Portraits of Nouns
Portraits of Nouns - drawing in a pandemic (working title)
Wendy Murray - Wendy Murray is an illustrator currently living between Sydney (AUS) & Los Angeles (USA).
Book design by Ann Suerto. Ann is a Los Angeles based designer, specializing in typography for book design. An ArtCenter graduate, Ann was the recipient of the prestigious HMCT: Fellowship in 2020 and assisted the Typographers-in-Residence and HMCT staff in research and documentation. Ann designed the fantastic catalog based on findings and work of the Typographers-in-Residence.
Writing by David A. Greene. David A. Greene has been a contributing editor for Dwell and Frieze, a regular contributor to Artforum and the New Yorker, and (as Dave Greene) has written and produced many hours of American television. This is his first catalogue essay since producing his latest work, an American teenager.
Portrait photography by Kenneth Brown Jr.
Kenneth Brown, Jr. is a visual artist from Venice, California who works with a variety of 2D media, including painting, drawing, printmaking and photography. His work explores elements and patterns of the urban landscape, in particular the visual dialog that occurs between the human environment and the natural world.
Australia/NZ Release Date: August 2021
USA Release Date: September 2021
All drawings are original works of art. Works are signed & dated on the back. 4.7 x 6.3 in (16 x 12cm), ink pen & gouache on archival museum board.
All works drawn on 100% cotton, acid-free, archival museum board (2ply or 4ply).
©2021 Wendy Murray
TRAVEL TO L.A. ✈️
Introduction
I moved to L.A in 2019. On the 10th of March, 2020, I flew back to Australia for 6 weeks – for a residency, exhibition and to pack and collect the last of my poster archive. I touched down in Sydney at 6am, Thursday 12 of March.
From midnight on Sunday 15th of March, Australia's prime minister ordered a 14-day mandatory self-isolation for anyone arriving in the country. At 9pm Friday, 20 of March 2020, the Australian boarders closed to all non-citizens and non-residents. On the same day, Newsom all Californians were ordered to shelter in place, until further notice. By the 3rd of April, all my future work & projects in California and Hawaii were cancelled or postponed indefinitely. It took me 10 months to get back home to L.A.
– Wendy Murray, Illustrator.
12:22PM Tuesday 19 January 2021 Auckland International Airport. Flying from Sydney to LAX was pretty strange. I spent 7 hrs in a weird transit lounge in New Zealand, with 4 other folks on their way to USA. Auckland International Airport was incredibly quiet... kinda spooky.
📍Location: Auckland International Airport.
↓ VENICE 🏝 ↓
4:27PM FRIDAY 22 JANUARY
Venice. It ‘s raining in California !
I needed to get to the bank. Both my account & credit card were maxed out & I needed to deposit some cash. I didn’t want to UBER. So, I borrowed an umbrella from the neighbors, (yes, I don’t own one ☂) & walked the 2.9 miles to the bank. The umbrella was too small. Then I walked the 2.9 miles back. Now I know why Missing Persons wrote that song 🎶 Nobody walks in L.A.
📍Location: Cnr Lincoln & Washington
3:53PM Tuesday 2 February
Venice. I got ☕️ up earlier this morning, to get a drawing done before I met friends for a distanced, masked, walk down the Boardwalk. I’ve a couple of friends who live here. Their Venice is the Venice of the 60s, 70s & 80s. Their Venice is folks like Earl Newman, Rip Cronk… Venice Café West. I wonder if there were as many homeless / temporary homes on the beach back then?
📍Location: End of Rose Ave, Venice Beach
11:55AM Saturday 6 February
Venice. 🌊 Looking 🌴 across from Speedway, to three palms and the ocean. I wanted to write something profound about how quickly a city changes, the loss of cultural heritage, the loss of unique architecture, or something like that. But it’s Sunday morning & I’m feeling tired & not in the mood to write. Always happy to draw, but not always happy to write!
📍Location: Speedway
10:01AM Tuesday 9 February
Venice. 📍 This is on the corner of Speedway & Rose, Venice. #covidtimes
6:39PM Wednesday 10 February
Venice. 🍀 That’s right - it’s legal here! 🍕
📍Location: Cnr 17th & Pacific Ave, Venice
12:05PM Monday 15th February
Venice. 🦒 I long for you 🦒
12:19PM Thursday 18 February
Venice. 💵 I wish I’d found this $5 on the ground. I used to find the odd dollar here & there in Sydney. Once, just after I’d won the Green Card & was anxiously waiting for my interview, I found a quarter in the middle of the road. In Sydney! Victoria Street - outside Trop - for those of you who know the area. I was with my friend @brendatyeart . We took it as a sign that I’d one day live in the U.S. & that it would all be OK. I’ve found a few pennies in Venice – heads up for luck! 🍀
📍Location: Dudley Ave, Venice
4:10PM Sunday 21 Feb 2021
Venice. 🧩 Found the final piece of the puzzle on Speedway this morning.
