ephemorabilia

Audiobilia

2011-10-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Cup and sauce by Sayjay

Assortment

2011-08-31T09:29:00.000-07:00

india ink on paper

ball point, felt tip, stamps, crayons and colored pencil

revival of old oil painting exercises

acrylic on canvas

colored pencil and graphite
such lovely ladies!

Found Around Town

2011-04-29T02:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes things just happen.

It didn't exactly start here. I was here with my camera, though, in this moment, and I caught this fish.

later, there was another.

and more...

in paint...

on paper...

in the city...

just swimming around...

getting bigger...

toys

2011-02-12T04:05:00.001-08:00

This is the laundry room window. I stuck the toys to the side of the frame with museum wax many years ago. Some have since fallen and joined the ranks on the sill. The lace used to hang over my parents' bed. In the daytime you can more clearly see the blackberry brambles outside, which threaten to someday take over the entire side of the house with their sinewy, thick, reaching arms and thorns. These few square feet of space are some of my favorite ones on the planet.

I had to include the pencil sharpener. It's gorgeous.

mudroom

2011-02-12T03:42:00.001-08:00

This one is amazing. The ball was delivered to my house one day a few years ago by a former teacher of mine, who had led many camping trips and was an enthusiastic outdoor educator. While he was on a trip with his class, Lee happened to find this ball. It had been several years since I was his student, and I have no recollection of ever going to the American River, even though I took many school trips with Lee. He returned to me an object I hadn't realized I misplaced.

This is another favorite: the miniature sewing machine. This is an actual sewing machine that you work by holding it between your thumb and forefingers and squeezing repeatedly. The spring-loaded contraption will then make a stitch every squeeze, so you would have to place each one very carefully. It is on extended loan from another collector/mentor Ann, who thought we would enjoy trying to get it to work. We may have attempted to do so, but it's been sitting on this shelf for close to ten years, if not more.

This dog collar was the subject of a drawing/silkscreen I made in high school. My mother found it while she was walking on the beach somewhere. It had clearly been in the ocean for a while, and it washed up bearing the tag "free." This item sparked a lot of deep teenage thought for me, and I adore it.

The hermit crab. I made that for a fifth or sixth grade project. I also wrote and illustrated an informational booklet about hermit crabs. I should try to find that.

this blog's title

2011-02-12T02:12:00.000-08:00

Just for the record, I had never heard "ephemorabilia" used in speech before I created this blog. But here it is in the urban dictionary:

"Items which usually have a short lifespan, or fleeting existence, but which become keepsakes. Different from souvenirs or memorabiliia (which usually have an intentional association with a place of origin, or an event) ephemorabilia was never intended as such.

Mary kept a cigar box full of quirky ephemorabilia from her travels: a vial full of snow, pressed leaves and flowers, the shed skin of a snake, ticket stubs, and gumball machine toys."

Ephemorabilia, it is occurring to me now, surrounds me. I live in the house I was born in, and I see remnants of myself at every age. Almost all of my precious objects reside here with me, and I continually update my collection. If you've ever been to my house, you know about the shelves that contain many beloved, useless found objects, art projects, and gifts. Each one has a story. I have my own personal cabinet full of them:

I can't fully express the richness of memory, the layers of details, the stories I tell myself, all that surfaces when I explore this collection of objects. Redefining the precious. Take a look at the mudroom series.

Done in a Day

2011-01-08T23:03:00.000-08:00

Layers

2010-12-28T13:47:00.000-08:00

Two Birds

2010-12-12T17:11:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's been a while. This painting was made for a former teacher of mine. I hope it will be one of those objects his kids will grow up looking at. I like the idea that sometime in the future they'll see it and it will remind them of their happy childhood.

Watercolor, colored pencil, ink, vellum graphite, thread.

Where My Heart Lives

2010-09-10T00:22:00.001-07:00

Moon Phases

2010-09-10T00:16:00.000-07:00

My first commission in a long time. For a good friend who found a good friend.

Bits of Paper

2010-04-29T10:47:00.001-07:00

This is memory.
This is learning how to be a person.
This is control and simultaneous release.
This is permanent in its impermanence.

Perfect in its imperfection.

Journal's Over

2010-04-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

And on that awkward sideways note (gotta fix that!) this book closes. I haven't started a new one yet. I either need to make my own book or find the perfect one for watercolors, because I miss that material a lot. We'll see. Stay tuned.

