Last night was Gallery Stroll and my first stop was at Phillips Gallery to support John Erickson, a University of Utah professor, and to look at myself. In the beginning of the summer, I was very honored when John asked me to sit for him privately for this show. I’ve posed for his classes before and over the year I have gotten to know his talent and humor. My most favorite thing he has ever said is after 20 minutes into a pose, he tells his students, “Lets add some drama. I’m going to grade these.”

The first picture is my favorite painting of the two. I have never felt so patriotic. The second one has a funny story. I ran into a high school friend, Angie DeCaria, and her dad. They had been guessing these paintings were of me but weren’t sure as we hadn’t seen each other in years. Their family friend, Marty Custen, was standing by us and not really paying attention to what we were talking about when it clicked to him that the painting was of me and to our surprise, he had purchased it. And to an even more surprise, I too went to high school with his children Sam and Sara. Small world. Hope they don’t mind me in their living room 24 hours.

I love business cards. Seriously. I collect them. They can say a lot without saying anything. And at the Twilite Bar on Cinco de Mayo, I picked up this gem and it gave me a chuckle. Dear Matt, this is a wonderful first impression. I hope you remember me, or that night even. You should have my card.

PS (in case you wanted to know)

[Image Credit to Lauren Brady]

I visited my lovely friend Lauren Brady at her work, The Write Image, yesterday. My Christmas cards were for sale there and it took me long enough to grab the leftovers. As usual, we got caught up in letterpress talk when she shared with me the developments of her new side project, Saucy & Kitsch, creative event planning for all. I just love her business cards! The logo is designed by Nicole LaRue of White Elephant, and it looks perfect flat printed on an elegant doily. It’d be a shame to see people fold them to fit in their wallet, but what a great first impression. I think it’s one of my biggest pet peeves when people don’t have striking business cards because that’s the book cover to your business and yes, businesses are always being judged by their cover whether people know it or not. With Lauren’s sharp eye and talent accompanied by a beautiful logo and business cards, I see great things for her future.

I’ve attended one of Lauren’s well planned and beautiful parties, The Amore Lounge, for last year’s Valentine’s Day. It was more detailed than some weddings I’ve been to (and a hell of a lot more fun too). One of my favorite holga shots I’ve ever taken came from that party, of her brother tending to the open bar.

See beautiful photos of all her previously planned events and become a fan on Facebook.

PS

[Image Credit to Egg Press]

Here’s a peek at a Valentine’s Day card by Egg Press I picked up from the store to give to the boy. This letterpress printed gem is perfect to write up all the cheesy little things I like about him.

[Image credit to Kimmie Goodson]

I turned 24….10 days ago. It was probably one of the most fun days I’ve had. Breakfast at Ruth’s, snowshoeing up Mill Creek Canyon, Indian food with close friends and a lovely party at Sage’s Cafe. I feel like a pretty lucky lady to be surrounded by so many caring people. My boss even baked 50 incredibly delicious vegan cupcakes as well as provided a yummy assortment of dips with chips. The day went by too fast and I spaced out on taking photos but at least a friend took a couple great ones (above). Is it too early to freak out about almost being 25? Whoa man, whoa. I wonder what this year has in store for me. This Thursday I get to start sewing classes which were gifted to me. A pretty great gift I can’t wait to use!

I’ve been burnt out this last week volunteering for the Sundance Film Festival. I only got to see 10 movies this year and out of those I highly recommend Circumstance which won the Audience Award for Dramatic and My Idiot Brother. Others that surprised me in a good way were Kaboom and Co-Dependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same. No joke. I’m hoping to catch Like Crazy playing tonight for free for Best of Fest. It won the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic. Oh and I can’t wait for Red State to come back to Salt Lake. It and Kevin Smith surely stirred up some drama in Park City last weekend. Also on my list, Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. All in all there are lots of films I hope distribute out and about to eventually in front of my two eyeballs.

Now back to my regular work(s) schedule.

Last Friday night was the opening to my first solo show, “Love, Prey, Eat” at Cafe on 1st (1st Avenue and I St). After spending weeks carving, printing, and cutting out 70 birds, I am sure glad it’s over. I could only imagine the bird installation while working on each individual bird, so to see them all grouped together was rather satisfying. The support from family, friends, and strangers with the nicest things to say, all made it worthwhile. Especially a guy who randomly works with hawks and studies birds intensely. He approached me to say he was impressed with my wing orientation. It really meant a lot to me that someone noticed the details which came from a lot time in the city library looking at books on birds.

