bah humbug-type sentiments

It has been a while since I consistently blogged, so let's catch up:
My sister and her sons are back on the East coast for their twice-a-year visit with our family there. This means I've had the house to myself (yay!) in order to work hard on my Etsy shop, but it also means I've missed the opportunity to be together with my family (boo!). Little MNJ and SL just turned one year old a couple days ago, a really touching time to be celebrating back east. I'll put up a "one year!" post when they return and we have our party here, but meanwhile I'm glad that they had a fun time eating cupcakes and having their first birthday party celebration.

Around here I've started off the downtime with more drawing than production of new items, although there are introductions to be had. I realized its hard for me to enjoy blogging without photographs~ I'm an illustrator at heart and really rely on visual interpretations to express what I see, think, feel. Posts may be spotty for a while due to my broken camera, but I'll do my best to keep stopping by. :)

I am, it must be said, not having the best summer ever... although many of my friends who are having similar frustrations are encountering much larger challenges than myself. The year after uprooting everything and moving cross-country, I was bound to dig my heels into the ground with some consequences. It is no surprise that my irritations are showing up in my drawings. Anyway, the good news is that I'm able to amuse myself with these little Phooey sketches, and hope they cause you to have a little chuckle through life's inevitable unpleasantness's as well.

DRAT!

*notice* heat

Hot.
The Pacific Northwest is under a heat wave and boy are we all boiling. I woke up early in hopes to find a pocket of the day free of humidity, expecting the slanting light and glinting dew of just-dawn to house a bit of relief. Fat chance.

Throughout the day the temperatures continued to rise. I worked in town today, and all we (or our few customers) talked about was this heat, past heat, or other observations of weather. Being a recent transplant here, comparing notes between East and West coast was the theme of the day. It was all good fun in the cool comfort of air conditioning, but on the way home one must brace for pacing chores and steps with the utmost care.

On the highway, heading home, windows glint under the harsh afternoon sun. The horizon is lined with low, hunkering, bilious clouds. Translucent clouds, ghostly clouds, baby blue and capped in pink clouds, which spell out to my eye the hottest of summer days. These clouds, this traffic, the wavering, thick atmosphere hovering over pavement, all of these spell ocean-bound to me, just the right equation. I grew up in a summer culture, on an East coast peninsula where we all headed to the water for 3 months (at least!) of the year. I feel land-locked in this place, far from the gentle mirror of ponds, the many faces a coast can have.

I get home just around 4. This is the thick of the hottest past of the day (as apposed to the East coast, which begins to cool for rush-hour... or if not its a good indication you're stuck with the sticky heat all night) and I'm grateful for the foresight in shuttering the house before I left for work. It is 87 degrees downstairs, meaning it must be well above 95 upstairs. I take out my Moleskine journals and arrange my Gocco for some printing after eating a light dinner.
* * *

An hour later I'm cleaning up. My hands are covered in black ink, hard to keep this slick stuff where you want it in this heat. I'm sweating now, one tall frosty glass of cold water after another has disappeared by my side; print, move, print, move, sip, print, move. I'm storing excess ink in baby food glass jars these days, and think about my young nephews who are visiting my home town right now. I inspect the prints and schedule the next layer printing in my mental calendar. I may be far from the ocean, but knee-deep in my dreams.

A Long, Long Day

Dear Readers,

Wow... June 26th was the last time I visited my blog!? What on earth has been happening?
Hello and welcome back to you, to me, to this whole adventure we call art-making, child-rearing, settling, working and dreaming. I admit- July sort of unfolded in a fearsome way, and I'm glad its wrapping up with a new month on the horizon. But here we are, so thank you with your patience as I took a holiday from the public record of my life and simply did my best to live it.

The house, the boys, my sister, and the shop are all doing fine. I'm happy to report I've been doing a lot of smaller Gocco projects and widening my freebies, crafty-items, and working on the fixing's for the comeback of Gocco gift packs. I'm sad to report that early last month my camera met a grusome end, making it a little tricky to traverse this Internet communication/ shop running in the same way that I had been. I may be releasing some new products in an effort to fund raise to replace my camera, and will keep the blog, Flickr, and Facebook updated in regards to such goings-on.

Otherwise, my brain is a little fried with this heat wave Portland, Oregon is having (tomorrow 109 degrees!?). My heart, too, is feeling the distance with my twin nephews, who are turning their 1st year old in just 12 days, are on the other side of the country for about a month. Lucky for me there is work to be done- lots of it!- and also a blog to dust off, keeping my sister in the loop of her neighborhood's events while home in Massachusetts. I'll do my best to find some photographs, and make sure some newsworthy, positive, adventurous events happen in the following weeks.

Happy summer, everyone.

Alberta Street

The draw in moving to Portland was not just having my big sis to adventure with, or watching my twin nephews grow and explore their world, but also the promise of an abundant and thriving art community. I have the luck of working for a company that embodies old world artisan spirit and therefore work alongside numerous local artists, but have found this first year in Portland that the way you enter into the community of artists is not just by creating, or through work contacts, but with the support of friends.

local printmaker Emily Riley and our shared table outside at
Last Thursday on Alberta Street yesterday

One such friend is Emily Riley, a truly skilled print maker and painter. She is a member of the Talisman Gallery, a cooperative gallery on Alberta Street in NE, and one of my closest friends in town. I'm pretty familiar (and comfortable) with selling online; much of my business plan is still focused on the Internet as means of communication, networking and expression, but Emily has played a role in encouraging me to show my drawings around town, in person, despite my shyness, hesitations, scheduling conflicts... or all the other road blocks that have manifested since arriving in this arty town.

Yesterday I left the glow of the computer behind to set up shop at my first ever outside booth. Attending Alberta Street's Last Thursday was a complete blast, with the constant river of people flowing by, odd parades making their way down the street, and such pleasant weather after a day of overcast foreboding skies. I was surprised to find people were eager to talk about art, process, and other sellers out that night whom they had enjoyed pouring over. It was great fun.

ink drawing on woodblock print BELONGING
by Emily Riley

I was surprised, also, by just how inspiring spending a night out talking about drawing, printmaking, design and other local artists could be. It was very, very hard arriving home at 11:30 p.m. and not cracking open the sketchbook.

ouou shows off her wares; single cards,
stationary sets, journals and original drawings

I feel as though I'm entering into the weekend with bold exuberance for some fresh new drawing, as well as mindful that I've been posting about a new year with new experiences lately- only to stumble into one such experience! :D Find out more about Emily's art at her website here, or visit her Etsy shop here.