Bye Bye Birdie

The tacks did work much better than staples. And brass tacks might be prettier for the next one.

The corners were by far the hardest part.

Here he is!

There he goes! Only 24 more to do. I've decided to just take it bird by bird.

Progress Report #4

Here it comes! I think I finally got the colors I'm after; I'll see for sure tomorrow in the daylight. 

I've already used up seven feet of my precious 50 ft. roll of canvas for this tiny 8"x 8" piece.

My stretcher looks like it's been attacked by 1,001 woodpeckers! Forget staple gun. Try tacks.

Progress Report #3

The first print turned out too dark, but you can see how nice the texture of the canvas is.

Torture! I slowed down and made a test strip to print out on the actual canvas. 

Here's the test strip printed out. It reminds me that Tom's printer is super heavy on the reds.

Progress Report #2

My roll of canvas is delivered!

I'll be running the roll of canvas through Tom's wide format printer.

A color test in Photoshop.

A sketch, and a color test on paper.

Testing size (on paper). Making sure I'll have enough extra canvas to wrap & staple to the back.

Progress Report #1

Remove the shrink-wrap from the canvas. You'll get hungry during this process, but try not to snack on the little white package you'll find inside.

Slice the pre-stretched canvas with an X-Acto knife, then rip it off the frame.

Voilá! A beautiful stretcher ready for your own use. Stay tuned.

New Project

Let's hope so!

You're looking at a stack of 26 blank canvases. I'll keep you updated on my progress. The poster is by Susan O'Malley.

And from the Coastal Trail this evening.

From the Coastal Trail This Evening

On the sidewalk by the Great Highway.

They're Back.

The beach is covered with them. They're Velella velella, or by-the-wind sailors.

The seawall at Quintara Street

These Story Doodles Place Mats by Taro Gomi are giving me nightmares! I love them anyway.

The seawall at Quintara Street, 6:01 p.m.

Walking home down the Great Highway / 7:21 p.m.

A Cautionary Tale

Isn't this completely goofy? Why do I love this place mat so much that I can't throw it away? (I finally did dispose of it after 5 or 6 meals.) It was another great find from the Chronicle Books warehouse sale––from a big tablet of 52 different Story Doodles Place Mats by Taro Gomi. Why, why, why did I not buy out the whole stock of these when I had the chance? I exercised way too much caution at the sale.

From Aggles This Morning

Aggles and I have endured several stretches of grueling times together. When we were small, I took delight in torturing her. And then later when Mom was ill we went through some impossible times. This might be why we've been doing our own Science of Happiness Experiment for a few years now. Every night we email each other the best thing that happened that day. Just a word or phrase. Even on the very worst day there can still be a slice of pizza in the mix.

Chronicle Books had a sale at their warehouse on 2nd Street yesterday. Everything was 65% off. Here's one of my finds: a Girl Scout journal for $3.50.

I was a scout. And the sole reason I joined was because I coveted the badges. I got a camera badge and a hobo badge before I quit. It just took too long to earn the badges––and then to add insult to injury our scout leader would forget to order them. Having gone through the rigorous training it took to earn my hobo badge, I found it much easier to hitch a ride to the Army surplus store and buy fistfuls of badges out of their bin.

But isn't this the most beautiful book?

Greens

Pinks

New paint job on the seawall

The short cut from the Great Highway to Balboa Street

RIP Grandma

Ortega Street Steps

Head of Marketing was supposed to have posted this picture two weeks ago so you could have bought a copy of the book before Easter. But she forgot.

Happy Easter anyway!

Multiple Choice Easter Contest

This is the inside of whose refrigerator?

A. My own
B. Aggles' (my sister)
C. Allyn's (my editor)
D. Anne's (my beach bud)

The first person who emails me the correct answer wins something big and chocolate.

The stairs at Pacheco Street

Desperate.

What do you do when you've just finished two books you adore and can't for the life of you figure out what to read next? If you have a good suggestion, please email me!

The perpetrators dropped their weapons and fled on foot.