i thought i'd posted a brief "i'll be on sabbatical" message back in july when i relocated... but i guess i didn't! oops! ok, well, i'll be on sabbatical til late fall or so while i settle into my new town, residence, studio, and day job.


i'll be back in the swing of things and posting regularly by november!


until then i'll leave you with images from the past week with saelee in my new studio. we're working together on the forthcoming 2008 hidden habitats calendar [available september 1 on blissen], and our corresponding art show in december at giant robot in l.a.


happy summer and fall!

a little tired/jetlagged still, but this year's trip to the national stationery show was awesome! all of us in the relish sf booth had a ton of fun hanging out together and meeting people from all our favorite stationery companies, stores and magazines! i mean, come on, how could you not have fun in a bright yellow booth?! i wasn't able to bring a camera, but here's a few quick shots courtesy of my boothmate joy...








... more pictures and stories on the way once i've procured a few more from other boothmates!


check blissen.com on friday for most of the new paper goods and embroidered items that debuted at the show! [i need a few days to recover and unpack first]...


in the meantime, you can check out shelflife records' newest limited edition release "silver rain" by the band warm morning, featuring my artwork. i'm pleased to be a part of shelflife's return after a long hiatus!

ok, this is all a little old news by now, but i've been busy in the studio with last minute prep for the stationery show and picking up the slack for my two part-time assistants, both working limited hours due to continuing illnesses and injuries... :( hopefully cynthia and becky will be fully recovered soon!





reform school was featured on local l.a. tv a week or so ago! billie talked about the many items in their shop that focus on reused materials ["reform school" - get it?!], including my artwork on the walls! wow! see the clip here.


speaking of my artwork at reform school, susan beal wrote some nice things about the show on the adorn magazine blog. thanks susan!


one last thing before i dash off to lunch... if you're in the bay area this weekend be sure to check out the maker faire in san mateo! i was able to exhibit and attend last year's faire and had tons of fun geeking out with tech and craft geeks of all stripes. i'm truly sad to miss it this year while i'm in new york.

finally back online after a few intense weeks in the studio. after 4 months delay, we've finished the new doe website, and we've all been dealing with various illnesses, accidents, etceteras... you know, the usual!



through it all i've been preparing a new collection of paper goods and embroidered items for the national stationery show in new york which is, gulp, in two weeks! the embroidery machine is a new studio toy, purchased from k studio when they upgraded to a fancier machine last year. it's taken me 5 months to figure out how to translate drawings into stitches, and then how to work with this clunky beast! no easy feat!





i'm very excited for my second year at nss, represented by relish and sharing a booth with a handful of other talented designers: K. Autumn, Good on Paper, Mateo Ilasco, nantaka joy, and Allymoon.
If you're lucky enough to be at the show - it's like being at the biggest craft fair ever! - please stop by and say hello to all of us in booth #3472. there's more info on all the relish designers and the show itself on the relish website.



once we're back from nyc, the last week of may, i'll be showing off all my new stationery and embroidered goodies on my shopping website, blissen.com.

what a glorious weekend i just had, definitely the best of 2007 so far! 2 days in l.a. with some of my favorite friends in the world, and the best art show opening ever! it was great to see so many friends i hadn't seen in a while, to meet people i'd only known through email, and to see and meet so many new faces.


thanks to billie and tootie at reform school for the beautiful and delicious opening party treats, and for having such a well-thought out and beautiful store also! i think i spent more than i made that night... and check out their recycled paper shopping bag!



now back to reality [which is almost as good, actually!]...

i just got the native flowers mini journal set sample in the mail from chronicle, and i'm super excited about them!





i could really use a mini-journal right now, but this is my only copy and the rest won't be available until november! sigh, just have to wait...

today it's raining, but yesterday the weather was so nice i uncharacteristically took the morning off to hike through the woods near lake sonoma with a friend and our dogs. we came upon a grove of redwood trees in an otherwise cleared grassland area. the branches on the outter ring of trees were sloping down towards the ground as if to sheild the rest of their friends from the harsh sun. adorable! another memorable stretch of the hike was an area of nothing but red-barked manzanita trees through which you could catch glimpses of the bright blue lake.


after our 2.5 hour hike, we were sore, famished and thirsty. when that happens in wine country, the best thign to do is head straight for a winery with a picnic area, so we did! then it was time to head back to the studio and get back to work! i'm putting the finishing touches on the 'forest coral' artshow that opens saturday at reform school [see my earlier post below], among other things.


faythe from paper boat gallery + boutique and her friend micaela have been hard at work on "handmade nation" - a documentary on the current independent arts, crafts + design movment. there's a sneak peek on youtube, and i can't wait to see the whole thing next year!


tomorrow i hope to add more sheets to the blissen sheets archive i've begun on flickr. after these few years working with sheets, i've realized we [me, and my friends who supply me with trhifted sheets] have become expert at recognizing sheet patterns and gauging their vintage from sewn details and such. it's a weird but interesting expertise to have!

it was uncharacteristically quiet in the studio today, everyone seems to have some kind of physical ailment and we all needed a quiet day at home. i worked on some preliminary files for another chronicle project, pine forest native flowers. i meant to take a photo of the printed mock-up to post here, but was rushed to get it to fed-ex on time and forgot! one thing that always amazes me about working with chronicle is the loooooong lead times. though i've started this project now, it won't be in stores until next fall! compare that to something i make for blissen: it's designed, made, and for sale in as little as a day!


for instance: today i also cut up some damaged farmlife calendars and remade them into seasonal notecard sets. i'll post these on blissen.com shortly!


now i'm going to go work on some goodies for the upcoming forest coral artshow in two weeks while watching a little tv...

i've been so busy working on the upcoming forest coral art show, several client projects, blissen, and traveling every weekend that my poppy seedlings were seriously neglected the other weekend during a heatwave. i'm devasted, although others have emailed me to let me know they haven't had much luck with growing poppies either. there's still a few left alive, maybe this is how they thin themselves out? eek!

1. my laptop gave out this past weekend, and is in the shop for repairs. on my laptop are most of my project files i was working on, my i-cal, my downloaded emails and my email address book. i've been scrambling all week to remember projects, appointments, due dates, addresses... oh laptop, come home soon! and please don't be so badly damaged they have to wipe the drive and i'll loose my life. i'm on pins and needles here.



2. it turns out my cousin stephanie has written her first book, for chronicle! no wonder i hadn't heard from her in such a long time. by happy coincidence, on chronicle's "new releases" website area her book is listed right above my latest chronicle release, the native flowers notecard book! aunt charlotte has got to be so proud right now!





the native flowers notecard book, i must say, is really something else. 24 cards, each featuring a different native flower illustration. it's a portable portfolio of flowers!





3. my drawings for my upcoming solo show at reform school in los angeles are coming along nicely! i'm really excited about this new art and the show, it's been in my head for so long that it's nice to get it out in the real world. this past summer i was lucky enough to go on my first real long vacation ever, to australia, and fulfill a life-long dream: snorkeling on the great barrier reef. i was so inspired by what i saw there, especially compared to the tidepools i'm familiar with in california, that i began a bunch of drawings for a book on the 15-hour flight home.





once i got home to northern california, i was enthralled by all the moss and lichen brought to life by the winter rains. i couldn't help noticing similarities between them and what i'd seen underwater in australia. for starters, both proliferate when doused in water, and dryout/curl into themselves when dry. did you know that moss will spring back to life if you simply spray it with a spray bottle? yes, it's awesome! so, everytime it's rained i've gone out and collected fallen branches to study. they'll be at reform school, in terrariums, so you can see what i mean!