the "secrets" of success

This year I've begun two new collaborative publishing projects with local writers/artists. I won't go into very much detail at this time because both projects are in their delicate incubating stages, but I've been playing with layouts, binding dummies, and laying silver ink down on black paper today. So, it's not quite a *secret* exactly, just something to anticipate. The photo above is just a tiny of hint of more to come...

In the meantime, I should mention that this blog may be undergoing a tiny facelift in the coming days. One of my goals for the new year was to build a better blog and create something more consistent here in the studio diary. For a long time I wrestled with how much of my personal life I should include, and I even went so far as to delete a huge portion of my early posts. I decided ultimately that this blog would be dedicated singularly to the work of Tiger Food Press, along with letterpress and business themed inspiration and creative happenings in the letterpress/printmaking community. With that in mind, I began a more personal blog over at Tiger & Monkey. In a way this relieved me of feeling like I was either revealing too much or, on the flip side, being too technical or narrowly focused.

So while I heaved a sigh of relief after defining what my two blogs roles' were, I also realized that this blog can be personal, too, or at least try to have personality. I don't want this space to feel like an uninhabited studio. I'm here, breathing.



Anyway, the facelift: it's nothing major. I've added some buttons with links to the other places you can find me to start a conversation, or to buy something...
I think I'd like to keep the clean look of having plenty of white space, I'm partial to simplicity. I do wonder if I'm missing something. What do you think? Do you like a blog with lots of eye candy or one that lets your eyes rest a little?

March!

I really can't believe how quickly February FLEW by! I hardly spent any time here, and for that I apologize. I will have plenty to update you with this month, the month of the spring equinox and the return of the evening sun...(aka daylight savings time - yay!)

But updates will have to wait one more day.

In the meantime, a quick synopsis of February's highlights:

-New Oregon presented it's final installation of the interview series - Urban Development night was a huge success. Portland Mayor Sam Adams, Architect Brad Cloepfil, and Journalist/Editor specializing in architecture and urban spaces, Randy Gragg were on hand to talk about what would make Portland a world class city in urban design. The online transcripts will be available soon at www.neworegon.org.

- I finally had the opportunity to sit in on one of Paul Moxen's Vandercook press essentials two day workshops. I learned a lot, both about the presses at OCAC and my own press. Paul stresses that, since we no longer have the luxury of calling in "experts" to help us with our Vandercook maintenance, we all need to become our own experts in order to be better stewards of these machines for the future. If you're unfamiliar with Paul's website and the Vanderblog - a wealth of information on all things Vandercook - be sure to check it out.

- Also: My mom started a blog! Girl on the Town will be a mixture of new and old writing from the perspective of a woman interested in exploring the arts and culture in Central Oregon. Caryn May (that's her!) wrote for the Bend weekly the Source for several years, so she'll post some of her old favorites, plus new observations and reviews.

Not to mention, that even though the majority of our days here in the PNW are still very, very wet and grey, we have color bursting out all over.



To round things out, here are a few things to check out in March:

- Em Space is presenting a "working exhibition" of Heather Watkin's work in progress from the time she spent as a resident there. See the link here and check it out in person here.

- 23 Sandy Gallery re-opens after its winter hiatus to present two shows and a lecture or two in March. These look interesting!

- And finally, I'll be working on the broadside for the New Oregon Interview Series, which will include all the "pithiest quotes" from the series so far. Plus a semi-sekrit project that will be revealed very soon. I'll keep you posted!