📍Location: Speedway, Venice
11:01AM Tuesday 23 February
Venice. 🌴It’s not all palm trees & sunsets here. I was thinking this morning about bananas. How I couldn’t race out the door & eat my banana on the way to the markets. I miss eating & drinking on the run. Now I’m too scared to take my masks off in public. 📍Location: Venice Beach
↓SILVER LAKE ☕️ ↓
12:09PM Monday 1 March
Silver Lake. 💕 It’s great to be back in Silver Lake - where the masks are pink, not blue.
📍Location:Lucile Ave, Silverlake
2:48PM Wednesday 3 March 2021
Silver Lake. 🌴 This is where Cliffs Edge operated 🥂 for 16 years - in the heart of Silver Lake. The Sunset Boulevard restaurant had been closed since the start of coronavirus lockdowns, then permanently closed in October 2020. The site is still for lease.
📍Location: Cliffs Edge, Sunset Blvd
1:04PM Tuesday 9 March 2021
Silver Lake. 🌹 You know how they say “Stop and smell the roses!”
Kinda tricky when you’re double masked.
📍Location: Tularosa Dr, Silver Lake
2:15PM FRIDAY 12 March 2021
Silver Lake / Echo Park. 🚶♀️I walked to the accountant yesterday. I don’t own a 🚙 and enjoy walking & taking PT in L.A…but due to COVID, it’s walking only! You know that stretch of Sunset between Café Tropical & Rosemont?
It’s an odd section of Sunset. A bus stop, a couple of shops. Strange things on the side of the road & in the tree’s. A capped mural. When I first moved here – I think it was the second day – I got a lottery ticket from Jr's 99 & Up, on Colorado. I won💰$2. Carniceria is just opposite.
📍Location: Circle H Markets & Liquor
120PM Monday 15 March 2021
Silver Lake. 🌧 It’s raining & cold here today in Silver Lake. The clouds have been super fluffy the past week... hold on...there’s that song … by The Orb – I frick’n love that song ☁️
📍Location: Robinson St, Silver Lake
Highland Park
3:00pm Wednesday 17 March 2021
Highland Park. We all make mistakes.
📍Location: Eaton Canyon enterence, Nth Altadena Drive
9:49AM Thursday 18 March 2021
Highland Park. Alignment.
📍Location: A to Z Automotive, 2155 E Colorado Blvd Unit 1 Pasadena, CA 91107
1:27PM Friday 19 March 2021
Highland Park. IF FACE MASKS WORK, WHY DO SMALL BUSINESSES NEED TO BE CLOSED? IF THEY DON’T WORK, WHY ARE WE BEING FORCED TO WEAR THEM?
📍Location: York Blvd, Highland Park
2:21PM Monday 22 March 2021
Highland Park. It’s hard to know what spaces have been FOR LEASE since before COVID… but there are a few places for lease on the high street here, right now. 📍Location: 5925 Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90042, USA
1:01PM Friday 26 March 2021
Highland Park Series (Pomona)
The Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA), which regulates firearms at the federal level, requires that citizens and legal residents must be at least 18 years of age to purchase shotguns or rifles and ammunition. All other firearms — handguns & automatic weapons, for example — can only be sold to people 21 and older.
📍Location: Palomares Academy Of Health Sciences, 2211 N Orange Grove Ave, Pomona, CA 91767
KOREATOWN 🥘
1:31PM Monday 29 March 2021
Koreatown. 🚶♀️ For my first walk in Koreatown, I only went around the block. I didn’t feel like getting out.
📍Location: S Serrano Ave, Koreatown
I walked around the corner, up the street…I’m staying in a massive apartment complex and this neighborhood is a mix of two giant apartment buildings, small bungalow homes, and temporary homes.
As I walk around the back street, I notice a cable on the ground. It’s joined to a twisting set of cables coming out of the street light utility thingy on the ground. The concrete lid is jimmied open with palm tree fronds. I follow the cable back, down the street. 💡
6:21PM Tuesday 30 March 2021
Koreatown.
