Beverly Hills Cops

I'm so behind. That should be the title of my book. This show came and went already, and I never mentioned it. Anyhow, I had my room divider in this cool show in Beverly Hills, sponsored by EcoFirstArt, Elle Decor Magazine, and Country Floors. There was some great stuff.

Here's the flyer (above).

By now I'm sure you're all familiar with my room divider, but just in case, here's some more photos from the show:

Incidently, a funny thing happened on the way to pick up my room divider.

I'm driving through Beverly Hills, minding my own business, when all of the sudden this cop (in a truck bigger than mine) tries to squeeze between me and the curb to make a right turn. Apparently he's usually on a bike because he didn't make it.
BAM!!... Mirror tag.
I look over to see a genuinely shocked cop, giving me the "Are You Okay?" gesture. I couldn't help but laugh, and I waved him on, with the "I'm Okay" gesture.
He gestured back "I'm pulling over".
I couldn't believe it. I'd been waiting for this moment since I passed my first driving test. We pulled around the corner and to the curb. I sat in my truck as the officer approached my door.

"License and Registration please", I said. He laughed, thankfully.

"Are you Okay?", he said, as his partner looked over my broken mirror.
"I'm fine", (still laughing a little) "and my mirror was already broken."
"Are you sure? Do you want somebody to take a look at this?" he asked.
"No. Don't worry about it. I'm gonna let you off with a warning this time." He laughed again.
Then I said, "Here's what you can do... Remember me. Remember my truck. If something ever goes down in Beverly Hills, and I need help, I'm calling you."
He laughed again, and said "You got it."

Cops are so much better in my adult life, now that I wear grown-up clothes and I no longer look like I'm up to something (which I'm not).

Finally, check out this video from EcoFirstArt:

Portrait of a Young Girl

Long before Josh built furniture pieces and living spaces, he painted. Josh doesn't have time to paint much other than drywall these days, and if he did, I wonder what he would paint. A series of home and furniture designs? Many of his paintings now belong to other people, which means I don't have much physical proof that this time in his life existed. In those days, we weren't great at documenting his work. One of my favorite Josh paintings is this portrait of a young girl. Thankfully, this painting lives in the home of Josh's sister, so occasionally I get to see her. The girl's painted image is about three feet tall, and she beams so brightly, it makes my heart ache in a wonderful way. He painted her before we even met, more than ten years ago. It makes me happy to think of him then, creating. He's always creating something. And, quite often his creations cause people to appear as joyful as the young girl in the painting.

-Jen

See more of Josh's paintings here.

I'm putting together a portfolio of my old drawings and illustrations, and came across this one. I drew this is 1999 -- I'm the guy behind the turntables.