hex out of town / garage sale a bust / caught without positives at the corcoran.

A strange productive / non productive Saturday.  I realize I only have 1 week of printing left, so I'm going to be working hard.  That plus filling in for Hex on a few of his jobs.

But it's super sunny and breezy and I owe remi a run.  So for now I'm just going to focus on that.

so I stayed in the studio today -skipping the few possible hours at the corcoran - so I could prepare for printing and saturday.  Of course I got sidelined into working on my website, adding in all the new prints I've done the past few weeks.

It's almost 5, and I really have no interest in switching gears, and working on the stuff I was supposed to!  I'm not that far behind, but it's a classic situation.

I need to make every second count the next few days.  Printing time is winding down, and I have a lot planned.  trouble is that it all takes so much prep.  And I'm the VERY BEST (!!!) at avoiding prep.

cheers.

Vision LA model Josh Slack by Nate Jensen

dear dave,

All I want to do is surf around the net and waste time! What switch can I turn off in my brain that will prevent me from doing this? It's such a time waster. I go from site to site to see if anything is new and different. Blah!

It's dark and rainy out. I'm here at my studio, but not engaged. I'm in this avoidance mode. I'm determined to break free!

Excited about the sale this weekend. And printing new things. And pizza tonight with Bill. Thursdays are always fun!

dear dave,

good few days. things much better, physically and mentally. I realize enow that I must have been really affected by all the pollen. I was running on empty, tired, and headachy. Feel much more resolved now. Much more energy and purpose.

I've been working on some new drawings and prints. I really need to just spend a few days coming up with NEW. I feel a little stuck in the past, making a lot of prints that I've made before.

Hex leaving for LA soon. I'm anticipating long days at the studio working. Looking forward to that aspect. Not to missing him!

I'll have some much needed DAVE time though, which is good. very good.

Missing photography! I've had no luck scheduling Dave K, OR finding new TFP guys. Really strange. Very much a rut, and I can't figure it out. Is craigslist dying?

ha - not much to report today! feel like a big mental zero

had a great time at Jimmy's yesterday. Great ham, super perfect potatoes, and cocoanut cake.

I'm thinking about the left overs right now, waiting for me at home.

Didn't accomplish much today. Odds and ends. Need to super regroup with printing.

I feel mentally adrift!

Hopefully tomorrow is much better.

over and out

via homotography

Centurion by Madison in F/Homme #1 Spring 2011

Dear Dave,

I'm sitting on the sidewalk sheltered from the rain, with a low grade headache, Friday, waiting for a massage appt. to start in 20 minutes. Feeling sad, nostalgic, unsure.

I've been dreaming of this massage for weeks, but deadlines, taxes, and spending anxiety have been blocking me from going through with it.

I'll feel better once I'm on the table, luxuriating.

Weird middle time. Projects done, and printing burnout. A good time to change gears.

I've been drawing a lot lately, and loving it. I send the drawings off to Amy (too quick?), and await her reactions. It's nice to have that relationship again, between artist and editor. Feels comfortable after 2 years.

Corcoran closed this weekend for Easter, so I'm free of printing guilt. A good thing, because I'm struggling with what to do next.

Happy to relax, and recharge.

Sam Scott Schiavo's photograph of Moritz Mitterbauer.

I love the sadness in his face.

dear dave,

Above is another illustration for speakeasy. Open Mic theme is DAREDEVILS & YELLOW-BELLIES, stories about courage and cowardice.

I really like it. An earlier verison had a diferent chick, sort of being tossed out of the nest. I like this one- how he is brave and fearful at the same time. That is me!

I had a blast last night taping a segment on SWISH EDITION, a gay audio talk show based in DC. So much fun meeting and hanging out with Scott & Dale. I'm expecting big things from them - I'm really excited to see the show grow.

I'm taking a few days off from printing. It's nice not going back and forth to georgetown, hauling wood, making screens, and stressing out. I'm spending the time at my studio, working on more illustrations for SpeakeasyDC, and catching up.

Anxious to meet up with Dave K again, and shoot pictures of new shirts. It's been impossible to get together - one of us cancels, or we get rained out. Right now would be perfect. Hazy lazy sun, a slight breeze, and warm air. Wish he was here!

Back to drawing, and lazing around...

so nice

dear dave,

Lazy today! I'm here at the Corcoran, after spending a big chunk of the day at the studio. I started out strong, but lost gumption after running into creative roadblocks.

