Books on the way...

We've been making tons of books for the upcoming Craftivisim. Here are some of the newest ones!

Poptarts want to be cozy

Tomorrow, August 1st, will be my last day at GUESS. I am leaving to go work at Punch Studio in Culver City. I knitted Russell this pop tart box cozy as a good bye present, he is one of my favorite people at this job, and often cheered my unhappy day with some interesting story about RuPaul or some tranny he used to know in New York. The people at Guess I will miss a lot, it was a very lively 2 years of fashionable drama and I'll miss seeing them everyday.

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While I'm at it - more photos taken from a moving car!
This one is my favorite downtown graffiti. This one is on Alameda, real close to the Guess building. It's spectacular.

Venice Blvd.

I was driving along Venice Blvd. on Friday and took this picture out my window of a local 7-11 converted into a Kwik-E-Mart for the Simpsons movie coming out. There was a line out the door to buy Squishees and other Simpson themed products. I thought it was cool, but I'd never stand in that line.

Then I noticed something happy! I love this furniture store because it has a big mural of a Diego Rivera type girl holding a big armfull of lillies, with tucans. The building was bright blue, and some jerk graffitied all over it, this really makes me mad. I don't care if people graffiti plain boring surfaces, but when there's a beautiful piece of art already filling the space why do they have to ruin it? It wasn't even good graffiti, it was crap. The guys that own the store were repainting it today, and it cheered me up. It' now a goldenrod yellow-orange, and all fresh and new.

Gooseflesh

With some of my Etsy paypal money, I bought this bracelet today from seller Gooseflesh. I love it, it looks so soft and colorful. Her shop has other beautiful pieces, including some coral seaweed looking things I like but am too timid to wear. Gooseflesh

AIGA Craftivism

David and I are officially going to participate in AIGA's upcoming Craftivism event at the downtown Santee Village Lofts outdoor courtyard. We get a 4' table and 4 hours to sell books. As this event is coming up very quickly, this means we'll be going into high speed book production. Not that book production can really be done at high speed.... but we'll be cranking them out nonetheless. I'm excited and scared.

Can we make ample wares in time?
Can we letterpress anything in time?
Can Lindsey make correct change? Improbable.

At any rate, I think the journals have a better chance of selling when they are physically viewed and handled, it's hard to show how cool and detailed they are on Etsy. It will also be fun to feel involved in a tiny way in the big nationwide craft movement that is sweeping our generation.

From the website:
Human beings like to do good things. Especially the savvy, innovative, talented types. AIGA/LA, the professional association for design, is an abundant source of such big-hearted and talented beings. That’s why we’re gathering our creative talent at Craftivism, the marketplace where designers craft products by hand to lend a helping hand and benefit design education in our community. Craftivism will deliver a stylish outdoor market experience with unique products, contemporary artwork and one-of-a-kind designs. The marketplace will be framed by the outdoor courtyard of the Santee Village Lofts and reflect the bustling vibe of the surrounding garment district while offering chic design gifts sold by the talented designers themselves. Attendees can spend the Sunday afternoon leisurely shopping, mingling and networking with fellow humans in the ideal creative environment. Ticket proceeds will benefit the AIGA Scholarship Fund which creates educational opportunities in the L.A. area to support the next generation of designers. Craftivism will be held at the Santee Village Courtyard on Sunday afternoon from 1:00pm until 5:00pm on August 12, 2007

The Darjeeling Limited

I didn't know that Wes Anderson had a new movie coming out, and was so excited to see it on Apple Trailers. I love his movies, he is my second favorite director after David Lynch. PLUS the fact that I LOVE darjeeling tea, the movie looks all yellow and colorful and I can't wait to see it!

trailer

Big Footed Bunny

It seems everyone I know right now is having a baby. I am wanting to make presents, and am excited about Big Footed Bunny. Patterns can be bought on Wee Wonderfuls by Hillary Lang at wee wonderfuls

Whoo hoo

2 sold books on Etsy!
Thanks to love lovely and talented Menta, who'll be recieving In Love with Percy Faith and Nancy Sinatra These Boots Journals very soon. Books, you're on your way to Mexico, I hope you are filled with wonderful drawings!!

Makin a pizza makin a pizza ...

Sadly I didn't manage to capture the dough mid-air-toss, but you get the idea. David Michael was once a pizza delivery boy, and though it wasn't part of his job responsibility, he took it upon him self to give 100%, and learned the art of the dough toss. It's really fun to watch.

Vacation Drawings

Some drawings from my Montana sketchbook

Gypsy Journal

A new journal by me, posted on etsy already. It has dancing gypsy pirates on the front and some kind of traditional folk dancer lady on the back. I love her flower dress. The pages inside are cream with also lots of colorful construction paper choices.

Fat Fatty Fatters

I'm sure it's not real, but I can only pray that it is.
Oh, I would love to roll him around like a big rolly ball!

...then coast...

Another thing I did last weekend was make some little coasters for the table. They are 2 sided so you can decide wich mood you're in, stripes or flowers. It's very hard to make a perfect circle on a sewing machine. I like the way they turned out though, very obviously handmade.

