after a walk, i drove seth to TBM, where i spent the day answering emails, editioning the '1993 revisited' prints, and watching sara and patrick print the last colors on the modest mouse prints and the pretty in pink prints. chuck came back and took all the extra shelving i had at the shop (creating more space) and wired the 60amp box up for the huge-ass paper cutter. the apple store called to tell me the keyboard was in.
i took off around 4pm, dropped seth at home. i drove down dodge/california all the way to north avenue, where i saw the new dianogah practice space and picked up a key. from there, back north to sonnenzimmer to drop off some unused painting stretchers donated by nina, then over to kips at 6:30 where we loaded our gear out just before it started to rain.
down california in the downpour to the new spot again, to wait in the cars for a break in the deluge. i used to not mind loading gear, but the novelty has worn down a bit. when the rain slowed to merely a firm drenching, we started hauling gear into the space, which meant carrying it about 8 feet. and not up four stories of stairs, which was nice.
practice was fun, though, and sounded better than i would have expected. rubin the cat watched us, and fell asleep on the back of a warm computer monitor. new favorite practice cat.
i drove home on the very-under-construction highway, inspected the work paul and greg have been doing at the house, and went to bed. okay.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
tuesday
di and i drove to central street with seth for some reason (as opposed to walking). we got cinnamon rolls from great harvest, and a coffee cake ting for use later at TBM. seth pooped in the park. we all went to work.
sara arrived at work and i congratulated her on her engagement over the weekend. patrick arrived and i congratulated him on his birthday. sara and di spent the day printing diana's new 'breakfast at tiffany's' print, and patrick cleaned screens, moved shelving around to access the paper cutter, and helped me sign 400 '134 squirrels' books which were purchased by a reseller.
chuck came by to size up the electrical needs of the paper cutter. i ran to the apple store to get this laptop looked at - it has no C key, and typing that letter is sort of a pain, pushing way into the keypad. thanks, ocho. they would give me a whole new keyboard, but they had to order one.
tuesday night i talked to frantz on the phone a bunch about bikes, and spent some time in the garage building more frames for what i'm now calling 'the tomato coop' in the yard.
sara arrived at work and i congratulated her on her engagement over the weekend. patrick arrived and i congratulated him on his birthday. sara and di spent the day printing diana's new 'breakfast at tiffany's' print, and patrick cleaned screens, moved shelving around to access the paper cutter, and helped me sign 400 '134 squirrels' books which were purchased by a reseller.
chuck came by to size up the electrical needs of the paper cutter. i ran to the apple store to get this laptop looked at - it has no C key, and typing that letter is sort of a pain, pushing way into the keypad. thanks, ocho. they would give me a whole new keyboard, but they had to order one.
tuesday night i talked to frantz on the phone a bunch about bikes, and spent some time in the garage building more frames for what i'm now calling 'the tomato coop' in the yard.
monday at TBM
monday i rode to work on the surly with the trailer. i stopped at the store and picked up two big bags of potting soil, and rode the rest of the way a bit more slowly. at work, i shuffled around, poking a couple of different projects, and sat outside repotting the nine bean plants i have started in yogurt cups.
nick and nadine stopped by with sylvan and alex from switzerland, and we had a great visit. we had to go get donuts, of course.
they left, i drew some more, and eventually rode home.
i don't recall monday night, specifically.
nick and nadine stopped by with sylvan and alex from switzerland, and we had a great visit. we had to go get donuts, of course.
they left, i drew some more, and eventually rode home.
i don't recall monday night, specifically.
Monday, May 5, 2008
sunday at home
sunday we woke up and di went to the gym. i took seth and walked to central street for chai, as the weather warmed. by the time we crossed back over bridge street, seth was panting and tired, so we sat in the community garden for 20 minutes to cool down. back at the house, i spent most of the day working on framing in a cage around the raised tomato bed. had to drive over to TBM at one point to pick up stored lumber and cut it to size, but the only new wood i had to get were a couple 2x4 pressure-treated 12 footers. di made chicken burgers for dinner and we ate in the yard. later, i wrapped new handlebar tape on my old schwinn traveler, and watched a new episode of BSG online, while di toiled away in her basement studio.
okay.
okay.
saturday, to urbana and back (via berwyn)
saturday i got up and went to TBM. loaded the car with prints for the lincoln bindery and for the high dive, and headed south on cicero, to 94 south. plowed through chicago with the windows open, enjoying the relative warmth, listening to the stereo loud: the radio department, battles, kings of convenience, spoon, jawbox, interpol, and a lot of shuffle.
