New Year

Gearing up to switch over to the peaceful Year of the Rabbit from the tumultuous Year of the Tiger. Stoked!


Speaking of the new year, here's JT doing the inaugural Kamilche Polar Bear swim on 1/1/11 at 11:11 am. BRRRRRRRR. I was sidelined with a crummy cold. Next one is scheduled for 11/11/11 at 11:11. Be there!


And as for the old year, I capped it off with BOOGIEBOARDING in Maui.. yes, I, Sarah U., landlubber extraordinaire, went whizzing along waves and it was FUN.


Speaking of travels, starting off the new year with a trip to Joshua Tree is highly recommended.


Crisp blue skies, mysterious J-Trees, piles o' slabs.. magical. And THE SUNSET!


Looking west..


..then turn your head east..


..and back west again. That, my friends, is some high-grade delicious nature crack. I'm applying for the JTNP artist-in-residency program, hopefully hopefully come this fall I can commune with the jackrabbits and roadrunners in the middle of the California desert.

Otis Love

Is there such a thing as Dog Of A Lifetime?





Yes, there is. Ten months since I said goodbye and I love you the same, Otis. My heart.

The Daybook Project

Exciting news! The Open Daybook, envisioned/compiled/edited by David P. Earle, is almost here!!


I have a print in it, along with work from 364 amazing artists! Its a perpetual-calendar type of thing.. David asked each of us to create a single piece of work on a particular day that we were assigned. I was going to do something painted, but printmaking is so much more immediate that I switched over and did a little tribute to John Muir. I'm so excited to see the finished product! It's official release date is November 30th, but you can pre-order it here. There are some events coming up in Los Angeles for it's release, hopefully I can make it down to the show at LACE in January.


LACMA is having a Book Release Party for the Open Day Book on December 5 from 4 to 6pm.
LACE will be having a show of the work included in the Open Day Book Project, exhibit is set to open January 6, 2011.

Highway Robbery!

I just perused this list of the most beautiful public libraries in America, and was SHOCKED that one of my most special places on all of the west coast was omitted!! The BRAND LIBRARY, folks! Look at this beauty:


Who needs fancy stainless-steel ultra modern architecture when you've got a Taj Mahal theme, arabesques, a Japanese Tea Garden, and one of my favorite sculptures ever?


I have to say, I was pretty stoked to hear cartoonist Jim Woodring wax all kinds of nostalgic about his deep love of the Brand Library in the documentary The Lobster and the Liver that played last week during the Olympia Film Fest! Fascinating film, btw.


A public all-art-and-music library in the heart of the Valley? Yes, please!

Birthday Surprise

This grainy photo I saw this morning on FB totally made my day!


My old pal Kimya Dawson's awesome hubby Ange bought her one of my paintings as a birthday surprise!! They live in an incredible log house with their daughter Panda (cutie pictured above), and these foxes are gonna look just about perfect in there.


In other grainy photo news, here's my Corin Tucker Band tshirt design in actual physical form! Freshly printed by Scott and his robot down at Olympia Screen. So excited to get my paws on one; they'll be available in the KRS shop soon!

Punks on Film!

Destroy All Movies came to Olympia!!


Hailed as "The most dazzlingly insane film reference book of all time, Destroy All Movies!!! is an informative, hilarious and impossibly complete guide to every appearance of a punk (or new waver!) to hit the screen in the 20th Century", its 600 pages of goodness, co-authored by former Olympians and bonafide film nerds Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly!


Zack was my bandmate in one of the many, many, many incarnations of Witchypoo. Dare I say it, but I think we had one of the most stellar lineups. Joe Preston, Jessica Espeleta, Slim Moon, Zack and myself. When we came back from tour, three members declared it 'the WORST trip' they ever took, while Zack and I looked at each other and said 'that was FUN!'. go figure.


At the Olympia Timberland Library's event last night, Zack and Bryan showed a HILARIOUS 15-minute mashed-up montage of some of the 'best' punk moments ever captured on film.. it'll be up on the interwebs later this week; I'll be sure to post a link!

Mountains

NEWSFLASH!


I have made a really sad 10 posts this entire year to blogger! Holy WOW, that is crazy. An extreme downward trend, much like the economy, and much much like the amount of daylight available to northwest-dwellers lately. Crummy.


