Being gainfully unemployed

Two months ago, my friend Deb and I drove up to Saratoga Springs to see Mary Gauthier play a show. Mary came over to the restaurant next door and sat with us for bit before she had to go on. I told her that it felt weird not to have a nine to five and no fixed schedule. She replied "Do it long enough and that other stuff will feel weird." She was right. While I miss the PEOPLE, I don't miss the structure. Left to my own devices, I'm super busy but it's a different kind of busy than when I sat in front of a computer screen for most of the day.

Deb opened up a store on Routes 9W and 144  in Hannacroix, NY two weeks ago. I donated a logo design and I have a little space in the store where I sell vintage art, books, photographs and paper ephemera. Please come visit if you find yourself in the Hudson Valley! We're open Thursday thru Sunday from 11:15 to 7:15.

I started making "Ephemeral Inspirations" vintage paper packages after I witnessed the scrapbooking section of a crafts store in Albany called Joann's. I had never been there before and Deb and I took a drive up to get some supplies. I had no idea about scrapbooking, that it is a billion dollar industry, but the aisle looked amazing, an explosion of colorful papers, letters and art. It inspired me. Most of it was newly printed in China but my yard sale and thrift store experience told me there was tons of the real deal out there just waiting to be curated.

Here's the thing about old books. Most people don't want them or have room for them. They are put out on the curb in boxes or donated to church thrift stores where they are sold for a quarter, 50 cents or a buck. Books with beautiful maps, watercolor illustrations, flat color printing, etchings, woodcuts. Books with gold leaf, marbled endpapers and incredible hand done typography. From the late 19th century! They are usually fairly beaten up so I don't feel bad about cracking the spine and extracting the art. I've been going to local auctions and buying old handwritten letters (when handwriting was a work of art), postcards, die cut greeting cards and photographs. 

All of these things might be in the packs. I've sold about five of them in the store and just put them up at Ransom Marlowe.

Sometimes, I find books that I just want to keep in my own collection. Last week at my favorite book haunt, I found these:

Total cost: $5.00 Time spent looking through them: priceless.

Horatio Street is coming along nicely. I finally got all my stuff out of storage and was able to put up my artwork and set up the dining table. I found this piece of art at a yard sale last weekend for two dollars. It will be taking the place of honor in between the windows as soon as I can bring it down from upstate.

I still need a work desk, a proper victorian rocking chair (the Eames rocker needs to be reunited with its mate up at the church) and some shelves but it's starting to feel like my city home. I am patiently waiting for these pieces to reveal themselves at auction. Such is your strategy when you have little budget but lots of time!

Finally, I could not totally abandon designing music packaging. I will be working with the lovely and talented Lucy Wainwright Roche on her new record "There's a Last Time for Everything." She made a great record and I'm excited to rework the existing package and flesh it out a bit more. She writes s beautiful songs and she sings a cover of Robyn's "Call Your Girlfriend" that literally brought tears to my eyes.