Blog
February 3rd, 2015
Well, I’m hitting the road again—I can’t believe it’s been two years already, but the CODEX Bookfair has come around again. Jessica and I will both be exhibiting, and we’ll have lots of new projects making their debut there (including the new Dead Feminist broadside!)
The best thing about CODEX is being able to stand in a room with hundreds of pieces of art—art that you can touch, while you have a conversation with the artist who made it. The event showcases the work of some of the best book artists, printmakers, paper artists and typographers working today—the result is an astounding display of artwork and ephemera from all over the world. So if you’re even remotely local, it’s well worth the trip.
You’ll find me at the Anagram Press table (#84)—so stop by and say hello!
Fifth CODEX International Bookfair
February 8-11, 2015
Craneway Pavilion, Richmond, CA
Open today and Tuesday 12:30 to 6; Wednesday 10 to 3
Admission: $10 per day ($5 students) or $30 for multi-day pass
December 25th, 2014
To me this season is not about a certain day, or even a series of holidays—it’s a collection of moments. It’s those moments that I cherish above anything else—especially when they happen with the people I love best, in this part of the world I call home. I hope your season, however you might celebrate or mark it, is filled with the moments you’ll want to remember always.
Merry Christmas, and happy holidays, from our home to yours.
November 27th, 2014
We’re celebrating the holiday at a friend’s house this year—one who, I’m happy to say, was the perfect partner in crime when it came to hatching our crazy state-souvenir table settings idea.
Whatever state you’re in this year (whether literal or metaphorical), wishing you a happy, safe and delicious Thanksgiving!
October 17th, 2014
In a season full of big events, tomorrow is the biggest day of all, because that’s when the Tailor and I move into our new home. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this—we’ve been saving for years and looking for months, and we finally found the house (and studio!) that is absolutely perfect for us, in every way.
It’s going to take a goodly bit of time, elbow grease and TLC to preserve our little piece of historic Tacoma just the way we want to, but we’ve had a lot of good omens to remind us that we’re headed down the right path.
For one thing, we found a poster I designed already hanging in the basement—
—and for another, we’ll get to come home to this every day.
I’ll be whipping my new studio into shape over the coming weeks and months, so I’m sure I’ll have photos and stories to share as I go along.
* * *
Thank you to everybody who came to my reception yesterday! We had a massive turnout—I think we gave the library staff a nice surprise by filling up that gallery. Many thanks for all your smiles, hugs and support, especially on the eve of the big move!
October 12th, 2014
This weekend was the biggest and best Studio Tour yet—and I even remembered to take pictures!
Well, sort of, anyway. I managed to document my space for the last time,
but then chaos took over. It’s a good thing I bought just about every last organic jellybean in the city of Tacoma, because we needed them!
This was the only “action shot” I managed to grab all day—most of the time it was so packed there wasn’t room to stand on anything to snap a quick photo. We blew last year’s record out of the water, with well over 200 visitors this year!
And then afterward the only photo I managed was the view from the floor, where I lay in a heap.
To everyone who came to bid the old house farewell, as well as the many new folks who stopped by for the first time, thank you so much for making the weekend an enormous success. It feels so good to be a part of such a supportive and enthusiastic community—I would not be able to do what I do without you.
And I’m already thinking up ideas for 2015. See you next year, at the new studio!
October 9th, 2014
I know I’ve been a little quiet online lately, but it’s certainly not quiet around my house. This is the state of things right now—at least in the back half of the house. The Tailor and I are moving to a new house/studio in just over a week (still in Tacoma! Just a couple of miles away is all…).
To give my studio of the past six years a proper send-off, I’m doing one last Studio Tour at the old house, this weekend. (Don’t worry, this isn’t my last Studio Tour—next year it’ll be at the new house.) Since the event is a month earlier from now on, we’re all crossing our fingers for better weather! I’ll have my fancy hand-crank die cutter set up for folks to make a take-home keepsake, and there’ll be new artwork and goodies for sale, as always. Here are the details:
13th Annual Tacoma Studio Tours
Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12, 2014
11 am to 5 pm, free!
(Anagram Press studio is #18 on the tour)
More info and maps available here
See you this weekend!
September 9th, 2014
At this time of year, the rainy season looms just ahead, waiting to drop like the proverbial other shoe. So any extra warm sunny days we’re given feel like a huge, magnanimous gift. And since this little slice of Indian Summer fell on a weekend, it felt like I just had to get out on the water, while I still had the chance.
Clearly, I wasn’t the only one.
In fact, it seemed like everyone and their dog had the same idea I had—but that’s fine with me. It seemed appropriate to share Lake Union with half of Seattle—after all, at this time of year, we’re all in the same boat.
July 22nd, 2014
I have no idea where the time has gone, but today marks the first anniversary of my illustrated travel blog, Drawn the Road Again! In the past year, I’ve jumped around in both time and place to share as many different travel sketches as I could. But what I might just love the most is sketching the road itself—so in honor of the occasion, I put together a little collage of road sketches posted in the last year.
Sharing my travel sketches has truly been a labor of love—thank you so much for coming along with me for the ride! I can’t tell you what it means to have the encouragement of your comments, social media posts, online sharing, travel recommendations, emails, and even actual mail (you know who you are!). I never dreamed of the response my sketches would have, and I am awed and humbled by your support. Thanks to you, I can’t wait to see what lies just beyond the horizon. You can bet I’ll be ready, sketchbook in hand.
July 14th, 2014
Saturday was a scorcher—I wouldn’t normally pick a day with the temperature in the mid-nineties to hang out in a concrete jungle, but it was a special occasion.
You see, it’s a rare treat to get to have a tasty meal and a good conversation with a roomful of talented illustrators.
Photo by Sophie Dufresne—thanks, Sophie!
We all got together in downtown Portland with the lovely Lilla Rogers to talk shop, ask advice and compare notes. I think all of us came away with our heads full of ideas and our hearts full of confidence. (Not bad for a lunch date, I’d say.)
After that, though, I had a lot to think about, and 95 degrees wasn’t doing my brain any favors. So I bolted for the coast—where it was 30 degrees cooler and a thousand times more peaceful than the city. So I soaked in the sun and stared out to sea, while my ideas took shape.
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!
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