Journal Sesh

2010-04-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

There was this weird period where I slowed down on my journal, and it took me a really long time to want to put these pages up. I'm not trying to make disclaimers, but I'm not as excited about this last portion of the journal. As an historian, however, I was compelled to put them all up for narrative integrity. Trying to finish what I start. Still don't know how to solve the sideways problem below.

you won't know.

2010-03-08T01:11:00.000-08:00

if you don't try.

Yosemite May Oh Ate.

2010-03-08T00:33:00.000-08:00

true seal. home wave. turk fire. leap road.

Ways to Time Travel

~sleep. you'll wake up in the future!
~walk into the woods with someone you like. if your cell phones still get reception turn them off.
~watch the way your mother leans, holds her hands.
~make a contour map of your grandmother's wrinkles.
~call up an old friend and arrange a reunion. have sex for old time's sake.
~draw fast-forward, rewind, and play buttons onto a cardboard box with sharpie. climb inside. play.
~give up sleep. tomorrow will never come!
~move to a city near the border between two time zones. straddle it.
~or, better! travel to the north or south pole. run laps around it.
~bomb Greenwich.
~cultivate deja vu and recurring dreams.
~retrace your steps. all of them.
~almost die.

--Leap Road, aka CASEY BUSHER

Hooligans

2009-12-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I never knew how hard it was to squeeze the nozzle on these things, and now, a few hours later, my hand still feels weak and rubbery.

So it wasn't illegal. Sanctioned defacement. Still pretty exciting, and fleeting, since someone has probably already added their twisted season's greetings.

Happy holidays. Do something fun!

Also: props to spray can artists. Shit is hard.

Put that Art to Work

2009-12-11T09:38:00.001-08:00

I had a wonderful run at the farm; I got to flex my art muscles and create some visual aids. Very fun, and if anyone out there seeing this needs some hand made stuff like shah, hit me up and pay me, and I'll do it.

Master craftsman Thomas Marchionna came through with the assist on this project, genius status. Seriously, it takes a lot of figuring to turn a pile of crap playwood into a thing as strong and sturdy and cute as this welcome sign, which will greet thousands of visitors to Zenger farm for years to come. I may have been off by a sixteenth of an inch in my measurements a couple of places, but mostly this thing is dead-on-balls accurate and way more slick for the twelve power tools we use. Apprentice carpenter for a day. A very cold day. A day of serious business and a wonderful sense of accomplishment upon its completion. Many thanks to the man of the hour: Uncle Thom.

The painting was all me, and it was a strangely transformative experience. I have a huge amount of respect for people who attempt making straight lines only using their hands and eyes. Skills, man, skills.

This map will be available as a self-guided tour at the welcome sign. You'll be able to pick one up, visit the different spots, read about them on the back, and return it when you're done. Sounds good, yeah? Fun.

I had a lot of hand-lettering practice this fall. These are going to be laminated and used at the farmer's market, so the price goes on with a dry erase marker, etc. Doesn't it put you in the mood for produce? Me too. I'm always in the mood for produce, actually.

When Given Motivation

2009-11-22T22:03:00.000-08:00

Oh man. There are so many people I'd like to thank! My wives, Annie and Casey, my sister Olivia, my artist in crime Stephan, Pasha for Radiolab (and Robert and Jad for the audio company while I painted away) Rory for the idea months ago, Zenger for the space, Prairie for the snacks...I love you all. Thank you internet, for letting me share this! Goodnight! Good luck! The music is coming but I LOVE YOU WORLD!

What The

2009-10-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

Six am is a time of darkness, yes it is. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but finding one of these creatures at that time of day could just tip that balance. I took it as a good omen, however, and ended up having a great day today at work. But when I saw this guy I just kind of knit my brows for a second. What the...? What the crap IS that? I let it go in the backyard after the portrait session. Just thought I'd share. And if anyone knows what the crap it is, tell me.

The Edge of a Place

2009-09-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

I love the coast. What can I say.

Finally Figured Out The Video Thing

2009-09-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

So a neighbor's cat had her kittens in our yard in Berkeley, and I got to see them a day before they were taken away. I guess they are now pets for the neighbor's various family members. For days and days after they were gone, the mama kitty (who isn't very old, herself) looked and waited for her babies to come bounding out of the bushes. It was sad to watch her bewilderment.

Lub Dub. Lub Dub.

2009-09-02T17:51:00.001-07:00

Follow your instincts. This project couldn't be contained, and was a therapeutic process that came at a wildly emotional time of my life. The heart is where it all starts, and where it all ends.

durr. Journal.

2009-08-06T18:41:00.000-07:00

I'm SO FRUSTRATED about these sideways photos. So I went, fuckit just put them up or you'll never do it. Just...I don't know. They're not even in order. I'm over it.

Farm Goodies

2009-07-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry, bunny. Very very creepy and mesmerizing.

Work/Play?

2009-07-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

So I'm getting used to my job. I spend a lot of time hand weeding the crops, checking up on the teenaged poultry, and restraining tomato plants. Things grow really well here, even relationships. I'm struggling to be the best goddamn intern ever. It's mostly a struggle because I feel summerlazy, and without the Tuolumne river to wake up my senses every afternoon, the heat penetrates and exhausts me more than I thought it would. It's definitely a budding romance between me and the land. You can't put your sweat into the earth like that and not get attached.

The bigger picture. I have to remind myself I have a purpose, that I'm more than a weedwhacker, that I'm sowing symbolic seeds too, that I am feeding my speedling soul, that I am but a small part of an unimaginable whole. I'm really into the mundane these days. The bike ride commute, with its tiny triumphs and the accumulating ache/strength in my legs and back.

I still look like me!

The Sights {Portland No.1}

2009-06-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

Some shots I took around the kitchen and my Cantina. To give you a feel for the place. The Cas.

Above: Todji and Say Do Sauerkraut
Below: Todji Kurtzman Original Sculpture

Above: Thanks For the Plants, Mom
Below: Welcome to the Family, Black Diamond Santoku

Above: Remnant of that "Fixer Upper" Feel

Now you feel more connected to me, don't you? I love the internet.

Coffee Buzz

2009-06-20T14:54:00.001-07:00

I don't have any images today, but I thought I'd commemorate my first few days in my new homehouseplace. I'm tiptapping away on a tiny machine purchased from some friendly fellow at a revolutionary computing community center, cozied up with a formerly hot beverage of the espresso variety at the cafe down the block from the Cas. My first six days have been enlightening and only slightly frightening. The normal kind that comes from any type of transplantation.

I think the biggest shock is going from the land of a thousand moments shared with friends to one where I have to forge new relationships and cannot fall back on the nearly guaranteed company of the dearest. I miss my crew, and know they would all be juiced to share this new playground of coffee, beer, art and music. I have seen several concert posters of intriguing natures, and it's made me realize more palpably than ever that I can't go it alone. I need buddies. I have them, for sure, and even in this town there are people to call, but they're not at my fingertips like they used to be. Portland is welcoming. Weird that there are no natives. I have not met anyone who was born here, yet.

And now a toast. New things come quickly and old ones newly renewed; nothing to be done but a knock on the door and a foot in the bucket; many more moments compounding the pounding; rain and sun are the same as the leak and the burn.
Cheers, Salud and Season's Greetings.
Yours truly, The Cantina Dwelling Draughtswoman.

Addendum: One Last Shot of Santa Cruz *For A While*

As LA as I'll Ever Be

2009-05-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

I check this website, fecalface.com, all the time. The name creates a little bit of a filter, since most people aren't stoked about the combination of those two things. Regardless, it's a great site and it makes me feel like I kind of have an ear on an art scene that stimulates and inspires me...and sometimes it's open to the public to join in. By golly I'm out in that public and I draw stuff...so I thought I'd try my hand at a little prompted doodling. This was a response to the theme "hollywood starlets" and in my humble opinion it does no good to photograph delicate drawings like these. A scanner would be more effective, but in the end, you do what you can with what you have. I like how this turned out, however, even in this rough photographic rendering.

I'm moving to Portland very soon. I'm ready to deprive myself of Santa Cruz for a while, but isn't it just the way, for things to get so fun and sweet at home right when you're preparing to leave? However, I foresee some subtle changes amidst the obvious spatial/social ones that will be coming my way. Geography counts for a lot. So, I'll be heading up north with the Mom a few days after I leave sc, which is actually a few days from now. So the countdown begins, and in Six Months things will pick up where they left off? In new ways, perhaps. I am depending heavily on the internet to keep connected with the best and brightest lights in my life, currently scattered around the globe, gloriously linked by these little letters and pictures.

My packing list starts:
...
+banjo, guitar
+computer
+work boots
+bicycle
+memory foam
...

I don't think I'll need too much more than those things.
Keep in touch.

Another Hit Single and a Story

2009-05-10T13:35:00.001-07:00

The Bird pictures, from before, those are all details of this here drawing. Sometimes I make something, and then I just put it out of my mind for a while. This one is up in my room, but I don't look at it much, and I haven't really sorted out its significance yet. That's kind of my way with image-making, because they reveal different things over time. My process, putting a drawing together, is a series of semi-thoughtless moments, in that I can only think about the meanings to a degree, and the rest of my concentration is reserved for the physical making of the thing. The reflection is the part that brings out the many levels of meanings.

"I used to check facts in big dusty books locked behind sepia glass in cold libraries of bones. Every day I would creep over to cobwebbed windows so I could peep through and see her winding spider threads on her fingers. But one day a tinny sound alerted me to a tiny problem, one that I couldn't solve on my own. And then silver swans swam in a stream of swirling saliva that stretched from my open mouth to yours. And finally there was no more to be said about the matter, it was obvious to all of us that the inevitable moment had arrived."

Have you ever played the story game with me? You'll like it. This one contains sentences authored by yours truly, but each of them belong to five different stories that I compiled collectively with the others in the room. If you enjoy the story game, improvising songs and raps, eating lentils and sausage, and chatting till late (among many other good things), we'll have a swell time together.

One Other Thing

2009-04-29T00:16:00.001-07:00

This actually started as a drawing in the windswept sand of the beach on a cold afternoon. Some ideas just stick and deepen. I don't really know why this one did, but I'm down.

More Journal Stuff...

2009-04-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

Two Childhood Dreams Combined

2009-04-17T00:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.swimmingcities.org/photos/

This is pretty cool.

I want to be a mermaid in a place where the cities look like groups of these boats.

Pure Joy

2009-04-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

So...given the fact that I shoot on a dinky digital camera, it's no surprise to me that the quality of this video is poor. Given the other fact that it's amazing I can even capture and represent motion, I am posting it in the hopes that the joy I get from making this gets across to you, even just a little bit.

There are more, but I want to figure out a way to share them with more clarity.

Enjoy.

Spring Means Pretty

2009-04-14T00:12:00.000-07:00

This dog is named Nickel. I hang out at cafes a lot.

There's so much to enjoy. Beauty comes hand in hand with the thing you hoped wouldn't show up. At least something showed up.

This was a wonderful day. Thanks Tina.

Birds

2009-04-06T21:50:00.001-07:00

These are all parts of a whole piece that I'm not sure about yet. Maybe I'll put up a picture of the finished thing, but...I'm kind of lazy. More to come.

Tidbits and Bigbits

2009-02-10T22:39:00.000-08:00

I took a roll of film (what antiquity) and this was one of my favorites. The most beautiful spot around Santa Cruz. Only a local would know it, I think.

From the bowels of the family photo cabinet to my wall.

I'm just so proud I finished something bigger than 8x10...it may not even be done yet, but I was thinking about giving it to whitney. Can't keep it a surprise, though. I'm terrible at that.

Moments Collapsed

2009-02-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

I'm not really sure what's been going on lately...lots of things. I think that far-removed trauma like Gaza and past events in elsewhere places have been creating rifts in my extremely comfortable lifestyle. I realize how much of my life is sheer luck that I ended up here, with so much love and privilege. Where we go, there we are.

This does not excuse me from questioning my boundaries, however. I do so constantly, and more so in the year 2009 than possibly ever before. I will not be able to tell you exactly why and what changes are occurring...that's for history to tell. And these pictures are my history, inevitably.

The mysteries, as I expressed on the second to last set of pages, are powerful. The tiny spaces that exist where we think no more can fit. There's always more, always both, always mystery. Give a gift that flows one direction, and you'll receive from another. These objects may disappear around a bend, but they appear from around one, too.

Every idea I have gets replayed back to me a thousand times in different words and images and sounds.

New Book

2009-01-07T20:04:00.001-08:00

This book is nice...doesn't work so well with the watercolors. I'm getting used to colored pencils. Not much more to say other than, welcome and enjoy.

Resolutions

2009-01-07T13:01:00.001-08:00

It might be a while till I put up another batch of journal photos, since I have to let time pass and take it all down again...but photo projects are in the works, so don't go too far.
Keep it real.

