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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

sock it to 'em

aaaaaand a couple more, in the celebratory spirit of me quitting smoking three years ago, dedicated to all the tobacco companies. And all the propaganda. (these are little mini-sketches)

Of course I'd still smoke if it wasn't practically guaranteed to kill you!!!



Tuesday, January 30, 2007

did you know?

Adamandia invited me to play a little writing game and it goes something like this: list five little-known things about yourself. Okay!

1. I've seen three Audrey Hepburn films, but Breakfast at Tiffany's is the only one I watched through to the end.

2. I've a penchant for Ryvita crackers (sesame) with tahini and honey. BUT, the tahini has to be refrigerated, and the honey has to be granulated from sitting out too long - or whatever makes it go granulated.

3. When I was a kid I went through a phase where I drew big stitches on my shin with a fat black magic marker, and then made a huge-o bandage and affixed it to myself with masking tape. I'd go around the schoolyard showing kids and convincing them it was real. I think some of them humored me.

4. I really wish I could take a shit in public toilets. It's rare.

5. I've recently let my Inner Tourettes Child out to run free and wild.

anniversarial




YEAH! Just passed my three-year mark tobacco-free! I think this'll be the cover for issue #5 of One Hand Clapping. Yay me.

Things I don't miss about smoking:

waking up with a hacking cough
spending money to buy tobacco or cigarettes
smelly clothes
smelly breath
feeling like shit
a very real possibility that I'd end up with lung cancer

Things I miss about smoking:

smoking! duh!

Still, I think it's safe to say, I'll never go back. But I promised myself I would never say never. Let's just say....I think I am definitely out of the danger zone.

Last night's sunset was absolutely sensational - that was a big motivator, lemme tellya. I scooted my butt out the door so fast, right after posting here, so I wouldn't miss a blazing second less than I had to. Wow. Tonight's sunset was definitely subdued.

I think a little bit of Plymptoons is in order. I polished off some Barry Ween Boy Genius earlier - Judd Winnick is one of my favorite cartoonists also. I can't believe that his graphic novels are in the Young Adult section. I think Barry Ween says fuck more than I do, and that's saying a lot.

Blogger is removing the choice to stay with the old. The New is out of Beta, and I was required to make the move over tonight. I don't know if I'll start labeling everything, or not. That's one of the new fandangles with new blogger. I mean...I can be obsessive to a point about organizing and labeling but I don't think I wanna go back and label every damn post. I've been at this thing just over a year now. But if someone wanted to, say, HIRE me to go in and label YOUR blog(s), I'd do it. For a nominal fee. Plus travel expenses.

Monday, January 29, 2007

nighttime is the righttime



Watch your necks.

draggin' a bit

Yurp. That D&C I went under for last year didn't clear anything up; in fact, it's worse than ever. Gotta find me a new doctor.







Yesterday was a blast though. So many pictures to draw about it! If it didn't take me so damn long to do it, I'd have illustrated it all for us today. Suffice to say:

much mushroom gravy was consumed, courtesy Chef Jacque who topped herself on the previous batch; Marsha's new Prius is phenomenal and even Springfield looks better from the seat of this car (we waved like dorks at the Prius people we pulled up in back of at the stop light, too...but hey! I like dorks, and I like being one! it was phenomenal!); Tanner the salesman was not oily or unctious; in fact, he was phenomenal too, just ask him!; Marsha treated us and we ate a lot of celebratory ice cream; we dunked in the hot tub; we went to a movie and consumed mass candy with Marsha's christmas gift money (the neighbors gave her some cash - have you ever heard of such a thing?? wow! thanks neighbors and Marsha!). We also dropped Corbin off at home, where his new baby sister was waiting for him! She is adorable. Ariana and Becky make such great parents - if there are to be babies born into the world, then people like them should be the ones birthing and raising 'em.

Today I feel despondent. Could be

the amount of blood I lost this month;
the amount of sugar consumed yesterday;
the lack of a good night's sleep;
the movie Babel, which was good, but we should have listened to Jacque and gone to see Stomp The Floor or whatever, because I feel WAY more sober after Babel than I did The Fountain;
the aftermath/reflective 'oh my god it's a miracle' of seeing a brand-new person, complete and everything, who used to be inside of another person and being amphibious;
the need for more exercise (which I tried rectifying this morning with a little jog walk jog, and I am going out again momentarily because I'm done sitting on my duff)

Saturday, January 27, 2007

ow! woo!



