For the Longest Time

Apologies for my absence! There's no real excuse; rather, a laundry-list of the little things that kept me from committing to some real computer time. I had an art show, then my requisite week-long vacation from painting that I always take post-show, next my rad friends Margaret and Luke came to stay at Kamilche, and also the camera batteries were dead for seven days (which is really nothing more than my inability to plug the re-charger in). Now everything is vacationed, hosted, recharged, and ready for documentation! On the horizon this week: a trip to the library, more HOt YOga, voyage to Seattle tomorrow, dog laceration nursing, return to the studio, Joshua Ploeg vegan dinner party extravaganza, and who knows what else.. hold on for MASS SUMMER EXCITEMENT!!

..Or at least more pictures of logs.


So here's the recap:


I had an art show in Tacoma! Good times. Next show is October 6th in Olympia, at Room 30. Stefan Simikich will be showing photos at the Reef the same night, and Nikki McClure will be at Bryce's Barber Shop, so it's definintely worth the trek.. mark calendars now.


My mom has a little shop in the same building that hosted my art show; she sells beautiful vintage kimonos for dirt cheap! Check out Paper and Silk if you're ever in downtown Tacoma and need a kimono!


After the show, we went back to my folks' house and dressed up their dog like a clown. He didn't seem to mind.

Back at home, Rosebud the dog spends a lot of her time looking cute and docile like this:


But really, she is a wild hyena (or at least a feral Ibizan Hound) who manages to get herself in a pickle every few weeks. This week's medical trauma: lacerations caused by razor sharp oyster shells, sustained while chasing Great Blue Herons down the beach at low tide. In this photo you can see her normal foot in the foreground, while the cut-up one is in the background and swollen up like some sort of crazy club! Rosebud!!


Aside from dog trauma, we had a great visit with our L.A. peeps Margaret and Luke. I met Margaret on Craigslist when we lived in Los Angeles and I was desperately searching for studio space.


It was definitely one of those stars-aligning, fateful situations: in the middle of one crazy city, two girls find friendship and a common love of cats named Olive (yup, we both have black cats named Olive. And a mutual friend in thee Amazing Sam Ott). Margaret is one of the good ones.. so when she emailed me with a dream of a Northwest Summer Vacation, I was psyched to host!! She brought her awesome paramour Luke, and we did the following things in 3 days:

1.Canoed the Puget Sound
2. Identified Flora and Fauna of Totten Inlet
3. Attended the Mason County Fair
4. Ingested Curly Fries, Deluxe Nachos with a side of ground beef (Luke), Fried Catfish, Iced Tea, Raspberry Lemonade and 75 cent coffee (twice) at said Fair.
5. Witnessed the future of modern art in the Fair creations of two overachieving children named Taylor Diggle and Cassie Crabtree. Seriously, PaperRad better watch their backs..
6. Ingested Dungeness Crab, Oysters on the half-shell, Shrimp Scampi, and Steamer Clams at the casino by my house, and it was GOOD!
7. Gambled a few dollars, lost.
8. Witnessed the mezmerizing cultural rituals of Casino regulars, and watched a cover band called the Funaddicts (that's pronounced fanatics if you didn't already get it). We all agreed: more reverb on the singer lady's vocals.
9.Drove up Hood Canal, hiked the Staircase in the Olympic National Forest.. beautiful! Here are some highlights:





Then we took a moment to photograph potential solo album promo shots on a big log, while Luke debated about a million times whether or not he was going to take a polar bear swim in the freezing glacier water.





In the end, only Justin braved some wading action..


..and today, I finally took our Los Angeles visitors out of the country and into the big city: Olympia. We visited Buyolympia.com headquarters, and then hit up a coffee shop down the street, where I inadvertently discovered my favorite invention (on so many levels) of 2007: Bananagrams!!


Besides the awesome name, this game combines the best of both worlds.. Boggle and Scrabble. And it comes in a banana-shaped tote. I almost feel ashamed that I didn't invent this already!

Hippie Remedies:1, Sinus Infection:0

Last week, Sinus Infection #5 of 2007 started coming on.. right when my art opening was happening. I decided to really get serious, buckle down, and go completely, full-on hippie in the battle against the phlegm. I know that at the root (no pun intended) of this infection is my broken tooth, which I promise to deal with in the next 30 days.. extraction is looking like a more pleasant option than a root canal. Sadly, it's also in line with my no-dental-insurance oral health plan. But the broken buddy is in the back, next to my grown-in wisdom tooth, so maybe that little guy can take over when necessary chomping is required. (Notice my lifelong problem of assigning identities and personalities to inanimate objects, in this case: molars).

