Sunshine Day...

The Screaming Mimis ad for Spring, inspired by art deco florals, dream bicycles and 1920s picnics, and informed, just for fun, by the Spring 2011 Pantone palette:

was dashed off to print back when there was still frost on the ground, but I've probably been obsessing about a proper garden ever since, and now that Spring has officially sprung here in the Pacific Northwest, we've been strolling the nursery aisles every chance we get, poring over seed catalogs, pricing arborvitae, and sourcing climbing roses for our chainlink fences with impossible visions of a rococo pastoral urban backyard:


I'll let you know how it goes!
Last image via Colkinikha.

Lost in the Forest...

Sorry for the lack of posts here lately, I've been swept up in a flurry of Fall leaves, ringing in the season so far by picnic-ing at dusk with Vaux’s Swifts, racing around the Oregon countryside meeting cute alpacas, and starting to hibernate just a little, which will hopefully mean lots of progress on lots of projects soon...
For now, here's a mini preview of my latest ad for Screaming Mimis, due out any day now:

This one was so, so, so fun to draw, partly because I got to create the imaginary forest backdrop of my dreams, and partly because all I needed in the way of inspiration was to take a quick peek into my own closet:

which has been kind of an explosion of plaids and tweeds and woolens as of late and admittedly kind of out of control (as in, how many brown tweed blazers does one girl need?) but have I mentioned all of the cute vintage Pendleton still kicking around thrift stores all over the Pacific Northwest? It's kind of impossible to resist. As much as I can't wait to wear every single one of these coats, the mustard plaid medieval toggle coat that got me through last winter has already fallen back into heavy rotation and will probably always be my favorite:

Kind of hard to top that, right?

PS. Drawing this ad also got me re-acquainted with my semi-dormant ceramic mushroom obsession. Oops. Here are a few possible candidates for new additions to the collection:

You take the Power of the Flower...

Here are a few more shots from the weekend:



Mostly spent tooling around Sauvie Island, skipping from farm to farm in a u-pick flower frenzy, collecting more dahlias, zinnias, mums and gerber daisies than we could ever possibly display, even after filling practically every glass, mug, tiny novelty vase and empty bottle in the house! And of course I couldn't help but obsess over the colorsssss, collecting and photographing every perfect electric salmon pink and insanely rich velvety blood red!
We were originally planning to pick a few baskets of blackberries too, but found a heaping platter of them outside or front door just a few days earlier, a sneaky gift from our next door neighbor who has one of the most beautiful urban gardens we've ever seen!
Have I mentioned lately how much I love Portland in the summertime?
A few more Sauvie Island photos can be found at my flickr, along with a few more recent odds and ends, including this guy:

who may just be our new favorite Portland street cat ever!

Summer's not a Bummer...

It's a Stunner...
and it's NOW!

Apologies for the woefully infrequent summertime updates around here. Lots more coming soon, I promise!

In the meantime, here's a quick snapshot from a birthday weekend spent wandering around the great outdoors:

Now we're enjoying a little string rainy days with a cool breeze and a little hint of fall, welcoming a little time to hibernate and focus after the epic heatwaves of the past few weeks. It actually seems to be the perfect time for it to be turning a little gray, now the million projects that we have forever in progress or waiting for just the right day to get started may finally have a chance to see the light of day!

Dear Portland...

I'm showing a little wall of new paintings as a guest artist at Compound Gallery this Thursday, kind of a mini preview of a new series in the works, a tribute to Regency ragamuffins, dollies and dandies with a little bit of Buster Keaton thrown in for good measure:

I'll be exhibiting alongside a selection of artwork from the book "Pink Attitude, Contemporary Female Creativity"

Opening Thursday, July 2nd at 7:00pm
Compound Gallery
107 NW 5th Ave.
Portland, OR

For more information please visit:
http://www.compoundgallery.com

For pricelist or other show info please contact: matt {at} compoundgallery {dot} com
(This show is my first experiment with new depression era pricing, so get them while you can!)

City of Roses...

My dad was in town for a couple of weeks recently, which gave us a great excuse to drive around up in the hills and explore some of the Portland sights we hadn't quite made it to yet, like the International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park... who could resist five acres of perfectly dew dropped experimetal blooms?

Raggedy Ann Eyelashes...

After a few weeks of nonstop house hunting and catching up on long overdue projects, we were super excited to set aside a leisurely weekend last week to run around town taking in all of our friends newer, bigger, better gallery spaces, and ringing in the month long Robert Altman fest at the Portland Art Museum NW Film Center with a screening of one of my favorite movies of all time:



Brewster McCloud! I've been toting around a decaying video store copy of this film for decades, eventually upgraded to the laserdisk, but have never, never seen it on the big screen!