I’m not sure how distribution is supposed to work….but here’s a Los Angeles Regional Food Bank box of soup. 📍Location: Cnr Wilshire & S kenmore Ave
3:16PM Thursday 8 April 2021
Koreatown. 🇺🇸 The outside reflects this inside of this USPS in Koreatown. I support the postal service – I really do. I love snail mail! 🐌 I’ve sent many of you letters & artworks using the USPS… & to show my support, I’m making postage stamps & postcards with my drawings to send you… I’ve teamed up with @theportlandstampcompany(#staytuned)
Anyway, this post office is a special one. Both times I’ve visited I’ve been yelled at – once by staff, once by a customer. Their postage rates are different to the 3 other post offices I’ve visited in L.A. Their customers seem displeased with the service - although amid all the chaos of my last visit, the staff member saved me $8 on postage.
📍Location: USPS on the corner of W 6th & Harvard Blvd, Koreatown.
2:11PM Saturday 10 April 2021
Koreatown. 📍Location: Wilshire
1:48PM Sunday 11 April 2021
Koreatown. 📍Location: Wilshire
☕️ The Loft Café 🍰 is just down the road. It has outdoor dining & Sweet Lady Jane Cakes, plus some old Everwear fire escape stairs up the side of the building…. things are looking up!📍Location: Back of Loft cafe, K-Town.
☀️ California ... in 코리아 타운.
9:43AM Thursday 21 January 2021
Auckland International Airport. The second drawing while in Auckland International Airport transit lounge. We were held in a closed section of the terminal, blocked off with high, white plastic walls. We were all from ‘red’ flights. All we had were a couple of vending machines & a water fountain I dare not drink from. Totally fine for me but tough for a mum with a young baby & a guy who had been there over 24 hours #covidtravel Finally had a chance to finish the drawing this morning.
📍Location: Auckland International Airport.
↓ VENICE 🏝 ↓
4:27PM FRIDAY 22 JANUARY 202
Venice. I’m sitting here - waiting for the OK to move into the other apartment. There’s some of my PPE by the door 🧤#covidtimes
📍Location: Dudley Ave, Venice
5:15PM Wednesday 3 February
Venice. 💰 I’ve wondered about this ATM How is it still here & who would put their card in it? Last week I used an ATM outside the bank in Marina del Rey. I had gloves in my back pocket but didn’t wear them. I sanitized my fingers after. Coming from a state (NSW) that has had zero community transmission in the past few weeks, it’s different here in L.A. I hear stats like 1 in 3 people here in L.A. County have had COVID at some point in the past year. That 1 in 5 have it now. It’s tricky to keep up with the stats. I just know that I need to leave the house in a double mask, with my mini hand sanitizer.
📍Location: Venice Beach Boardwalk
12:08PM Sunday 7 February
Venice. ❤️ They installed a heart this week – over Venice. Valentines is coming up. I appreciate the sentiment but not the commercialism.
📍Location: Venice
8:51AM Tuesday 9 February
Venice. ☕️ Some days it feels like a risk getting a coffee – waiting outside with other folks, some not wearing masks. The cafe (@greatwhitevenice ) is a 15 minute walk away. I only do it to motivate myself to get some exercise & stay healthy, a couple of times a week. (Yes, I’m wearing a glove).
📍Location: Pacific & Winward, Venice
11:10AM Thursday 11 February
Venice. ☕️ On Friday I had an outdoor 🌴 catch up with local artist, printmaker, activist & all-round legend Kay Brown. She is the current artist in residence @sparcinla - an incredible organization based here in Venice. ‘SPARC’s mission is to produce, preserve, and promote activist and socially relevant artwork’ - pretty awesome mission.
📍Location: Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), 685 Venice Blvd, Venice
11:07AM Tuesday 16 February
Venice. 🌊 If I remember, or notice the light change, I try and get down to the ocean ⛅️ to watch the incredible sunsets. I don’t do this every day – I know I probably should! I spend my days locked in the apartment.
After Speedway was closed by the LAPD Friday night, I looked online, to see what’s been going on here. I had a feeling crime was on the rise here in L.A. I’d heard rumors back in Sydney - from friends-of-friends - that you can’t go out at night in Santa Monica, groceries & deliveries will go missing, break-ins. More homeless and folks with mental health issues struggling to survive, without income or support. It makes sense - we’re in the middle of a pandemic.
