dear dave,

Last year I wrote 2009 highlight list, and thought I'd do the same for 2010.

It was a rough year - not really what I expected.  Looking back I can definitely see growth and expansion, but it was hard to feel like I was progressing.  Maybe I'm just going in too many directions.

All the potential is still there.  I just need to focus on harnessing it better.  more effectively.

Anyway, here's to 2010.  Another year....

Studio - In January I moved my studio from Tenley to Logan Circle.  I really miss the amazing old neighborhood, and Fort Reno, but my studio is much better, and everything is so much more convenient.  I remember scrapping and scrapping the walls and window before painting.  Our big debut was the MCA open studios in April.

Valentines - Mid January I got the idea to make valentines, so I rushed them thru so I would have them in time.  I was pretty happy with the result, and reaction.  Plan to do more with cards in 2011.

March was spent mostly temping at Price Medical, but I managed to print two large Gaggle pieces, commissioned by Barb for her sitting room in the DC Design House.  They turned out really really great - and were easier to print then I thought they would be.  Happy to say I sold them both - my most expensive prints.

After a few solid months of snow and winter and cold weather and temping and moving,  I got together with Dave again to shoot new shirts.  Started to use the tri-blends, which I still really really like.  And I always love taking pictures of Dave.

My vision for the new studio always involved having a tall, maxed out work table along the long wall.  It took a few months and some false starts with hired help, but Hex and I managed to make it a reality after a solid weekend of work.  I really love it! And its so sturdy!  Just want I had envisioned.

After a mini-gig at my old studio space, Tom and I hooked up and made plans for working together.  What a great guy, and super talented.  I feel really lucky/happy/honored to be working with him.  Just before he left on his country-wide spring tour I hooked him up with a bunch of t-shirts to wear on-stage. In a few weeks I'll be working on his Spring 2011 collection.

These branches prints were so hard to accomplish.  I had a few false starts, trouble with warped boards, redo's, paint-overs, and messed up flowers.  But in the end I was really happy with them - and think they are super unique.  Happy I stuck with them.

Dave K was busy with school, and Peter just seemed to appear, so we started to get together regularly to shoot new shirts, and eventually underwear.  Peter is a lot of fun, and super easy to work with.  Always on time, and always in a good mood.  And above all - really open.  Shooting the nude pictures with him at Rock Creek, and then eventually all the briefs was sooooo much fun.  a definite highlight of the year!  I don't think I would have ever launched Tightewhities if I hadn't found him.

I am on constant look out for scrap wood, and found this piece just outside Distinctive Lifestyles.  The drawing came much later, but felt like an instant hit.

I was busy late summer getting ready for shows at Caramel and Mid-City Caffe, and launching the underwear site.  This print came somewhere in the middle of all that.

Funny because later in the year it seemed to really apply with an old relationship of mine.  I quickly realized he got the wrong message, and that I felt very differently now.   We really were over.  period.

Most of the fall was spent building up inventory for Red Tree.  The wall of prints looked great.  A culmination of a lot of work.  Years of work.  I have big hopes to continue on with them now that Nov/Dec is over.  Fingers crossed!

December was ok.  I was busy making prints and finishing out the studio year at the Corcoran.  I'm really happy with my last few prints of the year.  Hopefully they will push me forward into 2011!

dear dave,

struggling to draw the past few days - It's been a little frustrating.  It's cold outside, not much going on because of the holidays.  Feels like no man's land.  We have been cooped up at home, cold, eating, and watching nothing tv.

I'm ready for a change.

dear dave,

not so creative! Blah

dear dave,

UPS screws up, so I was screwed up today. Frustrating, but I overcame it.

super windy day, but we managed to miss the huge snowstorm that was expected. I was glad.

Feeling cabin fever. The days are short, it's cold out, and I just want to feel busy and productive. I'm trying, just like I'm trying to not eat 1,000 christmas cookies. One is never enough.

Now that monday is over, and christmas is over, tomorrow should be a little better. Im planning to make major progress on a few projects.

dear dave,

A quick stop in the studio, then off to Rock Creek with Remi for a run. She needs it, and I need it. I'm constantly feeling the urge to regroup.