With an original screenplay written by Doran William Cannon, who was also responsible for another top ten favorite, Otto Preminger's "Skidoo," and starring the always perfect Mister Bud Cort and the magical, elvin and otherworldly Miss Shelley Duvall (Probably my number one vintage muse - as you can probably tell by the girls that I paint! Spider lashes, bunny teeth and ears poking out of stick straight hair? Check, check and check!) in her first ever movie role, personally discovered by Altman, who had this to say about his first impression:

"When I first saw her, she had painted long eyelashes on her face, and I thought "Here is a girl who is trying to make me think she is a Raggedy Ann doll." It was only years later that I realised that she WAS a Raggedy Ann doll."







Images and quotes via the Shelley Duvall and Brewster McCloud fan sites, both of which are amazing resources for interviews, articles, and ephemera about the film.

Check out the NW Film Center website for the rest of the festival calendar, maybe we'll see you there!

Recent Acquisitions...

We've been finding entirely different categories of super common cute vintage stuff in the Northwest and have been accidentally starting lots new collections in the process... Oops!

Like adorable hand carved wooden owls:

(Note: the one with pink felt googly eyes was $1 and according to it's reluctant previous owner "about to be firewood!")

And booth upon booth of 70s novelty steins:


The gonk era Magic Mountain stein with a wizard for a handle is one of my new favorite things of all time!

Tiny Updates #1

This weekend in Portland:



The Wurstminster Dog Show: Over 100 international artists representing over 100 dog breeds.

Saturday February 3rd from 6pm-10pm
The Cleaners @ The Ace Hotel
403 SW 10th Avenue, Portland, Oregon

The Wurst Gallery launches their biggest show to date, with over 100 artists from all over the world each representing a different dog breed in their own unique way - from a five-foot plush doll to postcard-sized paintings. A portion of the proceeds of the art sales from this event will benefit Dove Lewis Animal Hospital in Portland, OR. Artists featured in the show hail from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Philippines, Norway, Sweden and throughout the United States.

A one-night exhibit of the Wurstminster Dog Show will take place on Saturday, February 3rd at the soon to be opened Ace Hotel in Portland. Following the opening event, the work will be displayed and for sale online at http://thewurstgallery.com.

Featuring work by the following artists:
A.J. Purdy, Aaron Draplin, Aaron Meshon, Aaron Renier, Adam Bayer, Adam Haynes, Allan Sanders, Amanda Visell, Amy Earles, Amy Ruppel, APAK, Arbito, Beci Orpin, Benjamin Marra, Betsy Walton, Bill Barminski, Bjørn Lie, Blair Kelly, Brad Simon, Brandon Reese, Bubi Au Yeung, Bwana Spoons, Camilla Engman, Casey Burns, Charley Harper, Charles Whiteside, Chris Hutchinson, Cody Hudson, Cupco, Damion Triplett, Dan Anderson, Dan Funderburgh, Daniel A. St. George II, Derek Aylward, Driscoll Reid, Eamo Donnelly, Eleanor Grosch, Elisabeth Doherty, Emil Kozak, Emily Ryan, Erik Railton, Evan B. Harris, Eyeformation, Fawn Gehweiler, Feanne, Frances Castle, Geoffrey Lorenzen, Gideon Baws, Gina Triplett and Matt Curtius, Grady Mcferrin, Greg "Pnut" Galinsky, Guy Burwell, Hannah Stouffer, Heiko Müller, Holly Stevenson, HuskMitNavn, Jason Vivona, Jen Leong, Jennifer Muskopf, Jeremyville, Jess Hutch, Jesse LeDoux, Jessica Barnes, Jessica Lynch, Jill Bliss, Johnny Yanok, Jon Klassen, Juliana Pedemonte (Colorblok), Julianna Bright, Junichi Tsuneoka, Kangaroo Alliance, Kara Yanagawa, Kate Bingaman, Kate Sutton, Kelly Haigh, Keri Smith, Kevin Scalzo, Kirsten Ulve, Klaus Haapaniemi, Koichiro Takagi, Le Merde, Leo Hillier, Linzie Hunter, Little Friends of Printmaking, Luke Ramsey, Lyn Nance-Sasser, Mark Ulriksen, Martin Ontiveros, Matt Cassity, Matt Clark, Matt Furie, Mauro Gatti, Max Miceli, Maxwell Holyoke-Hirsch, Meg Hunt, Mia Hansen, Michael Paulus, Michael Wertz, Mikey Walsh, Miki Amano, Mr. Pinks, Mizna Wada, Molly Anderson, Mona Superhero, Nate Beaty, Nick Deakin, Nick Weidenfeld, Noah Butkus, Nora Krug, Overture, Paul Clark, Rachel Blumberg, Ray Fenwick, Rick Froberg, Rob Flowers, Roman Klonek, Ryan Alexander Tanner, Ryan Berkley, Ryan Sanchez, S. Tudyk, Saelee Oh, Sarajo Frieden, Scott Barry, Scott Rench, Shawn Wolfe, Snaggs, S.britt, Stephanie Davidson, Supermundane, Susie Ghahremani, Swigg, TADO, Teresa and David, Todd Hoffman, Travis Lampe, Trish Grantham, Vincent Mathy, Wes Younie, Will Rhoten

My dog was the Japanese Chin, possibly the cutest dog on earth!