It’s March 1st. At the start of February, I traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska, where I was invited to kick off the spring semester of lectures at the Sheldon Museum at the University of Nebraska. I attended graduate school in Lincoln in the early 2000s (2001 to 2004, to be exact), and I really loved it. You can read a quasi-sappy official UNL interview with me rambling about how much I loved it. My lifelong grad school buddy, Jenni Freidman, flew to Lincoln to hang out with me while we spent a few days pretending it was 2003. She’s the best. 

This wave of nostalgia really set the tone for February. I’ve been thinking about all the different iterations of work, images, the internet, and what it means to create and share work online actively for 25 years (Lincoln is where it all started), and what it signifies—if it signifies anything at all. How I can have photos, which turn into drawings, then those drawings get scanned and shared, and how the original drawing can either be sold, lost, or given away, leaving you with a jpeg or a memory. From 2D to 3D, to ones and zeros, liked and shared, then lost and found again.

One of these days, I’m going to find all my files from the project that started *wildly gestures around* all of this. My first internet art project was a website that documented all my purchases from 2002 to 2004. It was built in Flash. It’s very dead now. But it was named Site of the Day by both USA Today and Yahoo News (you can laugh, it’s okay). My nostalgia for the way I felt about the promise of what the Internet could do in the early 2000s has always been in the back of my mind, but the sound of that promise—the feeling of building something weird, fun, dumb, and brilliant with what felt like so many others at the time—has been ringing loudly in my mind especially over the past several years. I miss the internet. I miss the days when it was a place to just play and delight, and where you could meet other people doing the same. I’m still friends with many of those folks. I don’t want to sound like Old Man Yelling at Clouds™, so I’ll stop now and go back to figuring out how I can organize my files from the last 25 years. If you want to see a Flickr set of all these purchases from ages 25 and 26, click here. Maybe I’ll write more about this. Maybe I won’t. I like to look forward. Looking back makes my head spin a bit.

Yesterday, I did one of my favorite activities: popping into a shop and drawing for a few hours. The Yo Store hosted me while I drew pictures of items customers bought. I really enjoy chatting with people, drawing what they purchase, and making quick objects they can keep, gift, or toss. 

The image above was taken over 10 years ago. I had an awkward but somewhat great event at West Elm. People didn’t understand what I was doing and were a little annoyed that I was asking to draw their purchases, so I just wandered around the shop and painted objects I found on the shelves. I still had a good time.

I am racing against the clock of my computer battery. It’s at 12%, and I’m upstairs, and it’s ten at night, and I don’t want to go downstairs to get my charger. Hank fell asleep on me at 7:30 while watching The X-Files with me. We’ve started from the beginning and are working our way through season one, having a very good time. Now, he’s on the couch next to me, sleeping while I watch the new Paul McCartney documentary called Man on the Run (get it?). Even though I am writing this, I am also somewhat paying attention to that, and between him in Get Back and now watching this, I can safely say he’s my favorite Beatle. My sweet and sappy, hard-working, talented king! I know we are all relieved that I have finally weighed in on this pressing question.

Okay, I am at 6%.

I know I got all Sad About the Internet™ earlier in the post, but writing, sharing, and connecting with folks are among my favorite things to do, and the Internet is still a great place to do so. Thanks for being here and thanks for reading. I am going to leave you with one of my favorite images to share on MARCH 1st (which it still is for the next 90 minutes).

Saul Steinberg was my first favorite writer and drawer of things, and he still knocks me on my butt. Good job, Saul.

Goodbye February. Hello March.

❤️ KBB ☘️

It was 2004, and I was 26, and I had started drawing my credit card statements as a kind of punishment. Every month, these machine-generated envelopes would arrive in my mailbox announcing, in cold laser-printed type, exactly how I had failed at being responsible with money. The numbers felt official and final, like there wasn’t much room for interpretation or redemption.

So I began redrawing them line by line, with pen and ink and sharing them on Flickr (remember Flickr? Every day I miss that era of the internet).

It felt like the opposite of the machine. No one could mistake my drawings for an actual statement; they were wobbly and imperfect, obviously made by my hand. If I was going to stare at those numbers and feel terrible, I wanted to insert myself back into the equation somehow.

I chose drawing because it was my least favorite way to make things. It felt slow and awkward and a little exposed. But after a few months of drawing those statements, something shifted. I started to appreciate the pace of it, the quiet of being alone with the page, the repetition of lines and numbers and type that I would never actually use again. Somewhere in there, I tricked myself into actually liking to draw.

About two years into drawing my credit card statements, I realized I wanted to draw something else, too. Something that wasn’t just the evidence of my spending, but the actual things I was bringing into my life. So on February 5th, 2006, I drew a tank of gas I bought that day, and that drawing became the start of the daily purchase project.

I made a few simple rules: black pen, white paper, no do-overs. I would put the drawings on the internet, put them in a zine, and share them. That was it. I would draw something I purchased every day.

There are now thousands of drawings behind me and, if I keep going, thousands more ahead.

Over time those drawings have documented marriage, changing jobs, moving across the country, traveling, opening Outlet, becoming a parent, and raising Hank, life and death. They have recorded friendships as much as they have recorded toilet paper, cough drops, Tylenol, plane tickets, special dinners, and the occasional splurge that I justified heavily in the captions.

Above: A quick sketchbook flip through from this summer when Hank was running around in our neighborhood park, and I was camped out on a blanket drawing.

Some of the drawings are pretty bad, some days I clearly phoned it in, and some purchases are embarrassing. I have drawn an alarming number of coffees, Diet Cokes, and tote bags. But that’s part of it. The object is rarely the point; the act of noticing is.

A receipt is flimsy, temporary, designed to be thrown away within hours. It mostly exists to prove that money moved from one place to another. But when you draw it, you’re not documenting the transaction so much as the context. Where you were. What you needed. Whether you were exhausted, celebrating, restless, or just running errands.

A mug isn’t just ceramic and glaze. It’s the one you reach for every morning without thinking. It’s the chipped one you keep anyway. It’s the thrift store find that somehow feels like it has always belonged to you. When you draw it, you slow down long enough to notice the curve of the handle, the thickness of the rim, the weird scratch you’ve never paid attention to before.

Drawing doesn’t elevate the object. It just gives it time.

That’s the part that matters.

It doesn’t have to be accurate — you’re making a drawing, not a photograph. If the packaging feels overwhelming, you don’t have to render every detail. You can draw the outline, the bold word, and the dent in the corner. You get to decide what stays and what disappears.

Over time, the project became less about the purchases themselves and more about the pause: a few minutes at the end of the day with a black pen on white paper, no do-overs, one small thing acknowledged.

In 2014, on the eight-year anniversary, I stopped. I told myself it had run its course and that eight years felt solid and complete. I thought I was done.

On August 12th, 2017 — my 40th birthday — I started again, not because I needed a dramatic reinvention arc or had a plan to reach twenty years, but because I missed it. I missed the quiet, the ritual, and the feeling of having one small practice that was mine and repeatable and stubbornly consistent.

So I returned.

Last week marked twenty years since that first tank of gas, and it feels strange to celebrate anything right now. The news cycle is loud. The future feels slippery. But this project is steady. It’s black pen, white paper, one small purchase at a time, and that repetition keeps me grounded.

When everything feels chaotic, I can still draw the coffee I bought, or the checked pouch, or the Nebraska tote, or the tube of toothpaste. I can still make a small mark and acknowledge that this happened and that I was here to notice it.

The image at the top of this post shows February 5th from each year since 2006, pulled from the digital piles. I’ve been digging through twenty years of drawings, finding the same date over and over again. It’s strange to see them lined up; the line quality has changed a bit, the handwriting has shifted, and the purchases have not dramatically evolved. But the act itself remains the same: black pen, white paper, no do-overs.

Twenty years later, drawing is no longer my least favorite way to create. It’s my favorite thing to do.

And tonight, like always, I’ll draw one item that I bought today. In black pen. On white paper. No do-overs.

Happy end of 2025!

Happy almost New Year!

More words (and photos and drawings) in 2026!

As always, thanks for reading and looking,

xo-KBB

I’m doubling down on my effort to listen to more records with Hank in the evenings as we work on projects at our large dining room table before the bedtime routine begins at 8 p.m. On the few nights we’ve managed to do it, the albums in rotation have been Paul Simon’s Graceland, Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger, and S.E. Rogie’s The Sounds of S.E. Rogie. All three are perfect soundtracks for sitting with your seven-year-old as you try to get a head start on making foam clay erasers and pencils for upcoming holiday markets—and while he works on his own foam clay creations, which he’s convinced will be a hit. Right now, he believes tiny tornadoes will be big this winter 2025 season. I fear I’ve instilled in him the idea that anything he makes needs to be sold, which is a bad habit I’ve also picked up. 

