I made this collage as an ode to my brother and his girlfriend/my friend. 16 x 20” collage framed. 2018.
Green Queens of College Station
I made this collage as an ode to my baby sister and her friend/roommate, Ellen. 16 x 20” collage framed. 2018.
Expensive & cherished; thrashed & abandoned
Lordsburg, New Mexico is a tiny town that now straddles I-10 and was left mostly abandoned when the interstate was built, enabling travelers to zoom right past it instead of stopping through for a break during tedious train trips. I've seen so many abandoned houses and dumped mattresses and piles of rusty vehicles in the past week that it feels disorienting. Maybe it feels disorienting because I've been privileged my whole life to have never experienced this scene as my reality, but also, all of these things are so expensive! The amount of saving and planning these items require make it dumbfounding to see them so carelessly discarded.
I look at a number of sprawling 3-bedroom homes with a backyard pool, workshop shed, and garden just totally abandoned — sometimes frantically and aggressively with windows busted, furniture in place, boxes of books absorbing rain. A deserted house on a street full of them and it's hard to not think that at some point, someone worked their ass off to buy this home. A family moved to this town to establish a community in the desert and maybe it was so charming but now it's just being swallowed by time and Earth.
Coast to coast in Costa Rica
Sam, Christina, and I have returned from an unbelievably refreshing week in Costa Rica. We spent a lot of our time with Christina's cousins, who live in San José and Puerto Viejo, and I visited a town on the Pacific side that I had never been to, Manuel Antonio. We hiked through the national park, saw a sloth, monkeys, and alien-like plants that blew my mind. A storm was rolling in, so the waves were super fun to bodysurf. We spent the second half of our trip on the Caribbean side, which is my paradise. I wanted to spend so much more time in the jungle than we did, but hey. It was a stellar trip, I love Costa Rica more every time I visit, and once again, I'm annoyed that my younger self never felt the drive to become fluent in Spanish. Maybe it's not too late? I am so grateful for the hospitality of Christina's cousins, Adriano & Paula in San José and Esteban in Puerto Viejo, and we were all grateful to have gotten to spend almost a full week with all of them. Here are some of the photos I took on our trip! I wanted to document all the hand-made lettering I saw, but the best ones were on signs we passed driving and I wasn't about to hold up the caravan for pics (though typography always warrants a travel delay, IMO). ¡Pura Vida!
Southern CA inspiration
Here are some handmade typography samples from a recent trip to the San Diego area. I've also included some photos I took to give you somewhat of an idea how insane the plant life is in the area!
Also I skated Hawk's pool, bye!
Jessie's graduating!
My little, tiny baby sister is graduating high school this week, so we threw a graduation party for her at our boatdock on Lake Austin this weekend. My mom asked me to make a poster for her with old pictures, and because no creative project can ever be simple and quick with me, I spent what may be a new world record amount of time on this poster. Mainly because I was determined to use Neutraface typeface and to seize the opportunity to try out my new Prismacolor blending marker, which worked MAGIC! The markers blended like pencil!
Me, my momma, and a photobombing Jacob. Photo by Uncle Greg
Gal pals! Christina, me, and Amanda dodging the rainstorm
Our sweet little teenage graduate
Evil Beemer Board
Gonz dropped his fully custom hand-crafted and limited edition skate deck today, the Beemer board from Krooked, and it sold out instantly. 😩 10.75 x 34
photo credit: Krooked
photo credit: tiaromano Instagram