car fix

hey remember April fools day this year when my car was smashed up... Well I got it all fixed up now.

AND.... it was fixed in front of my house by a buddy from work.

I purchased the fender online and it was sent directly to my front door 6 days later.

It was a lovely day to hang outside and watch the magically skilled transformation. Of course I would take a picture of power lines.

and the finished product.. it's like nothing ever happened.. so awesome! It's so great to know people that are mechanically blessed and willing to help a girl out.

vroom vroom!

so remember that secret..

well now I can reveal that little secret... A cute store called "The Rare Bird" picked up my books!!! Exciting right? 

If you don't know what The Rare Bird is... well that click here and find out.

I feel extremely honored to be showing my books there.. and humble about the whole thing really.

This store is so charming and again I'm so happy to be selling books there. I'm in the process of making vinyl books for them as well. And now that I know what to expect I can get a bit more creative with things. They are also selling the Lil' Pocket Pal too.

The Rare Bird @ 3883 Piedmont Ave in Oakland

whoa... there's a lot going on.

what the heck... I've been saying this a lot lately. I picked it up from my niece once and can't seem to shake it.... why the heck haven't I been consistent with my blogging is what I want to know? 

Well.. there are a couple of reasons.. 

I've been busy lately with plain old life, feeling spent after serving the mass public pizza and beer, working in the studio on books, making tons of lists about things I should be doing and then becoming exhausted and overwhelmed by the long list and not doing anything, then realizing that I actually have to do the things on the list to make it go away. I've also been preparing for school which starts tomorrow. Yeah.. that whole life changing thing that happened a couple months ago is still happening. Now the second part begins... school.

feeling overwhelmed... why yes.. how could you tell?

I do however think I've finally realized that I run on overwhelmed and that it's okay. I've also realized that certain things in my life need to be taken a bit more seriously and that I need to set up a structure and plan to really get the important things done.

wow... there's that really grown up adult feeling again. It's been a while and there it is.

Don't forget that I have a secret to tell you on Tuesday. I'll give you a hint.. I've been spending a lot of time in the studio making books..... for a reason.

beautiful books with a secret...  I can't wait to tell you.. are you excited? I am.

inspiring me at the moment:

the lovely Zoe Keating.

erin mckeown.

exciting news

I have some exciting news to tell you... but I won't revel it until next Tuesday.

stay tuned..

my new buddy

I don't know why... but recently I've been thinking a lot about guitars. For some reason I have this urge to pluck at guitar strings. One reason I think it's in my head so much is that my neighbors have a small guitar leaning up against their house. Every time I open my bathroom window I see the little guitar starring at me. The image of it perplexes me... why would anyone leave a guitar outside to get warped and destroyed. 

You know how somethings keep popping up in life. Like for example you will be walking along and suddenly see a picture of a guitar and then you think about the neighbors outside guitar. Or you sit down next to people  talking and you over hear them talking about guitars.. you get the idea. Yeah.. that was happening to me. 

Yesterday while roaming around Oakland I stopped by one of my favorite salvage yards and guess what I found? A guitar sitting there winking at me.. 

I picked it up and looked at it and couldn't seem to put it down... so I bought the old beater for a whole 20.00. It needs a little work but other than that it's in decent shape. 

I feel crazy even talking about this.. I don't know the first thing about playing the guitar, nor did I ever really have that much interest.. but I've been around long enough to know that when something continues to appear and present itself in your life that you should pay attention. So... I bought an old Spanish style beater guitar.. who knows what will come of it.

my first harvest

Today I harvested some spinach from the garden. My little garden is coming along nicely although it's screaming for attention on the weeding front. In fact my entire yard needs attention. I'm so not a good gardener.. I want to be but I just have the hardest time dealing with bugs. I don't fear them... I'd just rather not deal with them at all... especially snails and worms (gross). If anyone out there in world wide websicles has some advice on how I get over my thing with the bugs... please let me know.

