Pink Ladies

It was pink and black night in the Dartgun world Friday night. Here you see the Vignettes: Emie, Suzie, and me, in our special pink wigs, plus Melodie, who is a true rock star and a true friend: she bailed us out by filling in as drummer for the show (unfortunately, Billy has quite the band, and we are sad. We are also looking for a new drummer so if you know of anybody please send them our way).

Here we are on stage at the Ash Street.

Chuck and Suzie in the green room:

At Suzie's apartment getting ready before the show - we are so lucky to have a makeup artist in the band (I should say, a Beauty Dominator):

We played with Hairspray Blues:

...and the Pity Fucks (they have a rad keyboard sound):

...and it was a CD release party for Scott "Deluxe" Drake (of the Humpers fame):

But this is my picture, taken in the bathroom of me and my love:

I know I have been blogging a lot more about the band lately than I have about my art, and I'm sorry! I have been busy in the studio, but haven't had much to say about it.

I'm mostly restocking a lot of my sold designs and getting ready for the Recycled Arts Festival this coming weekend. It's June 27 - 28, 9 am - 4 pm both days, at Esther Short Park in Vancouver. This will be the fourth year that I've participated in the event. I'm looking forward to it. See photos from the 2008 and 2007 shows if you like.

I have a new wholesale order in the works for Grasshopper 510 in Chicago.

In the news: my work has recently been reviewed by Mandala Colors , Tethyis Dreams, Portland Picks, Handmade Nation's facebook page, Gay List Daily, Colorful Dayz, Mable's Unique Gifts, Best Green Home Tips, Etsy Lounge, and Sweet Margarita Studio.

I've also been interviewed for an article that should be coming out this Thursday in the Columbian. It should be in their special section on green living called Clark County Revitalized. The article is about home decor made from recycled materials and will be published just two days before the Clark County Recycled Arts Festival - I'm really hoping it will help me sell some home decor items to Vancouverites at the show!

My kids are out of school and having loads of fun hanging around the house. We celebrated Chuck's grandma's 86th birthday at a family picnic out in the beautiful country. Juke's birthday is coming up and he is planning an Oaks Park adventure. We are also looking forward to going to the beach for the first week of July - four nights in a yurt! I am super excited. See pictures from our vacation last summer here. Yes, we will be hanging up the velvet Elvis.

I Love Portland

Last Saturday morning, I attended the graduation celebration for the City of Portland's Economic Opportunity Initiative (EOI). You may recall when I went to this last year - I was one of the "graduates" of the program. This year, I went as a staff representative for Trillium Artisans, the nonprofit where I work, which is funded by the EOI.

We had seven artisans graduating this year, and one of them, Tim Combs, was a speaker at the event, along with Mayor Sam Adams, (above) and EOI Program Manager Lynn Knox (below).

Here are some pictures that I took of Tim. I was up in the balcony and the lighting was bad, so these didn't come out so hot. But Tim did a great job talking about Trillium's community and ways it has helped him learn to market and sell his art. He even mentioned Etsy!

Afterward there was coffee and chitchat, but we didn't stay long. Chuck, who was sweet enough to come with me, was wearing some Dartgun buttons and was thrilled when Mayor Sam shook his hand and said, "Dartgun." hee hee!

We bailed out of City Hall pretty early and headed down to the waterfront. It was a beautiful day!

We checked out the new location of Portland Saturday Market, which has been moved to Waterfront Park under what looks like a big hangar.

Lots of familar faces and booths that have been at the market for many, many years. I hope the new location will be successful for them! It's still under the Burnside Bridge (which you can see a bit of in the picture below)!

In some ways it seemed a little too crowded and cramped to me - maybe the aisles between rows of booths are narrower? But it also seemed cool - new, fresh, and clean, and will probably be an even better spot for tourists. Apparently there is no ATM on site (like there used to be) and that was a little discouraging, so we didn't end up getting food. Alas, no Horn of Africa, no Jalisco's burritos for us. We just went home and made sandwiches. (Update: I am so sad to hear that Limey passed away and no longer has his yummy British food cart - no more pasties, no more cuppa tea. Sigh. Lea, thanks for letting me know.)


I just wanted to say that I love Portland! I love the fact that I live in a city that funds a program like Trillium, which helps artists to become business people. And I love it for finding a new and better home for Saturday Market. I love living in a vibrant, creative, beautiful city. I feel really lucky to be here.

Etsy basics: take our classes at DIY Lounge

This is my friend LeBrie Rich, the Duchess of Felt. LeBrie and I are co-teachers of a series of classes about how to use Etsy.com, which we teach for the DIY Lounge at collage. Here are some pictures from our recent "Etsy Basics" class. We've also added a new class - Etsy Part Two, to provide a more in-depth look at ways to market your Etsy shop.

If you are interested in taking these classes this summer, please visit the DIY Lounge website's Business Class listings.

Etsy Part Two is scheduled for Thursday, July 16 at 6 pm at the SE Woodstock collage location. Please click here for details and to register.

Etsy Basics is scheduled for Monday, August 17. Please click here for details and to register.

Rock show wrap-up

These are just some selected photos from our show on Thursday night at the Village Ballroom, which is a beautiful space upstairs from Rumpspankers Cafe & Bar at 700 NE Dekum in Portland.

It was a Last Thursday art opening for Sara Cella and Tyson Stanger. Here are some pictures of Sara's awesome art:

More photos of the space:

Our first ballroom!