Accessories Trendwatch

I can't help but notice the proliferation of soft fedora-type/tyrolean hats that are adorning the crowns of stylish dudes/ladies on blogs, in magazines, and beyond.. I'm starting to worry that this newish (westcoast?) penchant for headgear might become as overworn as last years' neckerchief/bandana. I do live in the woods; also I tend to dress from the school of pick-the-clean-jeans-from-the-top-of-the-pants-pile-and-the-clean-tshirt-from-the-top-of-the-shirt-pile, so I wouldn't take my advice as the most informed...but to stay ahead of the trends, may I suggest:


The Deerstalker, warm and sleuthy! Or how about:


..Top hats! Especially the kind that pop open with a theatrical flourish.

And for the especially daring and rad: The Joe Preston Beard-On-A-Stick! I can't find a picture of this genius promotional item, but here's the prototype:

Mega Magma

Mt. St. Helens blew up on May 18th, 1980. I remember the sky turned very, very dark and and we collected ash in a glass jar, scraping it off the hood of the old Buick like dirty snow. Yesterday, Justin climbed to the top of Mt. St. Helens and took these beautiful pictures:



Mt. Rainier in the distance..


..and this awesome promo shot for Justin's new solo album Teutonic Plates and Other Delights. Between scaling mountains and wrestling dogs, J.T. is also an amateur mycologist:


This grew in our yard! Agaricus Agustus, a.k.a. 'The Prince'.

A Brief Glance Inside

Things to think about:
1. Tom Tierney's steady hand.
2. Broken teeth graduating into infections that slowly eat one's brain.
3. Should Ambesol/Orajel be illegal, is it possible to overdose, what would happen if a large amount slipped down one's throat, could you swallow? breathe?
4. Advertisements that litter the back pages of Smithsonian magazine; poke-boats, beau-ties, etc.
5. Toner quality at Kinko's.
6. Puncture wounds and Elizabethan Cones.
7. Renaissance Faire Elizabethans; their awesomeness and dedication to high collars/stoicness.
8. Another one of my inventions has been stolen/brought to fruition without my efforts: the dog DNA test.
9. Spinal columns that somehow host repressed emotional trauma: WTF???
10. How many barnacles total live on a 12-foot-square area of Little Skookum Inlet; the similarities between this calculation and the classic jar-of-jellybeans; why I would want to calculate such a thing.
11. Are blue herons crabby?
12. Underwater post offices.
13. What to eat for dinner tonight.
14. Pantone color charts; the legality/concept of owning color.
15. Avacado-shaped guacamole holders.
16. I'm Alan Partridge, Season Two

Odds/Ends/Beginnings

Today I had special guests at the studio, so I swept up all the paper scraps and masking tape piles. My efforts did not go unnoticed!



Look, it's Gary and Austin (and Sarah, whose face accidentally got cropped) from Sasquatch Books in Seattle! We had a little pow-wow about project ideas.. it was all pretty exciting.


Here's everyone over at Buyolympia.com headquarters.. Sasquatch published two of Nikki McClure's books, which Buyoly sells. We went out for tacos and Aaron told us about the time in high school he tried to hire a private detective, to find out what happened to his favorite S.F. burrito joint that mysteriously went out of business. A private detective!! This is the kind of fodder which would have been perfect for a television teen-drama about four 15-year-old friends (and one hesher named Cliff) who live in the bay area.

Did I mention that my friend Deanna and I wrote such a television show? And that it went all the way to the HBO executives, complete with a fancy meeting, until it ultimately met it's demise.. these were the kind of weird things that happened in L.A.

In painting news, my Artforemptywalls.com show was a rad success, with 7 of 8 pieces sold!! There's still time to adopt the last little pink owl buddy; the show runs through July 1st. I'm working on a new series for a Tacoma show, July 20th.. more details to come soon. Also, today is the 'official' release of my Poketo wallets at Poketo.com! Sweet. And I have one word for what's on the horizon, and being printed in Port Angeles as we speak: Guybrarians.

Dog with Wound

What is wrong with Rosebud?? How does she do it? Here she is a few days ago:


Happy and healthy! But then...


