sophia’s travel by night

 Since the Covid Pandemic shut down of 3/2020, most of us have had a big shift in life. We’ve definitely have to adapt to living differently. SF became eerily quiet. The world came to a standstill. When shelter in place and work from home happened last year, we had just adopted an 8 week old puppy from Family Dog rescue. It was a lot to deal with because our cat took an immediate dislike. The 4 of us crammed into our tiny 1 bedroom condo was just too much stress, especially since we didn’t know the first things about raising such a young puppy. After a few weeks of me hiding in the closet to think while Kirk’s on constant zoom meetings, and out cat only comes out at night, which means no sleep for me, I’ve had it. Solution? We packed up and drove to my dad’s vacation house in the desert.  The freeway was empty of cars except for trucks. Bathrooms at res tops and gas stations or anywhere along the way were all shut down. It was so different. When we arrived, it was with such se...

my art practice. since 2007 when I decided to come back to painting, I've been happily working, never doubting what I'm doing is the correct choice. now, 10 years later. am I still on the right track? I'm beginning to wonder. is it a LARK? . is making art and wanting it to b my full time life a LARK? I'm not sure how I want to take this remark. I can think it positive, as in I'm a lark-like artist and not think too much. however, once said and heard, it's tunneled into my heart, creating doubt in my mind about my art practice. is it all a lark? what a double meaning word! in my studio, all the shiny brightness of my conviction has desaturated a bit. my paintings doesn't look so good anymore. I feel lost. do I continue on this path?

it's 2017. how time flies by each year. the next thing i know, i'll b reaching my 48th bday in oct! a lot has happened since my last blog post. i mean, A LOT... last may, i wasn't even feeling the election year thing at all. but then, donald trump jumped out of nowhere and actually became the nominated candidate for the republican party! i know in SF, everyone i knew became nervous that he may have the chance to beat hilary clinton. i even volunteered at her hq to do texting, to try to get ppl out there to go vote. in the end, only 54% of eligible voters voted :( and the sad end of 2016 was that trump is going to b our next president :(  how can this b? i was so depressed, i think most of citizens of SF were depressed. i woke up the next day hoping it would all go away. alas, it's not. i cannot even watch or listen to any kind of news now, because he's out there being a man-baby, twitting away and being the most annoying person out there.

according to artist guidebook, i need to keep a blog. i had stopped blogging for a while now, just because twitter/ Instagram/ Facebook sort of took over this process. and this online social media thing just takes up so much time to manage, let alone i still have to apply to all sorts of artist calls, etc. i just end up spending all my time here, buried by the computer stuff! so i'm blogging again. maybe? instead of starting all over with a new blog, i will pick up where i left off with "travel by night" and turn this into my art-like blog. or try.

i picked up A rt Inc by Lisa Congdon from the library. and her first advise is for me to declare. I am an Artist. this is important, because for me, i've always thought the statement is quite pompous. but she's right, i've been an artist for all of my life, why shouldn't i embrace it. so, on this blog that i've not written in forever, i'm stating this fact. admit it to myself. yay!

it's been a long time since i've posted here. after a while, i find it tough to manage so many social medias. kind of wish it's all linked up somehow. as many friends have known or seen, i've been participating on #the100dayproject on instagram since march. i had been wanting to focus more on my art in the past years, but have always gotten distracted by everything in life. i've not been the most productive artist around. then this year, after elle luna's inspiring talk on creative mornings in SF, i was determined to get my act together. this online world of artists helped kept me going. i've done 100 watercolors and now i'm onto 100 drawings for coloring book project. i'm at 183 as of today. for someone who used to produce 5 paintings a year on average, this is strangely productive for me. i'm really happy to say. it's an exercise to get me to just make, i'm not over-thinking things or worrying what the discourse on painting is out t...

today, we watched 2 documentary films on artist and their moment.   Ai Wei Wei: NEVER Sorry and Marencol 2 very different artists on very different subjects on 2 diff continents. but each has something to say... b it social or personal. they r all saying something important. something that resonates within each of us. aiweiwei is on the grand scale of social and political issues. in ths country and other "western" ones, we r not so appreciative of our personal freedom. nor r we so aware. cuz  it's something we really have taken for granted. there isn't an imminent threat that if we tweet about our opinions, ther is an highly likely chance we might "disappear" or b house-arrested. i'm very touched by this film and how much it's shared to me of an artist i like but hasn't in-depth knowledge of. i first chanced upon his sunflower seeds exhibit at the Tate Modern.  and i had thought, wow, what an amazing guy. here is an artist with a lot to ...

it's been a long long time since i've written anything down... too many thoughts to figure out. emotions i can't pinpoint. ever since the failed ivf, i mean, a complete failure that even the dr suggested not going further, i've not known what to write, how to put down how i felt exactly. and then, ther'r the ppl that r ever encouraging, suggesting this dr n other dr they hv known  frnd's hv used n had success at. or other suggests that once it's over, i'd get pregnant without even trying. it's been nearly 1/2 yr now. i think the fact is, there's not gonna b a child. n now, i just hv to deal with it. i think the worst part is, i can't help the inner feeling of jealousy n envy whenever i hear another frnd or someone nearby getting pregn left-n-rt. it's a feeling i've had to suppress cuz it isn't a good feeling. i don't want to end up being one of those women who hate or gets jaded. i mean, nvr thought ths was in my plans, that ...

