Preparations

I leave next week for Italy, I have to move out of my house before then and what am I doing? Sorting type I acquired a few years ago. And looking for something to mix with coffee for my moving sale tomorrow morning. It's weird to be so busy working towards a due date and then to suddenly realize it means that something is over. I am leaving this town, the job I liked so much, a few great people. Today I ran a few errands but also said goodbye to a few people who helped so much in my last semester at LSU.



Taylor came over the other night for one more dinner at the thai place down the street and then some beer drinking and printing. I printed the first layer of the next Keep Writing postcard on the gocco printer I bought to bring with me to Italy. This drawing of the Mississippi River Bridge is a good start for my new traveling best friend.



Because of the moving sale, I haven't packed much else, as evidenced by this string of holiday cards still strung in our kitchen. I'm going to miss this house, and I am not doing an efficient job packing, but adventure awaits, whether the type is sorted or not.

Test Run

How will I send you postcards from Italy? With this. I am slow to the gocco print trend but I was convinced to bring one in my suitcase to Milan. Tonight I tested my first drawing for Keep Writing number 38 and the screen looks good. So easy. Complete with toxic lightbulbs. I have been asking for donations to cover the extra postage (about 2 dollars a postcard) and I am excited about this plan. I am printing the gocco tomorrow, the letterpress soon. I don't know what customs will think of me. Or my roommates in Milan. But I think I am not going to want to travel without this again.



One thing I am leaving behind that isn't mentioned in next month's postcard is my garden plot at the Hill Farm Community Garden. Even when I only stop by once a week to pick hot peppers or lettuce, or check on this crazy cauliflower, it always made me feel so much better. It is a great quiet spot in the middle of crazy campus. Not to mention all the saurkraut. I have a second giant batch of sour veggies on the fridge right now so I can leave A. with plenty of fermented food while I am away. I guess I should go back to packing.

From Insomnia to Sick

The Movable Type Truck came to Baton Rouge this week for a lecture and then a downtown lunchtime demo. Where were you? Kyle Durrie outfitted this stepvan with a mobile letterpress shop. Two presses, type, ink and a bunk for sleeping all cozied into this truck. She is traveling for 3 more months. Check out her website to see if she is coming to your town!



Meanwhile I realized I am leaving for Italy in two weeks! This week I had trouble sleeping but I cleared out my studio, started packing and panicked a little. Don't worry though, I have a plan to continue sending postcards to you. I will share it soon. Maybe after a two day nap.



Oh, and to my postcard friends...the "my name is..." line on the most recent card is for you to tell me who you are. Yesterday I got my first card with no name. I would like to keep sending postcards to you, whoever you are.

It's A New Year!

I welcomed 2012 the best way I could:
printing New Year's postcards for Keep Writing.






making kimchi and soured beets with these lovelies from the garden.



setting woodtype for another of Jason's mystery projects.




Now off to bed with hot buttered whiskey. I need to get my rest. There is a lot coming up this year. Stay tuned.

With Apologies to Ruggero Maggi

Last night, after spilling a cup of tea, I finally cleaned off my desk so I can use my laptop on it instead of the kitchen table. I also finally sorted through the mail pile and found TWO unopened letters. Oops. Including this map sent to me from Ruggero Maggi, an artist from Milan who was kind enough to send his response a month before my show. I also organized my letter-writing materials so maybe I will sit at this nice window and write you a letter.



For Christmas, my awesome sister sent me and Andy this jigsaw postcard. Of course, she was always better at puzzles than I, and the envelope arrived in pieces, as it was supposed to. Completed, one side is a letter, the other is this image of these creepy mail cats. Thanks Sis!

One more

After posting all those self-portraits, I found one more that arrived after my show but here it is for you now.



My sister sent me a box of goodies for Christmas including vegan fruitcake(in my family, we like fruitcake), pizzelles, and a bowl she made in her ceramics class. It looks so nice with all the other handmade dishes in our cabinet, including four dinner plates from Roberta Massuch. I haven't started packing, I don't even have a suitcase yet but I've been feeling very cozy at home and not quite ready to pack it all in.

House of Sick

It's in the 60's and I've been watching Christmas specials and The Wonder Years, sick with a sinus infection that won't quit. It gives me lots of time to post all the postcards I've been receiving but couldn't get around to scanning. Now I have hours at home, too tired and sick in the head to go out and too wired on decongestant to sleep. First round: self-portraits from Keep Writing number 35. I displayed about 14 of these at my BFA show two weeks ago but received about 7 more so here they are, featuring this from fellow scholar, Beck.




Also, before this sinus infection took over, Andy G. had a fever for two days so I stayed home, made tea and answered my mail. If you have somehow not seen this blog, My Real Wall, go look now. Here is a postcard he sent me just because.




Now maybe it is naptime again.