It's been an up and down week. Holidays can be tough emotionally.

Yesterday I was off shopping, and visiting my parents. I stopped in Clydes for a gift card, and was so absorbed into the atmosphere. I just wanted to drop everything, and settle in for a cozy romantic lunch with Hexy. I got so caught up in it.

I went back through the restaurant, out the door, and back into the cold bright reality. It was the middle of the day, cold outside, I was in the middle of errands, and I had to return to them.

I've been getting bogged down in emotions lately. I keep letting my feelings about doing things get in the way of actually doing them. I see that and want to change it.

----

All my work is done. Everybody has left the studio for home. The Corcoran is closed. For the next few days I'm just going to chill out, and let my mind wander.

Merry Christmas

dear dave,

blogger has fixed itself!! I don't know what happened, but I can now, finally, upload pictures like I always did. Hallelujah!

productive / non productive day. I don't have much to show for my morning (besides a cleaned up computer and studio), but I really enjoyed my afternoon with Barb, talking about her new project. Really excited that she liked my work.

Now it's 5, and I feel like I need to do something more then just surf around, so I think I'll draw a bit.

over and out

ps - the holiday blahs are already starting. Seems like the world is winding down. boo.

blog slacker!

I started a post saturday, but quickly ran out of time so I "drafted" it. Thinking I would get back to that one, I put off any others.

Anyway-- saturday was the last print day till late January, and I felt like I made the most of it. I finished print for Sui, and cleaned my screens.

Happy to have that pressure off for a bit. I've been drawing the past few days, and feel like I'm in a haze. The days go by sooo fast. I'm not really sure if I'm making progress, but I have the gumption to keep going, which is a good thing. I really feel like the days have dissolved.

Maybe because it gets dark at 4.

Using the next few weeks to catch up. Clean and organize, and plan for the future (hopefully)

and of course slack....

dear dave,

busy day - all accomplished! Now home...

image: 4903 pegboard

dear dave,

the days just get shorter and shorter.  It feels so dark.

busy day yesterday with hex, decorating two christmas trees.  all turned out great.  We decided to stay at Jimmy's for chinese.  Hex slept on the living room couch while I ventured out with Remi down Tilden lane, past "Little China" to Far East, to pick up the take out.

I was flooded with so many memories as I drove - it was overwhelming.  All the trips up and down that road.  Biking to junior high.  Busing to Woodward.  Going to Team.  Driving to my job at video village in college.  High School.  7-11 with MaryEllen.  Crown books/bear pond just before Irene visited.  Picking up Courtney afterwork to go to Great Falls.  Trips to the printer for bsur.

All the people that have come and gone out of my life.  It was like a flood of feelings, all mixed up.  I felt so sad, but I'm not sure why.  Memories always make me feel this way.  I get so nostalgic.  All I want is to relive those moments again.

I've been stuck on this memory lane for a while. So many things keep triggering:  Music, weather, smells, cookies, ornaments, pictures, roads, movies.

I keep thinking about it all.

listening to Peter Gabriel, remembering Irene and her being sick, and working on my mobile.  Sweet sad memories.

Long ago.

dear dave,

I have a new spiral notebook!  Always exciting to open the first new page.  I'm big into fresh starts!

Busy weekend leaves me feeling lazy.  Saturday I struggled with my print, and pushed to get everything packed up for Sunday.

Sunday morning was dark and rainy, but Hex and I rallied and got to Tenley early, and easily set up my space for the show.  I was really happy with all my work.  The prints, the t's -- looked solid to me.  Something to smile about.

Show was nice.  Sold lots of shirts, which is always good.  They make great gifts.  People are always so excited to look through them.  I think having lots to look through is always a plus.

Brought everything back last night, and unpacked this morning.  I'm feeling lazy, but need to rally.

Another print afternoon.  I need to make the most of it!

back at the corcoran.

Last year at this time I was struggling to print a movie camera for Alison. No matter how hard I tried, the ink just wouldn't lay on the wood well.

Same story today! I'm reprinting "Nobody was fooled". Two prints. I tried to print the dog (body) over and over and over. It just wouldn't work. How strange.

