I had a late night earlier this week, stayed up painting, pushing it all to the wall
in order to have it done by morning. You reach the state of mind, alone
in the studio, where time stops. It reverses and starts up again but with phosphor
in all the cogs, it turns to jelly. Your hand’s all cramped up, tracking streaks of
paint on the velvet furniture, sneezy. Then, a beacon in the night! Chocolate!
Not just any chocolate either, y’all- the Mast Brothers are the Emperors
of Cacaoville, as far as I’m concerned.. We bought this fancy bar on
Mlle. Bobisuthi’s sage recommendation at Miette in San Francisco, um..
back in November! Crazy, I know- who can resist that long? We had hidden it good!

Dark Milk Chocolate + Salt + Pepper = best chocolate bar maybe ever.
Oh yes, so- during all the March madness, I succumbed and got on Twitter.
Perverse curiosity prevails, once again! The only way I can feel halfway
decent about it is if I mostly post lil’ bits in haiku form. It has to be some kind
of challenge to hold my attention- or anyone else’s for that matter!

At 3 in the morning, when your brain is buzzing from tea and staring,
sometimes a wee break is called for- this one involved gobbling
said chocolate and taking random pictures of areas in my studio.
Below the little bookshelf by the southern window, left to right is a…
♥ Tin of buttons I couldn’t for the life of me find the other day
♥ Hmong silver collar with bells and forest squirrel creature engraving
♥ Magical gold + lavender twine
♥ Mysterious slag glass bud vase
♥ Jellyfish glass with Oddfellows medallion
♥ Assorted books on demons + alchemy
♥ Flower teacup (just the edge of it)
♥ Jar of beads

This is on top of the little paper file on my computer desk:
♥ Teensy doll in golden egg cage from Miss Megan
♥ Print blocks with party hats from Berlin 1912 catalogue
♥ Tattered doll dress
♥ Cut-out of log I made for my bee-log logo
♥ Labradorite and cuttlefish bone ring Francesca made for me
♥ Ermine tail
♥ Necklace I made with white jade moth and black pearls
♥ My favorite found photograph ever of a girl who I wish
would be my best friend if she were alive, or if I had lived then.
♥ Victorian calling card with carnation
♥ Photobooth strip of Colin and I making scary faces
♥ Khamsa earrings on peacock stand
♥ Maja perfume flamenco dancer doll toppled over in the back.

Near my drawing table:
♥ Wooden photo album, a wonderful hexmas gift from Colin’s brother and sister-in-law
♥ Magic lantern slide depicting wolves, goats, and a dog riding on a happy deer.
♥ Porcelain framed picture of my mama and me
♥ Cheerful Biscuits tin, my favorite- from my mother
♥ some pretty ribbon with ladies on it

On top of the filing cabinet:
♥ Falling-apart Victorian Album
♥ Stereoscopic card (birthday gift from Don Weir) depicting taxidermist’s
(or furrier’s) insane wonderland a la Caligula. Detail soon, promise.
♥ Mug of brushes, scissors etc. from Miss Misket years ago
♥ Various language vocabulary cards and dictionary, Russian and Spanish

♥ Deer leg found on the side of the road in the desert (maybe Utah?)
♥ Chambord bottle from the liquor cabinet of an ancient old woman in New Orleans,
I stayed in her mansion in the Garden District the first time I ever went to Mardi Gras
when I was 15. The house was filled to the brim with freaks trying on all her fancy hats,
drinking her Vandermint and moldy cordials and dancing to Ween in the kitchen.
♥ Rose Pastilles tin decorated with pearls and beautiful secrets inside
♥ Wonderful books, passed down generations and gifted:
✶ Schott’s Original Miscellany
✶ Two of the three Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedias
✶ The Complete Gypsy Fortune Teller
✶ The Space Child’s Mother Goose
✶ A Country Doctor’s Common Sense Health Manual
✶ The Oracle Within
✶ Encyclopaedia Anatomica
✶ Up In The Old Hotel
✶ Rootabaga Stories
✶ The Strange Case of Mrs. Annie Spragg
✶ Mysteries and Romances of the World’s Greatest Occultists
✶ Origin and Metamorphoses of Insects
✶ Topsy Turvy World
✶ Fabian and Phil
✶ Yugoslav Short Stories
✶ The Spice-Box of Earth
✶ Goya – Black Paintings

Here’s what I was up working on for my friend’s project,
for which we were asked to design a dress for a woman who inspired us.
My lady is an albino princess who walks between worlds and guards the spirits
of lost, endangered and imaginary animals. Her symbols are the white rose,
the tiny silver heart and the crescent moon. Her favorite hour is rosy twilight.
Her dress is made out of purest black-hole tulle and supernova chiffon.
Her jacket is made from melted glacier velvet and fluorescent forest moss,
and embroidered with totems of her beloved creatures.
Her name is unpronounceable in any language.
While making this, and eating chocolate and staring at all my piles of things,
I listened to a BBC Radio DJ set from Bjork in 1998, which I found thanks to Lau!
We were apparently obsessed with the same Nico and Meredith Monk songs
at the exact same time, ah! Eleven years ago? Bizarre.
Tracklist:
Nico – Le Petit Chevalier
Nico – My Only Child
Aphex Twin – Come To Daddy (Little Lord Faulteroy Mix)
Sähkö – Track 1
Black Dog – Chesh
Tuhai Merz Sanam – I Will Always Love You
Mangal Singh Sud Amor – Unknown
Oval – Do While
Meredith Monk – Gotham Lullaby
Northern Circuits – Track 3
Aphex Twin – Afx 6/B
Oval – Shop In Store
Matmos – Three Guitar Lessons
Sähkö – Track 7
Michael Jackson – We’re Almost There
Space Age Pop – Track 11
Aphex Twin – Logan Rock Witch
Arvo Part – Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Public Enemy – Rebel Without A Pause