Gotan Project au casino de Paris : Initié à la fin des années 1990 par le programmateur français Philippe Cohen Solal et les musiciens Christop H. Müller (Suisse) et Eduardo Makaroff (Argentin...

this is the write-up for my artist statement n bio for my show in nov.  PERIPHERAL : FEATURING WORK BY SOPHIE LEE November 3, 2011 6:00pm - November 29, 2011 5:00pm Pearl Gallery & Framing 1017 NW Davis St. Portland, OR 97209 Pearl Gallery & Framing is very pleased to host Peripheral, an exhibition of the work of Sophie Lee. Painting calligraphic-style, incorporating pods and seeds from the natural world into her work, she expresses in simple strokes a life both optimistic and rooted in a long cultural history, with composition intended to remove the clutter and offer a sweeping line of focus. Lee directs our attention to details that are all too easy to overlook. This show is a collection of Sophie Lee's exquisite paintings based on her Peripheral series and includes original acrylic paintings on glass, acrylic paintings on canvas, original ink drawings and a unique media of natural elements (seeds and pods) curated into shadow-boxes and embe...

woke up this morning n the the uncomfort in my tummy area came back to me. o right, i had surgery. tht was  this past friday, i went in to the dr's office for a very small surgery (removing the eggs from my ovaries), yet it still requires a full   body  anesthesia . it's the strangest sensation, being in a hospital bed, u r being wheeled around. the perspective from ther is so.."this is not me n wher i am supposed to b" sensation. the nurses n drs r really nice n gentle with u. they try to explain every single thing they r doing, then they show u the little needle with the drugs n say, "now we'r going to inject u with this" n b4 u kno it, ur lite r turned out. everything else that happens during tht time, u r not a participant of, at least u hv no memories of it. the time btwn tht n when u wake up can b really long or just a mere few hrs, but the anesthesia screwed it all up for u, cuz it's all lost. to me, it was just a mere flash. i woke up, n som...

this video by vanessa marzaroli of blind, is what i've always envisioned my paintings would b like animated. one day, i will get around to do this... luv this. this article on the theory of new media art is also very interesting, talking about the time in-btwn.

i hv abt 6 embryos growing on 1 side n 8 on the other. a little slower than normal, guess i'm just a late-comer

remember i had submitted a pc n been selected in a juried show ? yes. that is starting tonite, the reception. but, it's 3 hrs drive south. i think i'll hv to pass on it. focus on my work n ivf. but here is the postcard from the show. un peu de pays, but ok. 

...that is what this woman, walking her dog, yelled at from across the street, as i was collecting these acorns from the curbside of the park. only in portland, will there b someone to tell u off abt anything, when it's none of their biz! n when i told her tht i only collect the tiny ones, she went off n said they even eat the tiny ones. then she babbled on some more which i cudn't hear from across the streets n on-coming cars, then i decided to ignore her.  n no, i didn't steal these from the squirrels. i collected most of these from the curbside n street sides. or from areas without squirrels such as parking lot, where they'r often crushed by the cars or ppl passing by. humans, do most of the damage anyways, to these acorns. whenever i walk past trees with these acorns falling off, it's normally the gardeners, city maintenance crew tht blow these off n cart them off as trash. anyhoo. i'm having a lot of fun collecting these acorns. they r so beautiful. it...

today, i'm not going to complain. i've a good life to start and i will keep up a good attitude about ths baby thing.

so i was with my acupuncturist, uma, the other day. n b4 she left me alone with the needles in me, she asked me to picture this... imagine tht i was a vessel n ready to receive this love for the baby that will grow inside me. and that all i have is love for this thing.... hmmmm. then the light flicked-on inside me. maybe, just maybe, all this talk of the baby, i just hadn't been feeling it? when i hold my kitty, i feel a lot of love n cuddliness for her. but... when i think about the possible invasion of a creature tht will take over my body (like aliens), feed off me, chg me, grow inside me, n then rip me apart so it can come out n take over my life... hmmmm. i shudder a bit. n maybe. maybe, this is why it hasn't happened for me, this whole baby thing. i just hadn't n cudn't wrap my mind around this whole thing. i guess ths is wht i need to work on, the inside of me need to feel like a vessel... well, something to chew on anyway.

this is a blog by brendon & akua in vancouver. they've built n moved into their new home recently. this is a small footprint house built in the other end of the yard of brendon's parents' house. it's really very green in the way it's built and of course, this is a proof that, who needs a huge house?

i spent nearly all of my life worried about getting pregnant. unplanned n unwanted pregnancy was constantly in the back of my head. i hadn't even thought of it as a big deal when my ob/gyn nurse warned me when i turned 36, tht it'll b difficult to hv a kid by tht age, n tht she was obligated to warn me by "law"!!! cuz baby was just never in my plans back then. i've been free as a bird.  then i turned 39 n got married. life plans sort of took a different turn when 1 has a partner who gets a say in my life now too. so we've been trying to hv ths baby. it's not too encouraging to learn tht altho i'm healthiest 41 (now nearly 42) yr old around me, my eggs r still 40+ yrs old... n that is, i guess, old. nothing like such a news to show u ur age, no matter how u look or feel. so now it's aug turning into sept, i can truly feel what ppl used to say, "the clock ticking away" damn, this used to b no big deal to me. age wasn't an obstacle at...

the following is the note of acceptance from an exhibit i submitted to earlier this summer. so far this year, i've been accepted to 4 juried shows. a couple of these r online. the following will b in roseburg, OR this sept. i've also had many rejections. this is the way it is with submissions i guess. i won't b discouraged.  hopefully, the November show in portland OR will b a way for me to connect with ppl more. maybe i can then put 2gether something for sf's gallery in the fall too. until then, i'll just keep painting. Dear art working friends – I know many of you have been eagerly awaiting the news concerning the 5 th Annual Hundred Valleys Exhibit results.  Tom Browning, this year's juror had 176 images to choose from.  Those whose works were selected are listed below.  If your name is not on the listing, keep working, keep submitting, never to be discouraged, "beauty IS in the eye of the beholder".  Here are some words from Tom Browning concer...