Piles of words.

hmm.

Taking things apart, and putting them back together.

Radish harvest.

I pickled a bunch of them. It was good.

Bread-baking, also.

The TRAC tour is this weekend! I really don't know what to expect. I'm working on getting everything ready today, and we're setting up at Lisa's this evening. I've been working a lot in my studio the past couple of weeks. It is good. Confusing, but mostly good. More photos soon.

THIS is almost something! Again, photos sooner or later.

Hope all is well, all over the place!

The Fair!

Saturday was the 2nd Annual LA Printers Fair at the International Printing Museum in Carson, California. I was very glad to return as a vendor for this very well-organized event. I had another splendid day in the heat and the wind, showing and selling my work, making some contacts, and seeing some old friends.


I am making piles of books these days. I love it. I just want to spend my days making books, watching the muppet show, and eating chocolate-covered pretzels.



Want to see some more pictures?

Years ago...

I was living in Morgantown, West Virgina and thinking grad-school thoughts. It all seemed very big and important at the time, and I was pretty selfish, in a grad-schooly kind of way.

And I had a pretty bad, likely self-inflicted haircut.

And a lotta space to make art. And a lotta stuff.

My God, I had a lot of stuff.

This was Fall 2006...my friend Jenni had come to visit. I remember she teared up when she saw what kind of work I was working on, which still makes me glad.

like Pollyanna.

I have a better haircut now, less room to make art, but also, (gladly) less "stuff."

And I am a lot less selfish. At least I hope I am.

I have no point to make. Just found these photos, and started thinking about the Mo'town days. Thinking about the past.

I am very fond of snails.

Wednesday Morning, 6am in Los Angeles.
I recorded a two-minute video of this snail commuting across the sidewalk (with cars speeding by in the background) but I am having difficulty uploading it. But you probably have other things to do with the two minutes it would take you to watch it...

I woke up at 2:30 am, and was unable to go back to sleep. Serves me right for trying to go to bed early.

I've been drawing all morning, and noting how I breathe differently when I draw. It is nice. I like the drawing-breathing.

I have overhauled my studio, and am quite organized at the moment, and have a plan. Well, a few plans.

I also have a stack of pieces I intend to share on this blog and on Etsy...quite soon.

Yesterday I planted some seeds, including "moonlight" nasturtiums and "flying saucer" morning glorys. (glories, maybe?) I have an outer space-y garden.

My plan for the morning is to walk over the 5, over the River to Atwater Village. I'm going to have breakfast at the Village Bakery (I have only tried their scones, and their scones were acceptably yummy.) Then I will work a shift at Sante D'Or Animal Rescue, with my lady Sabrina and the gang.

In conclusion: snails, drawings, breathing, outer-space flowers, cats, bunnies, scones, and coffee.

I have no particular complaints today.

Sick. And "Plenty" at Happy.

I had a productive, yet restful thanksgiving break. But out of nowhere on Sunday a horrible monster took up residence in my sinuses, and I have been miserable the past couple of days. If I'm not making any sense in this post, its because of this beast pounding on the inside of my brain.

But the sinus monster isn't going to stop time. The end of the semester is in sight, and I have to pull myself together.

Anyway, check out the small works show "Plenty" at the cute little boutique "Happy." Here is a recent feature on apartment therapy. If you're able, come out on Friday and hang out in my neighborhood!

Hi Mom!

Hey look, everybody! Its cooled off enough for me to wear a wool hat! And look how long my hair is getting! I haven't had it cut in over a year, and I'm finally past that awkward in-between phase.



Maybe it was just the Sunday Morning Loveliness and the coffee, but this pile of books with Blue Bunny struck me as rather nice looking yesterday...

I've been doing a lot of things, but blogging regularly sure as hell isn't one of them. Yesterday I spent some time catching up on my friend Abbey's blog, Aesthetic Outburst, and as always I learned new things, discovered new artists/designers and felt all around motivated to try harder.

Let's see. So on Saturday I got up awfully early and went out to Northridge to be a presenter for "smART day", a day of workshops and lectures for art educators. I did the fastest mini-bookbinding workshop ever. It was kind of cool. Here's my TA & friend Katrina stabbing some paper.



Sunday I had a good morning of farmers marketing and coffee, and then tended to the ongoing cleaning/organizing/artmaking situation. It goes like this: "I should get to work on making stuff. But boy, this place is already so disorganized...maybe I should clean first." Then I sit on my floor organizing my safety pins by size for an hour....Then I take a nap.

It's something like that. I'm exaggerating a bit, (although there have been naps this weekend, make no mistake.) Anyone else get in these weird productive/unproductive cycles?

I have made progress on a project that isn't so much art-making, but rather documentation/organization. I mean, besides sorting the safety pins.