It was also a good night to see all of my awesome friends. More people than I imagined came and it really meant a lot to me. You all know who you are so if you’re reading this, thank you so much! Big thanks to Andy Chase who helped me install the show, Di Lewis who stayed most of the night and took pictures like a proud mom. I love that lady. Also big thanks to Ernie Gentry who let me borrow his beautiful ceramic serving platters for the refreshments.

Work will be displayed until December 31st, so if you’re in Salt Lake City, please go check it out!

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In other fantastic news that I have yet to announce on the blog, I sold all 3 animal heads (Grandma Ruthie’s Buffalo, Papa Kenny’s Moose, and Uncle Randy’s Deer) to a restaurant in downtown Provo! I don’t know when it will open but it will be called Old Adobe Grill. I can’t wait to check it out and see how they display them!

Oh and I got another job! Yes, another one. Sigh. I do believe this makes my 5th part-time gig (not counting making art whenever I find time), but I am so so excited about it! I am now the one and only in-house designer for the owner of Sage’s Cafe, Vertical Diner, and Cali’s Natural Foods. All vegetarian and organic deliciousness. There’s a lot of re-working and new products to design for as well as so much more. One project, that I don’t know if I can talk about, makes me want to pee my pants. I am stoked, to say the least, to work for a company that I am really passionate about and give it all of my creative juice.

I spent the weekend in Boulder, CO visiting my dear friend Al, whom I met in Australia three years ago. I love that I still remain close to people who I met on that study abroad. In fact, I also got to spend time with Robbie who drove and lived in a surf van with the worst steering wheel in the world. Robbie, who now lives in Denver, and I spent a weekend driving up the east coast to Noosa, sleeping in his van, cooking and showering in parks, sitting on the beach, being terrified by a dead New Zealand Hagfish, and it was probably the best weekend out of the 6 months there. The nostalgic weekend has made part of me itching to go back to that wonderful island.

I filled my 3 days in Colorado with shopping, rock climbing, sightseeing Denver, drinking lots of tea, and also a visit to Sweet Letter Press. I won’t get into too much detail about the studio because luckily they order Boxcar Plates which lead to a impromptu interview for the Boxcar Blog! What I really loved about them is that it is 100% a husband and wife business. It seems like there a lot of these romantic duos, such as Sycamore Street Press. Speaking of which, I almost bought their Vandercook #3 they were selling. I don’t have the space for it so I couldn’t fully commit and this morning another husband and wife picked it up to take home. I think it is so sweet that a husband and wife can literally become partners and share such an interest and grow, support, and manage a business together. Lucky them.

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In other very exciting news, I’ve just confirmed that I will have a solo show on November 19th which is conveniently the same night as the Salt Lake City Gallery Stroll. Mark your calendars and pay a visit to Cafe on 1st (1st Ave and M St.), where I will have a new bird installation, animal heads, and hopefully more. Yay!

Yesterday, my stomach was finally at ease. The 2nd Annual Craft Lake City was a long day event and a first experience for me and Emily. I’ve never set up a booth before that wasn’t already figured out. I had imagined this in my head for some time and though it came close, I learned a lot of techniques that would better our display. Also, I definitely need to start earlier. I had new pieces I premiered that were very time consuming – animal head magnets, moleskines, a blackbird cut out the same process as my animal heads – and I wished the quantity were bigger so we didn’t run out. Also new are our letterpress printed cards – which I enjoyed seeing people smile after reading them. I also enjoyed explaining my mounted pieces to intrigued people. It’s a 6 step process:

1) Carve out the image on 1/4″ birch plywood

2) Ink the wood block and roll through press with rice paper

3) Cut out shape

4) Glue paper to 3/4″ birch plywood

5) Scroll saw exact image

6) Sand edges

Thanks to friends and family who came and all those who shared kind words. And big thanks to the boy who gives me 100% support!

By the end of the day I felt encouraged to continue this project and apply for future festivals. Firstly, I’m hoping to rework this website and start an online shop – but after I deep clean my apartment.

