Post Script

I'm excited to report that my original drawings are now for sale and the beautiful new Upper Fillmore boutique Post Script. Of the original five I dropped off, the pencils and the Rolodex have already sold! But the erasers, Penguin book, and pink pens are still there for the taking. Plus we'll be replenishing with brand new different ones soon! Big thanks to Chandler Tang for adding me to her assortment. It's a real honor to be in there beside some of my favorite brands like Hay, Poketo, Moglea, and CW Pencil Enterprise.

Color Poem #107

when you’ve decided
to go minimal to limit
yourself to just yellow
red, purple, and blue

The Chronicle Books Holiday Party Photo Booth

One of the highlights of the Chronicle Books holiday party is always and forever the photo booth. Most of these are with my utterly wonderful Art Editorial colleagues (minus one who, tragically, was home sick), plus the one strip with my favorite Bill. And yes, I had a mirrored jacket.

Closing Open Studio

BIG news around here: I'm shutting down the Open Studio space and moving to a smaller office. The public-facing aspects of Open Studio -- the retail shop, workshops, and co-working -- were an exciting experiment for me to take on and I feel like I've learned a ton. But, frankly, the business hasn't taken off quite as I'd hoped and I simply lack the bandwidth to give it the 110% required to maybe make a go of it (after all, I've got a full-time job at Chronicle Books, a new book of my own to promote next year, a family to nurture, and I'm still very much wrangling with the realities of grief). What I've realized is that having my own space to write and draw and think and create in is really the most important thing for me right now, so it's awesome to have a plan to keep that bit going (that's my new office pictured above). As for the rest, I can only offer my deepest and most heartfelt thanks to everyone who's supported this bananas endeavor from day one -- and that very much includes all of you reading this! The warmth and enthusiasm I've received about taking this wild leap has been little short of staggering. Thank you, thank you. This coming weekend is the last weekend the shop will be open -- come shop Sat and Sun, noon to 5pm at 780 Sutter Street!

Mixing Bowl

This is the bowl my father used to make the pancake batter in when I was a child.

Janet Werner at MAC

We visited the Musée d'art Contemporain in Montreal. It's a relatively small museum and some of it was closed for installation but what we saw we liked -- there was sculpture for Mabel and a video installation for Bill and I was drawn to the work of the painter Janet Werner. While there were many pieces in the show of her work that, frankly, did not move me at all, there were a few -- the ones you see here -- that I thought were utterly fantastic.

Color Poem #106

when you’ve been gone
and come back the color
schemes of the painted
ladies can make you ache

olive ocher maroon and lavender
mint and teal turquoise and white
red steps green plants gray sky home

Creative Mornings - The Video!

The video of my Creative Mornings talk is up and you can watch it right here. Though it is of course always horrible to watch oneself on film (or even just to hear one's own recorded voice - ug), nevertheless I feel really happy with how the talk turned out, and I remain astonished and honored to have been asked to give it. These photos are by Ben Conde.

Montreal and Quebec City

We went to Montreal and Quebec City over Thanksgiving and it was marvelous. Snowy and cold (like, really cold -- something novel and exciting for us Bay Area types) and cozy and sparkling. Because Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, they have no such prohibition as we have in this country against getting excited about Christmas in November. From cocoa to twinkle lights a festive holiday air was already in full effect when we were there. It was just the sort of winter wonderland experience that might have been specifically designed to help kick-start the xmas spirit of a flagging soul. Joyful without being cloying and charming (especially Quebec City -- the oldest city in North America, built like a walled European city on the top of a hill, and charming as all get out) in a way that felt real and true. If you follow me on Instagram you might think you've already seen all these photos, but there's a good deal more previously unpublished stuff in the second half of the post, if you're interested.