Look at that radish.. it's fierce! Rainbow carrots are in the background.. you can't really see them in this pic.

See all the weeds? Yikes! I gotta get them out before I eat that thinking it's something good. ( I so totally would do something like that)

 Spinach!!

Spinach!! 

My mixed California lettuce is almost ready too. I hope I can keep up on the garden a bit more this year than last. Last year the garden went nuts and my laziness couldn't keep up with all the work. I also need to start sowing my start ups.

Music in the studio..

I'm now feeling well recovered from the event and all the recent happenings.. I've been catching up on all the things I put aside leading up to Oakland Under $100. Scratching off items on my never ending "to do" list.. but boy does that feel good.

I'm still in process of re-doing my studio and will get back in there to work asap.. I have been listening to these new albums (to me) in the studio as I tidy up.

I'm into all three of these at the moment.. Kaki King is pretty mellow but great background and holy cow is she talented.. Janelle Monae is fun, funky, and upbeat. And of course everyone knows I love Ultralash, Karry Walker is awesome.. All of it is good stuff and inspiring.

Did you know..

that I've kept up with my Lil' Red Roof blog?

well I have... and you can follow it here

red roof!

the suitcase

Before the event I was talking to a friend (K) about how I wanted to use an old suitcase to display my work in and around. K immediately told me of an old suitcase that I could have.. she went on to tell me about this old suitcase in the her apartment buildings basement storage. She tells me that the suitcase has been there for years and years along with a ton of other crap left behind by years of previous tenants. The landlord planned to get rid of everything in the basement and K said I should come have a look.

In the basement I see a large suitcase that was underneath an upside down coffee table. I had to climb over some old bikes to try and pull it out from the rubble. The suitcase didn't have a handle any longer so it was awkward and somewhat stuck. I pulled and pulled and finally got it out. We took the case up to her apartment and opened it. This is what we found:

The suitcase was full of an array of things.. it was a little intriguing and odd wrapped up in one. There was a grooming travel case (unused), many packets of carbon paper, an envelope full of loose paper with writing on it, 2 full journals, 3 tobacco pipes, pipe cleaners, flints, and other pipe hardware, a paper bag that contained a very heavy metal/cement barb looking thing.. and a couple other random things. 

Below is the barb looking thing.. it is super heavy!

The travel groom kit

Pipes and such...(the bag has tobacco in it)

Everything was pretty old and tattered.

At first I was a bit weirded out by the whole thing.. this used to belong to someone and they took the time to pack all this up for some strange reason. Not to mention it wasn't  just "stuff" it was the persons journals.. someone sat down and consciously wrote out what was on their mind. The journals start in the late 60's as far as I can tell. 

I emptied the contents of the suitcase into a box in my garage and cleaned it up to use at the show. I read a couple entries of the first journal. The outside of the journal had the name "Thomas Edward Francis Sevine" on it. From what I can tell so far.. the guy may have lived in that building and was a musician/artist that went to a ton of music events. I didn't really have the time to investigate further.. but I'm going to read through them and try to figure out more of a mystery that fell into my lap.

I had the thought that this person may still be alive.. so I googled the name with no results other than the Thomas Edward Francis the famous landscape painter that died in 1961. 

and yes... I used the case for my art event... and had many, many compliments on it and the display. I used an old rope and fashioned into a handle for it and attached my business card to it. I plan on continuing to use it... why not. If the guy was truly an artist.. I don't think he would mind what I'm using it for.

stay tuned for more on this...

then and now..

I just got my new drivers license.. I can't believe that they don't want me to retake my picture.. it's been 10 years since the photo was taken. I wasn't going to fight going to the DMV if I don't have to. My new license states that it will expire in 2016... that's another 5 years, surely I will have to get a new picture then. That would be 15 years of the same picture.. yikes.