I keep banging myself and cutting and bruising myself. I finally figured out why the sudden upswing: it's because I'm not babying my wrist so much, feeling more confident and not in so much pain all the time. Which means I'm careening around like my old self more and more. I got this terrific skin abrasion on the back of my right hand yesterday while I was vacuuming our work area. I don't know exactly when it happened but all of a sudden I was bleeding all over the place. And I started counting all the nicks, cuts, bruises, etc....well damn! I'm like an alley cat or something!

Friday, January 26, 2007

growth spurt




So the other week I was queueing up for the bus and stood behind a couple of gangly teenage punk boys. I was reminded of my nephew (one of them, yes, I have a few, I just don't keep in touch with that side of the family). Tall, lean, ate like a horse, and never gained an ounce. And I thought about how cool it would be to have the appetite and the metabolism of a teenager. Except then you have all those crazy hormones pinging around. And I already have some hormonal shit going down (again, but I'll spare you the story right now). But I've been so freakin' hungry lately, it's really bizarre. I don't know quite what to make of it, except I think I'll probably be making trips to the second hand store for roomier clothes....

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

break it down



These little people look familiar, don't they? I decided to carve the twist and shouters from the film.

I think I am feeling pretty sober after seeing The Fountain earlier. Surrender, death, uncertainty, potential unlimitedness...it's all a little unsettling! I feel big and teensy weensy all at once.

Gonna turn in for the night. Bon soir!

jam



I was driving (yes! driving!) to the movie theater this afternoon and thought again about how strange the english language is, and how difficult it must be to learn it as a non-native speaker. I often wonder how I'd try to explain things to someone. Or, even to a kid. I drove the route which is less travelled and thought about 'less' and 'fewer' and how traffic is a 'lump of something' so the adjective to use is 'less'. You can't count it. That's how I'd 'splain it to a kid or to someone trying to learn english. Pretty easy, in the way of things, really.

Well, that's what was going on, thinking of this comic. The Martian bit came later on tonight when I actually sat down to draw it.

Oh, what movie did I see? Aronofsky's The Fountain. Excellent. Every bit as scrumptious (though not as disturbing) as his other films. I love the dollar show.

Monday, January 22, 2007

E.T.




Last week at work, Clark remarked that my wrist looked better, that it actually is starting to look like a wrist again - but that I could still make E.T. shadow puppets on the wall....funny guy, that Clark. Actually, I was doubled over with laughter and told him I'd definitely need to illustrate that one for the upcoming One Hand Clapping edition.

It's also worth mentioning that Clark's (real, given) last name is Kent. Curiously, I have never seen him enter or emerge from a phone booth.

But then again....do they actually make phone booths anymore?

ye gods I'm tired, my eyes have been doing that itchy tired thing all day. nighters!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

shake it up baby

More zine material!

I'm talking about Stefan Bucher's Monster-a-day blog. In case you haven't heard, I love it! And I think you're a few sandwiches shy of a proper picnic if you've not gone over there and visited!

Time for a change of pace. Been drawing for hours! Life's good.

click for larger pic!




twist and shout

Well, I've progressed considerably with the aid of physical therapy, and I'm experiencing a much greater range of motion inside of one short week - how heartening! WHEW. You can kinda see how my left isn't as agile as my right:



YET!

I was gonna go do brunch with the girls and the kids, but Marsha's sick (again :-( ) so I'm steering clear. I thought I'd make a little video and send it to them since I couldn't be there in person. I was going to go right back into it with the panels of drawings I started last night, but...I got a little sidetracked:



I gotta get off my butt right now, though, and go for a walk. I'll post more drawings later!

Friday, January 19, 2007

fry day

Basically, I did art all day, with a little work on the side. Primo! I began the day designing and constructing a welcome banner for our new Adult Services Department Head, who starts on monday. She's coming from Kansas....yah I can hear the jokes now. I did a bunch of colorful bubbly stuff without succumbing to crafty pukey. Then I worked on my zine at lunch, and doodled the back cover on break and copied it off. Yup!

Now I'm wrapping up the evening with a couple more drawings for issue #4 of One Hand Clapping. Yesterday I saw my pal Chuck at work and he hadn't seen me since the cast came off. He said that my wrist looks longer. So then I aped a monkey and dragged my knuckles on the ground.





Yeargh! I keep running out of room to round out and complete the characters. I think I start small but then everything gets more inflated or something. Still learning. Fun though!

And now, lookey the time. Approaching way too late hour! Still need to do physical therapy, brush, floss, etc etc etc. Hope yer all peachy.

