Papercut: Sara's Wedding Present!

Recently my friend Sara got married, and so it was epic wedding present times! Sara loves {and is very good at} hand drawn type, so I knew this had to have some letterforms going on in her honor. I decided to try a large {18 x 24 in—the biggest I could carry framed on a bus to Sara-land} paper-cut experiment, and picked the verse she had on her save the date cards. I drew it out in pencil, did a wax transfer to the back of a large sheet of white drawing paper, redid the wax transfer because I forgot to flop it, and then cut out the drawing with my trusty little knife in one hand and my trusty little magnifying glass in the other. The red you're seeing is another sheet of paper that I mounted it on. 

Here's what the whole thing looked like:

And here go some more glamour shots {a surprisingly enjoyable part of the process}:

And here's what it looks like framed, with a friend helpfully providing some reference for the scale.

Yes. Yes, I do skateboard. What?

If there is one area of my life that consistently evokes double-takes from strangers and friends alike, it is definitely my affinity for skateboarding. I suppose it is a logical response, given that I completely lack an edgy personality, youthfulness, manhood, and basic coordination, all of which seem to be highly correlated with standing on a moving wooden oblong with wheels on it. But alas, my love of things with wheels supersedes my fear of death and/or being a public spectacle, and so every so often you will find me merrily cruising along the Hudson river on my Earthwing longboard, trailed by the stares of strangers and the confused howling of dogs. (Dogs, for some reason, seem to be universally freaked out by humans on skateboards. Something about it blows their furry little minds, and they, without fail, snap into an angry + noisy chase as soon as they see me. I have not yet been caught, but I have almost died of surprise several times.)

 Due to the aforementioned lack of friendship between my brain and limbs, I can’t do any of the cool things you think of when you picture skateboarding—there are definitely no wheelies, ollies, or kickflips going on here—but I can maneuver the thing over some distance and around curves on relatively flat surfaces without incurring significant hospital bills. I initially learned in college from my awesome boarding-friend Janelle, but I didn’t get good (I use that term loosely) until I moved to NYC and my bike got stolen. I needed something to get me out of the tiny, dark, mushroom-infested box I was living in at the time, and my adventures, filled with a lot of falling and then furiously chasing my board so it wouldn’t roll off the ledge and into the river, provided me with a hobby that I still enjoy quite a bit.

This originally appeared as a post for The Wheelhouse Review

Craig-Cake

Yesterday was my friend Craig's birthday! The little pink polka-dotted bubble-kid is his daughter Avily, who loves both her daddy and dessert. :)

Amanda ventures into her own backyard

Today I set out on a daring quest to brave the hordes of tourists and walk my street all the way to the other side of Manhattan, and look what I found at the other end! A MAGICAL BRIDGE INTO WONDERLAND!!! I guess all those tourists in midtown are really just because they ran out of trolls.

I live pretty much on the Hudson river, and have never been further east than 5th ave on my street, which is exactly where the East/West divide is. In journeying to the other side {which feels like the other city}, I discovered that I live on the very same street as Rockefeller Plaza + Skating Rink, the Waldorf-Astoria, Saks 5th Ave, and the UN headquarters! Who knew? Well, I kind of knew, but I didn't realize, you know? Ha. The journey river to river takes about 45 minutes, or a bit longer if you stop randomly to take pictures of pretty things... 

...like this mini-plaza. I tend to not find much in the heart of midtown photogenic, but I am fascinated with the occasional spaces between skyscrapers. The light and space can be so interesting in these little nooks and crannies. 

This building is striking, isn't it? Not pretty—kind of sinister looking, in fact—but striking.

Now here's some pretty. I've walked by this door almost every day for three years, and I finally took its picture {the gate is never open when the light is right!}.

There was something about this scene I found exceedingly charming. The late afternoon light was particularly lovely here, and you can't go wrong with ball-plants. 

Super cute, although the light was doing something weird here that I can't get my head around.

But what was on the other side of the magical bridge, you ask? 

Well, not wonderland, as it turns out.

Sandwiched between FDR drive and the East river is a teeny little stretch of pavement with a couple of benches, for the poor East siders to stretch out and enjoy the view whilst they bask in the bucolic sound of 7 lanes of traffic.

But I did see a tugboat! I heart tugboats.

Also, these awesome rusty steps. So prettyyyyy.

And this funny building. 

"You get an apartment with a river view, you get an apartment with a river view, you get an apartment with a river view, YOU ALL GET AN APARTMENT WITH A RIVER VIEW!!!"

UNICOW!!!

* Unicow: a mutant mythical creature born when the overwhelming desire to draw a unicorn mates with an even stronger desire to avoid figuring out how to draw a horse. Revered in the middle ages as a symbol of laziness. Eats grass, poops rainbows and sparkles. Capable of flight, but at sub-unicorn speeds. Its legendary horn contains the power to heal sickness, end wars, and increase internet download speeds, but the docile animal is also commonly raised as livestock for its cereal flavored milk and happiness flavored hamburgers.

This originally appeared as a post for The Wheelhouse Review

Friendly Friend Flowers

Last weekend was my friend Lisa's birthday; I made her this card with my favorite watercolor paper. I cut the flowers out of the front with my trusty little knife and was going to put a color inside, but the light was playing off the white on white in such a surprisingly sweet way {the photos don't do it justice at all} that I left the shadows alone to to the work. I think I am becoming more and more interested with the way that light interacts with these cut paper things; it's uniquely dynamic and integral. I haven't yet found a way to display them that I think does this justice though. Stay tuned.