pictures...

Winter Camp 08

Just finnishing up the last full day of winter camp. Tommorrow the kids will go home and we'll be back on our way to San Diego. It's been an exciting 3 days here. Always good to be around the woodward family. Spending time with my friend Linnea is always enjoyable... we are pretty much the same person, on different roads. It's great to see how happy she is here.
It's been just above freezing in the days and drops pretty low below in the nights so I've been staying all bundled up and selling lots of sweatshirts in the shop. My 6 year old buddy named Mia has been "working" in the shop with me, so with her help and company, the shop has been pretty entertaining to say the least.
I'll post some pictures once I get home, but in the meantime check out www.WoodwardWest.com if you're curious to see what the camp looks like.

OPB and Lindsay...

So today at the Shop People (the woodshop where I make my jewelry)... Oregon Public Broadcasting came by to film for a story they're doing about us. They're showcasing the work from artist at the Shop People that do their art to make a living. Lucky me... even though I don't necessarily consider myself an "artist," I was picked to be showcased. 

The filming started early this morning. No one knew they were coming, but the owner. We just sold a panel saw (it's like a table saw on steroids.... HUGE), and they were filming us working together to disassemble this machine so the buyers could take it away. I guess they really like showing how we all work together to keep the shop going. 

It was really funny doing something so unorganized and awkward in front of a camera and microphone. 

After all that, they started filming individual artists and when it was my turn, I made my friend Paul take photos. They had me use the drill-press, since that's what I was doing before they arrived this morning. I had to constantly re-pick up, and re-set down things for the camera when they saw something they liked. 

After this, they wanted to film me in my studio space up stairs. For all of you who haven't heard about this space... it was once used as storage, and I converted it into a space for myself... the ceilings are low so I don't think anyone ever really saw potential for this area as a workable studio space for anyone but it works perfect for me!

So yeah... these dudes were following me up to my space and a fellow Shop People artist, Tomaz, stopped me to ask if I could take some photos of his new sculpture in an hour because he needed them for some deadline tomorrow. After I told him that I would love to help him with that, the camera guys got all excited and made us re-enact the conversation... but now with mics strapped to us and a giant camera in our face. So funny.

After that lovely piece of high quality acting, they got their gear settled in my studio and started my interview. I'll admit, they had to coach me about a few think like not saying "so" so much... haha, like I just wrote... but it was a pretty fun interview. 

They filmed a few more shots of me typing on my typewriter and doing other silly things... but yeah, I had a lot of fun getting that much attention. Can you believe that? haha. Well... enjoy the photos, and if I'm able to get a copy of the show, I'll make sure to put a clip on here eventually.

say cheese!

Today I held a photo shoot for MapleXO's new "look book" and website. I've been planing this shoot since the last Agenda show and was so excited that everything seemed to be falling perfectly into place within the last couple days.

Buzzy's friend, Sean McFadden came to take the photos. He's an incredible photographer and I'm a huge fan of his portraits.

Sean got to the studio early so we could take a look around and get a better idea of the order we'd be shooting the photos. The owner of the studio let us on the roof. I've been begging him to let me have the photo shoot up there since I've been back form camp. It was perfect!

Everyone started showing up. My friends, Chelsea (who owns Erhart Design) and Summer (who owns LayersSquared) dressed all the models for the shoot. Their clothes are amazing, unique and all handmade here in Portland. So, we got ourselves all dolled up in the cutest clothes and jewelry ever and finally, we were ready to start the shoot!

As soon as we all got to the door to head outside for some photo fun, the clouds closed in around us and it began to rain. Nooooo!

I was so bummed, I felt like crying... but then I realized it was okay, because we had a back-up plan! An artist from the studio, Karl, told me earlier, that we could use his giant colorful paintings as a backdrop for the photos. I lead everyone into his space, and since he was nowhere to be found... and I already had permission, I just started placing people and moving things around. The back-up plan was working perfectly. Just as Sean was about to start pushing the shutter, I looked down at my hands and saw yellow all over them. I looked over at the girls, who looked so cute leaning up against Karl's painted masterpieces and realized, Karl's paintings were still wet! I started freaking out.... not only did we smudge

 a bunch of paint across Karl's amazing paintings, but we got paint all over the clothes that Chelsea and Summer were so kind to let us wear. It was oil paint too... SO impossible to get out. Everything was going wrong and I was trying my hardest to hold back the tears. 

That's when I looked out the window and realized, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining!

After a change of wardrobe and a clothing scrubbing session, we headed up to the roof.

From this point on, everything was perfect. 

Everyone seemed to really warm up to Sean and they were excited to be in front of the camera. With his and my mind together (especially his mind), we came up with some really unique and fun shots that really seemed to show off my jewelry.

Being on top of that roof was really liberating in a way. The only people that could see us were each other. The way the clouds were constantly shifting created an everchanging glow to the roof top that really set all the photos apart from one another.

All in all, it was a crazy day and I was glad I got to spend it with the people I did. Thanks to everyone who came out for it. 

Thanks especially to Sean (and Jake) at Blue Moon for being amazing photographers. Oh, and if you're wondering about Karl's paintings... when he got to the studio tonight and I broke the news to him... not only did he scrub the rest of the paint out of the nearly ruined clothes, but he was excited to hear our crazy story involving his artwork. He went on to tell me about how his art is about movement and motion and how our smudges seemed to belong there. Nice guy!

woodward days...

I talked to my friend, Linnea the other day. She's working at camp and after talking to her, it made me miss Woodward... and it made me remember how much all those people are like family to me. It's crazy to think about how much that place has really shaped my life. I mean, I've spent 4 summers there, a fall and winter, I met my boyfriend of almost 4 years there... moved up to Portland because of meeting him at woodward. Some of my closest friends are people that I met there. I've really learned a lot about myself through woodward, and a lot about other things. Like: Ostriches, BMX maintenance, flesh eating viruses, grip tape, vert boards, middle-school romance, Bucky Miller, Wheel Chair Backflips, 4xl t-shirts, broken bones, crystal worshippers, cloud ships, v-necks.... the list goes on. 

Here's some photos I took at camp this past summer that I recently had printed. 

before and afters

My lovely friend, Kassandra Sommerville, cut and colored my hair today. She is one talented individual. She even got me to wear bright red lipstick for the "before and after" photos... I wiped it off as soon as she put down the camera. haha. 

It was really nice hanging out with Kassandra. I feel like whenever we're together, we brainstorm and come up with tons of new ideas and plans for our businesses and projects. I actually got to watch her build up her business, The Ginger Suite from the beginning and walking into her salon really gives me a renewed hope in the power of persistence. She had such limited means to start with and she created the most amazing salon because of her persistence in turning her thoughts and dreams into reality. I love this girl and my new hair-do.

Here's the before and afters of my hair by kassandra, and the Ginger Suite by Kassandra.

And the Blogging Begins...

I started to feel super out of touch with the real world with out one of these "blogging" devices. Inspired by my sister, I thought I should update my journaling technique to electronic so I could be part of this world of cutting edge blogging technology. So here I am.