Inside time.

Hello all...busy times here. Today is Chris's birthday and quite a day of reflection it has been. Last night was The Checkered Present CD release party. It went quite well, the crowd howled for more.

Musings

Definitely still in the works.




These two should be hanging together in someway, perhaps not side by side. They are 4' x1'.




Still in the works.

Exciting news: I am set up to show my art for the month of December at a local coffeeshop. Woo! Here is some of the stuff I have been/am still working on. I just wanted to get it out here because it's a good way to look at my work and tweak it as I go along. It is great to have this real deadline of the art show that I produce and it means more to me than a class.

I am getting excited and geared up for this show but most importantly excited to be home for Christmas, I missed the big family gatherings last year and I don't want that to happen again. I love you guys too much.

Iron Artist

WE WON!!!

A few weeks ago me and these lovely ladies competed in a competition that is modeled after the "Iron Chef" competition but the objective is to build a sculpture out of junk. Each team (up to 10 members) is given a theme (this year's was "alchemy") and a pile of "junk" and three hours to work. Only five team members may touch the sculpture at a time. Oh man, was it so fun? Yes, indeed. I have been looking for some girl time and I found it with these ladies we lived it up. We were called The Polli8ors. We dressed as bees an handed out live zinnias to everyone we came across. Anywho, here's a link to some more photos that will give you a better idea of what madness ensued. http://wweek.com/wwire/?p=13133

We wore flowers in our hair.

Chris at the SF MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) That is a piece of art on the wall behind him and a total coincidence, perhaps the fact that Chris stands with his hand on his chin like that alot was simply preparation for this moment.


I don't know why this is blue and underlined! Maybe to match Chris's lightsaber? Oh well...

Chris and I went to San Francisco a few weeks ago and lived it up. It was my first trip to California. We took some folks down with us that we found in need of a rideshare on Craigslist. They were cool. In fact you will see Hannah pictured with us as she enjoyed the whole four days in San Fran with us. She was really fun and so are we, so we got along well. We went to wine country and stayed two nights and lived in luxury. We saw friends, drank beers, and ate great risotto (oh my God, Squid Ink risotto, holy crap!) among other things. On our way back up to Oregon we stayed one night in the RedWoods! Woah! Del Norte State Park. I'm doing that again.

At the Golden Gate Bridge.


Our friend DJ had me take this picture several times to get it right. He wanted a grape hat.

I'm enjoying my camera, you get to see some of my experimentation.

Chris and I at a North California beach, just off of Highway 101. I already want to go back.


The Golden Gate Bridge

Oops, the camera was on manual focus but no one manually focused it! ha.

Our drive to Geyserville, if you look closely you can read "Sonoma County" on the green sign.


We found this crazy little abandoned bridge to take some great photos of.

Foodworks!

I had an opportunity to work on the greatest farm this summer. It is called FoodWorks. I mentioned it earlier in the blog but we were recently featured on *Cooking Up a Story. There is not a link directly to the video yet but it's the main story right now. Check it out. It makes me really proud of the kids. Ahoefa is wise beyond her years.

*note...this is a hyperlink to the video.

The Face

Here's my newest painting inspired by many flights to Kansas. Does this feel right side up to you?

Hiking 101

A visitor from Tuscon, Kelsey stayed with us for a few weeks.



So there we were, on the top, at Observation Point in Washington. We could see the Columbia River Gorge to our right , and the green, green mountains to our left. Then it happened. We were swarmed by, naked cyclists!!!! No, no, no...that's not how I remember it. Oh, yes, they were mosquitoes. It was horrifying, the view was phenomenal and our stay on top was all of five minutes! Chris's exposed legs were covered with bites the next day. I snapped a few quick pictures though. Kelsey covered every inch of her body with spandex and bandannas.

Thank you

Thank you all for your encouragement to blog. I love reading your blogs and it is nice to blog myself and be able to look at life and how exciting it is. I've had a great summer, with great visitors and great weather. Right now I'm feeling like the summers out here make the winters bearable. In the middle of winter I will feel differently about that! Ha, but looking at photos from the summer will help. I have really loved reading all of my family's posts and hope to see more of their lives though they are so far away. I miss you all and love you very much. I'm having a great time out here but wish that you were just a little (or maybe alot) closer by! Life is good!

New stuff

This is my newest doodle/painting. My roommate who is a painter by trade uses this technique of plaster (sheet rock) on plywood then rewets it with the paint which creates a fresco of sorts, I'm playing around with the technique, it's pretty exciting to have a new medium to work with.



Chris and I moved into a bigger room in the house and quickly filled it with our things, there's lots of storage space which is nice and we have a nice window for plants and light.

Here is our Kansas wall. We found a map from when I was in the first grade. Joan Finney was the governor when this map was put out. We're proud of where we came from.


We have a great garage that is a studio for Nikki and I and Chris likes to come out and play guitar as well, it's so nice to paint and work as he plays. Chris has just finished a country EP called High Hopes and Sweet Dreams. His band name is The Checkered Present, referring to our current state of shady affairs in the world. He is also finishing the full album this week to be released on November 20th at the Alberta Street Pub just up the street. Alberta street is an artsy fartsy street but the pub is a really nice respite from the hip (too hip sometimes) art scene.

Here's my preparation of some of the frames that Andrew Craig just helped me to build. I have over 20 frames ready to paint. I will be working hard to get them ready for the arts fair, called Last Thursdays, that happens once a month just a few blocks away, on Alberta St. It's a free for all, anyone can set up a table and sell their wares. It is a really fun atmosphere and a great place for young artists to get their feet under themselves. I am so excited about this prospect. The idea of someone wanting to buy my art is beyond me, so I'm excited to try.

Finally up to date!

So, here's the real current post now that I've pretty much caught you up. I am still working at the breakfast restaurant Beaterville. It's good, my boss is a little crazy but we deal with it. Chris has moved into my house making us 6 now. There is another couple, and two other women. It's a bit crowded but we live with it. I love my roommates and we're adjusting well to the addition. I've enjoyed hanging out with Chris more and not having to travel to see him is quite nice! We are all loving all of the music that he brings to the house. Our garden is producing its first tomatoes and the beans are really climbing. I just bought some great seeds and starts for fall and winter, like broccoli, kale, lettuce, and salad greens. I'm excited to revamp the garden a bit and have the weed pressure a little lower.

The Farm

Much of my time this summer has been spent at FoodWorks Farm out on Sauvie Island. Here you see baby pepper plants that are now heavy with beautiful purple peppers. Food Works employs teenagers from north Portland to come out several days a week and pretty much run the farm, they make decisions about what and how much to harvest and what to plant and such. They sell their produce at the big local farmers market as well as to an awesome grocery store called New Seasons. It's a pretty freakin' sweet program that gets kids excited about eating vegetables that they may have found disgusting just a year ago. I'm working towards a $1000 education award at the end og my 300 hour investment. The award will be put towards drawing/painting classes at PSU (Portland State University). Yay!

Alex Beck comes to visit, part II

Perhaps I should take a different approach to my picture sharing, maybe a shutterfly? Any suggestions? I love taking lots of pictures and I want to post alot of them but this will only let me post five per post because they are so big.

Alex Beck comes to visit!

Chris's little brother came to visit him for ten days, a nice long visit! It was really fun hanging out with such a laid back kid as Alex. We played a little Frisbee golf then a little frisbee action on Canon Beach and a short hike to some small log cabins and an even shorter hike from there out to see the Tillamook Head lighthouse. Wow. What a trip we had to the coast. Pictures: Chris with Stella, Kylie with frisbee, Chris planning his next move, Chris making his large "movement", and Alex's sweet beach catch!