this week i’ve been resting and recovering from my recent trip to l.a. lots of walks enjoying the rain and the leaves on the ground. they’re portland’s version of snow.

projects this week included: prepping the house for a photoshoot for a certain blog [stay tuned], a top-secret holiday project with my chocolate-making roommate [set to debut december 1], and drawing on a few of the sticky notes i created for chronicle books for the upcoming annual cash-and-carry post-its art show at giant robot 2 in l.a. [opens december 13].

latest project completed:

gathered together art show by jill bliss and saelee oh
tinlark gallery
Crossroads of the World
6671 Sunset Boulevard, #1512, Hollywood, CA 90028
www.tinlark.com 323.463.0039
nov. 15th – dec. 6th

back from l.a., totally exhausted, but happy with everything i accomplished on the trip and all the lovely people i met. it’s intense weeks like that last one – overly fabulous, overwhelming and insanely paced – that make me long for a quiet week or two afterwards to reconnect with my friends, family, home and studio. as long as i can keep that balance it works most of the time. i’ve been on three long walks through the neighborhoods in the past 12 hours since i’ve been home, giddy about the prospect of not having to pack my suitcase and leave again for a while. it also helps that it’s 50 degrees and overcast here in portland today, ahhhh my favorite weather!

there are two additional places online to see photos from my and saelee’s show: juxtapose magazine’s write-up and the tinlark gallery blog. i’ll swipe and put some favorite ones here with personal comments…

me installing the hanging garlands. i had a box of 500 pushpins to start with. there were about 30 left when i finished, and i now have bruised and blistered thumbs. but i was pleased with the end result, especially when the a/c went on and the garlands swayed in the breeze. it’s magical, like being in an underwater kelp forest!

a close up of the finished results. that reminds me that i posted a page with overall photos of the space the day of the opening, but somehow that entry is not showing up live! i’ll investigate that shortly. in the meantime, here’s one photo of half the space…

some of the leaf garlands in the corner!

some of our diorama domes!

some of the garlands can be worn as necklaces, or, as my newest girl-crush arden [above, with me and saelee] pointed out, as headbands. i didn’t know it at the time, but apparently arden is an actress in various movies and on mad tv. saelee and i will try not to stalk her.

behind us you can see the giclee prints from our calendar and saelee’s huge cut out artpiece on the right. all the art that hasn’t sold yet will be on the tinlark gallery website in the next day or two. i’ll keep you posted!

team jill and saelee is in full effect this week. with a quick trip to michael’s and starbucks this morning – yup, we’re for sure in the ‘burbs – we’re now hard at work in the studio making joint diorama pieces for the tables custom made by her dad in the driveway. so cool to have someone else’s help, thanks dad!

i took a quick trip to chicago this past weekend to see some friends and sights!

fun highlights included the art museum, millenium park, the cultural center, the wicker park area, and lots of good food and drinks.

it was cold and there were even some occasional snow flakes on sunday… next time i’ll have to visit in the fall or spring! 

it was the weekend right after election day, and chicago is obama’s home base so there were lots of obama election things around town. my favorite election-related image is above. it’s the cover and the alternate cover of the chicago reader [free paper].