hello new people!

I’m psyched, like everyone else, to be participating in this Blog It Forward Mashup. (Um, Victoria, this is awesome.) Victoria, AKA sfgirlbybay brainstormed this idea with a couple of other creative types over Twitter, and asked for participants. Thanks for including me and spending the ridiculous amount of time coding everyone’s info. Thanks also to Kathryn at Dream a Little Dream for her great post yesterday, and be sure to check out Dwell Deep who will be posting on Monday.

It’s been pretty interesting to think about what inspires me in life and in my art. There are like a million things, but here are the top(ish) ones.

1. When I travel to a foreign country, I head straight for the grocery store.

Fresh beer bar in Hanoi, Vietnam

If I had unlimited money there is no doubt that I would travel all. the. time.

Guard hut at Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand

I’m not so much into typical sightseeing when traveling, but am more interested in experiencing how people in other places live. Typical travels will always include rambling in residential neighborhoods, grocery shopping (in supermarkets and fresh markets both) and plopping down in local restaurants where no one speaks English.

The Fancy Lifter game at an arcade in Tokyo. Yeah, I can’t explain it more than that.

Traveling is inspiring to me not only because of the visual excitement, but also because it forces you to live in the moment and pay attention to the details in the world around you.

sidewalks in Hanoi, Vietnam

street art in Hanoi and jamon iberico in Barcelona

Sidewalk in Mae Hong Son, Thailand and detail of a shrine in Hanoi

puppy and Singha. together at last

Art at Buddhist temple coffee house in Mae Hong Son, Thailand. Close up of tiles at Buddhist temple in Bangkok.

2. Eating food makes me want to draw, and drawing food makes me want to eat.

L to R, T to B: Roadside gai yang in Thailand, Dungeness crab and cardoon salad at Commis in Oakland, cheese plate in Rome, mango and sticky rice in Thailand, Mangosteens and a Mangosteen valentine.

As my daily drawing project MEAT SECTIONS probably indicates, food is clearly an inspiration.

some daily drawings from my blog MEAT SECTIONS

And drinks too. (They can also, can help with the creative process)

Illustrations of a beer from The Bruery and a cocktail from The Alembic

I also love food packaging. One of our kitchen walls displays a bunch of food packaging (mostly from the aforementioned foreign grocery stores)

They are an excellent source for color palettes too.

3. People saying “f*** it all” and doing what they love

Screenshot from Michel Gondry’s “Science of Sleep”, via We Heart It

There is nothing more inspiring than someone basically saying “fuck it all” and doing what they love, even if it is a huge risk. In fact, the bigger risk, the better.

Stories of people learning what they love and then actually doing it, like the people interviewed in Po Bronson’s “What Should I Do with My Life?” are so exciting. I’m not a big life-lesson-touchy-feely-person but this life is all we know we have in the world and well, I’d like to make the most of it. There is so much planning and caution in most people’s lives that it is invigorating and often necessary to take a leap and do something outside of that plan. I feel like I did this when I quit my government attorney job last year. My husband is naturally one of these “necessary risk taker” types and has inspired me to be more so. (We even included this concept in our wedding vows…)

cover art for Neutral Milk Hotel

Creative people who have chosen a life they want to lead, and are flourishing in their chosen paths are just endlessly inspiring. And the weirder and more wildly creative they are, the better. (See filmmakers like Wes Anderson and Michel Gondry, musicians like Neutral Milk Hotel, Sunset Rubdown, and Owen Pallet, and chefs like Grant Achatz, Anthony Mangieri, and Peter Chang).*

5. SAN FRANCISCO

view of San Francisco from Sausalito ferry

And finally, the natural beauty and incredible creativity present in this city is a constant inspiration to do more, and do it well.

Pizzeria Delfina, one of my favorite places in the city.

As much as I love traveling, this is now my home.

My feet, my street.

Thanks so much for stopping on by, and be sure to check out Dwell Deep on Monday!

*I also have a soft spot for former lawyers who went on a different path, like the Zagats (of the Zagat guide), Matisse, and Kandinsky.

All photos are from me, unless otherwise indicated