Blog
June 16th, 2014
This is my friend Carl.
He’s a wood engraver extraordinaire—
—and his West Seattle letterpress studio is a thing of beauty.
He does lovely, painstaking work (those are his engravings on the wall there), and he runs a tight ship at that studio of his.
Which is why my friend Mary-Alice called on Carl when she picked up a vintage Adana flatbed press, and wanted help whipping it into shape. She and her husband were planning to bring the press to West Seattle yesterday. I’d never seen an Adana in action before (I’m more of a Vandercook gal myself), so I asked to tag along.
Carl was more than ready for us.
He gave the press a quick once-over. “I think you’re getting off too easy, Mary-Alice,” he said. “There aren’t even any spiders under here!”
A few drops of oil,
some careful adjustments,
one of Carl’s own engravings to use as a test,
and a little text M-A set from his massive collection of type—and all of a sudden the Adana was print-ready.
Carl even broke out the fancy handmade paper—”This is an important occasion!” he said.
Pretty darn good results, if you ask me. Carl made us all sign the finished broadside. (Mariners pencil for the win!)
“How come I get to sign?” I asked, confused.
Carl chuckled and said, “You documented the occasion. Sign it!”
Aye, aye, Captain!
February 17th, 2014
Photo by Candace Rardon
If you know me at all, you know this is how you’re likely to find me. But I’m not the only one known to be seen with a sketchbook and paintbox.
My friend and fellow travel sketcher Candace has been in town visiting lately, and we’ve spent most of our time together with sketchbooks in hand.
In addition to showing her my favorite haunts, it’s been fun to introduce her to some other Urban Sketchers I know.
And I have a feeling you can guess what happens when a bunch of sketchbook nuts get together.
September 8th, 2013
Jessica and I (and our friend Caitlyn) were invited to have a table at this yesterday’s Wayzgoose at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle. We didn’t contribute a steamroller print this time, so it was fun to just be part of the audience outside, and enjoy the show! I love the sort of mischief that happens when a bunch of letterpress printers get together for a day.
August 6th, 2013
I moved to Washington five years ago today. In that time, I’ve enjoyed a whole lot of apples,
beheld countless spectacular views,
stared out to sea a zillion times,
stood beside many lit (and unlit) beacons,
memorized every crag of my favorite mountain,
lost count of all the city sunsets (even in the rainy Northwest!),
and numbered my lucky stars over and over again that I get to call this place home.
December 13th, 2012
Don’t let the sunshine fool you—the wind was fuh-reezing.
Still, I’m not about to pass up a nice day!
September 21st, 2012
I gotta say—even though I have loved all the traveling I’ve done in the past few months,
there is just nothing like coming home.
August 22nd, 2012
A couple of months ago I was asked to create a letterpress broadside for a collaborative print portfolio for a show in Asheville, put together by the Ladies of Letterpress. The theme was Expanding Communities—beyond that, we could do anything we wanted. So I focused on a unique element of Seattle’s community: the P-Patch.
A P-Patch is a community garden like any other—and completely unlike any other. The name comes from the Picardo family, who converted their farm into the city’s first truly communal garden in the 1970s. So to this day, if you life in Seattle, you tend your p-patch, not your garden plot. That just charmed the heck out of me, and I wanted to create a tribute to it.
P-Patch is completely hand-lettered, as well as hand-painted with watercolor, in homage to the hard work required to maintain a thriving garden. Many thanks to the Ladies of Letterpress gals for inviting me to be a part of the portfolio—I can’t wait to see what everyone else came up with!
July 6th, 2012
I’m working on a little something in Jessica’s studio right now.
Something that’s making me downright hungry.
I’ll show you the finished product as soon as it’s done—provided I don’t go bury my head in the veggie crisper first!
May 20th, 2012
Now that I’m back in town, I’ve got deadlines. Lots of them.
Like, hundreds and hundreds. Each one shaped like a little P-I Globe, a little Space Needle, or any number of things.
You get the idea.
February 16th, 2012
I’m back to being reasonably mobile again after my accident (still not driving myself quite yet, though—just a couple more weeks!)—and coming here was the first thing on my to-do list.
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