Shhh...don't tell

A friend recently told me they almost miss Baton Rouge sometimes. Some days, its all right here. Friday I was riding to work when I heard music so loud I thought I was missing a block party. Which I was, apparently. At the city bus station. Which is danger of losing lots of money from the city due to some short-sighted budgeting. (Who cuts weekend and night service while trying to make the city more viable and expand business?!). Bus drivers and riders were bustin' it out at lunchtime on a Friday. And when I got to work, these flowers greeted me.

The King of Trash

Oh, if you could've seen our house when Eric and I lived together in New Orleans. We brought home such treasures that others discarded. So it seems fitting that we stumbled into this art installation in my first home in Baton Rouge. The building was condemned shortly after I moved out, so the owners donated it to a group of LSU sculpture students. Along with a group of students from Ireland, they created this piece of "Surreal Estate". Follow this link for more background on the project and many great photos: http://culturecandy.org/content/surreal-estate/index/
And here's to friends visiting, lovely weather and leisurely bike rides, even if I've been sick and exhausted the past two days.

Do. Not. Miss.

Seriously. Especially if you are about to miss the Des Ark/Pygmy Lush/ Screaming Females/ Thou show this afternoon in New Orleans (Euclid Records, 2 pm). Eric came all the way from Puerto Rico for it. Sort of. He's here at least and he'll be at the show. Des Ark, Pygmy Lush and the Lovey Dovies from New Orleans all the Perkind Road Parlour. Seven pm. Five bucks. What else could you be doing (except there is that Body show in New Orleans, but shows in Baton Rouge are more fun).

Collaboration Nation

Here's a sneak peak at the date book I am working on with Blackbird Letterpress. About a quarter of the pages are printed, all with handset type on her Vandercook. Mine will be coptic bound with a as-yet-to-be-determined cover. However, my datebook ran out of time for me this week so I took a few test sheets from the first printing, sewed an impromptu cover this morning with my sewing machine, a rice bag and a little chip board and voila! Hopefully, the rest of the date books should be done before I run out of pages in this one. (You can see my now-retired book in the background.)

Port Allen

...that's the name of the town I couldn't remember. Here are some better images of Jason Neville's photos of Port Allen. And a close up of Kathryn Hunter's metal cut. Her show was beautiful, even if I missed the reception. So many friends in town lately!

One More Trade

I promised more. This is a lazer-cut metal piece by Kathryn Hunter of Blackbird Letterpress. This piece I received after volunteering in her shop for a few days. Now I work there sometimes, and we are working on a collaboration. I pulled the first proofs tonight--a sixty week date book made with all hand-set type. This it why I got home at midnight. If you happen to be in New Orleans this month, check out her show at LeMieux Gallery on Julia Street. It will be worth it. You can also view other work on her blog, there is a link on the right, under Blackbird Letterpress.
Also pictured are two photos taken across the river by my friend Jason , Christmas Day last year. He lives in Los Angelos now, but the original LA is still in his heart.

Introverts Get More Done

It's Mardi Gras in South Louisiana and I am fermenting everything in the house. Sometimes when you're down, ice cream is good. Sometimes you need a different kind of food to feel better. I've been eating sprouted lentils, sauerkraut and fresh juice. I'll let you know how it works.

Meanwhile, March's postcards are finally in the mail, thanks to my postman who picked them up from the mailbox today. Though maybe he dropped them all in the river. We'll find out in a few days.

This morning was sunny, a break in the stormy days of the weekend and coming up. I planted basil, lettuce, marigolds. This is the backyard garden today. If you folks up north want an escape from the snow, frozen of melting, c'mon over in two weeks for ginger beer in the garden.

"Research"

I know I have been posting mostly about food lately, and if my camera was around I'd also post a photo of the new pea sprouts. Maybe it is not obvious I am also a printmaker. I don't always feel like one when I am in the studio answering mail and sewing weird things together. Printmaking is a way for me to make many of something and share it. I would call it "the democratization of art". Then again, I have been writing lots about why I make postcards.

While researching for one of these papers I came across this blog for Hotoff Press, a project based in St. Louis. It combines a few of my favorite things---bikes, and printmaking. If she worked in ice cream and mail it would be perfect. Seriously though this is a tabletop screen printing operation mounted on a bicycle. Mobile information printing and distributing machine!

Go to http://hotoff-press.blogspot.com/ for more.

And just for good measure, here is the chard that made it through the winter in the back yard and the artichoke plant we transplanted last week.