📍Location: Venice Beach
10:53AM Thursday 18 February
Venice. 📦 So many deliveries, so many takeout containers, so much trash. 🗑 The air seems cleaner in L.A. right now but I wonder about the impact on the environment in other ways? Folks ask you to cut the loops on your used, disposable mask. Make or buy fabric ones. Then we have to double up. A disposable one only lasts 4 hours. If we all wear a disposable mask twice a week – everyone in LA county – that’s 10 million people… OK, so approx. 20% are under 18 in the county and probably don’t wear them as often...but that’s still a whole bunch of masks.
📍Location: Marine Ct, Santa Monica
1:02PM Sunday 21 February
Venice. ☎️ Folks have suggested I avoid supermarkets. They’ve warned that’s where they have picked up COVID. So, I haven’t been to a supermarket since I got here. One thing I love about the US is the choices. Do you know how many different milk options you have here? Lots. It’s overwhelming. This driftwood seen on Venice Blvd, at Canal.
1:46PM Thursday 23 February
Venice. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire🔥 Word on the street is.... the new California coronavirus variant is more dangerous. #ugh
📍Location: Speedway, Venice
SILVER LAKE ☕️
1026AM Tuesday 2 March 2021
Silver Lake. 🔒 Are we still in lockdown? 🔒 It feels like folks are relaxing - less masks, more folks out & about. I’m walking Charlie (@journeyswcharlie ) a couple of times a day - so I’m out of the house more now than I have been in ages. Maybe all these people have always been here - I just haven’t been out ‘n about to see them? #lacounty •
📍Location: Bellevue Recreation Centre, 826 Lucile Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90026
11:18AM Thursday 4 March 2021
Silver Lake - but a trip to Eagle Rock. 🚗 I have a regular catch up with friends Kris & Dave (weekly) - they’re in my bubble. This week we went to THE OiNKSTER, @theoinkster Eagle Rock for dinner. I don’t usually drink soda but opted for a ginger beer…. I loved the packaging. We got takeout & ate in the car, in the Oinkster carpark. #COVIDtimes
📍Location: The Oinkster (car park), 2005 Colorado Blvd, Eagle Rock
1256PM Wednesday 10 March 2021
Silver Lake. 🎰 When the chips are down...
📍Location: Marathon St, Silver Lake
11:18AM Saturday 13 March 2021
Silver Lake.
I ♥️ In-N-Out Burger. I’m pretty sure it was the first fast food I had, on my first trip to California, in 1996. Friends picked me up from LAX earlier this year with fresh In-N-Out. 🍔 Family owned. Californian.
Yesterday, when I saw this In-N-Out cup in the gutter, just outside @losglobos , I thought it would be ace to draw it. So, I did…. but it wasn’t until I got to the smaller details on the cup that I noticed the golden arches.
📍Location: N Reno St, Silver Lake, CA
2:01PM Sunday 7 March 2021
Silver Lake / Rose Bowl. On the weekend we took a walk around the Rose Bowl – not the whole way – just a section. Past the 🚙 park & golf course. I guess all sorts of events used to happen there (pre-COVID).... the circus hasn’t been into town for awhile... but carnival food stands were set up & serving odd fried treats in the car park. 🍫 Fried candy bars, like snickers and twinkies. Giant brightly coloured tents, evenly spaced around a giant car park. It was a pretty strange situation. Cars would drive around neon blue, lit cones, in lines, kinda like Disneyland ... folks could pick up their takeout fried food without leaving their car ... & then take it to the edge of the field & eat it in or on their car. Something to do on a Saturday night in L.A., when everything else was closed.
📍Location: Rose Bowl, Pasadena
Highland Park
5:54PM Thursday 25 March 2021
Highland Park.
🐔 Chicken Boy is a landmark statue on the historic U.S. Route 66 (North Figueroa Street) in the Highland Park, California area of Los Angeles. The colorful 22-foot tall fiberglass statue was recognized by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with the Governor's Historic Preservation Award in 2010. - Wikipedia
📍Location: Behind Chicken Boy (5558 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90042)
12:34PM Saturday 27 March 2021
Highland Park We had a button making night on Wednesday. Kris supplied the badge making machine, I supplied the Letraset & vintage postage stamps. 5 of us. Socially distanced & outside. We got the best pizza from Town Pizza – frick’n awesome pizza! 📍Location: Avenue 66, Highland Park, CA
KOREATOWN 🥘
1:46PM Tuesday 30 March 2021
Koreatown. We will be closed until May 15, 2020. See you again soon. Stay safe!
