We stayed in what used to be a school–it’s now the Apartment Hotel Hjalteyri. The hotel might as well be an art museum.
a painting by Jon Engilberts in our Hjalteyri apartment
…and so many other incredible paintings in the hallways
Goðafoss Falls
Still searching for the best fish soup
Eyri Restaurant, walking distance from our hotel
Exploring, taking photos
Waiting for Uber
John and Tom see us off in Denver
at the Reykjavík Art Museum - Kjarvalsstaðir
Our room
Our home in Reykjavik
along the waterfront
This building (Harpa) was so exciting–inside and out.
at the Reykjavík Art Museum - Kjarvalsstaðir
What litter is like in Reykeyvik
Stomach aches
Tom and the most famous cat in Iceland, Baktus the cat.
Can you believe it? I found this sea glass outside the Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, which is right on the oceanfront.
Found: a gift in the parking lot
Lunchtime in Reykjevik
On our way to Hjalteyri we stopped at the Settlement Center in Borgarnes, which includes a delicious restaurant built up against a rock wall. We happened to walk into a reunion of Borgarnes girls. My friend says she grew up here, but now lives in Spain. Doesn’t she look like she walked right out of an Almovodar movie?
I finally get to meet Thomas Christopher Haag at Chatter Late Works.
Alice, our newest resident at the compound, plays Mozart.
An early morning bike ride to Bike-In-Coffee
Farmer Linda, and Eileen of La Puerta de los Niños!
My bosses in San Francisco
new patio furniture for our birthdays
Mem and me at Bookworks down the street
birthday treat
birthday coffee
Our fearless leader, Michael Ottersen
Our painting class
After the bandages are removed
Before
Dorene sent me this photo of Don reading to Giacomo, Bruno, and Junie B, the Boston Terrier. A classic, innit?
That’s our Santa Linda Claus on the left and Max on the right.
I was so happy to finish my Damien Hirst-inspired painting the night before Christmas! I obviously have a thing for spots. It’s painted on one of the two 30” x 40” canvases that Kathy gave me when she left. Bill and Holly have the other canvas. Kathy, I need some more canvases.
And why, when I was in high school, did I think I would never need math? It took me as long to map out the painting as it did to paint it.
Major Event! The 8th Chirri & Chirra book came out on December 27.
Do you read the NYTimes? This is what you miss if you only get the online version (above). On the other hand, though, if you only get the paper version you miss out on Wordle.
Anne Herbst Ocean 1 watercolor 26.5 x 35 in.
Anne’s show ends tomorrow, Jan. 1. She has sold 22 paintings as of today! Below are posters I designed for the next show. I love the work I do with Anne for her gallery.
Maya, Anne, and Peter run this San Francisco art gallery.
I work with Anne on publicity (posters, weekly newsletters, the website, things like that). We’ve made it work for seven years, and three of those years I’ve been in Albuquerque. Thanks, Anne, for sticking with me.
Dorene introduced me to Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson. Jeanne is a children’s book writer, a professor of children’s books–she’s simply the Albuquerque Expert in children’s books. We walked and talked for two hours.
Another Christmas gift exchange plan: This year Aggles and I decided that we would each spend $50 on our gifts. To avoid taping and wrapping and standing in line at the P.O, I was to choose my gift myself and she would choose her gift. Then we would take our presents home and, in my case, wear them immediately. It just so happens that I found my present from Aggles (green shoes) yesterday at Ross Dress for Less. Deeply discounted. If anyone would like to participate in this particular plan, email me. I’ll allow you to spend $50 on yourself, and to give me the red shoes.
Before the show
After the show
We flew to Denver last Thursday to see Sam’s BFA Thesis Exhibition. It knocked us out. He had made 102 planets: all sizes and each with a different glaze.
There were six of us–sometimes seven, and we’d meet in the hotel lobby in the evenings for wine, then head out for dinner. Our last night we had pizza delivered to Sue & Bill’s suite, played cribbage, and read books.
The best meal was breakfast at the Urban Farmer’s: French toast 8 inches high, and bottomless bloody Marys. After that, Tom and I stumbled through the Denver Museum of Art (last two photos).
My blog-life from 2006 - 2016 is over here !
