Give Bees a Chance design featured on CP Ungiftables

CafePress has a cool Flash site called the Ungiftables. It's a fun way to browse for gifts for the ungiftable characters in your life. I was happy to learn they chose my Give Bees a Chance t-shirt as a potential gift for the "nosy neighbor". They also have products for "conspiracy uncle" "emo nephew" and "vege-liberal activist". Very clever, certainly there's something for everyone at cafepress. Visit my shop, Matissimo Online Boutique, it's a fun sideline for me.

Change has come to America

Oh happy day! Elation, relief and most important HOPE. History was made and I'm so proud of America today. 'nuff said by me. Love and Peace.

Same big driftwood at La Push on the Washington Coast

I stood before this huge driftwood log two years ago, it hasn't budged. The wild north Washington coast is the land of big driftwood beaches. We've gone out here every February for about 4 years, and somehow we luck out with the weather. Sure it's cold, but clear and sunny? That's not normal, it's a treat. The afternoon we arrived I asked the woman manning the front desk of the Ocean Park Resort if she had seen any sunshine that day. She laughed like I was a crazy person. But sure enough the sun came out for our visit. We visited the beach at Oil City (not really a city at all, but reportedly the beach with the most driftwood in the world.) It's a ten mile drive from the highway, then a 1 mile walk to the beach, which is at the mouth of the Hoh river. Part of Olympic National Park, Oil City is a starting point for hiking the Olympic Coast up to Third Beach which is near La Push. That would be a rugged challenge, bring your tide chart for sure. Instead of roughing it with a backpack, we stayed comfortably in deluxe cabins and drove south to Ruby Beach, pictured below, to enjoy the sunshine and search for the perfectly shaped rock.

Keep on keeping on... life drawing

I'm so lucky. A group of drawing buddies get together to do some figure drawing. We share the model fee, our fearless leader books all the best models. How great is it that they are willing to bare all for artists practicing their craft/art or whatever you want to call it? Practice is the best word for me, I don't have many expectations. It's the experience of looking and putting marks on paper. Stop thinking about keyboard shortcuts and undos and start making my own hand create a mark that is unique and expresses the live form that is before me. Feel the gesture, follow the contour, see the shadow shapes, angles and relationships of shape to shape. Line, wash, smears, scrubs, thick, thin, heavy, light, fast, slow... OMG so many possibilities, don't think too much just practice and try something different on the next one. It is exhilarating. Stack the papers up, don't judge too carefully, just remember the experience. Definitely show up in two weeks to do it again. Keep it up, fill the recycle barrel over and over.

In March our fearless leader will be holding a workshop "Mixed Media Figure Drawing" here in Seattle, I can't wait.