📍Location: Window of the Wilshire Health Club, 661 S Mariposa Ave, Koreatown
4:52PM Wednesday 31 March 2021
Koreatown. Pollo A La Brasa is on the corner of Western & W 8th. My friend Kay Brown @kay.brown.792 looked at the drawing & said “That place has been around for years!”
🥗🐤I find it so tricky to know what spots serve great food around here. I mean - you’d think I would have eaten a whole bunch of Korean by now…but I’ve been eating quesadillas from a local truck & roast chicken.
Anyone got any tips for some good, local takeout here in Koreatown?
📍Location: Pollo A La Brasa, Cnr W 8th St & Western, Koreatown
11:44AM Wednesday 31 March 2021
Koreatown. 🏢🏦🏣🕍 Once you walk a block or two back from Wilshire, in Koreatown, there are some amazing 1920/30’s apartment buildings.
Some still have the old signs still above them or their names painted on a side wall. I imagine how awesome it would be to live in one of these old buildings…high ceilings, solid walls, small but enough space, well designed, ….perhaps a Murphy bed.
I just took a look online…the Embassy Apartments have a 1 ⭐️ rating in google reviews…not a good start for my dream apartment.
📍Location: 702 S Mariposa Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90005
11:49AM Thursday 8 April 2021
Koreatown.
🛒 I thought my online ordering game was strong ... but occasionally I get the sizes wrong – things look small in the Ralph’s pictures. Like this giant packet of Twizzlers. Big enough for a family of 6 and too big for this tiny apartment. 🍴🍴🍴 I had to rearrange the cutlery drawer. • *Toothpaste used for scale only. Not included with drawing. 📍Location: Apartment on Hobart Blvd, Koreatown.
3:21PM Friday 9 April 2021.
🏢 Another awesome old apartment building on the corner of W 6th & St Andrews. They’re all so fantastic but the buildings falling apart, the old signs are often falling apart... this one has lost its LL’s ... I thought they were TT’s.
📍Location: Corner of W 6th & St Andrews.
4:27PM Friday 22 January 2021 Silver Lake Here in USA having to draw from my photographs for a few more days... I’m doing the 10 day quarantine. Although, I’m not sure I wanna go draw plein air here in L.A. I used to love drawing on the street & would welcome folks to lean over my shoulder & watch, or chat to me while drawing... #covid is changing the way I work.
📍Location: Silver Lake
↓ VENICE 🏝 ↓
9:09AM Tuesday 2 February
Venice. Today was the first day I really felt like I’m in California 🌴 I left the house, again, 🚶♀️ & it was super busy out! Trying to get two walks in a day. The rain has stopped, the sun is warm, & few tourists are out on LIME / BIRD bikes (without masks). Walking down the Speedway was more relaxed today – or maybe I’m more relaxed!?
📍Location: Speedway, Venice
2:11PM Thursday 4 February
Venice. 🐦 Do you think these seagulls know we’re in the middle of a pandemic?
📍Location: Venice Beach
11:09AM Monday 8 February
Venice. 📰 I hadn’t checked the daily COIVD death count in LA County for a while – maybe 10 days? But we looked last night. My friend is up in Alameda County – we compared the numbers. It’s horrific here in L.A. I usually find a beach walk uplifting.
2:16PM Tuesday 9 February
Venice. 🌑It’s pretty dark in there📍
10:45AM Sunday 14 February 2021
Venice. 🫓 Some days I feel like a fragile tostada.
📍Location: Venice Way, Venice
8:38AM Tuesday 16 February
Venice. ❌ No trespassing🚷
📍Location: Venice Beach
5:32PM Friday 19 February
Venice. 🌊 For those of you who haven’t been - the beach here is wide, really wide - especially at low tide. There’s a spot, when you’re walking up the beach, where the sound of the ocean is muffled & you can’t hear the boardwalk chaos….kinda like being in a sand pillow. 💕Happy Mardi Gras 🎉
📍Location:
4:24PM Saturday 20 Feb 2021
Venice. 📍Location: Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), 685 Venice Blvd, Venice
3:12PM Tuesday 23 February
Venice. 🍲 It’s tricky to tell how big the meals are with the online ordering… plus they look so much better in the pictures. More nutritious. Are they still called TV dinners?
