While I was cleaning my studio, I came across this magazine my friend Steve found in a small town in Southern Oregon, and thought I might enjoy. It seems to be a journal of advertising art from 1930, but since most of it is in German, I can really only guess. It's not in great shape - the cover is missing - but the content is intact and it's really a great find.



I've been keeping this book in the letterpress studio for inspiration. Lately I've been settling into an appreciative state of trying to better work with the type that I have, rather than fight its limitations. A large majority of the type in my studio is modernist, geometric, or art deco, so I've been taking a look again at the Russian Constructivists, and German designers who were inspired by the Bauhaus, and graphic design from the 20s-30s.


Often what I try to do is blend a bit of that inspiration with a contemporary, and also almost regional sensibility. I'm working now on designs for the New Oregon Interview Series using those principles. I'll keep posting on my progress with that as it comes along.

daily drawing

Obviously I don't post a drawing every day. But the other day I was talking with a friend about our daily practices as artists, and I began to think I should share some of my sketchbook more often.


I love looking at other artist's sketchbook pages. Sometimes the drawings develop into part of something larger, sometimes they are just random doodles.

Yesterday I had a thing for shoes and a page from an old Sears catalogue.

spring is coming and you know what that means!

I'm really excited to announce the launch of this new wedding line by Portland designer Precious Bugarin. I'm partnering with Precious Bugarin Design as the letterpress printer for this line of invitations. Clean and contemporary, these invitations let the text design tell a story through texture and simplicity.

For more information, please take a look at the website: Precious Bugarin Wedding.

more studio

The rain is splashing against the roof overhead, and the floor in my shop is buckling from the weight of my press and the wet earth pushing up from below. I'm working in a modified garden shed, after all.


But I am so content in my little shop, happy to have a warm, and mostly dry, place to hide out for hours at a time, listening to music, NPR, or a book on tape, and working. I can't believe this is my work! I'm so lucky.


Of all of the things I would like to accomplish in the next two months while my Etsy store is closed, I'm starting with organization. Now that my cutter is moved into my shop and the shelves are where they will probably stay permanently, I can get down to the task of sorting through my type.


So this morning, while the rain came down outside, I listened to This American Life and meticulously cleaned each piece of this 48 point Futura. It's been sitting in a box gathering dust and grime for ages, on top of the built up crust of ink left from previous owners who had left it for scrap. Now my job is to go through this stuff and see if any of it is usable. I'm crossing my fingers.


For now I'm stashing it in with the 48 point Futura Bold that I already have in a case. Plus I have more sizes of old and dirty Futura to go through. If it turns out to be usable, it may just become my main house typeface.