Happy Summer, world! Today is the solstice which also marks the official beginning of summer– a great day to relaunch a website, if you ask me.

I graduated with my MFA in May, and now I am off into the wild world, ready for anything. I have finally posted most of the new work I made while I was in grad school. There are a few odds and ends coming soon, but you should have plenty to catch up on for now.

I am starting my summer in Mendocino County, CA, and I should end it in September in the Twin Cities. The drive from North Carolina to here was pretty awesome. The first beautiful stretch is the winding section near Richmond, West Virginia. And if you haven’t driven the stretch of I-80 up over the continental divide, across the desert and into the salt flats of northwestern Utah, you need to get in your car now. Continuing all the way to the California coast, it is like one alien landscape after another. You can tell why people make movies in these weird places. Speaking of movies, Mendocino is covered in redwoods, which makes me think of the home of the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. I’ve been here almost three weeks now, and I am still surprised by how beautiful it all is.

Now that the site update is finished, I’m heading back to my sketchbooks. There is a ton to look at and draw. First up are the caddisfly larvae. These amazing little critters make cocoons out of detritus in the river– rocks, sticks, shells, whatever– for their protection. They’re everywhere here!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 21st, 2007 at 4:17 am and is filed under news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.