📍Location: Dudley Ave, Venice
12:57PM Monday 22 February
Venice. ✨ My last night in Venice 🌅 There really is nothing like a California sunset! #untilnexttime
📍Location: Dudley Ave, Venice
↓SILVER LAKE ☕️ ↓
10:45AM Wednesday 3 March 2021
Silver Lake. Sunset Boulevard., Silver Lake.
📍Location: Sunset & Maltman
10:26AM Friday 5 March 2021
Silver Lake. 🌵 There seems to be more blue sky in Silver Lake. Maybe it’s because the buildings aren’t as tall as in Venice? Or the hills here....or perhaps because there’s no ocean horizon to distract me.
11:47AM Monday 8 March 2021
Silver Lake. 📰 Senate approves US$1.9 trillion in aid for ailing nation. 🗞 What a headline! Seen in the neighbor’s driveway at sunrise Monday morning. Hold on .... 1.9 trillion !?! 😳
📍Location: Maltman Ave, Silver Lake
5:04PM Monday 8 March 2021
Silver Lake. 💉 Some folks have been vaccinated….masks off! Some folks haven’t been vaccinated…but it’s still “Masks off!”
📍Location: Sundet Blvd
3:36PM Sunday 14 March 2021
Silver Lake/ Echo Park. 📰 Where there’s people, there’s power - poster on Sunset.
📍Location: Sunset Blvd, Echo Park
12:01PM Wednesday 17 March 2021
Silver Lake. 🚶♀️Walking in the hills of Los Feliz, on my way to see The Ennis House.
📍Location: Los Feliz
Highland Park
2:22PM Sunday 21 March 2021
Highland Park. I love a good road trip…but it’s not quite as fun, in a pandemic.
📍Location: Cnr Pasadena Ave & Arroyo Dr, South Pasadena
4:38PM Wednesday 24 March 2021
Bakersfield, CA.
💥Pretty excited to get my 2nd shot today! 💉
📍Location: Phast Pharmacy, 1121 W Columbus St, Bakersfield, CA 93301
12:39PM Wednesday 24 March 2021
🚙 ___ I haven’t left L.A much in the past few months. Only twice - last weekend to Ventura & a couple of weeks ago to Bakersfield. Bakersfield is an odd town but it did have a pretty cool paint store, in Old Town Kern.
📍Location: Sequoia Paint Co, 700 Baker St, Bakersfield, CA 93305
6:26PM Sunday 21 March 2021
Highland Park. The clouds have been really fluffy the past few weeks. Here they are reflected in the Dollar Tree window. Plus, a vinyl ‘bagged ICE’ poster. I’m reminded of the other ICE …. and posters (ABOLISH ICE) by the fantastic Dewey Tafoya. Bleach use inspired by legend Blak Douglas – he used bleach in one of his powerful works.
📍Location: Dollar Tree, 5817 N Figueroa St, Highland Park, CA 90042
7:14PM Sunday 21 March 2021
Highland Park.🚶♀️ Walking around Highland Park / South Pasadena on Monday evening, I thought this shadow, on the side of the building, was a billboard. So L.A! Awesome. But then when I got to the end of the ally…it turned out to be the shadow of a gas station sign….also, very L.A. 😆
📍Location: South Pasadena
1:34PM Saturday March27 2021
Highland Park. This hand-drawn, neon poster is on the high street - Figueroa Street, Highland Park. Folks are eating inside restaurants, drinking in bars & relaxing without masks. Sanitizer is still floating around, at the entrance of stores & venues. Gloves? I haven’t seen anyone in gloves since the Venice Farmers Market, back in January. 📍Location: Figueroa St, Highland Park
KOREATOWN 🥘
4:38PM Tuesday 30 March 2021
Koreatown. There are loads of press stands in Koreatown. Only a couple of them still seem to be functional. I’m starting to recognize the symbols… I’m not sure if this is one of the papers but the 코리아타운데일리 - LA 미주 한인 신문 is still operating online & might have been one of the papers I saw yesterday.
📍Location: Outside BCD Tofu House, 3575 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010
12:32PM Thursday April 1 2021
Koreatown. 📣Things are opening up here – like, REALLY opening up... & we had a little earthquake here last night….at around 4am this morning... I’ve thought about that – a 4th wave of COVID & an earthquake. 📉I really hope folks have been safe here, over the Easter holiday weekend. • *Honey Hardtack Snack used for scale only. Not included with drawing.
