Sproingggg!

It seems that Spring (FINALLY) has sprung out here in Kamilche. Today is beautiful, and yesterday we were treated to this epic double rainbow!


I went up to Tacoma for Wayzgoose, which was crazy and crowded and awesome. A bookstore crammed with letterpress nerds! I was in heaven..


A new print I made for the festivities; it'll be in my shoppe soon. Now that I've done a lot of song lyrics, perhaps its time to do a set exclusively dedicated to movie quotes!

Hair!

One of my goals for the next year is to grow my hair out. I haven't had a haircut since last july (except my own uneven bang trims at home) and the front section of blonde has finally grown out. I don't really like having long hair, it gets in my way and takes too long to dry! But, I do enjoy a challenge.. so I'm gonna let it be, au naturelle, for the next year until I have enough to cut off and donate to this program, which makes wigs for women undergoing cancer treatment. This is in tribute and in solidarity with my beautiful friend Natalie, who passed away last August.

*A little worried about that 'hair may not be more than 5 % grey' part! I don't even know if I have grey hair in the back! Who wants to check for me??

Love Notes

Hey look! it's a new letterpress print in my shoppe. This one pays homage to that enigma-wrapped-in-a-puzzle, inexplicably perplexing Joe Cocker:


This print is super limited-edition, as getting the transparent tri-color effect just right was extremely befuddling. But not quite as befuddling as this guy:


Drink in the magic!

A Touch of Today

My painting style is really tight and picky and perfectionistic. Although I love painting, I was starting to question whether or not I actually found it enjoyable.. or if it just appealed to my self-torturing Virgo side. So I've begun an experiment, and its FUN! It turns out that I do like painting!! This experiment involves busting out a fast, loose piece when I get to my studio. And using the pallette knife a lot to mess up the image, which I LOVE. Since I have a big pile of discarded Lp's laying around (I collect them from the recycle pile at Rainy Day Records and usually cut them up as backing for my letterpress prints), those became the source materiel. No masking, no thinking, just painting. Here are some pieces from a little series I've started calling Ladies of The Dollar Bin:


Tammy Wynette, Greatest Hits


Nancy Wilson, A Touch of Today


Donna Fargo, The Happiest Girl in The World

Fun fun fun.

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!