Portland, Day 1 (written 6/23)

In Portland for the Pacific Northwest College of Art's Graphic Novel Intensive, a week of classes, lectures and workshops. I am having so much fun here, and it's only been 1/2 a day.
The train ride down was uneventful if boring and cramped (I ended up in one of those seats facing another set of seats) and rather filled with squalling childrens, but ah well. Took a taxi from the station 'cause I was so zonked (couldn't sleep well last night, natch) to my lovely little guest house! This place is so adorable. All the rooms are named after authors (well-except Elliott Smith. But I think the point is that they're all local.) I'm in the Ken Kesey. I have a skylight above my bed!






After attempting to nap for a bit, and chatting with the proprietor in the lovely kitchen...



...I then walked several blocks up to Hawthorne to look for food. After walking back and forth a few times in indecisiveness (and a detour into Powell's on Hawthorne where I gave in and bought Animal, Vegetable, Miracle rather than waiting for the 400 people ahead of me on the library list-Yes, I have been in Portland for fewer than 24 hours and have already bought a book), I found a little sushi place on a sidestreet that turned out to be a fantastic find. They had a delicious salmon skin salad that consisted of salmon skin pieces (a generous amount), cucumbers, asparagus spears, julienned carrots and green onions in a yummy sesame vinaigrette. I also had an unagi roll which was decent, and also notable for the fact that it was in actual bite size pieces. I hate it when sushi is too big to fit in one bite.

Anyway, I then made my way back down to Division and to Food Fight, a fabulous little food store where everything is vegan, and purchased some snacks and soymilk. Now I am back in my room with the skylight open, feeling the fresh breeze and watching the tree sway and the clouds roll by.



The weather is fantastic today-kinda warm and humid (but only if you're walking a lot) but with a great breeze, lots of variations of clouds and sun, and for a while there it was raining with the sun out. I love summer rain. There was some lightning too!



It's going to be an early night for me because I am so tired and I have to get up fairly early tomorrow and the adventure of taking the bus downtown, etc. I have class until noon and then I will hopefully hook up with Alex from Stumptown Coffee, who will hopefully show me some cool stuff to do on a Sunday.

Note: Click on any picture for a link to even more pictures.
Pictures from the train trip down will come later, as I shot only film.

From foto to illo, what a strange trip it's been...

Well, what can I say. Busybusybusy. Home stretch of class; 2 weeks until major portfolio review and 4 weeks until it is all over. This Saturday is the Western Washington SCBWI's annual conference in Bellevue, where I will be rubbing elbows with the likes of Paul O. Zelinsky and Bruce Coville. (Well, I probably won't get to rub their elbows, but maybe I can get their autographs.) And then...in June, one week in Portland to attend the Graphic Novel Intensive at Pacific Northwest College of Art, featuring the illustrious (ha ha) Scott McCloud!

Things have been picking up at a fast clip, in other words.

The photography has basically been put on hold...well, not from the point of view of my Flickr account, where I am uploading shots constantly...but that's a different kind of shooting from the work I used to do. It's gratifying, it appeases (for now) the part of me that has to always be getting the good shots, non stop (and this method is certainly easier on the budget than shooting an equivalent amount of film and then processing it.) Who knows when I will return to more serious traditional photography...perhaps someday in the near future I will have an actual house with a basement or shed where I can build a darkroom. Keep your fingers crossed for me...

Revamped the website; now the home page features a choice! You can either go and view my photography (which currently features the exact same site as before, originally designed by the lovely staceyb of frenettik) or you can follow the link to illustration, which currently leads...well, back here, or rather to my other blog. Soon I'm going to create a complete illustration site, but for now I have to focus on getting the portfolio ready, and it's enough that I just have something for people to look at when they visit my site.

Back to work!