It's soooooo hard doing reprints. I can never make a carbon copy, no matter how careful and patient I try. Today was no exception. Luckily I have some more time to work on it this week.

Tomorrow is a mini Holiday show at 4903. I'm looking forward to be back there, but I have a lot to do from now until then. Probably very possible to get it all done. It's going to be a very long day.

Now I'm just waiting for (butt) to finish exposing his screen. He has the best ass! I really wonder if he notices my noticing...

busy day. 2 new prints. 3 more print studio days, and 4903 show Sunday.

I'm tired!

Poems: "To David, About His Education," by Howard Nemerov, fromThe Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov (University of Chicago Press).

To David, About His Education

The world is full of mostly invisible things,
And there is no way but putting the mind's eye,
Or its nose, in a book, to find them out,
Things like the square root of Everest
Or how many times Byron goes into Texas,
Or whether the law of the excluded middle
Applies west of the Rockies. For these
And the like reasons, you have to go to school
And study books and listen to what you are told,
And sometimes try to remember. Though I don't know
What you will do with the mean annual rainfall
On Plato's Republic, or the calorie content
Of the Diet of Worms, such things are said to be
Good for you, and you will have to learn them
In order to become one of the grown-ups
Who sees invisible things neither steadily nor whole,
But keeps gravely the grand confusion of the world
Under his hat, which is where it belongs,
And teaches small children to do this in their turn.


I found this poem in a book I had growing up - I can't remember which one. Of course I was drawn to it because it had my name in the title. I taped it into my journal. I even think I used it for my senior quote!

I always loved it, and repeat the first line to myself whenever I'm frustrated and down. I feel really comforted by it.

-----

I'm frustrated with myself! I do things I don't want to do, I don't mean to do. I make silly careless mistakes that ripple. I'm so fucking impatient.

I want to erase it all and start over, but can't. It's cold outside. The time is gone. I'm boxed in. I feel this way a lot. It's such a function of working alone, for yourself. You make all the mistakes. You're the problem. There is nobody else to be mad at.

Of course it's temporary. It always is. Even the biggest mistakes get washed away - wave after wave. I tell myself that I can improve. Tomorrow I'll do better. But I fear I won't.

dear dave,

Tuesday basically over.  Monday was much more productive.

On my way to Home Depot yesterday I had to take a different route out of my neighborhood because of a police block.  I was frustrated about going back to Home Depot for MORE wood.  It adds up.  I feel bad everytime I spend.

Suddenly I saw a cache of wood boards, perfect size, perfect age sitting out for trash, by a liquor store.  SCORE!  Mood instantly changed.  I was so happy.  Perfect boards / no Home Depot.

I had a good day printing-finished up the bird pattern prints, and managed to slip in an (awesome) print for Hexy.  Turned into a great day.

Today not so much.  I had a big fat printing day, but was unprepared.  I spent way too much time planning, and ran out of time at the Corcoran.  and all the students trying to work around me SUCKED.

So the day is over.  I accomplished one print today, but planned for 3.  Will need to finish up Friday.

(what a pissy mood Im in)

I got a nice text from Dave K last night about continuing to shoot more pictures. I'm so inspired by him. What a great guy.

new print

for Hexy's bday (shhhh)

dear Dave,

I'm having one of those days! Lot's of back tracking and second guessing.

I cancelled my shoot with Peter. In the end I think it was a good call, but it messed up my day. I wasn't so excited about changing venues for the pictures, and was thinking that shooting indoors may be a bust. I don't know. I just decided against it all.

Moving on to the Axis show, and feeling lost. No good. Bad frustration. Blank block. So I fiddle and don't do much. And get more bogged down.

Blah!

Hopefully the coffee I just went out for with pick me up. I want to be happy! I choose it.

dear dave,

casual day at the studio doing odds and ends. Shoot with Peter tomorrow (at his place!), so I made some new underwear for TW.

Conflicted about where to go with that still. Sales trickle in. I think there is a lot of potential, but not as it stands.

Hmmm - not feeling too talkative. Think I'll leave it there.

Image: "do you see what I see"