**edit** oh crap crap crappity crap! Pretend that is my left wrist in the drawing. Working from photos of yourself can be tricky business! At least the thumb is on the right....yeah, it's on the right way. I get that mixed up sometimes too. If you draw both thumbs on the opposite way (from anatomically correct), do they become just plain ol' 'posable' thumbs...? or would that be apposable...

Thursday, January 18, 2007

just what it says!



(and again with the artistic license! this drawing sure doesn't show the results of all the fruitcake, pie, turkey, potatoes, and sparkling apple cider that I imbibed over the holidays! huzzah! that's okay though....I can draw myself any way I wanna and you know what? it's damn near as good as actually being beanpolish! bean polish?? you know what I mean and anyway I don't really want to be a bean pole)

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

recovering

YEAH!! Uh huh! Really, 'tis miraculous - and the physical therapist said that it looks less swollen than she expected it to. And the doctor said the bones are looking really good - he can hardly even tell they were broken!



But..it still kinda looks like this:



And I realized that I have Wrist Vanity. Don't know that it'll ever be as svelte and defined as my right wrist. So I tried to show you my sadness....but crikey! I'm not as sad as all that! Maybe I'll try some more drawings tomorrow.




**edit** I just looked at the drawings again and startd busting a gut. Ohhhh the drama!!!

Jacque's Welcome Gargoyle

Is this not the most amazingly sweet cool gargoyle sculpture EVER?? My friend Jacque made it - from Sculpey®. And she painted it. The pics don't really do it the justice it deserves. I am so in love!!

She was sick same time as me, and this is what she did to keep her mind off the snot and misery.



You can see more photos of the darlin' in this gallery. Lots more angles and details. The hands are stupendously wonderful. But really the whole package is pretty incredible.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

hollow leg



It's true! I've been hungry every few hours....and I didn't even go out for a walk or jog or nuthin'. Maybe it's just the last gasp.

i love it soooooo much

Hey all! It snowed here again...it's virtually unprecedented. I hear you're upwards of 70 degrees in New York. Global warming? nahhhh..it's all propaganda.

In between exercising my wrist to increase flexibility and strength and eating an incredibly scrumptious sunday brunch with Jacque and Marsha...I've been doing this:



(you may need to play through a couple times - I notice that when I transfer this into an .mpg file to upload, the track can skip around a bit)

Jacque really did make the AWESOMEST mushroom gravy to put over our hashbrowns. ACE, J!! And I spent considerable hours sunday night and yesterday learning about mouth shapes, drawing and cutting, trying out several things and learning more about how to animate. I had to scrap a bunch of stuff yesterday.

Today I was trying to think of another way to use a white non-stick surface - and my eyes lit upon...the stove! So that's the background, instead of a proper whiteboard. The whiteboard moves around since it's not mounted on a wall, and yesterday I'd put it near the sliding glass window for some natural light and I FROZE MY ASS OFF kneeling on the ground there, switching out mouth shapes.

Today, much more successful. I watched a bunch of South Park episodes, and studied Futurama last night too. And LAUGHED MY ASS OFF.

Time for tea. It's already getting dark - I've been holed up inside all day. Perfect snow day weather activity!

Saturday, January 13, 2007

cRaCKed

oh good lord, try this one:

Guyman

It's from a site called ROXIK|PICTAPS. You draw a character, and it's loaded into a program that animates it. I've got this crazy mouse, it's all over the map, very hard to control tonight for some reason. I gave up trying to do anything very detailed.

Some people. They're just brilliant. Who thought of this, and how did s/he write the code??? WOW.

Okay I just checked around the site...the guy is from Japan, lives there still....and there is another fun toy you can play with too. SUGOI!!! (excellent! terrific! stupendous!)

cast off

This is the size of the blade.

That totally freaked me out.

And the nurse all calm.




So there are a couple of things I want to blog about, that doctors and nurses don't seem to talk about.

one: it is totally normal to feel not only whacky but really depressed, weepy, anxious and generally strung out when you come off of anesthesia (the surgery last year taught me that). Even if you call the nurse or the doctor wailing and gnashing your teeth and they act surprised that you would be experiencing such things.

two: it is totally normal to feel all of the above after you get your cast off and not only is your range of motion severely limited, as in practically nil, but you hurt like a mofo. It is called post traumatic stress syndrome and no one gives it much mention let alone credence when you are in a doctor's office.

I didn't expect to feel this way. It's not like I expected to be doing handsprings, even though the doc said to go ahead and resume normal activity. But I did think I'd at least be able to move my wrist more than a fraction of a degree in any direction. Well okay, I can - but not much more than a fraction. Doing more than that makes me sweat and scream. Is THIS normal? I'll find out on monday, when I see the physical therapist.

