Day 84 (Or: rk post & C.J. Lane at The Red Raven in October)

I’m a little bit giddy.  And I have a HUGE geek-girl crush. 

Sometimes I get to meet, rub elbows with and generally fall in crushes with some seriously amazing people.  Laurie McClave (neighbor and bestie), C.J. Lane (bestie and cutie), and (new to me) rk post give me the shivers.  They’re just awesome in the sauce arena.  And I know them?  Or…in the case of rk…get to talk to them as they’re foot commuting through downtown Seattle to their “day” job?  Pssshhht.  Lucky me. 

AND I get to talk about games, and toy-stores, and my favorite coffee shop on the planet?  Stick a fork in me and call me pleased.   

A shortened and slightly altered version of the following feature was published today in the Port Townsend Leader, and because these peeps are so phenomenal, I wanted you all to see 

the WHOLE shmear…

Photo courtesy rk post

Randy “rk” Post (hereafter referred to by his preferred professional nomenclature:  rk post – no punctuation, no capitals) travels to conferences the world over, for comic-cons and fan signings of his work.  Each new location comes with a new tattoo, artists carefully researched by post, artwork “signed” by the artist in permanent tattoo ink. posts body, now featuring 20 of his visits, and 20 artists, is a visual map of his artistic proclivities and of his extensive travel.  

The travel follows a lifetime career of impressive freelance and contract illustrative work for Wizards of the Coast, Microsoft, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, 20^th Century Fox (Alien vs Predator) among many others (post jokes that his work is “too extensive to list.”).

This life is a far cry from growing up on farms in Illinois and Iowa where post, the son of a John Deere salesman, never took an art class and thought he’d be a veterinarian. After what post calls an “extensive college experience” – an 8 year study program, spanning veterinary science, graphic design, and eventually illustration – post found himself at the tail end of TSR’s Dungeons and Dragons production, illustrating interior black and white illustration book-work for the famous RPG. This break into the world of illustration through Dungeons and Dragons, lead to work with Wizards of The Coast, where the door opened for a remarkable career in art and design. 

A soft, ready laugh prefaces posts description of the work, the experiences, and the travel that followed those 8 years of study. “Growing up, we never traveled anywhere that we couldn’t reach by car.” He says, but when Wizards of the Coast bought out TSR in the mid-90’s, the company flew artists out to Seattle – his first flight – and post now looks back on that flight, saying “if you’ve done it once, all the rest are the same.” The difference now, is that after 15 years of illustrative work, when post travels from Seattle, his home town where he’s the Senior Artist at Big Fish Games, he ends up in Barcelona, Spain, Moscow, Russia or Sao Paolo, Brazil – as well as many other international destinations.

The Red Raven PostMortem

Avatar of Woe, rk post

Red Raven Gallery celebrated its one year anniversary in September, and in the year since opening, has featured an impressive lineup of local artists and visiting artists – many with magical, fanciful and eccentric inclinations. The cooperative gallery of 6 artists is owned by Sarah Fitch of The Rolling Raven Studio, and co-managed and curated by fine artist Laurie McClave – who calls herself a “Jacqueline of all trades.”  McClave, whose impressive curation has brought in high caliber fine artists – photographers, painters, fiber artists – said that she “looks for individuals whose work is quality and who have a level of personal professionalism.”  Of particular importance, and an indication of her own measures of success, McClave pays special attention to “artists who have interaction with a fan-base, having a Facebook page or a blog, or some way that they’re keeping active and interactive with other artists and with collectors.” 

McClave, who studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, and a highly collected artist herself, keeps an active hand in the online network of artists, and it is partially this networking and marketing ethic which has enabled the gallery to host national and international artists.  “rk was one of my first MySpace contacts – remember the days of MySpace?” She joked.  “I knew I wanted to feature something gothic and creepy in October, and because I’d known of and followed his work online, rk came immediately to mind.  Much to my surprise, he said ‘yes’ when I approached him.”  Earlier in the year, the gallery hosted the phenomenal  Jel Ena Markovic, a Serbian born, Los Angeles based figurative artist, and PostMortem will be followed in November by German born, Seattle based  designer and artist Redd Walitzki (http://art.candygears.com/).

