A Not-So-Complete List of What I Have Been Doing to Distract Myself

There is an election this week. Have you heard?

12x12 ink wash drawing of Little Criminals from my Vein of Gold Residency in 2022. I don’t know where this painting went.

1. I started listening to the new Randy Newman biography “In Defense of Our Country” by Robert Hilburn (former pop music critic for the LA Times) on my morning commute. My commute is pretty hefty (40-60 minutes), and this book so far is perfectly granular with all things Randy Newman. Clocking in at 544 pages (12 hours and 42 minutes of audio), this has been a great new friend to accompany me to work. After listening all week, Randy has just turned 24. GIVE ME THE TINIEST OF DETAILS ROBERT HILBURN. I am here for it.

Daily Purchase Drawings of night one and night two of 69 Love Songs

2. Thank goodness for my friend Steve, who knew to snag both nights of 69 Love Songs performed in order by the Magnetic Fields last February when they first went on sale. I was neck-deep as a visiting artist at Utah State when the tickets became available, and I could not break away. Steve came to the rescue and secured our seats. I fell in love with the Magnetic Fields in grad school and with this album in particular. For a few nights last week, I was zoomed back to small house parties in Nebraska, where I have fond memories of dancing very hard to Long Forgotten Fairy Tale and just being tremendously silly and theatrical, acting out many of these songs.

   

   Kristen’s arm, Nick with beer and tie, and Jessica lost in a dancing dream. This was circa 2002, and I think it was at Meredith and Ray’s house on C Street in Lincoln, Nebraska—soundtrack: 69 Love Songs.

   They just added a bunch of dates for 2025. If the 25-year anniversary tour rolls into your area, I highly recommend seeing them. Also, I love that they had zero opening band, a 20-minute intermission, and faithfully played songs 1 through 69. See you in 25 years for the 50th Anniversary Show.💀

   

   1975 photo of David Hockney sitting in front of his painting “My Parents and Myself”

3. I checked out A History of Pictures by David Hockney and Martin Gayford and David Hockney Portraits. They have been sitting on my dining room table all week and have been great to flip through for a couple of minutes whenever I pass by. I have loved him since before I started drawing, and it’s nice to dip in and out of these books while I wait for Hank to put his shoes on. I also profoundly love anyone who can sustain a life of creativity. Also, I am contractually obligated to show this photo of Joni Mitchell and David Hockney holding hands from 2019 at any time they are mentioned.

   

   This image broke the internet.

   Sidenote: I love the Multnomah Public Library. We have a branch that is super walkable from our house, and as someone who grew up in a town without a library, it feels decadent to walk to pick up almost any book you can think of for free. Don’t worry; we had a rocking bookmobile that would visit the small town of Vienna, Missouri, every two weeks. And, of course, my school had a library, but the librarians did censor my desire to read Stephen King in the 4th grade, and I am still mad about it.

   

   Printing up some Amos Paul Kennedy Lecture Posters for his talk on November 14th at Egg Press

4. In school news, we finalized our event space for the upcoming Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. talk as part of the Kemeny Lecture Series I help manage at Portland State. Amos is a bud from when we lived in Mississippi, and I am so excited to host him at Portland State a week from Thursday. We are partnering with Egg Press (one of my favorite Portland businesses), and if you are local, grab a ticket for a very fun night! We took a tour of the space this week and schemed about how to turn a very active letterpress shop into a speaking venue. Fall at PSU is always filled with events, and it’s very easy and fun to lose myself in the details of event planning…one of my favorite things, to be honest. Also, if you can’t make the talk, check out his beauty of a new book Citizen Printer.

   

   *clears throat* I would like to officially announce the start of the holiday season.

5. It’s November now, so the impending holiday season is another primary focus (other than election stress). Leland created a holiday page on Outlet with all the different events we are participating in over the next few months. Bless Leland. My kitchen table at home is cluttered with holiday market prep, and because of the market season, we are not offering any workshops in December. If you want to take a riso workshop in 2024 you have two chances left. Also, do you want to be in our 2025 calendar?

   

   Am I a furry artist?

   I am sending you out with one of the more confusing pieces of fan art that I have had the pleasure of making but many things in this post reminded me of it’s existance. This is a 2017 birthday gift to my friend Steve (the same Steve who got me those sweet, sweet Magnetic Fields tickets that I mentioned a few paragraphs ago). He is also a big Randy Newman fan, and for his birthday, I drew Randy Newman cradling Steve as a corgi dog. Also, Steve’s birthday is coming up in a few days, but I don’t think I could ever top this. Sorry Steve. I peaked.
   
   Okay, my time is up for this edition! I am sending out good vibes to you, Dear Reader. or visions of Joni and David holding hands. or Randy Newman cradling my friend Steve as a corgi dog. or just hoping that you can muster whatever good feeling images you need to get you through it as we head into this week.
   
   Thanks for reading <3 KBB