I’m on book tour promoting Steal Like An Artist. See all upcoming dates or follow me on Twitter?

Portland: Love, love, loved the gloomy weather. Felt like the kind of weather you could actually get some work done in. Ate a ton of Vietnamese food, a Portland Cream from Voodoo Donuts, an incredible soft-shell sandwich at Clyde Common, drank a bunch of Ninkasi IPA, had my first morning TV taping, gave not one but two talks at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, saw the great John Frame show at the Portland Museum of Art, added a signed copy of Steal to the great library at the Heathman Hotel, shopped Powell’s and the excellent Reading Frenzy, and hung out with a bunch of my friends.

Phoenix: It rained when I was in Phoenix and I had a ton of work to do, so my time there was pretty quiet, but I had some great coal-fire pizza at Pizzeria Bianco, drew Steal in chalk for KPNX, and had a wonderful audience at Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe.

San Francisco: I spent four nights in SF and it was my first time in the city, so it probably deserves its own post. Gave a talk at Google, drove around the city with my agent and splendid host, Mr. Ted Weinstein, did the farmer’s market at the Ferry building, walked the Filbert Steps to Coit Tower, window shopped on Valencia Street, drew and gave a talk at Flax Art, ate super burritos and hung out with my friends Lisa, Wendy, Mike, Erika, and Andre, hit the ballpark with the Logsdons, hit City Lights Books, ate a few slices at Golden Boy, had dinner with one of my heroes, the collage artist Winston Smith (that’s a whole story in itself), strolled Chinatown, drank Blue Bottle coffee, drove to Twin Peaks and Golden Gate park, and watched the Pacific.

My Pixar visit could fill up its own post, too. @DrWave gave Ted and me a tour of the campus and the amazing exhibit of Brave pre-production art, then I gave my talk, signed and sold out of books, met another one of my heroes, Steve Purcell, and spent a small fortune in the gift shop.

You can see more from my tour diary or follow along as it happens on Twitter: @austinkleon

I’m on book tour promoting Steal Like An Artist. See all upcoming dates?

Lexington, KY: grabbed some great Cajun on paper plates at Bourbon n’ Toulouse, stopped by Morris Book Shop and signed some books, then gave a talk at the University of Kentucky.

Chapel Hill, NC: upon my arrival I demanded a pulled pork sandwich, admired the beautiful trees, visited the NC Museum of Art, met my internet friend @ayse in person, and had a really great audience at the marvelous Flyleaf Books.

Atlanta, GA: had breakfast at the OK Cafe, toured the High Museum’s Picasso to Warhol exhibit, hung out with the Mailchimp gang at their offices, had an amazing burger at Bocado, talked to a class of students at SCAD’s Ivy Hall writing center, drank an old fashioned at Leon’s in Decatur, met my online brother from another mother @mlarson, then talked to a full room at the Decatur Library and sold completely out of books!

Savannah, GA: spent most of the day just walking around looking at the trees (the great thing about touring in spring) and the architecture and the cemeteries, had a civilized lunch at the Pink House, bought a marker in the awesome Primary art store, broke down and wept in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist (tired/homesick/overcome), walked to the SCAD art museum, checked out the Candy Chang “Before I Die” installation, hung out with a group of grad students who showed up to the Ex Libris bookstore signing, checked out a Louis Menand lecture on Andy Warhol, then got dinner at Local with the writer Rob Walker and his wife Ellen Susan, then walked home through Forsyth Park at night. Beautiful city.

And here’s a couple bonus photos from when I got home to Texas:

I feel lucky that I’m three weeks deep into tour and I’m still healthy and (somewhat) sane. This week I’m taking a much-needed break, but then it’s off to Portland, Tempe, and San Francsico. See the dates?

You can see more from my tour diary or follow along as it happens on Twitter: @austinkleon