Ya just get to feeling so vulnerable, ya know?? Being the biological beings that we are, and barely out of the bog, I guess it's natural to feel a wee bit anxious about being impaired. Because you never know, tyrannosaurus rex might come trotting along any moment and want a nice snack. And there you are, not able to maneuver like you normally would.

See??

Friday, January 12, 2007

skin orgasms




The night before the day the cast was removed (with a huge noisy sawing BLADE that totally FREAKED ME OUT), I allowed myself a good scratch, with a nice smooth varnished chopstick. When the nurse first outfitted me with the cast, she told me horror stories of people becoming infected and not even knowing it because they scratched and bled underneath inside. So I waited. And gritted my teeth. And felt very thankful that this wasn't summer and 80 degrees outside. But ohhhhhhhhhhhhh the scratching.

I don't know if anything has ever felt so good as that.

(oh! the artistic license! I crack me up, how I draw myself like a beanpole)

Thursday, January 11, 2007

short sweet and





It snowed.























My arm is nekkid. And ooch, ouch.

This girl is tired. More later!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

For Manekineko

For for Manekineko over at the Small Art Project:








And there are a couple more to complete the 360 degree round up over here. For some reason I just can't seem to get one good, clear shot. I need a sunny day, maybe?

Well, more fun has been had! And I just brought home the latest Greg Araki film, Mysterious Skin. I first saw Doom Generation (it's razor-sharp and chic, disturbing, excellent) then his others...Doom Generation stars Rose McGowan; I'd never before seen her but knew she'd probably keep going in the biz. She did. She's awesome. So this one stars that little guy (he's not so little anymore) from 3rd Rock from the Sun. Saw him in a hard-boiled film-noirish film set in high school called Brick, and was pretty impressed. I think it's too late to start Mysterious tonight, but I am certainly looking forward to it.

The hell have I been doing for two freakin' hours since I got home???

Good night already!!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Publisher Clearing House



This is a quick sketch I did while the Sculpey creature was in the oven. Stefan Bucher said that the publishing houses are moving r-e-a-l-l-y slow on his monster book. Dangit I tried to find a link to his page, you should see the thing, it's gorgeous.

Well so I unleashed a couple of monsters to clear out the slowpokes, get 'em out of the gene pool.

Awright that's a wrap!

polyorama

This is what I've been up to tonight. Six panels, 2"X2" each, for The Small Mail Art Project. Also, see the sidebar over there for the Feed, Manekineko updates regularly with new mail art calls. That's her site - and it is AWESOME. She's a whiz at web design.

It's called a polyorama, and I got the idea most recently from Drawn!, an illustration blog I visit pretty much daily. You can see some at a place called Endless Landscapes or Probiscus, I can't quite tell and I haven't browsed their site yet. I stopped off at John Ralston's Flickr page first. WOW!

This here I'm calling Brownstone. It's meant so you can mix 'em up any old way and produce a near-endless combination of panoramas. Oh yeah. This opens up new vistas. Can't wait to try out more! Collage is beckoning....









The Sculpey creature I made isn't quite finished yet; I'll post that tomorrow hopefully. All around a very fun evening!

I drove my car today!! Will wonders never cease? It's a stick shift and I'm still encased in a cast. My arm and wrist doesn't hurt so much although...still pretty tender. I can apply pressure/use it enough to brace the steering wheel intermittently. Cooooool.

Ok one more thing to post, then to bed.

Monday, January 08, 2007

definitely on the mend

The crud is on the wane. I went for a walk along the river this afternoon, in the sunshine, it was warm out, and I returned after about an hour NOT exhausted. Wow. That was great! All I managed yesterday was that trip to Target with the gang and I was ruined by the time I got home. Gack!

Check this out - Ryan (Marsha's six year old son) made me a sculpey creature! Can you dig it??? Can you feel the love? No wonder I'm getting better almost overnight! Thanks Ryan, you rock!





I neglected to mention a very cool gift I received from my new pal Bee in New York - she sent me TWO Art-O-Mat goodies!! I am being showered with goodness. One box was handpainted by the artist, Matt Hand and inside is a rice paper scroll hand-painted with watercolor over his woodblock print. The other is a small handmade book with inspirational theme 'Threads'. Of course I want to submit some work! You need to make a minimum of 50. And wrap them and box them yourself too. And send them there. So, an investment. Which would be SO awesome. I'm posting some pics soon.

On other fronts, a weird Mr. Cake mail art for Haddock. I don't know. Really.