In a coup, an artistic scoop, if you will, The Red Raven cooperative gallery and McClave are “thrilled and excited” to bring illustrator rk post to Port Townsend. “rk features strong women and female characterizations, and uses the figure in a lyrical way.  There are dark undertones in his work, and the pieces offer an intrigue – he’s a softer H.R. Giger.” MccClave said of post and his work referring to the surrealist painter who won an Academy Award for design work on the film Alien.

On Oct. 6, PostMortem debuts at the Red Raven Gallery featuring the fanciful and eccentric art of illustrator rk post and photographer and Red Raven cooperative member C.J. Lane.  PostMortem, will show at the Red Raven Gallery, 922 Water Street, through October.  Both artists will be on site for the gallery walk on the evening of the 6th, starting at 5:30.

Both divine and diabolical

post has published a now sold out collectors volume of collected works “Potmortem: the Art of rk post” posts website describes the work in his online gallery, as “both divine and diabolical. Sinistry and innocence. Fluffy-cute and damn-that-looks-spiky.”

Cover Art, "Postmortem: the Art of rk post"

Notably, the original cover artwork painting for “Postmortem: the Art of rk post” will grace the wall of the Red Raven Gallery, a work highlighting posts strong female figurative work, and the gizmo-riddled fantasy world that he’s known for. post, says that for the Red Raven Gallery show, in addition to non-magic related work, he’s “found a forgotten trove of more recent pieces,” and will be labeling and selling with artist proofs and prints.

post has garnered a following in the illustrative world, and is especially known in Port Townsend for work in the Role Playing Gaming (RPG) world of Magic: The Gathering. The Port Townsend Gallery walk, on Saturday, October 6, 5:30 – 8:00 pm, will be lively in the diminutive alleyway gallery, with local fans of the gaming world, and fantasy art collectors assembling to see the original artwork behind familiar gaming characters and well-known illustrations.

The Raven and the Pumpkin

C.J. Lane and model Tassa Briel Greif
photo Cara Leckenby

In complement to the fantasy work of rk post, C.J. (Carole Jean) Lane, cooperative member and co-feature artist for October at Red Raven Gallery, has a gift with the camera lens. Lane started photography in college, and her passion grew further when she moved to Korea to work as a military staff photographer. Since those early days in photojournalism, C.J. has turned toward fine art photography, and she and her husband, Terry Lane, are the vision behind “Lanebrain Photography”. “ Her unique perspective and edge give her work a painterly quality,” said McClave, “and she has an important story to tell”. This month, that story will be of “The Pumpkin Queen” and “The Raven King” – fantasy figure photography, highlighting a creepy burton-esque bent.  C.J. is a founding cooperative member of the Red Raven Gallery co-op and is working in photography while raising a family here in Port Townsend

The gathering

Port Townsend community dedicated to Magic: The Gathering is celebrating a weekend of firsts starting at 6:00 on the evening of Friday, Oct 5 at Whistle Stop Toysin Port Townsend. Steve Goldenbogen, owner of the toy shop, is hosting a launch for the newest of 59 “expansion sets” (or game play kits) for players ranging in age from 10 – 60. “Return to Ravnica” is a much anticipated expansion, and the evening will be an interesting pre-cursor to meeting rk post, the artist behind well-known Magic characters, “Avatar of Woe,” “Morphling,” and “Arbor Elf.”

The following evening, Saturday, October 6th, post opens PostMortem at the Red Raven Gallery.  Goldenbogen is an avid Magic player and fan, and describing the extent of Magic: The Gathering’s popularity said “There are 59 expansions on the game, and over 12500 figure cards. I’m making sure that I’m off work on time for the show on Saturday, and I’m telling all my players.” Tournament play will continue at Whistle Stop Toys through January of 2013, on Friday evenings at 6:00 and Goldenbogen notes that he has plenty of members willing to teach new players.

In addition to formal tournament play, Amy Smith, Executive Director of the BoilerRoom at 711 Water Street says that there are “all the time games at the Boiler Room these days. There hasn't been a day in the past two weeks without a Magic game.” The Boiler Room is a non-profit youth resource center and coffee house, with convenient couches and tables for game-players of all ages.

More information, and game kits, about Magic: The Gathering can be found at Whistle Stop Toys 1005 Water Street, Port Townsend.

Day 77 (Or: Earth Without Art is Just "EH")

I'm an artist. Sort of. I'm an aspiring artist? A wanna-be artist? A pseudo artist? Hmmm...

