My Moonshine Ink art column is out today! I covered the graffiti on the abandoned Donner Summit trains tunnels, and the petroglyphs I found en route. This was a fun one to muse about. Happy reading! You can pick up or download the print edition (page 44) or read the online version.
travel journaling
For my latest art column in Moonshine Ink I covered the topic of travel journaling. Local artist Eva S. Nichols provided some great advice & I put it into practice on my Galapagos trip. Read it here: Seeing What You See.
a first look at my galapagos cruise
I was this close to blue-footed boobies! Such a lucky duck.
awaken your creative mind
My art column for Moonshine Ink this month covers the wellness benefits of art. Some local workshops are tuning into this special connection that art brings us, and I’ve had fun researching this by taking a few workshops (watercolor, drawing, collage) that feel a lot like therapy! Read my art column here.
editing for “get out of my crotch!”
I’m a month belated getting this post up, but I was one of the copy editors on Get Out of My Crotch!, published by Cherry Bomb Books on the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade January 22, 2013. Here’s the back story on the book: “Tired of hearing about legislation based on menstrual cycles, publisher Kim Wyatt sounded a call for essays about women’s rights and reproductive health in 2012. A shocking snapshot emerged of regressive policies, the erosion of basic human rights, and the culture that allows this to happen. Get Out of My Crotch! is an attempt to remind, to remember, and to continue the fight for equal rights.”
The book’s 21 writers (of all classes, professions—medical and non, races, and religions) examine reproductive rights, access to health care, and violence against women through first-person essays. A great, educational read, and I was honored to edit such big names in the writing biz as Roxane Gay, Katha Pollitt, and Sari Botton.
93 years
new block print design – tahoe christmas sweater
My latest block print design is the outline of Lake Tahoe filled with a Christmas sweater pattern. I drew it all by hand, and carved it on a linoleum block. I printed the green trees separately from a free carve quick-cut on Speedball EasyCut rubber. Due to the detail in the design, this takes much longer to print successfully, but I love the result! Pick this design up in postcard form at Riverside Studios in downtown Truckee.
gratitude
Came across this gratitude tree in Calistoga last weekend. Such a beautiful concept: you take one of the provided tags of colored paper, write what you’re thankful for, and tie it with a string on one of the branches. I celebrated Annalise’s life in that moment and am happy to know a token of my thankfulness for her friendship is flapping in the wine country breeze right now. It was a grey, rainy day, but as I tied her name on the branches a beam of sun peaked through the clouds.
art is a highway
My latest column for Moonshine Ink, “Art Is a Highway,” has a roadside theme as I came across quite a few cool projects that use the road as an audience, impetus or way of existence: The Nevada Museum of Art is showing a vintage neon sign exhibit, Sierra Nevada College recently purchased a Streamline trailer that’s functioning as a mobile gallery space, and San Francisco artist Jane Kim is working on a series of Highway 395 murals (part one of her Migrating Mural) to raise awareness about big horn sheep migration routes.
Buffalo neon sign photo courtesy the collection of Will Durham