And a comic doodle, natch.



Yes, the lady downstairs persists in volumizing her TV. Honestly, it could be worse. Having not reached previous epic proportions, I'm okay with it. Mostly. Kind of. Spend most of my time in the kitchen where my art space is also set up, soooo...can't hear her if I'm in here. Usually. Not lately at least.

I'm listening to a bunch of tracks from Cowboy Bebop Movie and series. It's superb! I hope Shinichiro Watanabe makes another movie or series sometime soonish. I finally finished Samurai Champloo. Stretched it out as long as I possibly could. It was a great finale. Sniff. I'll miss 'em. The fansub who produced all the movies I downloaded did an EXCELLENT job, it's quite impressive. I'll be keeping those on my hard drive for a good long while.

Also in the mail today....a new Brain Cell from Ryosuke Cohen. I'd sent him a little something to add to a Cell in late October, and was just yesterday thinking I'd probably receive something from him soon. Well yah I did! My art is nowhere on it though. Oh my poor wounded ego. Ah well.

right then, over and out for tonight! Hopefully I will be inspired towards animation of some stripe in the not too distant future......

Saturday, January 06, 2007

waterworks

Well, this morning I felt spry (relatively speaking of course) and did another one of those dogs:



For Fabrice Fosse's mail art call. This one is ATC-sized.












This, I actually carved out of an eraser a couple of nights ago - in keeping with this unibrow/uni-eye kind of thing I've got going on right now. I mean in drawings, not real life. But hey, you never know what might happen. The moonwalk reference is to Jessy Kendall who lives in Lewiston, Maine and sends me her zines and stuff. Apparently she's been practicing lately. Well go on then, get down with your bad-ass self!




This is me this morning.......and then after I got to work, I heard all these people out in the room (the magazine and newspaper room, that is) coughing and sneezing. And coughing. And sneezing.

And actually this started up yesterday morning. Oh joy! So I guess it's all draining out then?!



I felt very much gnarly and puny and downright sorry when I got home from work. After I stopped moving around and drank some toasted barley and curry paste tea, I am feeling much more better. I just may go and watch an Audrey Hepburn flick (How To Steal A Million, in case you are curious). On zee couch.

God I'm spoiled.

I'm so glad I have a warm safe dry comfortable apartment in which to be sick! With plenty of tissues and tea and drawing implements!

Friday, January 05, 2007

out and back again



I think maybe tonight I won't have any trouble falling asleep. But we'll see. I actually hauled myself in to work. I am so tired. But, a good tired, not the sick-making tired I felt earlier this week. So I know I'm getting better even though it's still got its claws in me. Thought I'd go crazy if I stayed in this apartment one more day. So good to be back out in the world!

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Hoffnungsfunke

...that's 'light at the end of the tunnel' to you and I-- according to an online dictionary -- or, more accurately, 'spark of hope'-- from the mouth of a native german speaker, Stefan Bucher, who you may recall draws a monster-a-day. What?! You haven't visited yet? Are you off your nut?



More cake for Haddock!













And a small victory for me!

Well, it may be a teensey bit hyperbolic, but honestly, I really am gaining strength every day. YESSSSS!


Feeling better this afternoon....still staying home from work though. Sigh...I thought I'd be able to go in, but nay. Probably tomorrow. I'm getting chair-sores from sitting so damn much. It's rather excruciating, even though to do a very much lot of anything else is kind of exhausting. At least I know I'll regain the use of my arm, just like I know I'll eventualy be back to my bounce-around self.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

back in the saddle...somewhat



Well I recovered enough to draw something else. Swear to god. Something has definitely invaded my system. Since when is it an effort just to hold my head up? I actually went out of the apartment this evening - across the street to the mailbox in time for the postal carrier to pick up at 5. I know it's only been since saturday afternoon since I've been down with the crud, but I thought this morning that I was nearly better, and it feels like eons since I lived my former life of gallavanting.

I mixed up a hot cupful of tonic: a bit of miso paste (stinky farts be damned, fermented soy/salt is what I am craving, and certainly I'm not going to be hanging out with anyone anytime soon anyway), some tamari, and a dollop of curry paste. Which includes garlic, pepper (natch), lemongrass, galengal (what the hell is that?) and assorted other wholesome things that will burn this bug outta me. I hope. I am feeling less stupefied.

I just looked up galengal. It is a spice/root similar to ginger. Ahhh yes! That's the ticket! I'm on the road back to health, I can feel it!!

is time on my side?



Gah. I think I'm having a relapse.