Graceland was released in 1986, when I was 9 years old—just a few years older than Hank. I remember it being one of the first CDs my dad bought from a music and stereo shop in the small nearby town of Rolla, Missouri, whose name I can’t recall, but I’m pretty sure it had "Rainbow" in the title. If anyone reading is familiar with Rolla, Missouri, around the mid-80s, please let me know if you remember the tiny stereo shop that also sold new-fangled CDs. Google isn't helping me, and I worry I’ll spend my two hours of writing this newsletter searching for its name. (UPDATE: It was called End of the Rainbow. If you want to read a copy of the November 30th, 1988 edition of the Missouri Miner, where I found the ad above, click here.) We lived in an even smaller town twenty minutes away, with our house at the end of a gravel road on the bluffs of the Gasconade River. My dad liked a LOUD stereo, and a core memory of mine is him pushing our stereo to the loudest it could go before it distorted the sound. I remember walking up the big hill before reaching our house and hearing Graceland LOUD. LOUD. LOUD. 

Paul Simon has been a musical thread throughout my entire life, even before I was born. My mom and dad saw Simon and Garfunkel in 1968 at Iowa State in Ames, a few months after they started dating. Mom still keeps the ticket stubs in one of her scrapbooks (which I admired when I was growing up, and just typing this reminds me that I should look through them and document some of the colorful pages). The internet recently told me that the Ames, Iowa, concert is famous for being the spot where the audience’s handclapping during the Everly Brothers’ cover of “Bye Bye Love” was recorded. That recording was later used in the live version of the song on their Bridge Over Troubled Water album. THANK YOU, INTERNET!

Mom and Dad went to see the Graceland tour when it came to the Fox Theater in St. Louis, and it was the first time we ever had a babysitter spend the night. Her name was Angie Parker, and she was one of my favorite babysitters. I remember she fried hamburgers in the kitchen, and it stank up the whole house, but it felt EXOTIC because Dad only cooked hamburgers on the outdoor grill. Mom and Dad returned the next day with a very glossy Graceland program from the show that I must have flipped through hundreds of times over the next several years. I should check and see if Mom still has it, along with those scrapbooks.

The album before Graceland was Hearts and Bones, and I can confidently say the song Hank has listened to the most in his life is Rene and Georgette Magritte with their Dog After the War. It was one of his favorite songs I would sing it to him repeatedly, and it eventually became one of his sleep songs that we listened to on repeat before he fell asleep. He only stopped doing this a few months ago, but I have documented this song in various drawings and in end-of-year Spotify wraps, where it has topped the charts. So, as I was flipping through my records trying to pick a few for him to hear, Graceland just made sense. He didn’t complain, so I see it as a success. I will save my thoughts on Willie Nelson and S.E. Rogie for a future newsletter, but trust me, they rule.

Also, if you want to see a not-great music video that deeply leans into early 80s DIGITAL and features Carrie Fisher, might I recommend this one?

I love my Lorien Stern Snake shirt. I believe this style is sold out, but she has plenty of other tempting clothing items if you're shopping. I also think I collect oversized crayon banks; this is my second one. We've entered our Wimpy Kid phase. I'm currently on book five as I write this. 

Watch out for some new patterns — thanks to Jen Stady for inspiring me to get these refillable chisel markers during a recent workshop she taught our students at PSUGD. Also, did I really start a new school year if I don’t get a $50 parking ticket? Also, Partly Shop in Portland is cute as heck, and I deeply love this sticker.

I took my students on a field trip to Everyday Music to look at real records for their music packaging project, and I bought a Desmond Dekker album (and Sweet and Dandy by Toots and the Maytals). We love Wednesday in this house (hence the Gushers purchase on 10.13.25). I needed to replenish my graph paper supply since I have a lot of lettering I need to work on over the next few months, and your gal needs a guide.

I have drawn all of Hank’s school photos since pre-school. It’s a tradition that I LOVE. We went to Nebraska to take Hank to his first Husker game. Clifton bought a Nebraska scarf, and I bought a bootleg Herbie Husker sweatshirt from Jake’s smokeshop. My sister-in-law, Casey, and I bought a puzzle at Goodwill in Grand Island, thinking Hank might want to put it together with us, but he showed zero interest, so Casey and I locked in and jammed it out.

I love Dollar Country, and I was stoked to purchase this sticker from Secret Room on November 1st. Also, I know you might THINK the TJ’s corn candles are FLYING off the shelves, but breaking news: I was at my local Trader Joe’s last night, and they still had plenty. GIVE THE GIFT OF CORN!

More drawings and words soon,

Thanks for reading!
XO KBB

Hello to all the new folks who found me through Austin Kleon’s Typewriter Interview series! He shared mine a few weeks ago, and I had such a fun time working on it. I took my sweet time getting him my analog responses, but thankfully, he did not write me off. You can read the whole thing here.

Since then, the only drawings I have managed to make outside of my daily purchase drawings have been for school. I made a map of all the buildings that make up The Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design, along with a scavenger-hunt card for our open house, which kicked off the new school year. Both were such a joy to draw, full of chaos, community, and celebration of everything that happens in those spaces.

This term, I’m co-teaching a class for our second-year students at PSUGD with Leland. Alongside studio exercises, we also have a weekly reading response series. I wanted to share a bit more of my teaching with you all, so I am going to start sharing more about what goes on in my classroom, starting with this week's readings.

Our theme: Finding Inspiration (Without Forcing It)
The following links all view inspiration as a practice, not a waiting game for an A-HA moment. And how it’s about showing up, paying attention, practicing, giving yourself a little grace, not expecting perfection, and building up those creative muscles.

Jessica Hische: “Inspiration vs. Imitation”
Jessica Hische is a lettering artist, illustrator, and author known for her joyful, intricate work for clients like Wes Anderson, The New York Times, and Penguin Books. In this essay, she breaks down the myth of waiting for inspiration to strike and reminds us that showing up and making something, ANYTHING, is what actually creates momentum. This essay was built upon a comic that Jessica first uploaded to freaking Flickr in 2010.
→ Read here

Ira Glass: “The Gap” (video)
In this classic fan-made video, Ira Glass (of This American Life) talks about “the gap,” the space between your taste and your ability, and how the only way to close that gap is through consistent, honest work. It’s a must-watch for anyone who has ever felt frustrated by their own creative progress. I have also talked about this dang quote for over 15 years. It’s a classic!
→ Watch here

Austin Kleon: The Inspiration for Tomi Ungerer’s The Three Robbers
In this post, Austin Kleon shares how illustrator Tomi Ungerer found the spark for his children’s book The Three Robbers in an old piece of printed ephemera: a German sheet called the Münchener Bilderbogen. Ungerer didn’t invent his idea out of thin air; he translated and transformed what he found into something new. The book is my favorite kids’ book, and I am pretty sure the animation is one of my favorites as well! You know you are in for a treat when you see the Weston Woods logo bumper!
→ Read here
→ Watch here

For this upcoming week, we are shifting gears a bit. I am building a new list of readings and videos on the theme “Looking Closely” as we dive into moodboards and visual research for the students’ first big project. It is one of my favorite weeks of the term, when everyone starts gathering images, textures, and references that hint at what their projects want to become.

If you have any favorite articles, essays, or videos that explore the idea of looking closely, seeing differently, or paying attention in creative work, I would love to hear about them. I am always collecting material to share with students, and I am especially excited to introduce them to the work and teachings of longtime fave Rob Walker soon.

In Outlet news, we are swinging into HOLIDAY SEASON TIME! Last week, Leland launched our 2026 calendar pre-order and our call for submissions! We’ve printed these every holiday season for 6 years now, and we feel lucky to have the creative folks we know and love and print with (and some new friends too!) participate. A little calendar history: every year, we take submissions from local artists to create a vibrant 2-color risograph-printed and bound calendar. The theme of the calendar this year is BRIGHTNESS!

We design this calendar with printmakers, designers, riso nerds, and print collectors in mind—you can trim the artwork out to keep and frame (12 beautiful prints!), and we include color combinations, special inks and papers, and other extras that can serve as a swatchbook and inspiration for any future projects!

In other Outlet news: I have a lot of things to make for upcoming holiday markets, stop yelling at me. :)

My default show to watch with Hank lately has been The 24-Hour Price is Right channel (The Barker Years, of course). I’ve been taking photos of the screen with plans to eventually make a Price is Right zine. It’s such a perfect time capsule of 1980s style, typography, colors, and products. Hank and I have been having a great time guessing prices and witnessing the pure joy of victory and the agony of defeat.

I also purchased a treasure trove of found photos from Draplin’s yard sale a few weeks ago. It wasn’t until I was assembling new scrap packs that I realized that there were so many dang gems in this five-dollar box of photos.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading, and again, I would love your favorite 👀 Looking Closely 👀 links to share!

more drawings and words soon,

KBB

My daily carry is an overstuffed planner full of Very Important Things™: lists, meetings, about a thousand dot stickers, receipts that make me laugh (like Hank’s very specific burger order), and this recent photobooth strips documenting the milestone of Hank’s last Saturday before he started 2nd grade from a few weeks ago.

I make every attempt to jam our Saturdays with a mix of the ridiculous and the ordinary: grocery shopping, playgrounds, seasonal events, and the occasional surprise. Hank and I have been doing these Saturday rambles since he was three. He’s seven now. I try not to think too hard about the future Saturdays when he’ll want to spend them with friends instead of me. Which is great! Friends are great! But for now, I have my wandering buddy who is always game to explore.

Today is Sunday. I am currently parked in front of the library with a dead car battery because I left my headlights on during a phone call (a Classic Kate Car Office™ mistake). Roadside assistance says 45–75 minutes. Honestly, I’m rooting for 75 because I’m already enjoying this unexpected solo car office session.

These last weeks have been all about gearing up for the new school year, focusing on what I can actually control, and making sure I didn’t get dry sockets after my wisdom teeth came out on September 8th (all good, thank you).

Want to see August’s Daily Purchase Drawings? Great! Here we go:

I am still stuck in my dead car, but I managed to write a post! Huzzah! Thank you for reading, and I will see you with a September Daily Purchase Drawing Dispatch very soon, considering it is freaking SEPTEMBER 21st already. Sending everyone lots of love as we navigate this world together. Thanks for reading. More drawings and words soon.

XO
KBB

See you soon, Fall!

XOXO,
KBB

Hi and welcome to all the new folks who joined after last month’s Landon interview! Every month, I share a little dispatch of my daily purchase drawings and this one’s for July.

I am going back to only giving myself two hours to write these entries. I have fallen off the wagon regarding giving myself restraints in writing, and as a result, I have talked myself out of writing anything at all. So I have left Outlet, posted up outside of Crema Coffee, am currently battling bees for dominance over my sandwich and coffee, and my two-hour timer started about five minutes ago.

Hank returns to school in a little over a week, and this also kicks off my back-to-school prep mode for Portland State Graphic Design. I hate it when people declare that summer is over, but, well, it’s getting there, friends.

The Landon Interview brought so many of you here, and it’s been fun sharing the responses with him. He’s very delighted that you’re delighted. Bonus: I finally got to meet him in person, after many texts about which signs to adopt. It was a very hard choice, but I landed on the rainbow and sun Roof Clean duo.

The rainbow Roof Clean sign even made it into my TypeCon keynote earlier this month—proof below. The talk went well, and prepping for it gave me excuses for new slides, a new website (still working on it), and even a new zine about zines (stay tuned). Very grateful. More photos from the talk can be seen here.

Hank is now in his Darth Vader era (see above photo from his 7th birthday, where he stayed up until exactly 10:33 pm—the time he was born).

So that’s July. Summer winding down, teeth on their way out, helmets buckled on, and plenty of Tic Tacs, pizza, and pool days in between. Thanks for following along, whether this is your first dispatch or you’ve been here for a bit. It still amazes me how a paper-mâché PEZ dispenser, a thrifted dress, or a Darth Vader mask can stack up into a breadcrumb trail of memory. Thanks for being here, and I’ll be back soon.

xoxo
KBB

PS: Darth says Hi.
PPS: This was written in two hours. We are so back!

Since the beginning of the summer, I’ve literally pulled over to take pictures of these colorful, playful, hand-painted signs nailed to a variety of telephone poles around Portland. They advertise roof cleaning, house washing, and gutter clearing—sometimes just “ROOF CLEAN” in big, blocky letters—all in a riot of vibrant colors and lettering styles that feel totally human, wonky, and great. I felt a real kinship with whoever was making these type and color choices, and spotting the signs became a highlight of my drives around Portland. Every time I shared one on Instagram, folks responded with love and adoration. I even joked in a few replies that I was going to text the number on the sign to find out more.

So I texted the number. That’s how I met Landon.

Landon owns the business and makes the signs. He paints them at night while watching sitcoms, mounts them with serious screws, and takes breaks to swim when it’s too hot to be on a roof. He is also the proud owner of a 100lb German Shepherd and 12 aquariums! Over several days, we had a long and lovely text conversation about work, color, signage, and his process for making these delightful signs.

Here’s our full exchange, which has been lightly edited from our original chat.

KATE:
You mentioned that you run the business… do you also make the signs?

LANDON:
Yep, it’s all me! I own the roof washing business, and I make the signs.

KATE:
When did you start painting these by hand?

LANDON:
Well, technically, I had made some handmade ones in the very beginning, but I just used Sharpie on plain wood, and they didn’t look very good. I’d say I only started taking the hand-painted ones more seriously within the last year or two. I’ve never spent a lot of time drawing or painting, but I’ve always enjoyed doodling various shapes and designs on my schoolwork and some college assignments. I’ve heard it supposedly helps the brain focus in various ways.

Originally, I was making them out of wood, so they were harder to destroy. However, as I started drawing my own signs, I realized I was actually having quite a bit of fun!

KATE:
A few people also want to know: Are your home improvement services as rad as your signs?

LANDON:
Haha. I wouldn’t call myself a general home improvement guy—I’m not fixing plumbing or installing lighting. My background is in roofing. I used to be in a union doing commercial flat roofing. Hot tar. Brutal in the summer. I got heat stroke multiple times.

That’s why I started my own thing. These days, if it’s 90+ degrees out, I’d rather swim than sweat bullets on a roof.

KATE:
Do you always paint on wood?

LANDON:
Yeah! Wood’s just tougher. I sometimes paint both sides depending on the plywood. The nicer, smoother stuff from Home Depot needs to be sealed to hold up outside. Other times I’ll find scraps in free piles or on Craigslist—always double-checking they’re actually free before taking anything!

KATE:
What are the typical sign sizes?

LANDON:
The big ones are 24" x 32". I can get six out of a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood. Most others are 12" x 18", but I use whatever scraps I’ve got! No sense in wasting material. I’ve even made tiny ones just for laughs. There are a few of those around Portland. I think some are on César Chávez near the park.

KATE:
How do you mount the signs so high?

LANDON:
I have a bunch of ladders, including some pretty massive ones from my roofing days. The high-up signs are mounted with 7–8 T-25 Torx screws. The ones lower down get a double plywood backing and some heavy-duty screws. The screws are hardened steel…super strong. I got a big batch from someone who buys out storage units, so I got a deal. Otherwise, they’re about $1 each, which adds up fast.

KATE:
How do you choose where to put them?

LANDON:
As for choosing the locations, some of the factors are places with a lot of vehicle traffic but not much foot traffic. I also try to put them near stoplights or, at the very least, a stop sign. I’ve seen other people put signs in totally random spots, like the middle of a highway, which makes no sense. No one is going to read that driving by at 30 to 50 MPH, and if they do, it’s probably not very safe, haha.

There are lots of other factors I could go into, but some of it is hard to explain. It’s kind of just experience and intuition. For example, I wouldn’t put one right in front of an HOA—they’ll either rip it down or call to complain.

KATE:
I love it when you include drawings (like the suns, water waves, and clouds) with your type. I can tell you're having a great time making these. Do you mostly paint at night? How often do you find yourself making signs? Do you ever make them during the day?

LANDON:
Yeah, I tend to like filling in the empty space on the signs with doodles, shapes, designs, and things like that. Not all of them, of course. Several have a lot of unused space, which I don’t necessarily think is a bad thing. I have no idea if the doodles actually make people more likely to see the signs or call the number, but I just like doing it.

As far as when I do most of my sign painting, it's mostly at night, after work, at home, while watching TV or a movie. I like having something on in the background. I can’t really draw and play video games or read at the same time, so this works best.

KATE:
Ha! That’s how I work too. I do a lot of my drawing while watching TV or movies, but I'm only kind of paying attention. I TOTALLY understand :) What do you like to watch when you paint?

LANDON:
Old sitcoms, mostly. Seinfeld, The Office, Big Bang Theory, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Parks and Rec, It’s Always Sunny, Workaholics, Arrested Development. Stuff I’ve seen before, so I can just glance up and not miss anything.

I also like mystery and sci-fi shows, but they’re harder to follow while painting. I recently rewatched Killjoys. I already knew the plot, so I didn’t have to rewind much.

KATE:
Where do you physically make these signs?

LANDON:
For the background painting, I sometimes do it on a bright, sunny day so the paint dries nicely and quickly. I don’t really have a set time when I make signs. The bigger challenge is finding where to make them. I don’t have a proper shop or garage or anything like that, so I just make them here and there.

I paint them at my parents' house in Oregon City sometimes because they have a large property and let me work out there. Although painting outdoors can be frustrating, often loose dust, debris, and even insects land in the paint. The insects especially irritate me. You can’t really see them from a distance, but it still grosses me out. I don’t want a bunch of dead bugs stuck in my signs.

KATE:
How often do you find time to make them?

LANDON:
It depends. I’ve had stretches where I paint signs for 10 hours a day for three or four days in a row, and then I’m wrecked. Serious knots in my back.

KATE:
Do you seal the signs? What are some of your favorite pens?

LANDON:
Generally yes, especially if it’s one I spent more time on and feel more proud of. I don’t always seal them, though, for a few different reasons. One reason is that I’m just in a hurry to get some signs out there and I don’t feel like taking the extra time and expense to clear coat them. And honestly, they hold up fairly well outdoors without any sealing.

I’d say the bigger reason I seal and clear coat my signs is to prevent them from rubbing off on each other or getting scratched up by my various work tools.

I prefer water-based paint markers. I’ve used many different types and brands, and it took me a while to figure out what I like best. I went back and forth between water and oil-based several times. Even though oil-based markers have some advantages, I still greatly prefer the water-based ones. Oil-based can be a pain to work with. The ink takes much longer to cure, so layering is difficult and time-consuming. It often gives you a sticky feeling when you try to go over existing lines.

Water-based markers are much brighter and more visible from a distance, which is important in a roadside sign. They also write more smoothly and flow more easily, while oil-based ones tend to feel sticky and inconsistent.

I’m also still learning what to use for clear coats. A lot of times, the clear coats react badly with the paint underneath, either by bubbling, melting the underlying paint, or washing away the drawn-on lines. There’s quite a bit more to painting than I realized.

KATE:
Do they ever get stolen or damaged?

LANDON:
Oh yeah. All the time. It’s part of the game. It was actually pretty discouraging at times, especially in my earlier years, but with time and experience, I’ve learned to be more resilient and to persevere.

KATE:
What’s a typical day like for you?

LANDON:
I usually wake up at about 10 a.m. (I’m not much of a morning person) and check my phone for messages and whatnot. Then I take my dog, Crash, out to go to the bathroom. He’s a 100-pound German Shepherd.

It takes my brain a while to perk up, so I like to watch some YouTube videos while I slowly wake up. I watch all kinds of things. I’m interested in aquariums, knives, skateboarding, rock collecting, and writing.

Then I’ll either head off to work or to the river, depending on how hot it is and what I’ve discussed or scheduled with customers. After I finish work for the day, I spend some time in the neighborhood knocking on doors, putting up flyers, and installing signs nearby.

Then I head home, take my dog out again to exercise and go to the bathroom, tend to all my aquariums (I have about 12), and then either read, browse the internet, watch TV, or work on drawing and painting more signs.

KATE:
Where’s your go-to swim spot?

LANDON:
I usually swim in either the Clackamas or the Wilson River. On the Clackamas, I go to a popular spot called High Rocks, as well as a few other places I’ve been frequenting since I was a kid. A lot of the time, I just go to my parents' house, which is right on the Clackamas, and swim there with my dog.

On the Wilson River, I’ll go to Jones Creek and the Footbridge Trailhead, but not as often since it’s about an hour drive.

KATE:
What have you learned about yourself from doing this?

LANDON:
I don’t know if there’s been some big personal growth thing. But I’ve learned that I really like doodling, drawing, and coloring. It’s just fun. And honestly, that’s enough for me. Wish I had a better answer for you on this one.

KATE:
No, that’s a great answer. Art doesn’t have to be complicated or deep. It’s wonderful when it’s fun.

KATE:
Thank you so much, Landon. This has been such a treat.

LANDON:
You’re welcome, and thanks for the appreciation. Really! 😊

POSTSCRIPT:
If you want one of Landon’s signs and you're local, shoot him a text! His number is on his signs! He’s open to selling them, and he’s also open to custom orders. And if you need your roof cleaned, patio washed, or gutters gutted, Landon is your guy.

In a world where everything is starting to look and sound the same, Landon’s signs feel like the antidote. Human, scrappy, and full of color.

If you like his signs, leave him some love in the comments. I know he would love it, and so would I!

Now I have to decide which of his signs I want to hang in my home!

As always, thanks for reading :)

🪧‼️☀️☁️ KBB

I am writing this post as part of my patented1 procrastiworking process, where I actually need to be working on writing my TypeCon talk, but instead, I am doing other not-as-urgent items from my to-do list. I am going to get so much done while I avoid writing this talk. I can’t wait!

Unanswered emails? Watch out, I am coming for you.
Website? You’re about to get updated (JK, who are we fooling). Also, I know that my workspace at Outlet as well as my workspace at home will get a deep clean because not only do I indulge in the dark arts of procrastiworking, but I am a dedicated practitioner of procrasticleaning as well.

Welcome to this month’s edition of Daily Purchase Drawings!

Some purchases of note:

→Two drawings were dedicated to making sure that we could listen to KMHD on our stereo receiver at home. For non-Portland folks, KMHD is the best jazz radio station. We keep it on 24/7 in our house. One of my summer goals for 2024 was to upgrade our stereo, which I accomplished thanks to an old receiver that belonged to my dad. Another 2024 summer goal was to get a will, which never happened and has since been moved to my 2025 summer goals list. I think it’s safe to say that upgrading your stereo is more fun than getting a will, so I am going to give myself a pass on failing this to-do list item.

→Also, Hank and I went to the mall2.

→I have been slowly collecting garden tools over the last few months, and I am pretty pleased with how aggressive this steel garden knife looks, but not pleased with how pathetic it is at digging out weeds.

→Also, in purchasing fails, I was correct in my original assessment that this bizarre bunion corrector wouldn’t make my big toe feel better, because it doesn’t help in the slightest. (Yes, internet friends, I have a bunion.)

→ We sadly said goodbye to the beloved Hammer and Jacks toy store here in Portland. Six of their yellow metal pegboards live on in our garage. Part of our goodbye process was visiting the playroom where Hank spent many hours3 when he was little. Portland has lost three local toy stores this spring/summer, and it’s bumming me out.

→ The plastic inflatable pool purchased on June 8th is already in the garbage.

→ And the purchase of Squidward on June 9th symbolizes the beginning of our SpongeBob watching marathon. We started on episode 1, season 1, and we are currently on episode 4, season 5.

→ We rang in the beginning of Neighborhood Garage Sale Season™ in Portland by attending the annual Laurelhurst Garage Sale. Our big score was a VHS + DVD combo player. Now I need to find an aux cord, and we will be in business.

→ The neck fan purchased on June 17th was worn many times while I was frustrated about having a broken car AC. (Editor’s note: AC is now fixed, and I have a great mechanic for you if you live in Portland. Let me know!)

→ Also, both of the goggles that were purchased on June 20th were returned due to not fitting Hank’s face. We have a pair of good old Speedo goggles that are currently getting the job done.

→ We said goodbye and Happy Birthday to my friend and colleague, Michael Vasquez!4 He’s heading to Tyler School of Art to start his MFA in Printmaking, and he will be missed both at Outlet and PSU!

→ I only drew the Moonstruck shirt, but I also got a Close Encounters of the Third Kind shirt from Grilka Press here in Portland. The Johann Sebastian Bach one is currently sitting in my cart.

I started the preliminary planning for a riso-printed book showcasing a selection of the last 20 years of Daily Purchase Drawings. I want to print it at Outlet, and it will also function as part of a riso sample book, highlighting drawings, writings, and photos from this project, along with using all of our ink colors, multiple paper samples, some cool binding techniques, and other fun bells and whistles. I mentioned that I love to procrastinate at the beginning of this post, but this is a project that I am going to tackle AFTER FINISHING my Typecon talk. Thanks again for your encouragement to move forward with making a book!

Going to leave you with a photo of the insane tire shop waiting room that I was in a few weeks ago when I needed my back tires replaced (this hasn’t been a good month for my sweet old Honda Fit: new front brakes, broken AC, and surprise back tires…oh my). But I did find my new favorite tire shop located at 181st and Burnside with the most maximalist waiting room of my dang dreams!

Thanks for reading, and now it’s time to pick Hank up from Bike Camp where he learned how to ride his bike this week. Go Hank GO!

🚲 KBB

2

This is the photo that the drawing is based on taken at the Lloyd Center Mall at our the chairs where we always eat our pretzels.

3

Hank is checking out the deconstructed play area one last time. See, it’s sad!! Thank you Hammer and Jacks for being such a special place!

4

Michael had a photoshoot with all of our risos before he left. He is posing with Corita.

Driving around with my 6-year-old chasing down fireworks.

Smoke Bombs.

The cashier at Goodwill asked me if I wanted my senior citizen discount.

Hank dropped 2 out of his 3 hot dogs.

The aimlessness of a holiday.

Sparklers with grandma.

Feeling sick about chatgpt.

I can’t get the handmade signs that advertise roof repair and house washing out of my head.

Searching for a Sandy Cheeks plushie (harder to find than you think).

Paying bills.

Driving to camp.

Waiting for camp to be over.

Picking up from camp.

Watering the plants.

Drink more water.

We only eat hamburgers and I am fine with this.

See you all sooner than later. I promise.

XO KBB

I don’t know where May went, but at least I have almost a full month of drawings that remind me it happened.

I always tell myself I’m drawing these things to remember so that I won’t forget. When life speeds up, as it did this past month, I often have songs looping quietly in the back of my brain. One of my favorite, yet not-so-favorite, anxiety anthems is “A Different City” by Modest Mouse, from their 2000 album, The Moon and Antarctica. There's a line that plays on repeat:

"I wanna remember to remember to forget you forgot me."

Which is… kind of how I feel whenever I try to explain why I’ve been drawing something I buy every day for almost 20 years.

That lyric is so tangled up in memory and contradiction…someone trying, and trying, to let go of someone who’s already moved on. It’s this endless, obsessive emotional labor that never quite resolves.

My drawing project feels like the opposite of that. I’m not trying to forget. I’m trying to remember. Not a person who forgot me, but the little things we’re supposed to toss aside. I draw them so they don’t just disappear. So I can look back someday and say: I was here. This mattered. Even if only for a moment.

There’s something kind of absurd, and honestly, kind of beautiful, about choosing to hold on to what’s meant to be forgotten. My drawings aren’t declarations of importance. I like to think that they are gestures of care. They ask:
What if we gave the overlooked a little attention?
Where is all of this going?
Where are these drawings ending up?

Or… am I just being a giant weirdo because 2026 is around the corner, and 20 years of this feels REALLY BIG?

Do I make a book?
Do I want to make a book?
Does anyone care?
Does anyone need to care?

Over time, this growing collection has become more than just a list of things I bought. It’s a record of who I was, what I needed, what I thought I needed, what I returned to, what I let go. It’s not really about consumption. It’s about attention, memory, and the quiet desire to find meaning in a world that rushes right past us.

Just like this last month.
ZOOOOOM. WHAT HAPPENED TO MAY???
I don’t know. Let me check the drawings.

Oh hey—it was a pretty great month.
Thanks for reminding me, Daily Purchase Drawings.
And thank you for reading.
🌀
KBB

P.S.: This was quickly written during the hour and a half I spent waiting to get my front brake pads replaced. Yes, Jiffy Lube at 33rd and Sandy was my unexpected 90-minute writing residency. And yes, those brake pads will be my Daily Purchase Drawing for Wednesday, May 28th, 2025.

As I mentioned in my last message, Leland and I are heading to the Seattle Art Bookfair, and I made a batch of promos for our zine library to bring along. They were deeply inspired by a story Maurice Sendak once shared on Fresh Air—one that’s stuck with me for years and continues to shape how I think about love, creativity, and making things for others.

Ever since hearing this story, I’ve believed the highest compliment you can give something is to want to eat it. That said, please don’t eat our zines—even if you love them so much you want them to live inside you. And while we’re at it, please don’t eat the riso ink either. Yes, it’s candy-colored and has the texture of cake frosting, but it’s decidedly not edible.

So! We’re headed to Seattle, and I’ll be away for two nights and three days. I already feel that familiar tug of guilt about being away from Hank for so long. But this current weekend is just for us: no meetings, no workshops—just a full-on mom-and-kid adventure. We’ve got plans to eat orange chicken at Phat Cart, hit the farmer’s market, do some grocery shopping, pick out treasures at the fossil shop, visit a thrift store or two, maybe a playdate, and work in the garden while he runs wild with the neighbor kids. Basically, our version of partying hard.

The last few weeks involved an 8th Birthday Party for Outlet and a 16th Annual PSUGD Be Honest Student Showcase. The Outlet party was sweet and small, and Be Honest was huge and hectic, and fun was had at both.

For Outlet’s 8th birthday, I went deep into the archives and pulled every Daily Purchase Drawing that referenced Outlet in some way. From there, I curated a selection of favorites and turned them into a one-color commemorative print to celebrate eight years of the creative chaos of running a small business. The drawings above represent about a third of what I unearthed. While combing through nearly eight years of files, I was once again reminded that my current “system” (a folder for each year, filled with months, and then the monthly folders filled with drawings named only by date) is... not ideal. I DREAM of a searchable archive—keyword-tagged, organized, and actually useful. You know, for the future me.

Friday night’s Outlet Birthday party was a sweet mix of old friends, new faces, risograph mischief, a plateful of old Peeps, and a deep, familiar love for this space that’s held so many memories over the years. Happy Birthday, Outlet. Let’s keep this going, okay?

The next day, over 100 PSUGD students took over the sixth floor of Wieden+Kennedy, transforming the space into a buzzing, floor-to-ceiling showcase of nerves and creativity. We welcomed hundreds of friends, family, designers, and design-lovers who came out to celebrate and explore the incredible work on display.

Be Honest is always a massive lift—months of planning, prepping, and pulling it all together. But it’s also one of the most rewarding parts of the year. There’s nothing like watching the students ride the emotional rollercoaster—from nerves and last-minute tweaks to the pure pride and joy that comes with sharing their work with folks they know and folks they don’t know. Let’s do it again next year, okay?

The last two weeks of Daily Purchase Drawings have been a grab bag of party prep and school chaos: tiny Miller High Lifes, clearance Peeps, 60 clown noses, 400 root beer barrels (which, sadly, didn’t go over nearly as well as the hot dog gummies), and 500 water cups. The undisputed MVP? A glorious 5-foot pink stretching bar that now lives in my bedroom and has become part of my daily ritual to uncrunch my spine. And the week’s absolute dud? The SAVAGE Supreme trimmer line that broke every 30 seconds while I wrestled with weeds in the backyard. Savage, indeed.

In my last message, I mentioned I hadn’t had time to make any new zines for the upcoming Seattle Art Book Fair. Well, status update: I’m in the process of updating and reprinting two older titles that have been out of circulation for a while. One of them is Other People’s Mugs, based on a project where I—quite literally—drew other people’s mugs.

The second zine I’m bringing back is And You Can’t Only Eat Cheese—a collection packed with cheese drawings from over the years. And yes, assembling it once again made me long for a proper, searchable filing system. While it’s not the shiny new zine I had hoped to debut, it is a step forward—and that counts for something. We leave for Seattle a week from today. Will I have these updated in time? Will they be printed and ready to go? What a suspenseful note to end on, I know. DRAMATIC CLIFF HANGER! Stay tuned—and thanks, as always, for being part of the ride.

🧀 KBB 💛

Outlet is tabling at the Seattle Art Book Fair for the first time this May, and THIS IS ME SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS!!! I’m planning on making a new zine for the occasion—ideally two. But let’s not get too wild with the promises here.

Editor’s note: It is now two weeks later, and I haven’t started the zine. Or zines. I have been thinking about them, which is basically step one, right?

The spring term started three weeks ago, and I feel like I was launched out of a cannon. The last few weeks have been filled with critiques, calendar chaos, and preparing for portfolio shows and reviews. This season always comes with a swirl of emotions. There’s the stress of deadlines and shows and emails and planning. But also? The intense joy of seeing students pull together these incredible projects. Watching their ideas take shape—it still is an incredible drug, even after all these years.

Sometimes (okay, often), I fantasize about what my days would look like if I weren’t on the emotional rollercoaster of guiding design students and navigating the ups and downs of the university system. But I also know how fortunate I am to do this work. This year marks twenty years of being fully immersed in academia. When do you start to feel like you know what you’re doing? Asking for a friend. That friend is me.

How did I do this at 26? At 36? At 46?
What will I be doing at 56? 66? 76? Hello, early morning mid-life freak out. It’s time to get up and start your day.

Speaking of which, it’s 5 am and I’ve been up since 3, which was when Hank crept into our bed and immediately passed out while I, of course, woke up wide awake. After two hours of willing myself back to sleep, I gave in, came upstairs, and started typing.

In a perfect world, I’d wake up early on purpose, have a couple of quiet hours to write and think before the day starts.
But this only seems to happen when I’ve had a completely restless night. So let’s send out a newsletter, baby!

We watched quite a few movies this week since Hank and I were trading a stomach bug back and forth. He sat through the entirety of An American In Paris, so you know he wasn’t feeling 100% and was great company for the entire two hours of this 1951 Gene Kelly musical. We also watched the 1994 film starring Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen, and Martin Short, a fever dream called Clifford. We have been telling each other to “look at me like a person! Look at me like a human boy!” for the last several weeks.

Also, Outlet tabled at the Reed Zine fest on March 29th, and I picked up a zine that I WISH I had made by Outlet Zine Librarian and badass illustrator and zinester Sophie Danner titled: I Love My Honda Fit. It’s ” It’s a good one, and you can buy it here.

Why yes, we did see the very first screening of Minecraft on opening day. It was incredibly joyful and we were such early adopters of this movie, that we got to miss the absolute chaos that these screenings have turned into. I also went to the dentist, where I was told that I needed my final two wisdom teeth removed after stubbornly holding on to them for 25 years after my first two wisdom teeth were yanked out of my skull. Anyone reading been on the other side of 40 and had their wisdom teeth taken out? I'd love to hear about the recovery time compared to being 20…

We had my in-laws visit this week from Nebraska, so many afternoons and nights revolved around swimming in the hotel pool and eating burgers and burritos across from the Best Western at Wood Village Burrito. Also, I finally own a tuxedo shirt.

I wanted to share a video of me flipping through my most recent sketchbook. No fancy editing. Just two plus minutes of me turning pages (consider this sketchbook asmr) and over three months of Daily Purchase Drawings, plus the occasional drawing for freelance or promos for Outlet, or this substack. I love watching these books pile up.

It’s 6:26 now. I can hear Hank shuffling around downstairs. I need to get dressed, pack up, and head to school.

I do want to get up at five again tomorrow to write, but maybe... without the two hours of tossing and turning beforehand? That part I could do without. Dream scenario: same quiet morning vibes, but with sleep attached.

Thanks again for reading :)
KBB

My first four-color click pen arrived in one of my grandma’s epic back-to-school supplies boxes, which she would ship from the exotic land of Kenosha, Wisconsin, during the 1980s. The boxes were filled with new-to-me upper-midwestern office supplies, unlike the pedestrian central Missouri supplies I had grown accustomed to. This pen core memory was unlocked when Hank received a new Mark Rober Crunch Labs Box in the mail this week. The box contained a build-your-own drawing machine, and the drawing tool that accompanied it was a classic four-color click pen. The drawing machine has yet to be built, but Hank and I have taken apart the pen and reassembled it a few times, and he has clicked, clicked, clicked, clicked the red, green, blue, and black pen options repeatedly. It’s a school supply right of passage, and I was pleased to see that he saw the value of this coveted writing tool.

Here is more reading about the 4 Color Click Pen because I went down the rabbit hole one night when I couldn’t sleep looking for articles about this pen.

→An NYT Home & Garden article from 2000
→2022 article about French teens disrupting class over stealing the pens and creating side hustles trading special editions
→And the article where I found the above photo plus a bunch more historical Bic advertisements

Winter term just ended, and spring term starts a week from today. This past week has been finals week and the week where my entire family doesn’t feel great due to all of us trading turns getting knocked down by a stomach bug. The purchases of this previous week revolved very much around stomach meds (3.18.25), liquid diet (3.21.25), and lying around reading (3.22.25). I took a chance and thought Hank might like Bunnicula, and my risk paid off. We are almost finished with book two (Howliday Inn) and have book three (The Celery Stalks at Midnight) waiting in the wings.

I have a soft spot for kid lit with this type of maximalist, detailed illustration style. It reminds me of another epic painter, Hodges Soileau, who illustrated The Babysitter’s Club books I read as a child.

But back to Bunnicula. It’s a perfect first spooky story to read to your six-year-old. It is the right amount of creeped-out combined with some cute animals. What’s not to love?

On Saturday, Outlet is tabling at the second annual Reed Zine Festival. It’s our first zine fest of the year, and I had a goal to have a new zine to share, but ALAS, I haven’t even started on this goal. Angela Nguyen, a 2023 grad of PSUGD, illustrated this cute poster. Way to go, Angela! We will be filling our table with a bunch of Zine Kits, Scrap Packs, and lots of zines to share!

This week from the Outlet Zine Library, I am featuring one of the many tiny zines Brian McMullen has sent me over the years. I feel tremendously fortunate to be included on his mailing list. Still Not Dotcoms was made in 2017 and is an ever-changing catalog of unregistered domain names researched, compiled, and published by Brian McMullen since 2000.

Please get lost in this list and maybe buy an unclaimed domain name or two. May I suggest yuckyfood.com, terriblegolf.com, or dankbasement.com?

I am closing things out with an ode to my favorite scanner—the Canon Lide 400. For the record, I have been a loyal user since the Canon Lide 100. This lightweight, powerful, and cheap scanner has scanned all of my daily drawings since I discovered it in 2009 because I needed a scanner to travel with. I mostly use this scanner for B&W drawings, but it’s also been handling the recent zine scans like a champ. I strongly recommend it!

Thanks for reading,
🌈KBB🌈

I keep seeing folks sharing zine resources on substack, and I want to throw my hat in the ring with some of my favorite zine-making things. I have facilitated zine workshops since 2008 thanks to my beloved mentor and friend Adriane Herman's encouragement. She invited me to give a talk and workshop at Maine College of Art, and I was like, "What should I do a workshop on?" And she said, "You should do a zine workshop. Duh." 

At that point, I had been making zines for others and myself for over ten years, but I had never organized a zine workshop. That February 2008 workshop kicked off ten years of traveling all over (the country! as well as Barcelona, Amsterdam, and London), giving zine workshops to anyone who would have me. Once I opened Outlet in 2017, the workshops had a home base, but I still occasionally fill up my trusty zine workshop suitcase and take the KBB Zine Show™ on the road.

Every zine workshop starts with folks getting warmed up and excited by touching, reading, smelling, and talking about the piles of zines I have brought in from my zine library to look at for inspiration. The library lives at Outlet and has over 4,000 titles. It is a 20-plus-year collection, and if you want to be included in the Official Outlet Zine Library™, send your zine to 2500 NE Sandy STE E, Portland, OR 97232, and we will give it a home!

Several years ago, I created this one-page zine template when Skillshare filmed a zine class with me in my studio. The template is instructional and motivational, and I hope it will assist you in creating your one-page zine. Print is Power!

Here is a photo step-by-step of the fold because it’s tricky. But trust me, after doing this ten or more times, you can do it in your sleep. In my zine workshops, everyone must make an edition1 to match the number of people participating so everyone can exchange and go home with their own one-page zine library. Sharing and exchanging are pivotal parts of the zine-making process.

Folks often ask me about good books for making zines, and I have one answer for them: Whatcha Mean What’s a Zine by art heroes Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson. It came out in 2006 and is filled with incredible illustrations, how-tos, and tons of history and inspiration to get folks of all ages into making zines. I think it’s out of print now, but many copies are floating around, including on Mark and Esther’s website! Fun fact, their daughter is Lili Todd and she makes incredible work as well. 

And SHAMELESS PLUG, but Outlet sells a Zine Starter Kit filled with blank zines, stickers, collage material, prompts, transfer type, and your very own bone folder2. I have a TON more to say about zines, so stay tuned!

There is a lot of spring optimism in this last week of purchases. We got a replacement hammock (3.9.25) for the backyard because I didn’t take our current one inside for the winter, and, well, guess what? It gets gross and destroyed. My raised beds arrived (3.13.25), which are still in the box because it hasn’t stopped raining since they arrived. Hank got a zebra costume (3.12.25) for his school musical, and it was politely rejected. We also got some new shoes (3.14.25) at the Adidas employee store, and fortunately, they have been enthusiastically accepted.

Welcome to a new feature where I dig through my zine library at Outlet and share! I am keeping the Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson love going by showcasing some scans of one of my most beloved zines, Chuck Cheese Please: Insane but True, made by them in 2006. This zine features all of the qualities that I love about making zines. Here, let me make a list!

1. A zine can be about anything you want it to be about. In this case, your love for Chuck E Cheese.

2. Small editions allow for big-time customization! This zine includes a physical game token and many pages with hand-drawn whiteout drawings, spray paint stencils, and pen markings on the colorful photocopied pages. This zine is 10/20 in the edition.

3. Experimentation!

4. Historical facts!

5. Personal anecdotes!

6. I love a collaborative zine!

This has been a ZINE HEAVY edition of the KBBBLOG! I hope you enjoyed it, and see you next week with OPINIONS and DRAWINGS about the stuff I love!