rolled into urbana, got to the lake house at crystal lake park, and helped set up the surprise party. tedra, the woman who binds books for me, had organized a surprise party of about 50 people for her boss, chris, the owner of lincoln bindery for the last 30 years. he arrived, was appropriately surprised, and everyone had a great time. i was surprised to see mare payne, the woman who lived next door to the house where my old band (also called spoon) had practiced in urbana back in 1992. she and her husband, jim, had tried to be patient with us back then, but if i had been in their situation, i would have killed the band.
got a nice long visit with dennis rowan, the former printmaking teacher at U of I who i worked with for two semesters, and who had a profound and lasting effect on diana's work, and her interest in printmaking.
i forgot to mention that di had planned to go along for this trip, but was really feeling the looming deadline for her current book illustration project, and decided to stay home.
great lunch of BBQ and beans and coleslaw. i visited with tedra's mom and deb, dennis' lady friend, and dennis. i heard about both womens' brain tumors, and saw a mock-up a book deb is working on.
by 2:30, the party wound down. i looked at the goslings in the parking lot again, then drove across town to leave the '1993' prints at jupiters, where ward would pick them up later. stopped to pick up a present for ludo's first birthday, and got back on the highway. i listened to radiohead all the way north, and decided to let the GPS tell me how top get to frantz's house in berwyn. i never would have though to take 57 to 80 EAST to 294 northwest to 55 northeast to harlem ave. it worked out fine.
crazy first birthday with a bunch of kids under 4 running around, including arthur & clive, my dudes. turkey and beans and beans and deliciousness. there was a curious george piñata, and pineapple cake.
around 7:30, i took off for home, and decided to try taking harlem most of the way north. good drive.
home, visit, sleep.
rolled into urbana, got to the lake house at crystal lake park, and helped set up the surprise party. tedra, the woman who binds books for me, had organized a surprise party of about 50 people for her boss, chris, the owner of lincoln bindery for the last 30 years. he arrived, was appropriately surprised, and everyone had a great time. i was surprised to see mare payne, the woman who lived next door to the house where my old band (also called spoon) had practiced in urbana back in 1992. she and her husband, jim, had tried to be patient with us back then, but if i had been in their situation, i would have killed the band.
got a nice long visit with dennis rowan, the former printmaking teacher at U of I who i worked with for two semesters, and who had a profound and lasting effect on diana's work, and her interest in printmaking.
i forgot to mention that di had planned to go along for this trip, but was really feeling the looming deadline for her current book illustration project, and decided to stay home.
great lunch of BBQ and beans and coleslaw. i visited with tedra's mom and deb, dennis' lady friend, and dennis. i heard about both womens' brain tumors, and saw a mock-up a book deb is working on.
by 2:30, the party wound down. i looked at the goslings in the parking lot again, then drove across town to leave the '1993' prints at jupiters, where ward would pick them up later. stopped to pick up a present for ludo's first birthday, and got back on the highway. i listened to radiohead all the way north, and decided to let the GPS tell me how top get to frantz's house in berwyn. i never would have though to take 57 to 80 EAST to 294 northwest to 55 northeast to harlem ave. it worked out fine.
crazy first birthday with a bunch of kids under 4 running around, including arthur & clive, my dudes. turkey and beans and beans and deliciousness. there was a curious george piñata, and pineapple cake.
around 7:30, i took off for home, and decided to try taking harlem most of the way north. good drive.
home, visit, sleep.
friday: action!
have i mentioned that the alarm goes off at 5:50 every morning, and we lay awake listening to NPR's traffic reporter relaying travel times, and laugh every day at the end of her report, when melba lara says "thank you abby." and abby ryan replies in a tiny voice, unlike her *reporting voice*, "you're welcome!"
friday i got right up and headed to kinkos to make key plate films for the '1993 revisited' print. i decided to try some tricks as far as using three key plates - one for the third color to be printed, (the outline of the wooly mammoth), another to be printed fifth, (as the outline of the ice block), and the third to be the outlines of the mammoth's feet and head, protruding from the ice.
got to work, started cutting and drawing in with my opaquing pen, and was actually ready when sara came in. sue arrived to take off the prints, jack came in, and patrick showed up a little later. me and four employees. this blows my mind. i draw mastodons in ice cubes, and now there are four people working for me. sara and patrick printed all day, while sue helped jack with the mail order and generally did the amazing sue-style clean-up.
by the end of the day, we had printed 380 pieces of a six color print - a new record for us, i think. especially considering it was finished less than 24 hours after i started the drawing (thursday night).
a crazy storm blew through right as we were finishing and cleaning up - rain going sideways, very high winds. i opted to drive patrick and sara home due to the long work day and the bad weather. dropped sara near metropolis, and patrick down near broadway & belmont, then came home. took seth for a walk with diana, and i went to bed.
