Blog
May 18th, 2015
I have my tiny souvenir bottle of Mount Saint Helens ash sitting on my desk right now, as a reminder that it was thirty-five years ago today that the mountain erupted.
The event happened a year before I was born, so it’s not like I have personal memories of it—but Mt. St. Helens still crops up in my work now and again. It also shows up on the horizon from time to time—
—but not as frequently as you might think. It’s often in its own bank of clouds, so it’s not visible much, even when Mt. Rainier and the other volcanoes are out. In fact, I had never seen Mt. St. Helens up close (despite a few attempts) until ten days ago. With the anniversary of the eruption looming, I figured it was high time I remedied the situation. It just didn’t seem right that so far the only thing I’d seen in any detail was the gift shop.
Speaking of which… Normally I’d say that my sketchbook drawings are my best souvenirs, but I think in this case, there might be an exception:
Our “before and after” salt and pepper shakers, given to us by a geologist friend. I’m not gonna lie: there’s no way I could ever top these (er, no pun intended).
As another “souvenir” of today’s anniversary, I’ve got sketches of Mt. St. Helens from the past few years over on Drawn the Road Again. So go take a look—but head for high ground if you hear any rumbling!
June 26th, 2014
One exhibit might be ending this week, but another is just getting started. On Tuesday night I went to the opening for Ink This!, a new exhibit of contemporary Northwest print arts at the Tacoma Art Museum.
The place was completely packed—both in the lecture space and in the common areas.
I spent so much time catching up with friends and colleagues from all over the region (which is the best part about this show!) that I barely made it upstairs to see the artwork itself.
And then when I got there, I had a pleasant surprise: my piece in the show is prominently displayed, right by the entrance.
It’s such an honor to have my book in a room with so many incredible prints, sculptures, artist books and other work by the people I admire the most.
Most of all, I can’t tell you how gratifying it was to see so many people come up and spend time with my book. That’s the highest compliment anyone could ever pay me.
Many, many thanks to the Tacoma Art Museum for putting this show together; to Margaret Bullock for her amazing work curating the exhibit; to Ann and Peter Darling who lent the book from their private collection for the exhibit; to everyone who has seen the show so far; to the artists themselves; and to the lovely man monitoring the gallery that night, who so kindly gave me permission to take some hip shots with my phone camera. (I couldn’t hide how excited I was to have my work in a museum for the first time—thanks for not laughing at my dorkiness!)
Ink This! will be on display through November 9 October 19 (update: show is closing early to accommodate the opening of a new museum wing), at the Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma.
May 12th, 2014
Much as I’d love them to be done by now, there’s still about a zillion flats to be cut for my Local Conditions book. I can’t do them all in one go—all that hand-Xacto-knifing is really hard on your hands. So I fit the cutting in wherever I can, whenever I need a break from some other project or process. Still, even though the progress is slow, it feels good to see a whole stack of finished pieces, ready to contribute to the edition.
December 7th, 2013
In case you might be wondering, I’m still working on my Mt. Rainier book. I don’t post about it often, but this is a near-constant backdrop to everything I do. Every day, I hand-color a few more prints. Every day, I cut a few more pieces. Every day, I cross a thing or two off the massive list. And every day, I get closer to “done.”
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.
July 12th, 2013
The other day I received the most peculiar thing in the post, from a couple who had recently purchased my Local Conditions artist book.
I opened it up, and inside was their own version of the book, made out of vintage postcards!
I’m pretty sure this is, hands down, the best thing anyone has ever sent me in the mail.
June 24th, 2013
I’m working on something huge (and secret!) that I’ll be launching very soon. In the meantime, I’m going through the studio and doing some housekeeping (both literally and online). As happens with any big shift, it’s time to take a good hard look at anything that doesn’t quite fit the puzzle going forward.
So at noon PST on July 1, I’m going to be making some changes to the shop in preparation for the big thing to come. And while they’ve had a good run, I’ll be removing a few things permanently—including the last remaining hand-painted linocuts from the Flock series.
(Don’t worry, the bird cards aren’t going anywhere!)
Most of the rest of my hand-printed artwork (like the Mt. Rainier and Horse prints) will still be available, but the prices will go up on July 1—some by quite a bit. So if there’s anything you’ve had your eye on for awhile, now might just be the time for you to snag it.
Take your pick over at the shop!
May 17th, 2013
We’ve had just about the most perfect spring here this year—with weather so unseasonably sunny, for weeks on end, that it simply would be criminal not to get outside for every second one can. On days like this, work can wait awhile—and the camera moves to the front burner. When the sun is shining here, a perfect moment is never hard to find.
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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