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Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Sharpie Tshirt Revolution

So sorry for neglecting you all these past several days. For shaem! Sheme. Shema. Shemaymay. Isn't that from In Living Color, or SNL? What's the funniest thing you've heard lately?

I'll tell you the funniest thing in my recent memory.

Ok no I won't, it's nasty.

No not really, I'm just at a loss and though I've laughed my arse off plenty, I think you had to be there.

I finally caved and turned the heat on downstairs. I could see my breath, it was so cold. And I didn't want to come home, it was so cold. And I didn't want to come out of the warm bed, it was so cold. I hope I don't pay through the nose. It is an unusually cold winter. But now, I feel so much better, my hormones are on an upswing, my landlady is being cool, and although a certain coworker is up to her usual tricks, I would be more worried if she were not. My humor has returned after a two-week absence, and I am relishing that.

Been plugging away in the studio, dodoling, or doodling as the kids these days say, and I found a photo on fluckr or actually it's flickr, and so I watercolored my own version here:


sWaN


If you click the picture you can be directed to the flickr photostream and get the full story. Such as it is.

Over on fluckr are many more, well a few more, photos of what I've been up to mucking around with art stuff lately. But what I'm most excited about now is taking sharpies and tshirts to task!

This is for Megan, who turns 12 in a few days:





That was last night's foray. Oooh so fun. And tonight I did another Jason head for my Hundred Heads of Jason Projekt:





heh heh heh. Wouldn't this be natty with a blazer and a pair of Docs? Wouldn't it just? Too bad I own neither. But tomorrow, black jeans and skater shoes will suffice.

heh heh heh

Saturday, November 24, 2007

dem bones dem bones

Evenin' goyls and gents. Finally I am snug as the proverbial bug in a rug. I guess it must be hovering at freezing instead of plummeting into the 20s. Makes a big difference, you know. Two pairs of socks and yeti slippers are enough when it's this warm.

There was frost on the windows yesterday morning. No, on the INSIDE of my upstairs windows. And I, the starving artist in my garret, making due with gruel and weak tea. Oh yeah right whatever. I would still rather work one job, part-time, and neglect to turn the heat on at night, instead favoring an extra extra blanket.

Tonight, the electricity is out again....this time it's downstairs. Ok be careful what you wish for. When I was looking for a place to move into, I was okay with 'funky'. But I'm not okay with it any more. The folks are out of town, and my breaker box is inside their house, next to their breaker box. Luckily, the fridge, oven and stove are on a line that wasn't affected by my extracurricular electricity maneuvers. One too many lights on in combination with an iron and a vacuum and POOF.

SOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOO freakin' glad that the upstairs is lit; otherwise I would be seriously eff you see kay'd. I would be riding my bike over to Jacque and Marsha's, is what I would be doing.

It's nice going to work. It's always a comfortable, even slightly warm, 72 degrees. No wonder so many people off the streets clamor for the easy chairs and set up camp for the day. They do. And they leave their gear strewn about if they wanna step outside and roll a cigarette. It's cool. I know one guy who sleeps under a bridge. He's a good guy. He treats me right - doesn't give me the leer-eye, speaks to me and not my arse-end or my front-end-shelf. Damn funny too, and polite, but not saccharin. Genuine. But he asked me if I was chilly riding in this morning and yesterday and I said fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck yeah man it was cold out there! Froze my ass off! And he laughed and gave me the high five. I can't believe he's out there sleeping. But, it's kind of his choice. He won't work for Tha Man, or Ya Big Thugs.

Anyway. It's good to reminisce. And draw, and paint. Here is some stuff from the last several days. I've been taking a little dive, a small plunge, if you will: painting without sketching in pencil first. With those Heads of Jason. Yup.



Watercolor in german-english dictionary of my flickrfriend Mara

Queen of the Night

(I did sketch in pencil first for Mara)

And then we have:

jasonacrylic

free man

I painted these co-tangentially....is that even a word? does it even mean what I want it to?...they weren't exactly successive paintings, as I worked on them simultaneously. A new thing for me: acrylic on wood. 4 x 4".

Here is what a flickrfriend calls the Jason Totem:

three heads are better than one

just add water

Another Jason.....it's a good thing I suck at drawing the exact same head (person, features, face). Slim to none chance of losing interest in the project or becoming utterly redundant....