..after romping around in the yard for a few minutes, she showed up with this puncture wound. Most likely she stabbed herself on a tree branch while pretending to be a wild hyena in the forest. I have a theory that she just really, really likes going to the vet because they tell her how cute she is and give her treats, and she gets to sniff all the dogs and cats in the waiting room. If you're not convinced, let's recap the first 3 years of Rosebud's life:
1. Found wandering the streets of South Central L.A. at six months old.
2. Thrown in the pound.
3. Sits in the pound for a few weeks with no takers, scheduled to be euthanized.
4. Spared at the last minute by Ace of Hearts, a dog rescue in West Hollywood.
5. Too wild for her first foster family, is dropped at our door in Sun Valley.
6. Three months at adoption fairs with no takers, finally a nice family in Los Feliz wants to adopt her.
7. On the day of the adoption, the woman's father has a stroke, the family must go to Florida and cannot adopt.
8. I adopt Rosebud instead.
9. While on a walk in the Verdugo Hills, Rosebud runs ahead to sniff at a large pile of dog poop.
10. To my horror, pile of dog poop hisses and strikes at Rosebud. Pile of dog poop turns out to be a coiled rattlesnake.
11. Luckily, there is no bite wound! Rosebud lives again.
12. She starts acting lethargic and breathing weirdly in August.
13. She is diagnosed with pyothorax, her chest cavity filled with over a liter of bacterial fluid, and is near death.
14. She is put on chest tubes for 7 days in the i.c.u.
15. After six weeks of antibiotics and xrays, Rosebud lives again!
16. In December, she starts pooping blood at our holiday party.
17. She is taken to the emergency vet; diagnosed with gastrointestinal hemmoraghing.
18. Two days on an i.v. and antibiotics, Rosebud lives again!
19. We move to Kamilche. Our house is on a bluff overlooking the water. First morning at our house, Rosebud goes exploring and falls over the cliff. She gets stuck on a ledge about 15 feet down with no way of getting back up. Fire department is called in. Firemen lower a rescue guy down the cliff on a harness to get her. Rosebud lives again!
20. Which brings us up to yesterday's puncture wound. More antibiotics. And I forgot to mention her gimpy back leg, which she injured getting out of bed (I'm serious) in January, and which may or may not require surgery. I have a Special Needs dog. I love my dog! But she is a little stressful.

Emphatic Punctuation Ahead

We had a wicked rainstorm on Friday.. the Northwest is all about bringing you a nice, grey rainy day just when you think that summer has finally arrived. Btw, I finally learned how to put italics into my blog, which could seriously be a problem! I mean, I'm already addicted to exclamation marks, but now I can finally emphasize my thoughts and actions with extra, extra specialness.

Ahem.

On account of the soggy day, it only seemed appropriate to watch this Jacques Demy masterpiece:


The Umbrellas of Cherbourg! How could I have not seen this movie before? It's like a technicolor dreamland.. even if you hate both the French and musicals, I bet you will still love this flim. Especially if you've ever been a desperately in love 17-year-old.. but it's so, so sad. I must warn you. Speaking of great movies, I just saw this one the other week:


Babydoll! Starring Carroll Baker (unbelievably beautiful, amazing accent) and Eli Wallach (I have fallen in love with Eli Wallach all over again)..


..sigh.

The rainstorm also delivered this beauty, the wild roses in our garden:

Talk about your technicolor dreamland!

Shirt Maker For Hire

The record label Kill Rock Stars asked me to make a new tshirt/bag design.. I went to kinko's today and made 6. I think that Tobi, the warehouse boss, has the final say on what gets printed, but let me know which one is your fave! I don't have photoshop, so you'll just have to imagine how they will look with colored ink on shirts.

I like copy machines.

Notes from the Valley

I haven't been taking many pictures lately.. somehow, I managed to miss the Shelton Forest Festival, complete with a 'Logging Show', which would have been perfect for documentation! As it is, I've mostly been sitting in our little house, looking out onto the Puget Sound and reading books (btw, thanks for all the fiction suggestions!), which doesn't make for very enthralling photos. There was the Great Humongous Gigantor Sinus Infection 2007 which is finally on it's way out thanks to the old amoxicillin (bromelain and oregano oil tried their best, but they were no match), and that led to about two weeks of couch-dwelling and nose-blowing.

So I dug through the archives of last year, and found some favorites. Evidence of What Was Going On in my life before this blog. There was skywriting, a horse, joshua tree, tigerlillies, wynne, and halloween...

Virtual Bird Chatter

Guess what?


My online art show just launched!


Check it out at artforemptywalls.com.