The Art of Juli Adams (www.juliadams.com)

Back from Des Moines. We had one storm move in but it sort of split and moved around the city, for the most part. But we still had to pack up the art and shut down the booth because of wind and rain. We stayed inside the booth and watched the storm on our laptop. When it passed we opened back up again.

This art fair was beautifully run. They really take great care of artists. The quality of art was really high, though decorative. My work stuck out like a sore thumb because let's be honest, my work is not decorative. It's decoratively displayed, but it's meant to provoke a response. Maybe in time Des Moines will be accustomed to this type of art, but until then I think I'll stick to the big cities where I don't have to wear myself out explaining what I've created.

The next show will be in Madison, WI. Last year it was a great show, so hopefully this year will go well. Until then I have a couple of commissions I'm working on, and I'm thinking about doing a series of the family from 'Familial Landscape'. They need to be brought out of the closet and back into the shadows.

We get to bed about 12:30 and the wake up call is for 4:30. We jam out of bed and get in line on North Street in Chicago to set up. It's the usual scene. Wait to get in and once we are in wait for another hour to unload. We are done setting up at 10am. We leave the show at around 10pm. A long day.

If you ever get it into your head to do this for a living, come and watch us at work. It's brutal. At the end of a show there was a woman standing watching us and she said...I had no idea what goes into this.

It never crossed my mind that people don't think about that. But why should they? It's a sweaty grimy exhausting occupation. That and there's absolutely no way to know if we will even get paid.

But good news. Chicago is once again good to us. It was a great show and as usual in that neck of the woods the people respond well and seem to really appreciate the work. Thank you, once again, Chicago.

Next show....Des Moines, Iowa.

Up ahead there are serious clouds. A storm. Then suddenly traffic stops. I mean stops. People get out of their cars and stretch and walk the side of the freeway, meet their new neighbors, and strain to look up ahead.

The XM emergency traffic channel isn't much help and local radio stations blather on and on with no information. Finally after an hour we move ahead only to come to another dead stop for another hour. We find out the freeway is closed up ahead due to flooding and we have to add hours to our already long day of driving to get around the problem.

We were starving and stopped at Bublitz's (pronounced Booblitz). The food is terrible. It is impossible to eat well on the road. It is so disheartening to find wilted iceberg lettuce and fried tasteless everything when you're hungry and tired. I could have picked fresh asparagus along the road side. It was everywhere. But not a Booblitz. Just nasty ass canned peas and tapioca pudding to go with your wilted lettuce.

Yuck.

But we did manage to get to Chicago later that night.

We always stop in Bozeman to visit my friend Amy. It's pretty cold when we get there. When we wake up it's snowing like crazy.

Off we go to a show in Chicago. Sweet knows the drill, but Peanut doesn't know we won't be home for six days. I put my stuff into my little travel backpack and she gets inside. She fits pretty good! And yeah, it crosses my mind to sneak her into the van and take her with us.

Crazy spring weather and snow up in Snoqualmie Pass but not on the road. We know that the Midwest is getting torn apart by tornadoes and storms and that's where we are going. All we can do is hope that it will all work out.

Did I tell you that I got a kitten? I got her a short time ago from a Purrfect Pals adoption agency at a local Petsmart. I went in to buy food for my cat loaf Sweet and I usually stop by the adoption room to say hello. Inside one of the cages that day was a kitten. That was a surprise as they are almost always adult cats that people (damn them) leave behind.

I had every intention of saying hello to the kitten, once I had said hello to the others. She lost patience and threw herself at the cage door and clung to it, slowly sliding down. What was I supposed to do? Ignore her?? The attendant said I could hold her. Up she went on my shoulder. My last cat love that passed was a shoulder cat and somehow it seems natural to stick her up there. A kind of test, I guess.

And there she stayed, purring purring purring.

I looked down at the floor and there was my heart, all over the floor in a puddle. I knew I would be taking her home.

Someone had found her earlier that morning on their lawn and brought her in. I'm so glad they did! So Purrfect Pals came and took her back to Arlington to de-flea her, give her shots, spay and chip her. (for only $100 adoption fee)

Every day that passed I watched her and spoke to her and bonded with her. I have to say...she came with a full personality. Wild and smart and talkative. One day in my studio I bent over to kiss her head and she jumped into my sweatshirt. I thought...no way. That's too much! Will she do it again? She did. Now when she's rambunctious, I put her in my shirt and she calms down and falls asleep.

Oh, and she's crazy about fetching. My hair bands are her obsession. Stealing them, hiding them, and making up games to play with them. And then one day I threw one for her and she brought it right back to my foot. Now we play every day.

Once again I have two cats purring on my bed every night and every morning. Pure bliss.

Once again I blog...eight years later....

We are off to Chicago today. The weather forecast is looking a bit wild. I don't know what to expect with all the gloom and doom on the nightly news. None the less, it's the best time right now to be positive and creative.

The show in May was a fantastic success. Thank you everyone who showed up. I may do another show in the winter in a loft space in Pioneer Square.

Oh and here's an exciting announcement...I am bringing back $25 prints to my website. I understand that things are pretty tight right now, so if there's something you really love, a small print is an option again. The tee-shirt idea is still in the works.

Whohooo!!! on the road again!

:)

May 17th art show at my house:
1-7 pm

I-5 South
Take Tukwila/Interurban Exit
Left off exit at light (Interurban)
Right on 58th (stop light)
Up hill
Right on 144th
Up hill
Left on 56th Ave South
You will see Foster Presbyterian Church, you may park in the lot.
My house is the first driveway past the church parking lot. Look
for booths.

I-5 North
Take I-405 North
Take exit #1
Left off exit at light (Interurban)
Left on 58th (stop light)
Up hill
Right on 144th
Up hill
Left on 56th Ave South
You will see Foster Presbyterian Church, you may park in the lot.
My house is the first driveway past the church parking lot. Look
for booths.

I-405 South
Take Exit #1
Left off exit at light (Interurban)
Left on 58th (stop light)
Up hill
Right on 144th
Up hill
Left on 56th Ave South
You will see Foster Presbyterian Church, you may park in the lot.
My house is the first driveway past the church parking lot. Look
for booths.

The destination for the evening was a dinner at the Joel Palmer House. The food concentrates on wild mushrooms and Pinot Noir. The chef picks his own truffles....it was so good it was kind of ridiculous. We got goofy and were the only ones in the place laughing and carrying on.

This place was worth the drive.

The next day we visited a few more wineries....Archery Summit, Elk Cove, and DuPont.

This weekend was the best rainy get away ever. My friend Kellie invited me to go with she and her friend Barbie to go wine tasting in the Willamette Valley wine country.

It's been so cold here that the spring is still inching it's way in, but enough to give our rainy weekend a touch of the new season.

The fist place we stopped was Panther Creek Winery. A few blocks down was a wine shop that had created a wine cellar out of what was once a Chase Bank vault.