The fish we didnt have at X-mas

Rainbow trout baked in salt crust with thyme and lemon.
This was one of the dishes i was suppose to do for x-mas, but everyone was too full on the day, so it was canceled. Well, here it is. It was really easy and tastes great. The fish was moist and just nice. Will definitely do this again.

X-mas degustation- Dessert

It's dessert time! We need to get a blast freezer to make Tammy's dessert work better. But it was still good. We finished all the ice cream quickly. Tina's cake was changed to bailey cake. It turned out well and was good. But after finding out what's in it (500g sugar and a stick of butter), I dont think i will want that again.

This concludes the second Praha drinking club meeting and x-mas desgustation 2010. 12 hours of eating and drinking, scrabble on iphones, blurays, pressies and fun.

X-mas degustation- Dinner

We all came back from our walk to start with Desmond's Turducken. Yes... the turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken and bacon stuffing. He was up the whole night deboning all the poultry, stuffing them and sewing them back together. This was the first thing that went into the oven when they came at around 1 plus pm. It cooked for around 4-5 hours

It was excellent! If I werent too full, i would have eaten much more. As we are all stuffed, we canceled the baked fish and moved on to the tenderloin steak, which i decided to place like a fruit. I thought it was cute. :)

X-mas degustation- lunch

Everything went well, we started a bit late for lunch with everyone starving and Samson serving everyone his Mojito in a bowl. The entree lasted til around 5pm with everyone too full to go on and have to have a break. So we all went out for a walk with the doggies before we move on to the mains for dinner.

X-mas Degustation 2010

Looking at the collage i have at home before x-mas, we decided to do a repeat of the Praha drinking party this year. Five years after the first one. All up there are seven of us and we've decided that everyone should cook something and pair it up with a drink. We will start at lunch time and finish late, spacing out each of the dishes over 12 hours.... hmm.... this will be fun. Here's what we had, pictures will come soon. Hehe, i created little icons for each person's name So the cook for each dish has the cook's name icon and are also on the christmas tree.

James Jean: Kindling

Yes! JJ just had an excellent first solo exhibition. I wish i was there in New York to see those huge eerie, ghostly, deformed little kids making play. Susan Sarandon was there too. Well, since i wasnt there, i cant say much about it, but from the Jonathan LeVine Gallery Website, everything looks fantastic. Seems like doing cover art for fables have influences JJ's growth and style. I dont really know where he is going with the new abtract-ee work, i hope something good comes out of those. Since i probably would never to be able to afford any of his original work, i bought a print. yeah! and it is already here.

I am no art expert... wiki's all to blame

Just wanted to clarify, I did not make up the word "lowbrow". This is what Wiki defines Lowbrow as describes an underground visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles, California, area in the late 1970s. Lowbrow is a widespread populist art movement with origins in the underground comix world, punk music, hot-rod street culture, and other subcultures. Artist like Mark Ryden (the scary girl print YY has at home), James Jean, Gary baseman, Glenn barr and many others would lie in this category.

As for fantastic contemporary art, it is also a category made famous by artist like Frank Frazetta and many other illustrators that focuses on fantasy and sci-fi art. This category features more of the art produced for the industry, thus more illustrator than fine artist related.

i think it would be very hard to compare lowbrow artists work, for example, Amy sol vs Audrey. Completely different style. But both are still japanese manga related. Obviously Tina prefers the erotic elements of Audrey's work more. And i enjoy the cuteness of the work Amy sol creates within her surreal pieces.

But when it comes to buying work, i would prefer James Jean's work and not Audrey or Amy. I so wish that i could fly to New York just for his exhibition next year.... sigh.....

Todd Lockwood

Todd Lockwood is the master in digital work for fantastic/sci-fi art. I've got two of his prints and my fav is the one he did for some tattoo people, War of Angels. Though done digitally, the details are amazing. Would have been really painful if this was a real tattoo. I just found one of his newer landscape-ee work and thought it is fantastic, Quofum (below). I love the color, the lighting how the forest is dense, but still colorful and appealing.

I think ultimately, i still love fantastic contemporary-themed art than low-brow art.

Amy Sol

Someone different in style from Audrey. Though very cartoon-y and looks digital, her work is done with watercolor and mix of other medium. She also works on wood grained/bamboo. I love how her work is so dreamy. And her little pandas are my fav.

So... who is hotter?

Audrey Kawasaki (Jap) or Amy sol (Korean)

Audrey Kawasaki is so HOT!

Audrey just released a new print on her website today. I have been planning for this day for the past weekend, setting up timers, leaving memos on my phone. I was going to get this print for my sister. Although it is not something i usually spend my money on, but i think Audrey's work is very interesting. Erotic. Manga. Anyway, i went online at work 25 mins before 1 pm (6pm 16th November LA). Granted my work internet was a little slow, but 20 seconds later, i clicked purchase... this is what i got.... " Sorry sold out" !!!!! in less than 20 sec this girl sold 115 prints. talk about HOT!

13Orphans all ready

It has been a while since i received this painting and with all the problems with it, i finally got it framed. This time i brought it to a gallery to be framed, Charles Hewitt at Darlinghurst. Apparently, some moist paper and iron will be sufficient to fix the bend on the painting. Anyway, here it is.. Thirteen Orphans, a book by Jane lindskold, and cover art by the very talented Sam Weber.