📍Location: Oo Kook Korean BBQ, 3385 W 8th St, Los Angeles, CA 90005, United States
6:01PM Tuesday 6 April 2021
Koreatown. 🇺🇸 Land of the free and the home of the brave.
📍Location: All around K-Town
1:56PM Wednesday 7 April 2021
Koreatown. 📍Location: ACE Hardware carpark, 513 S Western Ave, Los Angeles
12:19PM Saturday 10 April 2021
📍Location: St Basil’s Catholic Church on Wilshire, Koreatown.
🧤 This solo glove spotted outside St Basil’s Catholic Church on Wilshire, Koreatown.
Yesterday we took a trip to Ventura, now that things are opening up, we left the city for a day trip. Ventura is a pretty cute town – with HEAPS of Op Shops. We call them Op (Opportunity) Shops in New Zealand. Oppies in Australia & Thrift Stores here in USA.
📍Location: C.A.A.N Thrift Store, 340 E Main St, Ventura, CA 93001
This one had a particularly interesting name. Here’s some info: C.A.A.N. has been family owned, serving the Ventura County area, since 1985. All proceeds benefit C.A.A.N. (child abuse and neglect prevention), a division of Interface Children and Family Services.
It was Valentines day while I was living in Venice …. I wanted to get a Corita Kent LOVE stamp, to make/send a card to my boyfriend back in Sydney…. I need up buying a bunch of awesome USA stamps. I frick’n love stamps! I used to collect them as a kid. Have no idea where my stamp collection is now, but I remember I had both LOVE stamps in it.
Quarantine in the Pullman Hotel, Auckland, Aotearoa (New Zealand).
I don’t feel like drawing today.
After a long flight ✈️ from LAX yesterday, I’m now in a government quarantine hotel in Auckland, Aotearoa (New Zealand).
This country is serious about keeping COVID out & every person who enters the country is escorted to a facility for 14 days in isolation. You don’t know where you are going to be placed, until you land. My hotel is in downtown Auckland. I’m on the 10th floor & have a view of the city, with 2 small windows 🪟 for fresh air. We can’t leave the hotel room - except for 30mins in an exercise room per day. 🥘 All food is provided & it has been really great, so far. Tonight is Taco 🌮 Tuesday!
Today is Day 1.
🏥 The nurse calls by every day to take my temperature & ask how I’m feeling – both physically & mentally. I’m feeling good today. I have windows that open.... & luckily, I have a pretty nice view, looking out to the back of Auckland city.
So, from my front window I can see a splash of green 🌳 in the foreground, some buildings in the middle ground, & Mt Eden (I think!?) in the distance. Here’s my view from the other end of my room.
Today is Day 4.
🍓 🧈 There’s been a lot of talk about the bags of jams & butters. So… for those of you who aren’t here in the Pullman – here they are! There were 12 in my bag. 7 butters and 5 jams. I only just noticed, while I was drawing them, that they’re raspberry! Last week I was getting strawberry jam with my pastries.
🥐 Also, you won’t believe it - but I got a custard pastry with todays breakfast! #livingmybestlife
Today is Day 8.
Saturday afternoon. Had my Day 12 COVID test at 2pm. The NZDF just called & I’m out at 10:30am Monday 🎉
Today is Day 12.
Yesterday I left the Pullman Hotel. My leaving time was 10:30am. I was packed, holding my bags, masked, & standing at the door of my room from 10:24am. Ben picked me up.... the NZDF had ‘checked him in’ to the parking area ... & had drawn my room number on the side window of his car: 1003.
☕️ My food gets dropped at the door, 3 times a day, in a brown paper bag. They knock - then run.
I was super excited this morning when I got (what I thought!) was a coffee with a big ‘W’ (for Wendy) on it!
Turns out I’d forgotten to order my morning coffee & this was the WHOLE milk to go with my cereal.
Today is Day 2.
___ 🖊 Another 🚶♀️___ drawing from yesterday’s walk... it really was a highlight in my day. We are supposed to get 30 minutes out there but because they were transferring someone from the hotel, we had to stay out there an extra 30 mins. They transfer someone if they test positive for COVID.
This morning I had my Day 3 COVID test.
📦 I know it shouldn’t be weird - room service dropping off a little brown bag with a week’s supply of jam and butter at my door. But it was 2:24pm on a Friday afternoon. Every day I get my pastries, & they come with jam & butter. Why all of a sudden did I get a whole bunch of mini jams & butters? Did someone request this? Did someone complain? Did they decide to do things differently this coming week? It’s hard to describe what it feels like in here – the little things seem bigger. The normal stuff seems weird. ☕️ Like how the food & coffee magically appears after a door knock. It’s a magic knock or a magic door.
