April Artist’s Dates
In April I started taking Artist’s Dates really seriously, reserving my Tuesdays for them each week. Here’s a little recap of places I went and things I did that kept my inspiration cup full this month.
Tuesday, April 4th
The first Tuesday of the month happened to be my birthday and I had the day off work to enjoy it. It was one of the first sunny days in a long time even though it wasn’t quite what you’d call warm. I got my nails done (painted my toes an electric orange) and then went up to the mall to get a perfume I’d been saving for. Byredo Eleventh Hour. This year I’ve been really into fragrances and have enjoyed sampling different ones and comparing their notes on Fragrantica. I find fragrance really inspiring and it’s fun to find new signature scents. I like unisex, warm, herbaceous, and woody scents. Eleventh Hour is woody, fruity, with a spicy undertone that makes it really unique. After I got my perfume I got some cupcakes from Sprinkles, my favorite being the Vanilla cupcake. It was a great day and I came home with even more perfume samples to try.
Tuesday, April 11th
On this day I went on a super special Artist’s Date. I went to check out the Deadly Prey movie poster exhibition at Trash Lamb Gallery. The posters are all hand painted by a group of 10 Ghanaian artists who create these surreal and absurd versions of the movie where things come straight from a bizarro universe. We got the full tour from the curator and he took us through an entire stack of the posters. There were a few original posters that dated from the 1980s when a group of artists would paint movie posters for a traveling movie theater. The artists would not have the opportunity to see the film before creating the posters and relied on photos and verbal summaries to create the work. That is why they are often so weird. There were many of my favorite movies like River’s Edge, Alien, Species, Kids, Boogie Nights, Good Fellas, and of course a whole bevy of horror films. Some were very accurate to the film and the actors while others were so strange, outlandish, and creepy. As you can see from my photos, they’re really fun to look at.
Tuesday, April 18th
This Tuesday I intended to go to the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park after work because it was Residents Free day, but the garden was closed early which was disappointing. I decided to make the best of it and grab a coffee at the Artifact Cafe and walk around some of the nature trails in the park. I also headed to my top-secret spot in the park to enjoy the sun and blooming flowers. I like my particular spot because it feels like hiding in plain sight. You can hear people in the dog park and hear the traffic of the 163 but the spot is very isolated and no one ever really goes there. I dictated some notes about the experience in my phone which has become a new favorite activity. I’ll use the notes for some upcoming writing.
Tuesday, April 25th
This Tuesday I took a really low-key Artist’s Date after work. I decided to take my digital camera and go for a walk around Mission Hills and snap some photos. I love walking around the historic neighborhood and going down in Maple Canyon, which as you might guess is full of wildflowers and daisies growing almost as high as your head. I noticed that a house I’ve always loved has come up for sale. It’s a huge, old Southern-style house that is a bit dilapidated but I love it’s California vibe. I’m still learning to use my digital camera so it’s fun to just goof around taking photos of nature and interesting architecture. I think I will use the photos to create something on an upcoming Artist’s Date in May.
I hope you enjoyed reading this recap of my April Artist’s Dates. It’s something I really enjoy doing and I am committed to doing more of. I have a whole list of potential ideas for Artist’s Dates. Should I share them here?