I knew I was being aloof.. floating around in the woods of Kamilche and working in the dark recesses of Community Print. But truthfully, it took just glancing at those stats to realize that i have been in a weird space. Depression is a rough word that I don't like to throw around, so I will just say 'weird space' for now.


I didn't write about our dog Otis dying or Natalie dying or the time that I've spent since Natalie's death with her son Dillon, and her husband Dee. I haven't been painting, just working quickly with letterpress, trying to keep afloat, and yeah I also played electric guitar again for the first time in 5 years, that was something! Now we're looking down the barrel of a long deep dark Olympia winter, and I'm trying.. going back to Hot Yoga (best therapy for this brain and body), getting back in the painting zone, and borrowing lots of instructional videos from the library. Should I Master the Bullwhip? Fish for Elusive Steelhead? Learn the Secrets of Ninjitsu??

I think I'll just be psyched that my community is amazing, and that New Things are happening constantly.. like Wild Flag, like getting a plane ticket to Maui, like walking my dog Rosebud on the most perfect unbelievably sunny and crisp November day, with Mt. Rainier peaking out above the treeline, across the inlet, sneaking into my Mason County viewpoint to remind me of big, big things that blow up and stand still and guard over our little world with precise beauty and soothing familiarity.

Wild Flag at Northern, Olympia Washington, 11/10/10 from sarah utter on Vimeo.

New Stuff + Kings Books

I'll be at Kings Books in Tacoma today peddling my letterpress wares at the TACOMA IS FOR LOVERS artists craft fair! You can pick up on of these guys:


Hall & Oates represent!


Carpenters, speaking the truth..


..and look at these stylish new totes! Perfect for groceries, sundries, library books, and records. oh! also buyolympia is having a FREE SHIPPING event through tomorrow night!

Under The Sun

I got a new camera! FINALLY. I think Jt was noticing how lost I've been without a way to visually record daily experiences, and so upon my 35th birthday, generously presented me with a digital buddy. Which I hope means a return to regular blogging, because this year has had a lot more downs than ups, and reveling in epic pools of loss is no way to live. Here are some nice things from the past few weeks:


This is a small hot springs located way, way, wayyyyy out in the eastern Oregon outback. I loved the landscape.. the high desert, low fluffy clouds against blue sky, nice buttes, wild ponies, raptors, junipers and pines.


Rosebud liked it too. She enjoys environments best described as 'scrubby'.


We drove through Burns, Oregon, land of fantastic signage! And dreamt of getting 20 of our most creative and enterprising friends to move there with us.. land is cheap, and the Steak Castle is for sale. Wanna go?


Oh! And we met a FALCONER!! Just as he was collecting his three minions and putting them back into the truck after a beautiful sunset flight. This is a view of the less glamorous side of falconry, the shitty side.


Sunset in the high desert. Magical. I'm headed back to the studio now, after 3 months of inactivity. I hope to have ridiculous amounts of new projects and happier days to share.

Mime Machine

Well, it turns out I am a terrible blogger after all. My camera is broken, but that's not really a proper excuse. I think something about stupid Spacebook and their extremely addictive scrabble application has usurped my energy for posting daily updates over here. Lame! I will say it here and now: I'm coming back to the land of BLOGGG!


I had an awesome art show in Portland, and Mecca Normal blew us all away (as usual). I really need to get some personal trainer tips from Jean.. holy moley, nice guns!


Two brave folks bought a painting of an ECHIDNA, one of the world's only egg-laying mammals. Whoa.

And then I went on tour with Western Hymn. West Coast Extravaganza! Since the camera was broken I will give you a brief rundown:


1. The van needs a name. Space Goblin?
2. PURPLE RHINESTONE EAGLE!
3. Merch trends are weird. No one likes tshirts?
4. I ate a burrito in the Mission.
5. So many awesome friends and all of their awesome cats and dogs and hamster/chinchillas.
6. I LOST MY SLEEPING BAG IN SANTA CRUZ.
7. and parlayed that into a really bad mood in Oakland.
8. Bezerkely!
9. Los Angeles and the outlying area is where all of my best friends live.
10. I love playing music live.
11. A row of pelicans working in formation over the waves of No Cal.
12. Phil's coffee is the best, but man: it is made out of CRACK CAFFEINE.
13. I am 34 and have a hard time staying up till 3 am every night (worth it, though).
14. Home sweet Kamilche.