I'm always drawing. Doodling. On all sorts of bits of paper, envelopes, margins of my calender, post-it notes, and the agendas from faculty meetings. I've been tearing out and saving the good bits for some time.

Because I need more irregular bits of paper in my life, right?

I have started pasting these drawings onto blank 3x5" index cards. Then I put them in this beauty:



My ol' grad school pal Jeremy Entwistle rescued this library card catalog from university surplus, but he could not take it with him when we graduated. I love it. In addition to storing supplies and materials, (like more irregular bits of paper) I hope someday it will be full of little drawings. What I would really love to find (and I have looked) is some discarded library cards to use as a base for drawings/collages. When I was at Murray State University they were using old catalog cards as scratch paper at the library. I wish I'd swiped a few...thousand.

If anyone knows where I could get some catalog cards, please let me know!

The Happy Ones.

So, I've been on spring break from CSUN this week, which has been a pretty successfully balanced time of rest and productivity. Okay, maybe a little more rest than productivity...

I've also had lots of good news this week.

The "calculations and waiting" in my last post refer directly to my apartment-hunt. I've lived in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles for almost two years (well, come august), and I've been in my current apartment for over a year. I like where I am, and after a brief investigation into moving more drastically out of my neighborhood, I decided I'd rather stay put for now. I know these streets, I like walking to places around here, I like driving up to the observatory as needed, and I like having a familiarity with the check-out folks at my market.

But dang it, I need more space! My little studio apartment has been good to me, but in recent months I have felt more and more crazy because of the stiflingly small space. And street-parking. So I've been looking at apartments for a while now, and it really helped me clarify what I want in a place to live.

Geeze, this is wordy.

To sum up, I am moving May first into a place that I am very, very excited about. Besides having room for a couch AND a bed, it also has a petite dining room, hard-wood floors, a GARAGE, a telephone niche, and all sorts of 1930's detail that makes Michelle a bit giddy. It's the one-bedroom apartment that feels like a home, and it's the same price as one I looked at that was in a dark building with EIGHTY units. Bizarre.

Okay, so that's the big news. Let me tell you about my summer plans.

In July I'm planning on making a short trip up to Seattle, (never been there) to stay with my friend (from WVU) Myra. I'll be teaching a two-day bookbinding workshop at the Kirkland Arts Center, where Myra is the educational director.

In late July/early August, I will be at Penland (as I mentioned last post) for Arthur Hash's metals workshop. So excited to play with metal again. It's been a while!

Afterwards, I'll be hanging around P-land for a few more days to do my thing at the fancy-pants auction, and I hope I can persuade these girls to join me:



After THAT, I'll be making my way to Atlanta, Georgia (not sure I've ever been there, either...) for a residency at the Art House. I'll be making things and having a show. I'm excited.

I'm planning on posting more work for sale in my shop today. Not all of it is brand new....as I begin organizing/packing for the move, I've been finding pieces that I've forgotten about, (most have been in shows and have been resting in frames in a closet) and I'd like to find good homes for them. I do not make art to hoard it all in boxes and closets.

All the new.

I've been very busy lately. Already a month into classes at CSUN and LMU, and I'm pretending it's autumn in Los Angeles, even though it's still too dang hot. But I'm wearing plaid, so....it must be fall.

The images above are of the work I mailed to the Art House Co-Op in Atlanta, Georgia for their "Collecting Objects" project. Today I signed up for what sounds like another fun adventure, their "Scavenger Project."

Here's good stuff: I actually found Lost Found Art while teaching my 2d design class. Who knows what I was talking about at the time.

My friend Ann Flowers has started a blog, haunted by pretty ghosts. Check out A Beautiful Party.

CSUN has wireless internet everywhere, which leads us to my next recent discovery: how fantastic is Pandora Radio? Why didn't I discover this sooner?

Here's a breakthrough moment in the history of the universe:



Well, actually like most things in the universe, this breakthough is rather a looping-around of something I was doing years ago......


So, I've made 115 sales to date in my Etsy shop. I listed some new things on my birthday...check 'em out.

I'm working on a stack of applications, proposals, and entries.

I'm also working on etching big zinc plates, and taking out some of my agression on a litho stone.

Elle Decor

In the current issue of Elle Decor, there is a tiny, blurry image of one of my pieces on page 70. My friend Paula's store, Henry Road is featured, and that's my piece entitled "Blood Oranges and Spiders" above the mantle. Neat, huh?

I've been busy adjusting to my work week. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have LONG days at Cal State Northridge. But long days in a printshop are actually very enjoyable. And I'm not fighting LA traffic...

...I'm out-smarting it.

My 28th birthday is friday! I'm going to the Hollywood Bowl for the first time, to see Brian Wilson & the LA Phil & fireworks.

And I'm buying myself flowers.

More tomorrow: for those keeping count, tommorrow is my one-year "etsyversary". 112 sales from my shop in a year...not too bad, right?

reminder.