Andrea Minini

Andrea Minini is an Italian artist and graphic designer who uses Adobe Illustrator to produce these playful minimalist vector images. Minini calls this series Animals in Moiré. Moiré is defined as s visual effect that appears when a series of lines or dots is superimposed over another such set of differing size, angle or spacing. 

Prints by Minini are available at her Behance site, as well as at My Modern Met.

Marina Cano

Marina Cano is a nature photographer who takes photographs of wild animals. Her adventures have taken her to various countries in Africa and Europe to photograph animals in their natural element. She takes the majority of these photos at national parks and on wildlife safaris, including in the Cabarceno national park in her native Spain. Her black-background photos are taken in man-made shelters that the animals sometimes occupy to hide from the weather; they are not studio photos.

More Love

LOVE!

Dr. Freud's Kit is Coming Together

I have ordered 100 boxes and have some of the parts of the kit at the printers already. Most of the component parts need vetting by Dwight who is my partner in this exercise. I am excited to see how we can build this little enterprise into a revenue generator for Chris & Dwight's Play Fund.

THE Summer Weekend in Vancouver

It starts on Friday night. 
The street my condo overlooks is closed to traffic for the block party of the summer: Pride. I have never partaken in this event as I don't drink and don't like crowds but Steve wanted to go, so off we went. And I loved it. I stayed in one place, back against the wall and people by the thousands streamed past me, very close to me, and going in both directions. But I felt totally invisible and I loved it.  Seeing so many diverse people in such good spirits so close was a thrill.

Saturday
Davie Street is a circus. They have put up permanent LED lights that do all kinds of things including lighting up the entire gay village in rainbow coloured lights. All Saturday is a party. I walked the Seawall.

Saturday night was the Fireworks and this was the best ever, in the history of the Festival of Fire here. It was done by a Japanese team and it was the most spectacular display I have ever seen—perfectly times, beautifully curated musically and elegant.

Sunday
The Pride Parade was sensational. Barely any gaps and extraordinary weather. It was just amazing to see my community and the values we were the first to trumpet—acceptance and diversity—so now a part of mainstream culture. It was a mass of humanity.

First some natural beauty.
The parade is on streets full of gardens.

Stanley Park is NEVER to be taken for granted.
On the way to the Fireworks.

The first memorial I have ever seen on the Seawall.

Pride Weekend

This is my new mandala. It is a 36" diameter rug made of little balls of felted wool. 
They are dyed with vegetable dyes and hand-stiched together. 
It is the perfect accent to my felted wool green wall.

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Phase One: We met at the beach and I was instantly, deeply in love in a way that hurt. I carried his photo around with me as life support.

Phase Two: After a year of long-distance dating, he moved to Vancouver and we set up life together. The honeymoon lasted, for me, a long time.

Phase Three: Ennui.

Phase Four: Separation after 14 years. We did it right; with a mediator and each of us as concerned with the other as with ourself.

Phase Five: The first two years after our separation was, HELL. Steve spent year two in Italy. We could not see each other, but we remained close and stayed in constant touch on the phone and by email.

Phase Six: I get AIDS; he becomes my best friend. We vacation together often and on one vacation together in India, I feel more love for him than I have ever felt before.  Every time he leaves is like breaking up again.

Now: He was just here for a week but there are no more tears when he leaves. Instead, I am relieved to see him go because although we are still compatible as left and right gloves, he has evolved in a direction opposite very different than mine. I like the very quiet and solitary life and he is a frenzy of partying and people; he is never alone.

His current, Tim, was here too. Gentle Tim is a mediating influence and he is good company. A week of so many people is overwhelming for me and today will be a day of quiet, solitary recovery. YES! And by tonight, I will be wanting to relive our visit with Steve on Skype.