Olvera Street

On Sunday David and I went to Olvera Street by Metro. The whole celing of the Hollywood/Vine Metro stop is covered with film reels, it's pretty cool. We got off at Union Station and walked over for delicious tacos with fresh handmade tortillas that we sat outside and ate on the patio with little birds hopping around purple flowers. We watched and listened to some live music in the big gazebo, but David Michael said no to churros by the churro man. Maybe next time. For now, please enjoy this mural with a lady with a basket full of kittens, and this little girl with a freakish looking cat under her arm.

Visionary Talent

Last night we enjoyed the company of dear friends David and Heather at Italian restraunt Buca di Beppo's in Santa Monica. Despite a general animosity to our waitress who seemed to have several personality flaws, a splendid, romantic time was had by all. We were all disturbed by this painting above our table.
I am pleased and excited to present the following photographs taken by Mr. David Greenwood, newly emerging visionary talent. I have chosen the following shots from his spontaneous dinnertime burst of inspiration.

"An Evening to Remember"


"Self Portrait"


"I Want My Glass Refilled at Least Six Times"


"The Unbearable Lightness of Being"


"Don't You Look At Me, Craig"


"Springtime Suprise"


"Two Refills = No Tip"


"Madonna (Pudica) and Child"


"Untitled"

elloh

I want to post some samples of the marvelous work of elloh - one of my FAVORITE etsy vendors.

"elloh is the work of me, el (short for ellen) Lohse."

Please do visit her shop here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5030155

She is the maker of wonderful paintings from movies and tv shows that I do adore, such as Amelie, The Office, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Little Miss Sunshine, The Breakfast Club. I want to buy some real bad, I have trouble picking a favorite, although I think I want the Olive portrait from LMSS. In fact I feel I may just acquire it today....

The Golden Age

My most favorite movie ever is Elizabeth, (the Cate Blanchette version) due to my ability to watch it endlessly over and over and not tire of it in any way. It's so layered and complex in characters, costume, make-up, history and interpretation. I own the dvd and have watched it a ba-zillion times. Not only is the movie itself great, but even better is the director's commentary.I could listen to Shekhar Kapur go on forver, and I have. The movie shows an innocent loving teenager slowly transform into a cold sexless semi-religious icon, capable of commanding awe and weilding power.

Imagine my excitement when I sat in a little mall theater in Butte, Montana, and saw a trailer for a second installment by the same director, looking even more fantastical in costume, and this time with Clive Owen as her romantic interest. On his blog he has written the following about the new film still in production:

It seems most likely that my next film is going to be Golden Age, not quite a sequel, but second in the trilogy that I always thought 'Elizabeth' would be. It will star Cate Blanchette once again as Elizabeth.

The film will also star Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen, Samantha Morton and Micheal Sheen, amongst others.

'Elizabeth' was about Power. It was about survival, innocence, love betrayal and ruthlessness, all in the context of Power.

This second film is about Immortality. It is what happens to people when they are in positions of absolute power. They then aspire to 'Divinity' and feel they are set apart from 'other mortals'. The third, when it is made much later, will be about Mortality. What happens when people have considered themselves Immortal or Divine, face their own mortality.

We are still finishing the Script. This film starts about 10 years after the last one left off. On the larger political level, the film is about Elizabeth's conflict with Phillip the 2nd of Spain, who was the most powerful man in the world then. And who had sworn to turn the world Catholic, whatever the cost.

On a personal level the film deals with one of Elizabeth's greatest romantic involvements in her life, with Sir Walter Raliegh.

Trailer here:
http://www.shekharkapur.com/goldenage/

Schroeder Shack

My time in Montana was restful, relaxing, and full of family memories in the making. My family has a ranch out there near Butte, with a small cabin where my Grandpa Chuck and his siblings were born and spent some childhood before they ended up in Lompoc. Recently, Dad's cousin Don Schroeder, bought some additional property near the cabin with a big hunting lodge. This is where we spent our time, it has 13 beds upstairs and down, to accomodate me, my folks, Aunt Susie + Alan + Julianne, as well as Laurel, Justin, Maddie and Ari. We also enjoyed meeting Jusin's younger sister, Tetra, for the first time. The landscape is beautiful and undisturbed. We enjoyed a long hike up to an old mining cabin, and some fishing and exploring. Julianne panned for gold in the creek, and we all enjoyed many outdoor fires roasting s'mores. I cooked a few pancake breakies, and we all learned how to conserve water as it must be hauled up from the creek. That means very limited use during dishwashing, and taking short showers in the amazing solar shower tent mom and dad set up on the deck. I have to say, taking an outdoor solar-bag warmed shower with nothing bewtween you and nature is very liberating and enjoyable. Extremely refreshing.
We made several trips into the surrounding towns of Butte, Billings, and Boulder for food, supplies and fireworks. It was wonderful to spend so much time with my family unhindered by work or any distractions like movies, phones, tv, or computers. I caught 3 small trout in the river with Dad, and 1 big fatty grasshopper in my hand for his bait box. There were many wandering cows to chase off the front grass area each morning, and lots of cow pies to avoid that they kindly left us. I got in a lot of reading, napping and shooting the breeze. We also scattered some of Chuck's ashes into the rose bushes of the small cabin. Susie and Mom assembled a cross from found wood and rusted coils. Dad sprinkled ashes on it so Papa Chuck could rest with his roots. They sprinkled more in the creek, and it was very beautiful.
I feel so lucky to have such a beautiful emotional family with a gorgeous retreat to visit together. Below are a fraction of the many pictures I took of the weeks good times.