Today is Day 5.
____🚶♀️____ We’re allowed out for a 30 minute walk a day. They give us 5 minutes (each side of our 30mins), commuting time to get to / from the walking circuit. I’m on the 10th floor, with other folks on ✈️ NZ5 from LAX. The first day I had trouble with the left side lift – I couldn’t get up onto the 10th floor. The police couldn’t understand what was wrong with me. I said I thought the lift was broken to the 10th floor. It really is tricky to communicate 6 feet apart, when it’s your first time out of the hotel room, you’re anxious & everyone has masks on. Actually…I’ve noticed, the hotel staff, police & NZ Defense Force folks stay well away from us….which is great they’re so cautious.
On Friday I was the first to finish walking & the same lift was the only one there, waiting for me. It was still not working for me to get to the 10th floor. The staff had to send it somewhere, empty, so I could call one of the others. On Monday I caught the broken lift down & they’d put this black cross on my level. Yesterday I noticed that they had completely covered the button with black duct tape.
Today is Day 9.
🚙 🛻 🚗 ____There was a break in the traffic while I was drawing this morning... it was the first time I’d heard the birds in the park below. Two distinct bird sounds – sounds that I only hear in New Zealand & sounds of my childhood. 🐦 It’s been so long – I can’t remember what they are! One sounds like a Tui, I’m pretty sure… actually – when I open the windows & tune in - I can hear a bunch of birds. I hadn’t noticed them other mornings.
This morning I drew a feather I’d photographed on our 30 minutes out last night. It was on the concrete – just to the side of where we were walking. 🪶 Delicate & fresh. I assume it’s a seagull feather? There were some seagulls flying to the side, while we were all walking in a loop. It really was like prison. A couple of army folks watching over us. We’re all in line…walking around the edge of the small terrace….following the arrows...trying to keep up the same pace… 6 ft apart … no breaks, no passing.
Today is Day 3.
⛔️No exit. (cropped)
Today is Day 6.
🥐🥐 Today I got 2 mini chocolate croissants with my breakfast. Yesterday I wasn’t hungry enough to eat both pastries – so I saved the chocolate one for today in case I got 2 plain croissants. Only once have I been given escargot / pain aux raisins… & only twice have I had that yummy one with custard in the center.
🍓 Here’s one of the mini jams that arrived on Friday afternoon.
Today is Day 7.
🧩 Before I got to quarantine, folks had said things to me like:
“It will be amazing to have 14 days on your own - with food delivered to your door!”
“You’ll get so much work done - I’m jealous”
“You will have time to read those books you’ve always wanted to read” “Imagine all the drawing you will do - amazing!”
I thought it would be like that too…I’d make the most of it - treat it like a retreat or some odd, isolated artist residency. But it’s not like that at all. My head isn’t clear and focused on the 100 things I have here on my ’to do’ list…it looks like this jigsaw puzzle I still haven’t finished. #scattered
Today is Day 11.
🌳 The forest 🌱 smells amazing here, especially after the rain. It’s rained every day, since I left MIQ... but that’s perfect & it’s great to be back in NZ #Aotearoa
PROCESS IMAGES, SCANS, etc
The back of a Daily drawing.
An example set up of the ‘for scale only’ photo - in Koreatown.
My gouache palette, in Koreatown.
Line drawing scanned - before I added the color.
A photo, not scan. I took this in Venice.
The fresh drawing boards from Mittel's Art & Frame Center.
(2499 Lincoln Blvd, Venice, CA 90291). They order & cut the drawing cards for me.
Drawing progress.
Setting up the ‘for scale only’ photo.
Gouache, pen (0.1), paintbrush. I have 2 paintbrushes but really only use this one. Dodge scan - I can get Matt the photograph my kit, when I get back to Sydney, if you want it.
A photo, not scan. I took this in Venice.
Photography By Kenneth Brown, Venice
Venice Speedway, Venice CA
A page from my sketchbook - Bakersfield, CA. I went up there to get my first shot on 23rd March. Found this French baker in Old Town. The bread was pretty good!
Sketchbook page, Koreatown
Photography By Kenneth Brown, KOREATOWN
Other random stuff
The Letraset for the Venice postcards
The Letraset artwork for the postcards (front)
The Letraset artwork for the postcards (back)
Venice postage stamps