Okay. Maybe it's not fine art, but I do occasionally produce drawings/paintings/design/collage. Never sold any of it (other than monkeys). I do sell my design capabilities (as in...interior design, web design, graphic design - at Leckenby Co.), but never art. Yet.

I don't exactly have plans to become a visual artist, although I definitely have plans to continue artistically living my life - viewing, creating, appreciating, befriending... BUT! I live in this delightful artists community, where you can't swing a dead sable without hitting an artist or an aspiring artist, and as it happens, one of my besties runs a cooperative gallery.

THAT means that I get to shmooze with local artist appreciators, rub elbows with several seriously talented fine artists, and help disseminate art in the world. Generally.

Last month I started helping my friends on Gallery Walk night (the first Saturday of the month, new shows debut, artists are available for discussion, and generally, art is celebrated with food, wine and good company), and now, on the first Saturday of each month, and in particular, Day 77 of One Thousand Days, you can find me at The Red Raven Gallery, helping my friends Laurie McClave, and Sarah Fitch to make the world more beautiful and interesting.

Hints, should you wish to enjoy/partake of/or serve at a gallery walk:

1. Although gallery walk is known as a bit of a walking booze fest, never serve more than two fingers of wine, as you want people to be precisely smashed (not overly, and not underly) in order to effectively help them to appreciate/buy art.

2. By god, you'd better know what you're talking about, or believe that you know what you're talking about, or have an intention to know what you're talking about, if you want to talk about art.

3. Take that last little hint and stuff it in the toilet, because EVERYONE, and I do mean everyone, has something important to say about art. That's why there IS art. To get us thinking. And even if all you have to say is: "That looks like my cat!", it's a valuable assessment, in my book.

4. Do not - DO NOT - be a snob. Damnit. Yuck.

77 down, 923 to go.

Day 75 (Or: Traci Intelligently Rants)

Over here at One Thousand Days, occasionally we recognize that other people might have something important to contribute to the world, and that we aren't the only ones doing Things.  


Traci Adams, a high-school friend and Facebook buddy, and all around highly intelligent girl, can be found photographing lovely things, spending time with loved ones and perusing the natural world.  And when she's not doing one of those things, she's paying keen attention to social and cultural issues, ideas and yes, even memes.  Who doesn't love a good, relevant meme?


Anyhoo, I'm glad she let me re-post her recent status update, which is FAR more than a status update, as these things sometimes go.  Traci's "teaser" posts, get me thinking, which is a good thing.  Thank you, Traci Adams, for intelligently ranting your way into Day 75 of One Thousand Days!


Editor's note:  I've added links to some great resources for doing exactly what Traci suggests...

Today’s thoughts -

Complain, complain, that is what we do….

I am guilty of this too…. 

But the answers are simple (ok, relatively simple)…

Not enough money? Not enough time? Food becoming scary? Etc……..

1. Buy less crap = more money. We as a generation were programmed by advertising to think we “need” SO much, but… we don’t. NO ONE needs a new cell phone every year, that is just STUPID. No one needs a new wardrobe 4 times a year. No one needs SO much stuff.

2. Grow some food = more money and better health. I am not saying everyone has room for a huge garden and few people have the time and knowledge to survive on what they grow. But supplement your diet with whatever you can, and another benefit, gardening really does relax you and is rewarding.

3. Eat less meat (or none, your call) = more money. Alas the American love affair with meat has gone out of control. The cost to the animal’s health (ie: your health in the long run), the fuel consumption, the food to feed them…. Who wants to eat a zombie cow that is only alive because the medication they are giving keeps them alive?

4. Drive less (or not at all) = more money. I am SO guilty of this…. I LOVE my car….. all of the reasons for driving less are too obvious to state.

5. Turn off electric powered things like lights when you aren’t using them = more money. I really hate to sound like my parents, but if you aren’t in the room, turn off the light….. and don’t get me started on “decorative” lighting….. sigh….. (editor's note:  Check out one of my FAVORITE resources, YES! Magazine, and their article, written by Collin Beaven:  10 Ways To Change Your Life (Not Just Your Lightbulbs)

6. Lastly start trying to shop locally and from real people. Not just food, but everything. These giant corporations are OWNING us. Real people and small local businesses sustain local economies and provide more jobs in the end… The great CEO on high in a tower in NY cares not a lick for whether of not my neighbor has a job or loses their house…. It is also near to impossible to hold them accountable. But if the small corner store is selling you crap…. You stop shopping there and walk two blocks to the better business. THAT is how our system is SUPPOSED to work. We are supposed to have the power to punish bad business via their pocketbook.

