Blog
November 6th, 2012
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, abled, disabled, gay or straight. You can make it here in America if you’re willing to try.”
— President Obama, 6 November 2012
There’s a lot of work ahead, and not every step we took today was in the right direction. But I want to thank everyone who voted for women’s rights, for marriage equality, for four more years. Tonight I’m raising my glass to everyone who voted to move us Forward.
November 1st, 2012
Our pencils are sharp, and our presses are fired up. Jessica and I are churning out our next candidate for Dead Feminist, and she’ll be on the ballot next week. You can catch her online then, or if you’re local, see her first at this weekend’s Studio Tour. Both Jessica and I will be open both Saturday and Sunday, as usual—more info and maps/directions here.
October 2nd, 2012
Can’t you just hear the choir of angels singing, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh” over a pint right now?
I think that’s how everybody around here felt last month, when my good friends (and veteran restaurateurs) Barry & Renée Watson opened the doors of their newest business, Pint Defiance Specialty Beers & Taproom. I mean, come on—look at that heavenly glow there!
Barry and I share a deep love of all things campy and kitschy—so when he asked me to design the identity for Pint Defiance (which in itself is a top-notch pun on Point Defiance, Tacoma’s famous city park), I think he knew he had me at “hello.” Within about ten seconds we were both cackling over the possibilities of things like faux woodgrain and vintage scout badges.
So I put together a hand-lettered logo based on vintage script and the kind of hand-hewn wooden signs you find at summer camps and state parks.
I knew I had hit on the right theme when I saw Barry’s collection of vintage paint-by-number pieces—which are now hanging proudly in the taproom (this, people, is the perfect illustration of why we are friends).
Because I couldn’t resist ganging up on the Point Defiance joke, I also designed a hand-lettered t-shirt for the shop (which is kind of an inside joke for Tacoma folks, sorry—if you’ve ever been to Point Defiance Park, the place is filthy with raccoons, and there are “Don’t Feed the Wildlife” signs absolutely everywhere).
photo by Barry Watson
Below the asterisk, the fine print reads: “Beer is okay, though.” For the record, Barry came up with that nugget, so don’t send PETA after me!
Whenever I stop by the shop, it still strikes me as thrilling (and a little strange) to see my logo reproduced on a hundred pieces of glassware—
—or lining the wall above the impressively massive cooler.
Best of all, though, is the fact that whenever I stop by, Barry flashes me a smile and hands me a pint of cider (my favorite), before I get a chance to ask. And then I raise a toast to Renée, knowing that their little business is going to be a smashing success. Congrats, you two!
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 25th, 2012
I should be packing for my next trip, really. But hand me a bowl of fresh raspberries and the whole world comes to halt.
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!
August 6th, 2012
Today is my fourth anniversary of living in lovely T-town. And all I can think of is: A) I can’t believe it’s been four years already—
and B) I still can’t believe I live in a place where artichokes will grow happily in the front yard.
I love this place.
July 27th, 2012
(Since they tell me a picture’s worth a bucket of words…)
Thank you, everyone!
July 20th, 2012
Picture a Chuck-E-Cheese-ball-pit-sized vat of pie cherries: that’s what our kitchen feels like right now.
The Tailor loves fresh sour pie cherries with a fiery passion, but they don’t grow well in western Washington (not enough sun). And they’re both hard to transport commercially (thin skins) and not super popular with folks under the age of 80 (too much work). So as you can imagine, even though home canning is a big part of everyday life around our house, he hadn’t been able to add cherries to the routine.
Until now.
He managed to find a farmer on the other side of the mountains who specialized in pie cherries. To make it worthwhile for both the farmer to harvest them fresh, and the Tailor to drive three hours one way, he ordered a metric boatload.
So now our kitchen is filled with pitted cherries.
And mashed cherries.
And pie’d cherries.
I gotta say—I finally see what all the fuss is about! That is one tasty labor of love.
July 12th, 2012
I fancied a drive around the Bay today—it seemed like just the thing to get the creative juices flowing.
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