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

Once I got back from Boise it was time to re-vamp my studio. I had taken out my big rocking chair and became sad because of it. I need that chair to drink my coffee and look at my paintings before working. It helps me to take in my work and see what to do next.

I found a huge Supernormal Blue Chair. I introduced it to Sweet and he made himself right at home.

My old desk was taking up too much space so Todd built me a desk from salvage wood. It fits well and now I have more room for both large works and small.

I've decided not to do the show in San Francisco. Instead I will concentrate on working towards my solo exhibition in Astoria, Oregon at the RiverSea gallery. I will be interviewed on the radio and the paper is writing an article. That happens November 15th. The gallery is owned and run by two women who have been supportive, professional and very easy to work with. That's an artist's dream when working with a gallery.

I am also now represented in Chicago by the Perfect Pear Gallery. Also run by a woman who has been fantastic, Anita Jerman.

If you are ever in the Napa Valley region look up the Emmanuel Volakis Gallery for a private appointment to view Emmanuel's collection of my paintings.

One more point of interest...I have added original drawings to my website. I made a decision to create fewer oils because while being prolific is good in some ways, it's taking a toll on my hand, back and neck. I would like to take more time to perfect the oils I do create. New pricing will reflect the exclusivity of the oils and the drawings will replace the old price point with a new option.

There are a few of these drawings now posted. They are matted with backing and are frame ready for a 16" x 20" frame.

The Boise show was great fun...perfect weather too. It's time to close the book on the Boise experience while the experience was still good. The people in Boise are enthusiastic and open and I will miss them.

We always have our Potato ice cream and this year was no exception. It's really not potato ice cream it's a potato shaped block of vanilla ice cream rolled in powdered chocolate with whipped cream and oreo's and chocolate sauce.

Yum.

My grand plan for the show at D-Structure in San Francisco is to have 12 to 15 large works. I've never had a show with only large work before so I'm jamming to get it done. It seems like a long ways away but I only have until October 15th and then they have to be shipped.

I have a theme but it's a secret until the announcement in September.

Right in the middle of my creative frenzy of large works I find out I'm going to Art in the Park in Boise so I switched to miniatures. I think I have just enough frames to squeeze in a nice little collection for the Boise folks.

Below is a sneak peek of my new large paintins...

After some crazy times and much need time in the studio I'm hopefully back in the saddle for a show in Boise this September this 5,6, and 7th. I was working exclusively on large paintings for an upcoming show on Halloween in San Francisco. The show piece in it's first two stages are pictured below.

Because of the impending show I switched to creating more smalls.....twelve new works. I'd love to take at least two new large pieces to Boise....

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.