These are just a few small things that we should all start to do more…. Or less…. You know what I mean. : )

Thank you for your time…. : )


75 down, 925 to go.

Day 71 (Or: More About The Hood!)

Day 71, Continued!

Just in case you haven't already seen the ream of pictures and information from the Boy-Child's and my house building adventure, you can check out the loveliness here!

Highlights:

Day 71 (Or: Throw Another Party!)

I've said it before, some Days are just a no-brainer.

Boy-child and I live in a charming CHARMING neighborhood. Our neighborhood is the old-fashioned kind, where neighbors share sugar, and recipes, and chat over the fences. Where kids (35 of them on two blocks connected by two public trails!) play capture the flag, hide out in the community tree fort, create block-long hopscotches and bike/skate/scooter in circles for hours. Parents yell for kids at dusk, and living rooms are frequently filled with 7 or 8 children for game nights.

14+ households abide along a two block stretch, and, perhaps because many of us partnered to build our houses with Habitat for Humanity, or perhaps because we're fun-loving, family-minded individuals, we've grown into a community which cares for itself. Blessed, we are.

Day 71 of One Thousand Days, we hosted the 2nd neighborhood Block Party BBQ of the season, and it was delightful! There were kids, party lights, seafood skewers, chocolate-mint-raspberry cake, and lime-ade, and LAUGHTER! We decided to petition the City for speed bumps and "Slow - Children at Play" signs, and have plans for creating a neighborhood food garden. Yay team!

If you've never done this before, I highly recommend it. After all, if we can't rely on our neighbors when the zombie apocalypse hits, we're pretty much screwed.

71 down, 929 to go.

Day 65 (Or: Revolution!)

Stumbled across this today:  Not in the StumbleUpon sort of way, in the it appeared in my Facebook "news" in several different forms:

Similarly, I stumbled across this (again, in the accidental visitation, sort of a way, not in the SU sort of a way):  

I'm inspired.  Have been for a while.  I want chickens and bees and a garden full of food - fruits, vegetables and herbs.  This is the year!  I'm doing it!  Day 66 of One Thousand Days, I lay out the yard plan to accommodate (almost) all of these lovely things - more research on bees in my urban area is needed before I commit to a herd of yellow and black fuzzies.  

The Dervaes family is an incredible inspiration for such remarkable works.  I've seen them on YouTube:

...and in a myriad of wonderful magazine and blog articles.  Take a minute to check out their website and blogs:  http://urbanhomestead.org/about

And, if you care to, add The Urban Farm to your reading list, and start drawing up plans for your summer bounty!  

66 down, 934 to go.

Day 62 (Or: Standing On The Side Of Love)

Martin Luther King, Jr., Day began 30 days of the National Standing on the Side Of Love month.

Take a moment, visit Standing On The Side Of Love, and join in.

Click on over and join the movement.

I did.  And do.

62 down, 938 to go.

Day 56 (Or: Oops, I skipped a day!)

One of the stalwart One Thousand Days readers (one of the 27), when I pointed out that I'd skipped day 56, said that she considered it her good deed NOT to tell me that I'd made a mistake.  HA!  I love it.

But we can't just leave that hole there, can we?

No.  So here we go. 

Last night, or early this morning, in the last throws of the dream-state, when all of the wonderful and meaningful thoughts coalesce and gel into a sub-conscious lump of destiny, I dreamed the most lovely things.  I was in an old building, tall ceilings, dark wood, and glowing light, and I was teaching a small group of women a hand craft.  Something involving rose-buds and doll-making.  And toward the end of the class, the mayor came into the room and sat on the edge of the group. 

I watched her watching what we were doing, and eventually she reached in for a rosebud and started fiddling with it.  I let the others work on their projects and went and sat with the mayor and started at the beginning of the project again. 

In the dream, the mayor was very much The Mayor, but there was no political talk, I purposely refrained from drawing attention to her, or from putting her on the spot or getting a conversation going about local issues (of which there are many).  Instead, my focus was to build a bridge between The Mayor, her personal self, and the people - the others in the class.

