About Us - p&j

alOha : )

  We're p&j (peter & juwels) - husband and wife, creative partners, and most of all .. best friends. We've worked on all sorts of projects together - whether they're soul-filling and creative offerings to the world or back-breaking and gritty jobs just to get through the winter, we're the best of partners and always keep each other laughing and saying, "I could never do this without you..." : )




    One of our biggest art projects is our 1975 rolling home, The Winnie !! About five years ago, when the taste of freedom was fading from our mouths, and the country as a whole was starting to feel the squeeze, we decided to build our automotive ark and simplify our lives.


 

    We had no training in construction or engines, and to be honest, it's a wonder we still have 20 fingers and toes between the two of us. Luckily, as a little one, Juwels spent quite a few hours with her dad building a tree house and a go cart. With that limited childhood knowledge, we set forth to build our adult combination of the two : )



   

    Juwels and I have been together now for 7 years - married since 7-7-07. Almost immediately after our wedding date, we gave up our apartment and redirected our monthly rent, for the first time, toward building a more sustainable future - one that we owned and held the wheel of : )





   Upon returning from our Southeast Asian honeymoon of Thai Baht, busses, backpacks, boats and trains ..  we settled into our new reality. We lived like land pirates in our rolling tree house on the sketchy streets of Long Beach amongst cops and Cadillacs. It turned out to be the best place to park and work on our white elephant .. with all the hardened criminals dodging about, nobody payed much attention to the flower children hammering and sawing away in the old box on the corner.


 

    Once she was all ready for the ball - we headed north to the somewhat mad mix of Venice Beach where billionaires and beggars stand in the same long line for the filthy public restrooms and eat the same 99 cent slice of pizza. The town's full of artists and eccentrics, setting up and pedaling their wares on the boardwalk.


 

   Street art doesn't afford a posh existence, and the neighborhood streets and beach parking lots, much to the chagrin of the new wealthy homeowners, had began slowly filling with old motorhomes and converted school busses. It was a kind of movable artist collective ... but we got all types, and in the end, it was the fringe few that would become the maniacal poster children to have the whole carnaval run out of town. We were at ground zero when the dogs were called in, and that's a whole series of blog posts to come ; ) The Winnie has driven us to all sorts of strange settings, and we look forward to sneaking away from the demands of our newest creative project to fill you in ; )




   Right now, following a pixie of inspiration, we're running a handmade beeswax candle company (or maybe it's running us...). I've been told we've got a Tiger by the tail, and the holidays nearly killed us as the orders piled up, but as America lies still for a moment, content with the treats and toys received this season, we're going to quietly sneak away into the jungle. As I write this, the days are closing in on the departure which will take us both to Guatemala in the middle of the night ; )

   bee back soon, love, love,

- p

 

& j 





  .... here's a little vid on the Pollen Arts Family ; )