And for tonight, guess who? Yes! You guessed right! Another Jason. Postcard sized, on some print paper. Crayola markers with gel pen. Love the guy's nose, very fun to accentuate.

what's that you say?

I go watch movie now. In warm upstairs with yeti slippers and salted broth.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

groundhog day

I'm referring to the rapidity and repetivity with which the days are passing - wasn't I just sitting here doing this same thing this morning in the dark and it was cold? Well it is cold and dark again and I am having much fun dicking around on the computer tonight. And, making art. Revisiting my old flame, printmaking, after a rather long hiatus. The sketch was ok, it's fun to be able to draw something recognizable, but really it's so straightforward and well, honestly, quite boring to behold. Thus the little flamey squirrelly hairdo and the pointy ear so he's a bit of the devil (may care).

from concept sketch....

the sketch

to print....

the print

to sticker! heh heheh.....three for the price of one

three for the price of one

Wanted to do something different for the actual print. I am always fascinated by Kathe Kollwitz's self-portrait print. So I reference it a lot and someday I may even begin to approach the depth and texture she manages to convey so effortlessly through simple line.

Mah toes need some heat! I'm gonna watch some Art:21 on DVD before I fall over sleepified.

ps, did you know that by February 2009, there will be no more analog TV? It's all gonna be digital. Which means if you haven't bought a new TV with these digital-loving devices, you will need to buy a transformer if you want to watch even the local 'free' channels. Worry not. The government, hereafter to be referred to as Ya Big Thugs, has provisioned for each household to receive two (2) coupons worth forty (40) or maybe it's thirty (three times ten) dollars to help buy said transformulators. Expected cost for these miracles of technology: around 70 smackers.

I am so so so glad that TV is not one of my vices. I have my hands quite full already, thank you.

and another think

urgh. Why do I feel like such crap in the mornings? Is it the place in which I live, called Oregon, with its beautiful mold-scapes and perfect growing weather year-round? Is it the place in which I live called my body which is now close to 40 years old? (WHAT?!) Is it the place in which I live called My Mind, whatever the hell that is, which is by turns entrenched in queer beliefs and exalted by new ones? I don't know but it is thrice hard to pry myself from between covers and I look pretty rugged every morning.

Here is my routine, as of the onset of chilly weather. I nestle as long as possible, because I do not turn the heat on at night. Amazingly, this place stays tolerably warm (that being a relative term), and I do own quite a few blankets. But my nose says it is rather nippy out among no-covers. I burrow some more. Unless I have to go to work early.

If it is a very frosty night, I wipe this off the windows (they being single pane):



Then I rehydrate myself, since all the water I drank the previous day has just been condensing on the windows. Every morning a tall glass of water. And I turn the heater on, which squats inside the east wall, and it surprisingly quiet and efficient. I drape the now-wet towel (after wringing out excess water into the basin) over the clothes hamper which I place not too close but close enough in front of the cadet heater, and inside of 15 minutes, the towel is dry and my room is toasty and my arse-flesh is mostly not goosepimpled.

A couple more Jason heads:

jason with a turban?

(one of my flickrfriends says that is looks like a loaf of bread molded into the shape of a camel......how did he know??!)

yes, he is, at least for this panel

yes, yes I know

just ink it

now this last one I am particularly fond of, since I did not sketch it out in pencil prior to piddling around with sumi ink directly on the paper. One of my other flickrfriends, Z, remarked that the ink is unpredictable but in a good way. That is so true! I love that about ink (and am frustrated about that in ink....).

Time's near to riding out for work: I must bundle myself proportionate to the outside temperature which I am not sure has even reached above the freezing point. One would think the extra padding I've acquired after a half-season of cobbler and pie would help keep me warm. Funny how it doesn't work that way, eh?

Monday, November 19, 2007

dear jason

Okay, this could be creepy, but it's.........not. I mean, I don't even know the guy, where he lives, nothing. Except that he's a twice-over survivor of cancer. But his photo is providing me with much inspiration. So here is another head.



a couple of stills

oh brother

sculpey jason

pencil end

erm.......

How can I not? It could be the official 8th Jason, impersonating a...yakuza?



Pretty cool site, I remembered goofing around on awhile back. