new boxes

i'm working on some new boxes for the upcoming show. it will be on may 21st, and will be called "altogether curious". we will be sending out invitations on or about may 1st. if you would like to be on our mailing list, you can either comment here, or go onto sk3tchbook.com and send info from there. either a physical address or an email is fine. we never share our lists, they are only used for sending invites and occasional info about sk3tchbook.

anyway, this is the start of a new box. the frame isn't show here because i am still working on it. the entire composition is made of game pieces (mostly vintage with a few newer ones thrown in for color and fit). this took me hours to create because i wanted a perfect fit for the elements. i kinda like it!! in real life it looks a lot richer because you can see the layers more clearly.

i'm also working on "bird box 2" which is looking pretty nice so far. i hope to finish today. i think it will be posted by the end of the week. i covered the frame with pages from an old coloring book that was colored in about 60 years ago. the crayon was still vibrant and the artists did a great job of staying in the lines! i used to have the worst time with that! my mother always got frustrated with me for my lack of neatness. seems like i am finally getting better in my artwork. now all i need to do is transfer that skill to my surroundings!

spring break in tennessee

we just got back from visiting my dad and his wife in east tennessee. they live just outside sevierville, which is next to pigeon forge, which is the home of dollywood. always an interesting trip.

we fly into knoxville, which has a gorgeous neighborhood of old houses, and is also the home of the great yee-haw industries. it's a letterpress studio that has a awesome store in the front that sells all manners of letterpress magic. posters, cards, art, you name it. i got a cool t-shirt with one of their designs on it. they are worth the visit.

tennessee is hard for me. the landscape is beautiful. rolling hills, beautiful vignettes of rural loveliness. but mixed in to that is a bunch of not so pretty stuff. development at its worst. the main drag from sevierville into pigeon forge into gatlinburg is filled with fake fronted theaters, arcades, "museums", and restaurant chains. you can go to the miracle theatre and see flying angels and reenactments of bible stories. or you can go into a fake upside down mansion and play arcade games. how about the black bear jamboree or the elvis impersonators? maybe stop at the huge titanic museum, which is a half-ship crashing into a faux iceberg. (they say you can even renew your wedding vows on the grand staircase). it's sad to me. seems like everyone has sold out to the tourist crowd.

at least the trees were blooming, and the grass was tinged with green, and the horses were out in the meadows, and the farm houses still looked quaint when you got away from the craziness.

the sign in the picture struck us as funny. just had to include it.

hidden in plain sight

this is my new box. i used some really awesome modern paper. i think it was made in india, but i'm not sure. i really liked the flower pattern, and tried to repeat that in the layered part. in person, the layers are a bit further apart than they appear in this photo. the monkey is an old tin game piece. i have had him for years, looking for just the right place to put him. he is holding a little white cup in his hand, which i think is funny. it's about 6" square and about 1" deep. check out the sk3tchbook website for a side angle view.

printmaking class

i took a great class last weekend at a gallery in pagosa springs, CO. it was taught by a printmaker and potter named michael coffee. the class was amazing. we made monoprints with a process called "reduction ink". the great part was you could get all of these grey tones that registered without multiple plates. i will be taking the class that adds color in july. sooooo cooool!

new blog

ok, so we decided to try something new. the old blog wasn't accepting comments, so tom and i decided to link to blogger instead. i have a lot of work to do before i get it all up and running. i'm at the studio, and so don't have access to my pictures. so keep looking, and i promise i will post very soon!