why does the virgin have 8 arms?

MAHARIA

esther was telling us about how in 19th century california, men from india were marrying mexican women. there were laws against brown people marrying white people*, but indian-mexican marriage was ok. they had similar material cultures (chilis, rotis, household altars, etc.) so one would think it would work out beautifully. but sometimes it didn’t, and we were picturing a terrible argument starting with “honey, why does the virgin have eight arms?”

*‘These marriages were more than a matter of individual choice, however, for the fact was that miscegenation laws prohibited marriages across racial lines in California until 1948 [<---OMG!! --ed.]. Most California county clerks saw the Punjabi men as colored, or “brown,” the word they used most often on the marriage license to describe the men’s race. Thus the women the Punjabis married also had to be perceived as “brown,” and that generally meant women of Mexican ancestry.’

origami paper planes

wheeeee! it’s sunny in san francisco. could it be possible that i don’t need the heater on when i go to bed tonight? here are some celebratory origami paper planes. the original is for sale, click here for the listing.

postcards: moths, daisies, trike!

i got some postcards made of a couple tea paintings! 3 for $5, one to keep and two to send. click on the pictures above to go to their listings.

i’m hoping to do a few more of these in the near future, and maybe a few mixed sets. look at those hip rounded corners!!! eheh. man, i wonder if in 50 years that will stylistically mark them as turn of the century etsy postcards.

the backs look like this:

mutantly delicious!

(click through to the etsy listing for biggerer)

i like the colors in this print a lot. there is something very satisfying to me about the combination of navy blue, green, yellow and red (the red is a bit more stable and dark than in the picture). i wonder if anybody will want this one, though? it is a bit on the creepy side of my usual creepy-cute.

julia pastrana: singer, dancer, & bearded lady

for my beards series… let’s not forget the ladies, eh?

Julia Pastrana
Charles Darwin described her thusly: “a remarkably fine woman – she had a thick and masculine beard.” a charming person and graceful dancer with a beautiful voice, julia toured the world as a bearded lady in the mid-1800s.

2nd edition!

plummy evening-colored nocturnal now for sale.

these came about because i’m making some greeting cards out of three of my gocco pictures for the museum of craft and folk art store(!!!) here in san francisco. i finished printing up their nocturnal order and the screen was still happy, so i ended up printing a bunch of 2nd editions. i’ll probably put up some cards for sale on etsy once i figure out packaging stuff.

two more sets of cards to go! i’ll probably print up some mutant strawberries next, though. but i’m still working on what colors should go on what layer. you know, the usual gocco confusion.

moths — done!

i like it. time to mail! good bye little moths!

spanish moon moth, malaysian moon moth, luna moth, hyalophora euryalus, io moth, and the very rare and mysterious japonica origamii moths.

moths and fascinators

almost done! these were taken yesterday, today i was outlining. hmm… i wonder if people would be interested in a smallish moon moths tea painting.

of course there is time to stop and mess with a fascinator.

moth delivers a message / unexplained on your collar / a simple excuse

think think think.

mutants!

i ate a strawberry that had a nose the other day, and it made me have a think on a new print.

looking at hordes of these on flickr gives one a strange squicky feeling.