friday i got right up and headed to kinkos to make key plate films for the '1993 revisited' print. i decided to try some tricks as far as using three key plates - one for the third color to be printed, (the outline of the wooly mammoth), another to be printed fifth, (as the outline of the ice block), and the third to be the outlines of the mammoth's feet and head, protruding from the ice.
got to work, started cutting and drawing in with my opaquing pen, and was actually ready when sara came in. sue arrived to take off the prints, jack came in, and patrick showed up a little later. me and four employees. this blows my mind. i draw mastodons in ice cubes, and now there are four people working for me. sara and patrick printed all day, while sue helped jack with the mail order and generally did the amazing sue-style clean-up.
by the end of the day, we had printed 380 pieces of a six color print - a new record for us, i think. especially considering it was finished less than 24 hours after i started the drawing (thursday night).
a crazy storm blew through right as we were finishing and cleaning up - rain going sideways, very high winds. i opted to drive patrick and sara home due to the long work day and the bad weather. dropped sara near metropolis, and patrick down near broadway & belmont, then came home. took seth for a walk with diana, and i went to bed.
tuesday, wednesday, thursday.
tuesday and wednesday are sort of a blur to me now (writing on monday may 5). i worked on wine label designs. we ordered a ton of ink from diesel fuel prints in portland. sara and patrick took turns helping jack with the mail order. we printed the first color on the modest mouse prints, and i was pleased with the subtlety of the split fountain (which we later obliterated with subsequent screens). did we print the lincoln bindery prints on these days? i don't recall - i'll have to check previous posts.
we got a call at 7:20am thursday from the greyhound adoption group we work with. someone's dog had gotten loose in evanston, and was running. within 3 minutes, diana was out in her car, and i was out in mine with poor seth, who i woke up by throwing his collar on him and dragging him out the door. (normally, last thing to do before we leave in the morning is wake the dog up so he can go with us).
up and down mccormick, along the area we were told she was last sighted, heading south. an hour of looking, seth and i running through parks and down alleys, phone calls in to co-ordinate with other people out looking. i started to get an idea based on what little info i was able to get. seth and i headed back over near our house, and found the nine-year old female trotting tiredly down the sidewalk, half a block before heading across green bay road. seth yelped at her, she stopped in her tracks, and i got her into my car.
her owner, it turned out, had let rosie out into the yard for her morning piss, and came back to find the gate standing open, dog gone.
when i got into work around 9:30 thursday we plowed through printing the last five of the six colors on the modest mouse prints, though there were registration issues with the last color due to paper stretch (due to moisture). we printed about 40 of them, so i could get copies off to the festival, and took down the screen, to finish the run after the prints have dried for a couple days. we're under no immediate deadline for these now that the festival's copies are ready. sent patrick and sara home, and i ran to fedex to catch the last drop-off time. i went home, and stayed up until 1am reworking a new idea for the '1993 revisited' show in champaign on may 25. i want to see if we can plow through getting these prints done in time for me to take them with me on saturday morning when i drive down to urbana for the lincoln bindery 30th anniversary party.
we got a call at 7:20am thursday from the greyhound adoption group we work with. someone's dog had gotten loose in evanston, and was running. within 3 minutes, diana was out in her car, and i was out in mine with poor seth, who i woke up by throwing his collar on him and dragging him out the door. (normally, last thing to do before we leave in the morning is wake the dog up so he can go with us).
up and down mccormick, along the area we were told she was last sighted, heading south. an hour of looking, seth and i running through parks and down alleys, phone calls in to co-ordinate with other people out looking. i started to get an idea based on what little info i was able to get. seth and i headed back over near our house, and found the nine-year old female trotting tiredly down the sidewalk, half a block before heading across green bay road. seth yelped at her, she stopped in her tracks, and i got her into my car.
her owner, it turned out, had let rosie out into the yard for her morning piss, and came back to find the gate standing open, dog gone.
when i got into work around 9:30 thursday we plowed through printing the last five of the six colors on the modest mouse prints, though there were registration issues with the last color due to paper stretch (due to moisture). we printed about 40 of them, so i could get copies off to the festival, and took down the screen, to finish the run after the prints have dried for a couple days. we're under no immediate deadline for these now that the festival's copies are ready. sent patrick and sara home, and i ran to fedex to catch the last drop-off time. i went home, and stayed up until 1am reworking a new idea for the '1993 revisited' show in champaign on may 25. i want to see if we can plow through getting these prints done in time for me to take them with me on saturday morning when i drive down to urbana for the lincoln bindery 30th anniversary party.
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