Hold it Loosely. Don't Grip.

2008-12-07T22:00:00.000-08:00

We stayed up all night and saw the sun rise over the bay. More love I have never known than right now, for everyone and everything...especially for moments with Casey.

Happiness is kind of funny. It doesn't really feel like "happy" all the time. It's kind of like continually letting go of things that you're scared of living without, and realizing even more good stuff comes your way because of that process. It's also kind of like accepting each moment for its fullness and beauty. Not that everything I experience is beautiful. In fact, a lot of things I experience are downright frightening. But being able to ride that fear out...I think that's what is most difficult and important.

Butternut

2008-11-20T23:44:00.000-08:00

She is a sweet sweet dog. She loves fetch more than anything, ever. She will do anything to play. She is the color of the squash for which she is named. She guarded my tent faithfully during my stay on Williams Island in Tennessee.

Just Playin

2008-11-11T22:19:00.000-08:00

Photography is difficult. More than anything, art is about knowing and communicating with your medium. I used to think about it in terms of control or command, but beautiful things don't come from coercion. Artists ask for what they want, and when they try to force an image to form they get results they don't like. I could never do what paint does, and we work together to find a place for it on the page that we both agree on. Photographs are the same. I don't know my camera very well, and these pictures were made possible by a tutorial my friend AJ was kind enough to give me about a little button on my digital.

Blueberries are pollinated by mosquitoes. My hatred for these insects is no less intense, but I feel bad for killing this one. Sometimes I don't have the best restraint when I see the big ones flying lazily around my desk...years of very uncomfortable bites have made me a little slap-happy, I admit.

How The Book Ends

2008-11-07T19:40:00.000-08:00

This here is the final installment for this particular physical book. I've started a new journal, and I haven't gotten a feel for the paper yet, really, so we'll see how that one goes. I really love this last book, and I'm a little sad to have finished it, but it's transition time in many ways, and new things are new things. Thanks for tuning in.

And so it is and so it ends...I like the symmetry and relative consistency in this book. It's been a good one.

More Recently...

2008-10-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing I made for my friend Luke. I hated to fold it up, but it had a long journey and I could see no other way. I'm thinking about doing a series of drawings like this, of aged, tattooed and pierced individuals. I'm going for a thizz face in this one, but it turned into plain old grumpy.

From: Farm, To: Fanny Pack

2008-10-16T02:07:00.000-07:00

This here is the garden that I spent Spring quarter bringing back to life. It was a mess of calendula, matilja poppy and cardoon, and I hacked, dug, mulched and weeded it into the Perennial Vegetable Garden, formerly The Meditation Garden (I think it was called that because all of the beds are crescent-shaped and arranged in a somewhat stylized manner.) This garden is only a small portion of the entire farm, and plants all over that place apparently had a great summer. I made the signs too, of course.

In the garden I planted several types of perennial plants that are used in cuisine somewhere in the world. Many were Andean, some were from Japan, and there was a dispute about Australia in there somehow. Some sort of spinach, I think. These crops are not found in our diets, for the most part, because overall, annual plants spend far more photosynthesized energy producing fast-growing bodies and tasty fruits, roots and leaves. Perennials are much longer-lived, and so their leaves and bodies are much more fibrous and sturdy, and far less flavorful (to our palate) and tender. Some are eaten, however, like the tree tomato, or tamarillo, native to the Andes. There's a great effort to design a system of growing grain that mimics perennial native grasses of the prairies, which would do a lot to reduce the topsoil loss, nutrient degradation, water waste and pesticide use rampant in the conventional agricultural system. Can you tell this is my field of study at the undergraduate level? Sometimes I feel like I'm thinking about it too hard. Eat. Breathe. You know.

The down garden.

This is the Granny Shack kitchen, feeding members of the Fanny Pack every morning, noon and night. Many wonderful meals have already been shared in this cozy, intimate atmosphere. Maybe someday you'll make it to one of our Mexican Nights (fridays).

Granny Shack Kitchen on Most Nights

2008-10-16T01:27:00.000-07:00

What is there to say about this? It's tight.

We're down. Moment captured.

Williams Island

2008-10-13T23:42:00.000-07:00

So here's a little taste of Tennessee. I was on an island in the Tennessee River, right in the town of Chattanooga. I stayed there with my gracious hosts for almost two weeks, working with them in the extreme damp and heat. The river was good swimming, although I realize now that my affinity for fresh water really is based on a lifetime relationship with creeks and streams, and that my experience with actual bonafide rivers is a little less extensive.