I know I'm about to get whopped by a sinus infection when my gland below my right temple, in front of my ear, swells up like a marble. I went to the local incense/goddess journal/bulk herb megacenter and gathered my weapons:


1. The Neti Pot. Like a miniature gravy boat for your nose. This thing absolutely rules! I feel like my nasal passages are opened up to the size of Sharpies, whereas before they felt more pencil-sized. Does this make sense?? Plus, it's kind-of hilarious and bizarre to watch. I only wish I looked as glamorous as the Neti Pot model lady:


2. Oil of Oregano. And vegi-capsules to put the oil in for more pleasant swallowing. Seriously, do not put this stuff directly under your tongue.. I made that mistake while driving home and I nearly swerved into oncoming traffic: It Burns. It's a natural antibiotic, and it's working!
3. Apple Cider Vinegar, w/ the mother. I've been taking a 1/4 cup in the morning and at night. ACV is, as you probably know, the biggest folk-style cure-all for just about anything.
4. Bikram Yoga. I go 4 times a week and sweat out about a gallon.
I'm not sure which of these things is doing the trick, but it's working! Within about two days from the onset of the infection, I feel great. The swelling of my gland has gone way down, and my symptoms are pretty much gone. I've never, ever had these kind of results without having to take an antibiotic!! It's so exciting to me, and I just wanted to share in case anyone else is going through chronic sinus probs. Thanks to Jessie Frances for the oil of oregano tip and Deanna M. for the Neti Pot advice!

Waterproof Sunscreen and Glue

It's dumping. Pouring. Raging. Soaking. It's summer in the Northwest! You never know what you'll get.. why, just yesterday I was happily planning to go to the drive-in theater tomorrow to watch the exploding robot-fest that is Transformers, and now today I find myself wondering where I stashed the umbrella. Typical!

I took a little survey on how the soggy weather was effecting everyone:


Stargazers: Stoked.


Woodroses: Jazzed and Pumped.


Otis: Sad, sad, sad. Emotis.


Rosebud: What he said, and then some. Remosebud.

Just last night, we were maxing/relaxing on the deck and grilling out with guests Anna and Jane! Delicious good times:


And yoga-master/body-alligner Jane gave out free adjustments and taught us all some new moves..


..the evening concluding with me mounting all of my paintings onto stretched canvases at 1 a.m., an absurd process that involves heavy gel medium, a foam brush, ridiculous amounts of books, a rolling pin, a credit card, and glassine paper. I might have a touch of the crazy running through me by the time the show launches on Thursday:


See you at the opening!

High Kicking Over the Psychic Rainbow

The Cuteness Express blew into Olympia this week.. look who showed up in the studio:


Jane Paik (aka Janet Pants) and Anna Huff (aka Anna Oxygen)! And of course, Anna is randomly holding a dolphin wearing a tiny sailor's hat; now I know everything is right in the world. They're here to teach Loopgirls, a radical day-camp where young girls learn to make synthesizer bands and shoot music videos. I helped Anna out last year at the Seattle camp, and it was intense! One group of girls wrote a 5-minute psychedlic space jam called 'Enter the Endless Mind'. Yup.

Anna and Jane staged a crazy impromptu show at Manium on Tuesday.. unfortunately my camera was not cooperating. I'm thinking of investing in a new digi-cam.. I really love my Carl Zeiss lens, but the body/electronics of the '05 cybershot are pretty weak. Any suggestions? I'm in the $300 and under range.

Oh No I Didn't..

..Oh yes I did! Behold, the Guybrarian:


Available now! Also good for ladies, and all in between.

Pink Owls and White Tigers

Next week!! In Tacoma, no less!


Also on the horizon is an October show at Olympia's Room 30.. busy busy busy!

And to add to the pile of shameless self-promotion, be sure to stop by Buyolympia.com this month for their t-shirt sale extravaganza.. rad shirts for $9.99!



We need to make room for the upcoming designs.. I just made 9 new shirts for buyoly that will be released over the next few months. Crazy! I need my own copy machine.


And a big hug and congrats across the ocean to England, where Olympia ex-pat and all-around renaissance woman Natalie Quantrill-Cox and her hubby Dee welcomed baby Dillon Hunter Quantrill-Cox into the world yesterday. Natalie can fix your car, re-upholster your couch, grow your vegetables, play your drums, and now: make little humans!! Olympia misses you, Natalie. XOXO

Astoria, OR

Year 6 road trip..



Getting dismal at the nitch:


Amazing shipwreck..



..and beachy good times!




Astoria, land of CHEAP rodents and tennis rackets.. but this man is the real reason we keep coming back:


Chef Uriah, proprietor of the Columbian Cafe. We gorged ourselves silly on espresso cocktails, vodka-soaked oysters, and seared ahi with wasabi-washed roe over homemade fettucine. Not to mention the delicious breads and Uriah's own selection of pepper jams! We barely made it back to our room at the old convent, where years ago the beach nuns had built this beautiful seashell altar:

Sneek Peek

Last night I went to see bands play at the Manium in Olympia, aka Satan's Warehouse, aka Lair of the Goth Dentist. There's this guy in Oly who buys houses and apartment buildings and paints them all black. He is the Goth Dentist. I'm into Manium though.. it seems very clean and has what is known in the industry as 'PRO LIGHTING". I saw a band called Finally Punk, who were 4 youngsters with lots of energy, and they were pretty charming. I missed New Bloods, which I was bummed about, as I've been hearing lots of good things about them. Old Haunts with Tobi V. on drums played last, and they were solid. Craig, the guitar player, has this insane way of playing electric rock guitar with extra fingerpicking flourish on every pass, it's kind of mesmerizing. And in other music news, my new tote bags for Kill Rock Stars are now available!


What else have I been up to? Painting! Getting ready for a show in a few weeks in Tacoma:


Birds are the word!