Tree Hugs

Bay Area friends! Go to Giant Robot tonight!


This show is going to be CRAZEE! You can check out my latest paintings, 'Owl on a Log' and 'Penguin in the Forest'. Proceeds benefit Friends of the Urban Forest!

Watchin' Vidz

Tonight I spent some time in that magical era of cinema, the '70's..


..with Jack Nicholson and Karen Black. Five Easy Pieces. These are the things I thought about:

1. Karen Black is extraordinary. I don't think it would be easy to play the dolt, the nincompoop, the airhead. At least to play it well. She makes it a spectacle.

2. What am I doing not playing guitar? This is a ridiculous thought, prompted by a fictional movie where Jack N. is a prolific pianist who can't take it and works on an oil rig. I don't work on an oil rig. I work in my art studio, and I love it. But I shouldn't ignore music completely. (Thank you Jack N., fictional piano-player. And thank you, Jack N.'s stunt hands).

3. Family is family is family (and that's you); there's no use in pretending it's not, even if you run away to Texas and work on an oil rig and go bowling. Eventually you will come back to the San Juans and play music, with your musically dysfunctional family.

4. I have nostalgia for Douglas Firs and logging trucks, and become homesick for these sights when I witness them onscreen. Except that I live here in Washington, and so it makes no sense. Displaced sentimentality?


I think the whole thing made me want to re-watch Love Streams by John Cassavetes. Or maybe Three Women with Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek. So good!

Triangulate

In my town there is something of a mass exodus going on. An evacuation of friends, a collective flight of those who have grown out of our sleepy little burg. And with this migration south comes one of life's inevitabilities that I must learn to accept: eventually, everyone moves to Portland. Everyone talented or interesting or productive, from Olympia, that is.. I mean, even Buyolympia.com is moving to PDX next month! I want to make a shirt to sell on Buyoly that says 'DON'T MOVE TO PORTLAND. YOU'LL HATE IT'. ha!

Obviously, I'm just jealous. Not so much of living in the city, because I adore Kamilche and am a woods-dweller at heart. But I envy the energy of living amongst a larger community of artists, writers, and friends. For instance, my pal Heather Treadway.. a former tenant of the Dumpster Values/Phantom City studio hive, and now a thriving Portlander. Her company, Paperdoll Fashion, is debuting their Spring '08 collection! And lookee here, what's this?



It's the Pyramid Triangulator jacket! My dreams of being a textile designer (these are recent dreams, ever since Heather suggested a collaboration) have come to fruition! I drew a bunch of pyramids, Scott made a screen, and Heather built this incredible, pocketed masterpiece. You can find it here.

This is just the beginning of my foray into a heiroglyphic-based obsession, a revival of the time in junior high when I used to wear one of those Egyptian cartouch necklaces from the imports store in Seattle. Yeah, I was that kid.

Art for Trees

If you're in the bay area, check out this exciting show at GRSF!


It's a fundraiser for Friends of the Urban Forest, a non-profit organization that plants over 1,500 trees a year to keep San Francisco communities green. I have two paintings in it, along with a ton of other amazing artists like Rachell Sumpter, Hannah Stoufer, and Ryan Jacob Smith!!

Opening party is Sat. May 17th from 6:30 - 10 pm, 618 Shrader St.

New Ways of Seeing

Well, the bats are out. In front of the big glass door; swooping and fluttering and dashing about. It's good, it's some sort of affirmation that spring is here even if we can't feel it, even if we tie on our woolen scarves extra tight and secretly search the clearance rack for marked-down polar fleeces. The bats are eating the bugs, and the bugs are here for the brand new edibles. If only the sunshine would take a cue.


And yeah, I'm 32. So I do things like this: I brew kombucha. I'm actually ridiculously excited, I have received a good SCOBY (that's Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast for the uninitiated..) from a new friend, Tess. She's from West Texas where everything looks like the intro to that Harry Dean Stanton movie. You know the one.


And what else? Somehow I'm trapped in a rash streak of thumb abuse.. it's wind damage, papercut, papercut, and corkscrew follies. OUCH! I can hardly bear to turn a page.

Imaginary Birds, Vol. 2

And.. I'm back! The art show is officially done. What I mean to say is that it's still up, and will be up for another month, but the whole painting/hanging/opening part is done! And I'm ready for some vacation time.

It was great though, really great, and I want to thank all my friends and family who came out to support. Here's some images of the work:









And there's five more, it's just that this dial-up modem makes uploading really really slow and time-consuming, and I've got things to do! Like taking a nap.

Miss Paint-Pants

Does this penguin look worried?


Don't worry, penguin. Things are actually progressing on schedule, which is always miraculous to me. I'm hanging letterpressed flyers..


..and mailing out postcards to my people:


Join the elf-owls and myself next Friday and Saturday for the madness!

Bogus Business

Well, I guess I should just come to terms with this: Rosebud is headed back to the doggy hospital.


For a torn ACL. That's the ligament that is over a dog's 'knee'. After the surgery she'll have to be kept quiet for a few months so she doesn't blow out the other one while the first is healing (see: Jackson, Maggie's dog).

During the whole bacterial infection drama I felt like the universe was showing me something, like I was learning about myself and her and what we were capable of. And then during the gastrointestinal hemorrhaging I felt a little baffled, but went with it. Throughout last year's puncture wounds and sliced pads and partial tear to the ACL, I started to laugh at the absurdity. What else can you do? Now I'm starting to feel defeated. But I think that might be because I'm swamped with work to finish for the art show and have a cold.

Across the Pond

Look who showed up, live and direct from England!


It's Natalie and Dee and baby Dillon; Natalie is an Olympia ex-pat and dear friend who has made a whole new life for herself over the last 6 years as an official unofficial Brit..


And along the way little Dillon showed up! Red overalls plus happy baby = cuteness to the maxx. I want some red overalls.


We went down to the beach and threw gigantic sticks for the dogs, and were all disturbed by Rosebud's feral insanity. Luckily the Natalie/Dee/Dillon posse is a dog friendly crew. The little one is being reared by a Siberian Husky and a Husky/Staffie mix.. truly raised by wolves!


Maybe someday Justin and I will get to go for a visit, and drive south to see the white cliffs of Dover. I hope so.

What?

Hmmm..


Either Rosebud is sprouting a horn, or I need to take her back to L.A. for a nose job. What is going on here?


In other news, I decided that seagulls can be beautiful.