No energy except a little solar, despite the city's massive electricity towers running the length of the island. There aren't any outlets on those things.

This is Ryan Power. He's feeling the heat from inside our cob oven that we built. That was a fun project, and is probably more fun to do with 3 or 4 people. It was kind of amazing how much work it was to dig up enough subsoil to make clay for that size upside-down bowl. And mixing the soil in a wheelbarrow...needless to say, we were both new to cob construction.

Tennessee and Back

2008-10-13T23:28:00.000-07:00

Summer - Moving and Camp

2008-10-13T23:15:00.000-07:00

Into May

2008-10-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

Spring Begins

2008-10-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

Next Journal Installment

2008-10-12T23:17:00.000-07:00

Winter 2008 Journal

2008-10-09T22:13:00.000-07:00

It's funny to go through this process of archiving, since I am so obsessed with keeping everything chronological. I don't want to let anything get out of order, so I have some new pieces that I feel I can't put up until I give you the rest of the history... So I'll be starting the next journal series. It's a lot, so it'll be by season. I started this book in January of 2008.

There is a lot of writing in this book. Be aware that I have no way to separate my personal life and politics from my artwork. This is me.

Big Drawings

2008-09-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

The six black and white drawings were done on large sheets of paper, mostly using charcoal. I don't have much experience with that material, and I used a lot of graphite for detail work. The table drawing is totally graphite, on gessoed paper. These were all done for a class, and had specific assignments, which usually meant very little to me. None of the drawings were done from life, and I usually ended up making the images with a more personal concept than what the assignments asked for. This was the only class I took in art school that led me to produce things of any meaning, and they illustrated a lot of my unhappiness in Boston. These drawings, months later, showed me that I was disconnected from my environment and that I was struggling to attach my roots to something stable, and I did not find what I was looking for there.

The drawing with the starry sky was an extracurricular project, but it came from that searching feeling. I wanted to incorporate the figurative work with paint, and as an experiment it was...decent. I loved the sky portion, but I wanted to figure out a better way to mesh the figure into it. I think the ghostly quality of it is appropriate, though. At the time I was really into a movie called "The Fountain," which has a lot of amazing starscape imagery.

The last one was another experiment, but I turned it in to my writing professor as component of my final in her class. The class was called "Love and Sexuality" and I made this drawing while listening to a song called "Misty Moonlight Waltz" performed by Mark O'Connor, Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer. The album is Appalachian Journey (it's amazing. check it out.). In this drawing, you can see that the wet and dry media came together a lot better. This is the direction I've continued with in a lot of ways, and in my next couple of journals you'll see a lot more watercolor. It's the same set of paints, for the most part, and as I run out of colors I have to start using other ones that I don't necessarily like as much, and that changes the look of the work a bit.

Statement 1 - Intro to the Journal

2008-09-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

Most of my work has been self-portraiture, in one way or another. I hardly ever draw from life, especially faces and figures (unless I'm specifically doing a figure-drawing class). This means that I'm constantly compiling bits of information when I look at people...this nose, that eyebrow, a shadow or texture that I've never noticed before...it all collects for reference later. As my own most available model, I have observed my own features enough to work them into the impulsive/instinctive drawing. In another sense, I like to think of my work as a piece in a giant time-capsule. I rarely work on a piece for long, preferring to work quickly and intensely on something and never touching it again. This effectively makes the piece a representation of a moment in my own history, written in my own language of imagery. Thusly I entered the transition into the medium of the book. Since high school the journal has become my preferred project. In the books I have completed there is writing, drawing, painting, collage, and each page helps to create my own autobiography. Some of the following images come from my 2005-2006 journal.

Oxbow Fall 2005

2008-09-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

These (and the previous image) were all completed during my semester at the Oxbow school. It was an amazing time, and I created some things I'm still very proud of. I went on to art school in Boston thinking it would be like my experience at Oxbow...but it's like that song "nothing compares with you." I realize now that it was a one-time thing, and my time there cannot be replicated.

For Starters

2008-09-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

What's up, blogspaceface. This is going to be fun. Here's where you'll get to have momentary or prolonged exposure to some of the visual stimuli I've captured /created / found, and all the verbose ramblings that come with. Questions should be directed to me. Further details to be determined as history unfolds. Enjoy.