                                                                                             

then         now

Look! here I am at 22 years old.. I look like I saw the Matrix like a million times in my pleather jacket. My hair is awesome too..  Now I just look way more tired and worn in.. but the hair is better.

now imagine 5 more years of this picture... awesome.

I'll dig up my old Oregon ID to compare.. I think that one has my binky in it.

success.. another show down.

It was another great time at the June Oakland Under $100

Karry Walker playing pretty music.

My assistant Jen! She kept things together for me and helped all things Oakland Under $100.

 Steffy Sue on the Uke! opened the show

 Andy Mason.. making it happen

The Ukaladies Strumming Club

The Oakland Under $100 gift basket for the art hop raffle

Some of my chicks.. sold 3 of them

The hustle and bustle of the show

more hustle and bustle.

It was a great turn out and a lot of fun. I'm exhausted!

Oakland Under $100 is Tonight!

It's finally here and it's tonight!

I'm running on 5 hours of sleep right now, I've been so busy that I forgot to buy coffee for the last two days. My house is a complete wreck and I have to work today until 4 since no one would pick up the shift (welcome to the service world, Em). Even with all the above.. I'm happy it's here and am grateful for all the press and help from friends. In fact I feel grateful for everything in my life right now.

I always seem to pull it together.. anxiety dreams aint got nothin' on me now... you had me for weeks but now.. well the event is today so restful nights are close.

See you tonight!

the last live art wednesday

...... until further notice....

The rumor is that Levende is closing.. so no more live drawing for a while until it's all sorted out. I think that Obi wants to take a break so... until further notice it's done.

I stopped in last night to visit and chat for a bit but didn't draw. I was feeling overwhelmed by Oakland Under $100 and getting things done. I was also super jazzed to see that the article from Oakland Local made it on sfgate.com. 

speaking of the event.. I better get my day going.

Oakland Under $100 article in Oakland Local

Oakland under $100: Affordable arts & crafts June 3 in Temescal

Oakland Local edi... Wed, 1 Jun at 10:32am

Oakland under $100 poster

June kicks off another round of Oakland Under $100 - an event created by local crafter and artist Emily Coker.

What's the concept? All the arts and crafts in the show are are priced between $1 and $100. Everything is either made specially for the show, or priced down for the night.

"In 2009, I started Oakland Under $100 as a bi-annual event. I wanted to create a place where both new and mid-career artists could show and sell their work at affordable prices to the general public," Coker writes. "The challenge and fun is for the artists to come up with quality work priced under $100. Participating artists are equally responsible for marketing and making connections within the community, which includes being present during the event to discuss and sell their work.

"The impetus for this was visiting galleries in which the one-time showing of an artist’s work was outrageously priced, even though it was greatly coveted. I do not mean to say the asking price was not representative of the work, it is just usually priced so completely out of this economy’s working person’s range.

"I feel an artist’s successes should not lie in the great gap between the buyer and the gallery, with only the gallery making the profit," Coker continues. "Especially in Oakland where the art community has so much to offer, I felt something needed to bridge this gap: Support emerging artists and their followers.

"I know that while this idea is not new, Oakland Under $100 has managed to facilitate both the needs of our community and the arts while giving the patron and the artist exposure. In these two years, Oakland Under $100 has gained consistent momentum and attendance.

The show features 10-12 artists and crafts people in a dance-studio-turned-art-venue for one night. We are also accompanied by some of the best local, usually acoustic, music. The whole neighborhood is welcome to the event."

This year's artists include:
Emily Coker
Rachel Coker
Danielle Demuro
Kyle Farrand
Kate Flynn
Rachel Hubbard
Mattie Ignacio
Ryan McJunkin
Allyson O'Brien
Anne Pinkowski
Mark Peterson
Mike Woolson
Alice Worland

Oakland Under $100 is part of a weekend of Temescal fun - the eighth annual Temescal street fair takes place on Sunday.
Oakland Under $100 @ Temescal Art Center
511 48th Street, Oakland, Ca 94609
June 3rd - 6pm - 10pm