🎈KBB

One of the first used pieces of clothing I remember intensely loving was an old Stroh Light grey hooded sweatshirt that I found in the College of the Ozark’s1 campus laundry Free Box in 1996. My friend Zach2 worked there for his campus job, and he would let me rummage through the unclaimed items. College of the Ozarks was a work-study school, pretty religious and strict, and I remember thinking that I was pulling the wool over the eyes of the administration by scooping up a free sweatshirt that advertised a beer I had never tried. I kept this sweatshirt until 2019 when we moved out of the first house we had ever owned in Portland, a dilapidated 1915 dwelling in the Roseway neighborhood. We had just had Hank and were quick to realize that this house was not equipt for a newborn baby and that we were not equipt to fix it up, so in a cleaning frenzy, I got rid of my cherished sweatshirt to make more space in our brand new, yet tiny apartment rental. Dear 2019 Kate, 2025 Kate wants you to know that the sweatshirt you intensely love does not take up that much space, and there is no reason to donate it. Please reconsider. However, thank you for taking photos of the sentimental clothing you hastily dumped so I could use it for drawing reference six years later.

I still have never tried Stroh Light.

Later in my 20s, I thrifted a T-shirt that said, “40 and Feeling Sporty. " I thought it was hilarious whenever I wore it because no one would ever think I was 40. Ew! Gross! I also had a T-shirt that said, “Better 40 than Pregnant,” and dear reader…many years later, I was precisely both3.

I love drawing clothing. And if I can’t have the Stroh Light perfectly soft sweatshirt from the mid-90s, I at least have the drawing to memorialize it. That’s one of the many things I adore about drawing and documenting and why I am not mad at my younger self for starting down this rabbit hole of collecting, documenting, drawing and repeat.

Looking for ideas for something to draw? Then, this new KBBBLOG feature is for you.

Introducing PROMPT! PROMPT! PROMPT! Kicking it off with prompting you to → Draw a Favorite Clothing Item. Write a few lines about it. Share it or not share it. It’s up to you!

I love the weekend scavenger hunts that Hank and I embark on, which include frequenting fossil shops (the selenite wand purchase from 2.2.25, the mood ring from 3.1.25) and trying to locate the elusive Fun Dip, which he tried for the first time at a Valentine’s Day party and the experience blew his mind. We finally found a box at Walgreens on 2.22.25. We also reloaded our Tri-Met Max Train card (3.2.25) to swiftly move around downtown and visit Grandma Sherry at the Saturday Market, which opened for the 2025 season last weekend. He also requested a hairdryer (2.13.25) for his half-birthday. How could I deny this humble request?

Bigger-ticket items included a heavier coat (2.8.25) for my trip to the East Coast, where temperatures were in the single digits, and a travel backpack (2.12.25) after my 2007 Muji carry-on finally lost a wheel and was sent to carry-on heaven.

• I am about five hours into Ione Skye’s new memoir, Say Everything, and I am finding it very fun. However, I am also sure I am the book's exact audience. Lots of gossip. Lots of music talk. Lots of nostalgia. I love my new morning car commute listen.
  

• Diary of an 8-Bit Warrior books 1-6 are all we have been reading for nighttime stories and weekend mornings. We just started book six this morning, and this entire series surprised me with how much I don’t hate it. Is it Minecraft fan fiction written from the perspective of a villager tween? Yes, yes, it is. Is Hank hanging on to every single word and also reading sentences along with me? Yes, yes, he is. Do I miss the many months we read books 1 through 14 of The Wizard of Oz? Yes, yes, I do. This is also your reminder that the new Minecraft movie comes out in 26 days. ‼️😑‼️

  

• In family movie night news, I highly recommend Apollo 13, School of Rock, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. They also all hold up to multiple viewings. And let me save you some googling…Apollo 13 is on Netflix, School of Rock is on Paramount Plus, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks is on Disney. Also, Matilda (1996) fans rejoice; it is back streaming on Netflix. I swear to god, one of my next purchases will be a combo VHS/DVD player so I can start collecting physical media and stop this dumb “what is it playing on” dance. Long live physical media!

  

• In non-family movie night news, I am very into season 3 of White Lotus, which I watch on my tiny iPad with my headphones every Sunday night after everyone goes to sleep.
  

• And I made another color related playlist. Welcome to the world YELLOW. This playlist is simply based on the yellow album art that I spy in my liked list on Spotify. This isn’t a deep practice, but it’s been fun unearthing some stuff I haven’t listened to in a bit based on color.

Tomorrow is the start of the last week of winter term and I am starting to think about summer even though I have an entire spring term to get through, but it’s getting closer. It’s there. I can SEE IT!

See? That’s the Sun!
🌞KBB🌞

I have been doing mind-numbing (aka: soothing) things, like creating playlists to catalog the rainbow based on the colors of my liked songs on Spotify. Here is one for RED, which is my dorky Valentine from me to you. It’s accompanied by a meditative time-lapse of me drawing a heart on a scrap of blue that I later photoshopped onto Ricky Nelson, Talking Heads, Bettie Serveert, and Hall and Oates album thumbnails. Yes, I am a professor of graphic design.

Currently, I am typing this from a very cold Jiffy Lube lobby. I will send this out today (February 12th, 2025), and nothing will stop me. Not even an oil change or the world that is throwing outrage after outrage at a rapid-fire pace. I have had a draft of this email open in my tabs for a few weeks now. It was open when I traveled to Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, for a few days at the end of January. While I was there, I was named the Joan C. Edwards Distinguished Professor in the Arts and spent the week facilitating zine and drawing workshops with the art and design students. I also gave a talk in a full and fun room of students and community members, where I gleefully gave away prints and zines. Marshall University knows how to show the eff UP!

In two days, I am taking a red eye to Hartford, Connecticut, where I am going to go into slumber party mode with my forever friend Jenni for a few days and then hang out at the Hartford Art School to have some chats with printmaking and book arts students. I am part of the Auerbach Lecture Series, so if you are in the area, I am giving a public talk on Monday, February 17th. Then, I will be done with trips for a few months. I love, love, love visiting schools and talking with folks, but I also love being home. If you need an overly enthusiastic riso and zine enthusiast to come to your school or event, I am your gal.

Also, shout out to my Hartford, Connecticut hosts Jenni and Brian, who have always had the most comfortable house and couch. I have many, many, many good grad school memories of hunkering down in their living room to watch the newest episode of The Sopranos, Queer as Folk, and American Idol (timeframe was 2001-2003 for context). During this time, Brian worked in marketing for Time Warner Cable in Lincoln, Nebraska, while Jenni went to grad school for printmaking. Brian enlisted me and other grad school friends to film a stellar commercial promoting their newest feature, Pops the Pay Perview Corn, and it was shot in their cozy living room on their cozy couch. Brian was the voice of Pops. Corn, well, because we lived in Nebraska. Go Cornhuskers! This commercial is almost 25 years old, so maybe a sequel is needed. I will get on this.

In freelance news, I am working on a June feature for Highlights Magazine, which also includes the freaking cover. I am beyond excited about this opportunity and should be working on it instead of making playlists organized by color. The above image is the first of many piles of drawings for the June issue. I love to draw on tracing paper for my freelance work. It feels less precious and takes up less space when I archive the drawings. I also believe that the smooth surface preserves the pen tip longer. I draw with a chunkier pen (Faber-Castell Brush) than I use for my daily drawings (Faber-Castell Fine Brush) because the thicker line translates better when I vectorize. If anyone is curious, I use the online vector program vectorizor.io, which is my replacement for Vector Magic, which I used from about 2009 until last year. I HATE Adobe’s livetrace feature. There was one week in July of 2023 when Adobe introduced an update to livetrace, and it worked in the ways I needed it to work for a solid month. Then they introduced another update, and it was worthless again. Seriously, don’t even get me started. I have no idea if this minutia is interesting. However, it’s part of my process, and I am still very committed to drawing with actual pens and converting to digital vs digital illustration. This is the stubborn hill that I will die upon.

I need to let you know that the Dumb Phone app I purchased for $12 a few weeks ago and discussed in this newsletter is still on my to-do list to set up and use. I have GREAT intentions; I do. Other highlights of this week include Hank fully committing to these black and white checked shirts as his signature look, watching the brilliant movie Flow (seriously, all of the thumbs up, five stars, sincerely recommend), and finally admitting that my shoe size has gone up a size since having a child six years ago (hence the replacement black chucks from FB Marketplace).

I have two weeks of Daily Purchase Drawings to share because of travel, The World, and having had this tab open for a few weeks. Notable mentions from this batch include my airport book purchase of Martyr, which I devoured and am still thinking about. I am looking for another book to escape into, so I am all ears. I also bought a necessary/unnecessary blank book from the Paper Epiphanies store at the PDX airport.

The inside pages look like this, and I was seduced to spend some coin on another blank book. It’s part of my daily carry (along with my Little Otsu planner and Shinola sketchbook). 