Ramblerambleramble.  All of this, I realized upon waking, is really a symbol for the joy and hope that I feel about current projects (monkeys) and work (Leckenby Co.). Day 56 (which isn't really day 56) of One Thousand Days I build bridges through crafting.  I.  Love.  It.

56 down...and...oh you know the rest.

Day 59 (Or: The Great Monkey Maneuver)

You've been hearing about it, and now it's happened!

No, I didn't lose my mind.  And no, I haven't started a speed dating group...and no, I most certainly haven't finished my novel.  Geesh.  There's a whole lot that I haven't done.  But what I HAVE done, this morning, Small Business Saturday, is launch The Great Monkey Maneuver!

What's this, you wonder?  "Frankly, I think you HAVE lost your mind, darling." You mutter under your breath.  I heard that. 

Here's the thing.  Sock monkeys.  They're totally adorable.  And enjoyable.  And they make me laugh.  Seriously. 

I made one monkey, every stitch by hand, loving the feel of the sock and the thread, and loving the funny ears and the hillarious red butt.  And he charmed my boy and I in ways that we hadn't imagined.  And then the most amazing thing happened.  My favorite 2 year old boy came over, walked straight to the monkey, picked the monkey up by the tail, poked at a button eyeball, and immediately took the sock-turned-monkey to show his mama.  The monkey clearly belonged to him, and now he has a name - "Hoo-Hoo-Ha" - and a premanent home with a most delightful boy.

I WANT MORE OF THAT!  I want monkeys to be EVERYWHERE and I want to be the one to make that happen!

The Great Monkey Maneuver, I'll have you know, is a sock monkey and 40th birthday initiative. I will be 40 years old in one week, exactly. And in honor of my 40th birthday, I will sell 40 sock monkeys!

In case you're curious, here's the original, the loving, the adored-by-favorite-2-year-old-boy Hoo-Hoo-Ha:

And I donated this monkey to a service auction, to raise money for QUUF:

And I'll donate THIS monkey to my favorite non-profit kid place and coffee house, The Boiler Room, for their auction, coming up in December:

And the rest are yours! 

So, The Great Monkey Maneuver, is a sale of 40 monkeys, to be housed in 40 homes with 40 loving children or children at heart.  All in honor of turning 40 years old.  Because when you get old, it's important to engender the joy of being young. 

And what's more, the first 40 monkeys will come with a $4.00 discount when the lucky purchaser uses the coupon code: 40MONKEY
Yes. 

Day 58 of One Thousand Days may just be the most wonderful yet.  Monkey business.

59 down, 941 to go.

Day 52 (or: I've been Called)

Alright.  Hold onto your hats, because it's about to get a little weird up here in the blog.
Woo-woo weird. 

But life's like this sometimes, and one of the things that I've realized, slowly, since letting go of The Bad Relationship, and Corporate Life (alright - both of those things let go of me, but who's counting?), is that there's a message in the silence, in the moments in between.  We can listen to those messages or we can ignore them, and on Day 52 of One Thousand Days, I chose to listen.

Okay.  That last paragraph was only slightly woo-woo, but NOW it's going to get positively bizarre, so I really can't blame you if you want to skip down the page a bit.  Here's what's been going on:  I belong to a fellowship (read:  "church"), where I have been a volunteer youth educator on and off throughout the years, for various ages of kiddos.  This year, I agreed again to be an educator for the Middle School kids.  Ever since I made that agreement, I've been having all of these near-ESP-ish moments of synchronicity, in which someone repeats something I've been thinking on for a day or so, or I dream something that then happens the next day, or my thoughts settle on something that eventually is reality within the week. 

If you read through that paragraph, I TOLD YOU SO!  Weird.  Eventually this strangeness convinced me (hold on to your boots!) that I was being "called."  Called to be involved with the kiddos, and specifically involved with the kiddos QUUF in my sweet little home town. 

So I offered myself (weird ESP story and all) to our "church" Youth R(eligious) E(ducation) Director, and came home with the promise of more Middle School Madness than is healthy for any sane person (as I've demonstrated here, my sanity may be in question, so I'm PERFECT for the job!), and a craft project!  I LOVE CRAFTS! 

Day 52 of One Thousand Days, I'm going to put together the scrap book for the Youth Coming of Age program my son (that's him in the upper-center of the photo, below) and about 15 other kiddos went through last year.  Hurrah!

52 Down, 948 to go.

Oh, and I fluffed up the logo...it's not drastically different, but it's different!