update

tomorrow is "the show". though i have prepared the work to hang, dropped it off well in advance and know it will be curated by good hands- i can't help but feel a deep anxiety. i will be taking a lot of pictures tomorrow and promise to post them up as soon as i can.

though i kind of miss scarborough and toronto in general, san francisco is making it hard for me to say no:

-the public transport, MUNI is amazing as it runs on a gps system.

-the streets are all grid formation so it makes a lot of sense to get around, (until the downtown core, but what the hey..).

-japantown, which is frisco's answer to our pacific mall, is quiet and busy at the same time, full of character, (as much character as a mall could have) and has pretty much everything japanese, not just jewellery store after bootleg dvd store after bubble tea shops. heck, there's even a kinokuniya which is generally bad news for a nippon/bibliophile. and a beautifully modest boutique that sells original japanese woodblock prints.

there is much more, but i'll spare you the rantings of an unworldly traveller.

creatively, frisco has been amazing. there is a real air of creative energy here, not just in the things found in bookstores and the many galleries- but more so in the people. on the weekend i spent almost an hour talking with the director of the margaret keane gallery sharing ideas and even discussing some of my work. considering i came in in cargo pants and flip-flops and there were other patrons in the gallery, i was impressed that he would spare the time for me. if he was b.s.-ing, he did a great job of it, and for a long enough time.

on the second day, i bought an oversized sketchbook as to simulate/replace painting momentarily. it got my entire arm moving again, a feeling that i had forgotten for some time now. this, some unearthing of old ideas- and you have me gung-ho to make some fresh work when i get back.

oh, and this, just puts a smile on my face.

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