Pride (In the Name of Love)
Now the song is in your head! You're welcome.
What a whirlwind couple of weeks! Camping, Pride Fest prep, the Fest itself, Father's Day, and the general mania of summer getting underway. Pride Fest was an absolute blast, thanks to everyone who stopped by my booth! There was a whole lot of "I think this will work..." heading into it, so it felt pretty great to have everything set up and humming.
I got a kick out of how everyone would wander over to the cards, read a few, and then start chuckling to themselves. My sense of humor felt very validated!
My little Provisional Press was doing work out there, too. Lots of people inked up some type and pulled their own print. I've written before about how much joy I get watching someone - who might not think they have any artistic ability - peel back a cool-looking print that they themselves made. Their face just beams with "oh wow, I made that!"
This little press will be back out at Art Week on Tuesday! Details below.
Ink on Paper
One of the benefits of having older kids is that when you're camping, they just run off with their friends, leaving you free to nap and make art. I brought my cyanotype stuff along at Van Riper State Park, and made a couple prints using the "wet cyanotype" method.
This is such a great time of year for cyanotype, as all the foliage is fresh and robust and mostly damage-free. I also made a couple of sauna whisks (vihta or venik) from a downed oak sapling I found on a short hike.
Upcoming Events
Painting With Words - Art Week 2025. My co-conspirator JJ Brinski and I will be doing our booth again, where we'll have typewriters, stamps, and letterpress available for people to play around with. Tuesday, June 24th from 10am to at least 2pm, maybe later, at the Marquette Commons. Come say hi!
Aside from that, I'm now looking at other vendor events like a couple drop-in Wednesday night farmers markets, Art on the Mountain, etc. Stay tuned!
Other Rambles
Craig Mod on the creative power of walking:
...boredom: the great engine of creativity. I now believe with all my heart that it's only in the crushing silences of boredom - without all that black-mirror dopamine - that you can access your deepest creative wells.
Link to the full piece here. I walk a 1.5 mile loop around my neighborhood every morning with a small notebook in my pocket. It's a fantastic practice that I can't recommend enough. Solvitur ambulando - it is solved by walking.
Happy solstice! May you be filled with vibrant light through this season.
See you out there,
~PB
P.S. To help get that earworm out, here you go.