I Dreamt of Things...

Last night was a weird one. I had three disconcerting dreams...

1. Matt and I came home to a house we lived in. Inside was a long, dark black cobra coiled up waiting to strike. It chased us out of our house and we sat in the car as it stared at us from the outside.

2. As I placed some papers on the bed, a spider came crawling out. Matt kept trying to catch it but it was too quick. Finally, its belly swelled up to the size of a basketball and exploded all over everything.

3. I was in an airport trying to get home. There was a strange trolley system — it was like a train of grocery carts with seats that carried people around the airport. I was pregnant, but I didn’t want to be. I sat on my little cart jerking down the tracks, waiting to arrive at my destination so I could go home ... but there was no destination. I had nowhere to go. (p.s. I’m not actually pregnant, thank goodness!)

Matt’s Photos of Downtown L.A.

Downtown Los Angeles from the roof (14th floor) of the Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC).

Matt came with me last week when I had a business trip to Los Angeles. We stayed right in downtown at the L.A. Athletic Club. I always love having him accompany me on my work trips, because we get together with friends and we usually get to go hiking in the Angeles National Forest.

Looking southwest from the roof (14th floor) of the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
The purple light is coming from Staples Center and L.A. Live.

The L.A. Athletic Club has a rooftop area where people can go hang out (though from all appearances, it seemed like no one had been up there in a while). Matt got the great idea to go up there one foggy night and photograph the city. These images are beautiful!

Check out more of Matt McGrath’s photos here.

Rachell Sumpter’s Touching Eskimo Drawings

Finery. 11x14 inches. Pastel and guache on paper.

I was in Los Angeles last weekend with my friend Camille, and we spent a lot of time checking out the local art scene. The most memorable work I saw was created by Rachell Sumpter. These drawings of Eskimo scenes are so quietly touching — most of the drawings are no more than 11x14 inches, and the figures are often only about 3/4" tall.

The painting above is my favorite. It’s melancholy is punctuated by brightly-colored litter strewn througout the sea as this Eskimo tries to canoe through the water.

Go Wild. 13x21 inches. Pastel and guache on paper.

Igloo. 11x14 inches. Pastel and guache on paper.

Volcanites. 10x12.5 inches. Pastel and guache on paper.