Yesterday I woke up at 6:30am, drove a half hour to North to Ogden to grab my animal head wood blocks. I then went on to drop off Di‘s wedding invitations and forgot to tell her Happy Birthday, like a jerk (sorry Di!). Then another hour drive to Logan, where I went to school. I got myself and Emily special permission to use the print studio for the day. I haven’t been able to find a rolling press in Salt Lake City that fits my moose and buffalo (has to be at least 35″ wide!). We’ve been really busy working on products and prints for Craft Lake City which is now exactly two weeks away! Oy. It’s been pretty stressful being it’s our first real event. We’ve talked all year long about how we could make FMP work, a real business. Finally we stopped talking and got to doing. But the most stressful thing is that MisterArt.com forgot to put my 2 rolls of rice paper on their shipping truck for 3 days and didn’t do anything on their end to help a girl out and get it by Thursday! Needless to say my paper didn’t get here on time and I will never be ordering from them again. Two of my former classmates were very gracious to let me borrow their roll or what they had left of their roll. I would not to have been able to get any animal heads done with Brandt and Matt! Thank you boys.

Emily and I didn’t leave the studio until 7:00am. We got a lot done. We wanted to do more, but we had been awake for more than 24 hours on top of her niece is getting married today up in Burley, ID and I have to work back in the city for the rest of today. I dropped Emily off then my pup Sheila and I headed back. After a half hour in the canyon I was dangerously drifting asleep. I took a 40 minute nap in the Brigham City Walmart parking lot as Sheila barked at any noise. She’s such a good watch dog when situations are strange to her, but a horrible listener when I yell, “Quiet! Mommy needs sleep.”

I want these next two weeks to be over with, but take as long as possible to go by at the same time.

I then worked at Signed & Numbered. It’s exciting every time I work at the store because I’m surrounded by fantastic limited edition prints the whole time. And ever since they were featured in The New York Times, a lot of people have been coming in with interest. In the afternoon I went over to their new, still in construction, gallery to caulk, prime, paint, whatever needed to get this ready for inspection. Just as I wiped paint off my hands, I got a phone call. An amazing phone call with not one, but TWO exciting news for me. The only downside, I can’t tell anybody! I have been sworn to secrecy for about a week which has been so hard! But all I can say is I’m stunned and flattered.

Friday was also gallery stroll night. I have only been in the March Gallery Stroll so it was exciting to be apart of it again with The Holga Show. However, I have to be honest here. It was a little disappointing. Each 5×5 photo was $70, unframed, and the artist gets 60% if sold. They published a book with all the selected entries (I had 3), but the book was $70 as well and the artist gets nothing from those sales. I would rather buy the book to have everyone’s photos than a single photo that I have to pay more to get framed. And I couldn’t even convince myself to buy the book because the book cover wasn’t even designed well. I probably will not be entering next year.

My friend and co-worker Andy and I then strolled over to the Salt Lake Art Center where I was blown away with their exhibition, Contemporary Masters Artist Designed Miniature Golf. It is up, free, and fully playable until September 16th and I highly recommend it!

Then I went over to my friend Travis Bone‘s house to help him print a very limited edition of Portugal. The Man gig posters. It was the perfect way to end an art-filled day by watching Travis print and his whole process. He’s amazingly talented and becoming very well-known. Even though we met last year and he’s been doing his thing for much longer, I am proud of him. He inspired me the first time I printed with him and continues to do so today.

(Photos above courtesy of Lauren Brady, host of Amore Lounge)

I celebrated Valentine’s Day yesterday with an awesome breakfast at Ruth’s diner, snowshoeing up Big Cottonwood Canyon, the most amazing onion rings I’ve ever had at Red Rock, a massage, dinner at The Copper Onion and attending the most well-thought out themed party I’ve ever been to. Lauren (in photo) is so adorable. She mailed out invites that were letterpress printed for her Amore Lounge party. Cocktail attire required. Her gorgeous apartment was decked out with hand made paper and wooden hearts, a custom sign, stringed lights, delicious food, an open cocktail bar, a guest book, party favors and great people! I can’t wait to see the photos on my holga. I only took a few until some technical difficulties crammed my film (the sponge that held the film in place, rolled with it).