I want to highlight a new program that Leland initiated for 2025 at Outlet. We are always looking for ways to support our community as a small arts business, and our 2025 effort to pay it forward is our Community Give Backs program. We select one organization or mutual aid group monthly to donate 10% of our print sales. You can learn more about the places we picked out on our Give Backs page, so please check out some of these incredible resources in the Portland community and support them! And, if you live in Portland, come print with us to help us raise lots of $$!

Also, Leland just listed several of their prints on the Outlet website, so if you like super vibrant, color-packed prints, you should go and take a look!

PILES

PILE 06: Spiraling in

Two weeks ago, on January 29—nine days after the inauguration—I gave a talk at the Headlands Center for the Arts, at the invitation of my friend Stephen Steinbrink. He played a set of songs afterwards, which was perfect. If you want to approximate the experience, read this newsletter and then go…

Read more

a year ago · 18 likes · Nicole Lavelle

I will leave you with a suggestion: Read this latest post from my former student, former studio mate, and dear friend Nicole Lavelle. I woke up to it this morning and loved reading every thoughtful word.

She does many amazing things, including running a fundraising sticker business that has raised $17,000 for various organizations since 2020. She needs to make the above two sticker sketches a reality because I want to purchase and draw them. You know the drill.

As always, thanks for reading and supporting, and I will write more soon,

🌽💛KBB💛🌽

Today would have been David Lynch’s 79th birthday. Several years ago, I drew this tiny portrait when I was challenging myself to get better and quicker at drawing people. For a quick moment, the internet was lovely when everyone posted photos, quotes, and video clips of their favorite David Lynch moments when he passed away a few days ago. I added another mantra to the 2025 pile, which is a quote of his: “Keep your eye on the donut and not the hole.” Thanks to the Lynchian internet community for reminding me of it.

I started working on drawing my friend ’s tiny chair collection this morning as an attempt to keep my eye on the donut and not the hole (aka: doomscrolling the news). I did some style and material studies and landed on a combo of gouache, marker, and brush pen. I adore Faythe and love that she has collected tiny chairs for 15-plus years. It feels good to dig in on this project, and the plan is for all of these drawings to end up in a zine. The first collab/collection zine of 2025 is underway!

I am trying to double down on my attempt at buying nothing new as much as possible, and I have been spending more time on Facebook Marketplace (the only reason I am still on the site). Earlier this week, I thought I had scored a pair of size 10.5 black chucks (finally accepted that my feet have grown a full size since having Hank), but the seller ghosted me after several back-and-forth messages. However, I did have a successful transaction and added another latch hook rug to my collection (this makes number 3.It’s a small but mighty collection). Hank and I ventured out to Milwaukee, Oregon, yesterday to make the transaction, and he then asked if he could take my picture, which made me laugh. I think my habit of taking photos of objects has been rubbing off on the kiddo all these years. Or maybe he just wanted an excuse to look and hold my phone. So here is his picture of me holding the rug in front of a closed auto shop.

I acquired How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy in early 2020 and never read it. There is a joke in there somewhere, but I am not going to bother fleshing that one out. A few days ago, I started listening to the audiobook after Clifton suggested that I listen to an episode of the Ezra Klein Show where the topic focused on how we are losing the war for our attention. How to Do Nothing was namechecked during the episode, and I dove back in earnest. One of the many reasons I enjoy drawing is that you must slow down and give attention to the subject at hand. My main attention suck is my damn phone. I know I am not alone in this one. I downloaded the Dumb Phone app (I have yet to set it up) and will attempt to read How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherin Price. Again. Baby steps. Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole!

This week’s daily purchase drawings reflect a few successes and a few failures. First, the Sonic movie franchise is excellent, and we sincerely enjoyed Sonic 1 and 2, so we looked forward to 3 and were not disappointed. It inspired a quasi-awkward rant about the importance of teamwork using Tails, Knuckles, and Sonic as a superb example of a high-functioning crew to my afternoon design studio class the next day. Some folks might have called my performance “cringe,” but fortunately, it takes a lot for me to get embarrassed. Self-sacrifice is the name of my teaching game.

In my fight to eradicate plastic from our family and lower our heating bill, I replaced two of our plastic paring knives with two stainless steel ones, and I made a solemn promise to myself that I would change our furnace filters in a timely manner. I am also attempting a three-year diary because I have failed at the five-year one many times—three times, to be exact.

I am especially proud of scoring a four-dollar wooden balancing board at Goodwill, but I am not proud of how my body craves a #4 Turkey Tom more often than it should from Jimmy John’s. God, I love those BBQ chips, too.

My sister gave me the most incredible Christmas gift: A plush Clocky clock from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. It’s a perfect clock, and I wanted you all to know that Kid Robot has opened pre-orders for a Q3 2025 delivery. It’s $34.99 and has brought me joy on the daily. I FULLY ENDORSE.

Clocky hangs in our cozy movie-watching room, and over the last several days, we have watched The Incredible Journey (Friday Night), Swiss Family Robinson (Saturday Night), and Flow (Sunday Night). I recommend all three. In my quest to not buy anything new, I am also on the lookout for an HDMI-compatible VHS/DVD player. I need to stockpile some physical media. I want to divest from these streaming services. Please.

I will leave you with the Bill Hader episode of Amoeba Music’s What’s In My Bag. One of my favorite workshop activities is having folks dump out their bags and draw the objects they find, so this entire Amoeba series is up my alley. Bill Hader is roughly the same age as me (46 vs. 47), and he grew up in a small town (Oklahoma vs. Missouri), so his musical choices aligned with a lot of mine, but he does a MUCH better Dee Dee Ramone impression. He also reminded me that I need to rewatch the 2003 Ramones documentary End of the Century. Also, there are a TON of What’s In My Bag episodes. This might be my new white noise-watching go-to when I am drawing. More about other white noise favorites later. I have a list.

Keep watching that dang donut and see you next week,

🍩 KBB

Like everyone, my mind has been on the LA Fires and how it’s impossible to fathom the sheer devastation and loss that’s happening. This morning, I woke up to this Curbed article that highlighted people recounting items they lost and the items they grabbed. I felt compelled to draw a few as I thought about the items I would grab if given a chance and how I need to organize important documents and other bits of crucial ephemera currently scattered all around my home. The article is heartbreaking. Hearing folks recount lost family photos, file boxes filled with mementos, and other irreplaceable things filled me with sadness, and drawing some of these objects felt like I was memorializing the items lost and celebrating the few treasured objects that were grabbed and spared.

My friend shared a supremely comprehensive Google doc filled with direct aid resources, and I wanted to share it here. Thanks to Sunny Shokrae for compiling and clarifying a ton of information. Design for good!

It’s inspiring to see the grassroots organizing and interpersonal mutual aid happening on the Internet to support folks affected by the fires. The Internet has been feeling more and more like The Bad Place, and this is a nice reminder that it can also be a powerfully helpful place.

Thanks for the kind response to my 2024 Daily Purchase Drawings post from last week. As we enter 2025, I have a few more from 2024 to share. During the holiday break, we turned a small room into a cozy movie-watching room in our house. This is where the used couch comes into play. Hank and I went to many consignment stores and second-hand furniture spots to find the perfect couch within our budget (under 200 dollars, please), and we scored.

The couch shopping process and the fires reminded me of one of my favorite children's books, A Chair for My Mother, written and illustrated by Vera Williams. A few years back, I found a copy at a thrift store, and to my delight, Hank liked it a lot, too. It’s a sweet story with gorgeous watercolors and ranks in my top ten list of kid books. 

Last week was the first week of the term, so many of these purchases reflect emotions of the first week including: "Omg, I forgot my lip balm." "Omg, I need some caffeine." "Omg, I need folks to attend class on time, so how about I buy an old time clock off Facebook Marketplace and a stack of timecards for my students so we can make coming to class on time a little more silly and fun?” The time clock has arrived, but I haven’t used it yet. I will keep you posted.

I also purchased a ticket to watch Michael Shannon cosplay as Michael Stipe on February 22nd at Revolution Hall. I don’t know how I feel about this, but here we are.

Speaking of music, I just added this print, featuring 18 of my record albums, to our online shop. I am slowly drawing all of my records, and here is the first print installment of hopefully many. Some are drawn in pen, some are painted in watercolor, and some are a combination of both. They all started in my sketchbook and were only recently compiled and turned into a one-color riso print in black ink on cream paper.

Since the holiday season ended, I have struggled with getting back into routines and making in general. I recently contacted Dave Demarchi (9 in Hand Press) to purchase a copy of their “Doing and Making are Acts of Hope” print. This phrase has been rattling around in my brain on repeat as I ease into this weird new year. Like most of you, I feel very distracted by the news and everything happening in the world. I get even more frustrated and grossed out when I don’t make time to make things. Corita Kent’s quote is my mantra for 2025. Let’s go!

⚡️❤️ KBB 🌟