut out of a rakish Mr. Skull
Dia de los muertos/hallowen dispaly with my paper cut out of "forever sexy" Mrs. Skull in her lingerie

I love papel picados (mexican paper cut outs) , in fact I love all paper cut out or scherenschnitte (as they are called in Germany). I have made a variety of them over the years and like particularly my two big Mr. and Mrs. Skull, that I hang up on Halloween, Dia de los muertos.