Came to the corcoran late, and feel fizzled. I'm working on a hot dog water print.

Maybe it's just a good day to be lazy.

Have a radio interview tomorrow night. I keep thinking about it.

http://www.branddave.com/freehand/buy_why_I_otter_t.html

I have been back and forth to EASEL salon (georgetown) twice now. SO HAPPY to finally have switched out my prints there. It has been this CONSTANT (!) project that always takes a back seat to the million other tasks I have. They are soooo incredibly nice there, and I'm really really lucky to have so much freedom to hang stuff.

I'm liberated!!! Taxes and Easel are done!!!!!! Enormous weights lifted.

taxes done

Back from a harrowing trip to Baltimore to drop a print and shirts at Trohv.

Traffic was abysmal. There was some sort of bus breakdown on the BW parkway, so a lane was blocked, and traffic was stop-and-go for miles. Funny part was that all these people had tried to cut thru the grass median, and out of the traffic. Fine plan except the grass was like quicksand, swallowing up their cars and SUVS in mud. So all these tow-trucks were on hand, pulling these losers out.

If you were to look at the grass, and the small hill you would need to go up and down, you would never know. SUCKS to be them! Seriously.

All this contributed to the rubber necking, and the whole thing was traffic hell.

Glad to be back to DC, in the studio. Sunny Thursday afternoon. Many big projects finished and delivered.

Now taxes :( BLAH!

waiting for Dave K to arrive.

Of course it's cloudy, kind of rainy, and sort of cold. The weather is never on my side.

Had an awesome night at SpeakeasyDC's open mic last night. Really fun crowd, and funny stories. I'll be going back!

Anxious about taxes (!) and a few other loose ends. I've been trying to concentrate on making shirts, but all these other little anxious fears have been crowding my mind today. Will be happy when a few days have passed.

Trovh Takoma Park!! Made the drive out this morning to deliver my prints.

SO IMPRESSED by them.

Awesome store, awesome remodel, awesome fixtures, awesome merch, awesome people. I can't say enough good things about them.

CHECK IT OUT!! OPENS SOON!!

Tired!

I don't know what happened to me today, but I've been dragging! I have soooooooo much to do. So many projects to finish. But I've had to force myself to keep going, and that is never a good feeling. The super warm weather was probably no help.

Delivering prints to Trovh tomorrow. Have NAY shirts to finish, but they will have to go later.

All is good. I'm just overwhelmed.

dear Dave,

I'm lucky to have Barb as a friend!

What a great time last night with her at the Design House preview party. Such a rock solid friend, and super talented (super creative) designer. I feel really lucky to have her as a champion, and am so excited to champion her as well.

The night was really fun. Warm and friendly and festive.

-----

This Saturday morning finds me at the studio, preparing to go to the Corcoran and tweaking branddave.com. It's a labor of love.

Yesterday went pretty well, after I settled in to my limited schedule. I'm happy with my drawing for speakeasy, and all my stress about _ _ _ _ worked out just fine, and without any $ spent. That is good!

So I'm off for now. Maybe more later...

blast from the past

dear dave,

a splitting headache last night signaled I needed to make some changes today. I've been going at 100 mph, and I need to slow down. No Corcoran today. No rushing to make screens, scrambling to mix colors, and hauling wood back and forth. No rush down R st. I'll be better off for it!

Today I'm going to concentrate on a few do-able things, accomplish them, and rest.

-------

Updated branddave.com with all my latest prints for Trovh. Bringing them out Tuesday AM.

DC Design house preview party is tonight with Barb. I had this crazy dream where I went to the party, and her room was empty. It was because she was meeting with all the other designers, and every time she left, she had to empty the room because there was no way to secure it.

Weird.

Anyway, on with my day

A great day - after a bunch of really good days. The weather is nice, I like my work, I'm meeting interesting people, and things are flowing. Feeling good!

Off to the gym, then chicken with Hexy.

who-rah

dear dave,

I've been working hard at the corcoran, making as many prints as I can. It's been a busy couple of days. My head has been down mixing inks, making screens, washing screens, registering boards, taping out stencils, making stencils, printing positives, hauling boards.

Yesterday I wouldn't even allow myself a few minutes to grab some food. I kept worrying that I wouldn't finish before 6, when the class starts arriving.

I made it just in time. A few missteps, but those are starting to be regular occurrences.

Anyway, I'm back on 14th street today and tomorrow. Have a lot of follow thru to accomplish today. I better get to it.