Masks /
San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico
August 2013
Another amazing handmade find in Mexico. I bought a hand painted fox mask for a couple of dollars. He’s now hanging out on my bedroom wall.
San Cristobal /
San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico
August 2013
Roma /
Roma, Italy
November 2013
Just kidding. Las Vegas, obvs.
Las Vegas /
Las Vegas, Nevada, outside my hotel
November 2013
60 hours in Las Vegas: airport, taxi, hotel bar, hotel room, taxi, business park, taxi, restaurant, casino, bar, taxi, hotel room, taxi, business park, taxi, restaurant, taxi, casino, hotel room, taxi, airport.
Maybe I will go back some day and experience what Las Vegas is like outside of cars and casinos and bars. The mountains looked real nice from my hotel room.
One Year Old /
Manhattan, NY
October 2013
Today this blog turned one. This year passed faster than it should have. But that’s how things go. My friends sometimes tell me they are inspired by how much I do (work hard at my day job, make art, play music, travel often) and how driven I am. Funny to other people how my life looks - but I want to do more, more, more.
Monique paid me a compliment this week: she said that I make things happen for myself. She said that I decide what I want to do and I work until I get it. I guess I have my parents to thank for this perseverance. Really, sticking to my guns is probably the number one skill I’ve needed to make headway with my art practice.
Bravery is maybe equally important. When my friends are making a difficult decision, I tell them: it’s better to regret something you did, than something you didn’t do. I truly believe this. Fortune favors the brave is something I tell myself when I am feeling terrified by pushing myself forward.
I moved to New York nearly two years ago, alone, and heartbroken from a recent ending. People say New York is tough and it chips away at you with its size and bustle. Every day I work hard and I do feel a little beat up by it. Every couple of months this feeling builds up in me that literally explodes in a massive crying fit. Really truly serious sobbing. I cry about leaving Melbourne, and missing my friends, I cry that I haven’t met two of my three nephews, and I tell myself my art career would be so much more established if I had stayed in Australia. And then after I’ve stopped crying I ask myself if I would still make the same decision and I know that I would.
El Primo /
San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico
August 2013
I want tacos and ice cream on a summers’ day.
San Juan Chamula /
Street vendors
San Juan Chamula, Mexico
August 2013
Some fruit and vegetable stands.
San Lorenzo Zinacantan /
Textiles
San Lorenzo Zinacantan, Mexico
August 2013
We spent one amazing day in Zinacantan and Chamula in the mountains of Chiapas. These two small villages are Mayan settlements with incredibly different culture and traditions despite being 7 kilometers apart. We went on a very small tour (the two of us were the only participants), guided by a lovely Mexican man named Alex who was on first name terms with just about everyone we met or passed in the car. One of my favorite experiences was visiting the home of Maria in San Lorenzo Zinacantan. Maria made all of these textiles on her back strap loom set up against a tree outside her house. The white dress with the purple embroidery and white chicken feather trim (top photo) is a wedding dress. It is just beautiful, so beautiful.
It was sort of magical the way that all the Mexicans we met were so warm to us and interested to share their way of life. Inside Maria’s home we were treated to freshly made blue corn tortillas and slow cooked beans. Maria’s life looked difficult, her home was very sparse. She had hurt her knee badly when she was younger and her knee still gives her trouble. I can’t imagine how painful it would be for her back to sit at a back strap loom all day. Yet her textiles are so incredibly beautiful and intricate and joyful. I wish I could have asked her if making her textiles brings her joy, and what she thinks about when she goes into that meditative state that you enter when you craft by hand for hours.
Baked goods /
Artisans Market
San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico
August 2013
Stating the obvious here, but trying new food is probably my number one interest when traveling. This counter piled high with cookies and baked goods was like a page pulled directly from a book of my fantasy encounters with food. So. Good. I can barely even look at this photo because it makes me wish I had tried more of them now that I can properly stare at every cookie and weigh it against the other members of its cookie family.
Johnny Depp /
Artisans Market, San Cristobal de las Casas
Mexico
August 2013
We chatted in half English/half Spanish to a teenage girl selling textiles at the artisans market in San Cristobal for a few minutes. She was watching Edward Scissorhands on this ancient black and white tv in her stall. She said she loves Johnny Depp and has watched it hundreds of times.
Coffee /
San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico
August 2013
Store front /
San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico
August 2013
Just a corner store with Dora the Explorer hand painted on the facade.
Cool Hat /
San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico
August 2013
Judging by the hat, I think it’s likely this man is totally awesome. I wish I could buy him a drink and ask him about his life.
Bugs /
San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico
August 2013
You should be able to make out at least three VW bugs in this photo. Jazz and I played punch buggy for four days in San Cristobal de las Casas and by the end of our stay my arm was really sore. I’m not sure why there are so many VW bugs in San Cris, but there were literally thousands. Probably every third or fourth car was a bug. It was kind of amazing. And painful.
Home in San Cristobal /
San Cristobal de las Casas
August 2013
I need a wide angle lens /
San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico
August 2013
On this trip I learned that it’s hard to capture a large building with a 50mm lens. I have never traveled with a prime lens before and I learned a good lesson. I will be investing in a wide angle lens before my next holiday!
Blues /
Oaxaca, Mexico
Some nice blues.
Eating in mexico /
20 de Noviembre Market
Oaxaca, Mexico
August 2013
Take me back to Mexico so I can eat at this food market again.
Ice cream /
Coppelia ice cream
Havana, Cuba
August 2013
Coppelia is a really, really popular state-run ice cream parlor in Vedado, Havana. Cubans line up down the block and around the corner to get ice cream here at pretty much any time of the day, even in the rain. Because this is Cuba, usually only a couple of flavors are available at any one time.
As foreigners, we were not allowed to dine in the main parlor. I’m not sure if this is because the parlor is government-owned and operated - it was never explained. We were promptly stopped and escorted by security to a special room for foreigners, off to one side and up some stairs, where we could eat ice cream at inflated tourist prices. There were no windows, only a few tables, one waiter taking orders and serving ice cream, while a television in the corner played local news. I’m not gonna lie, it was as depressing as it sounds.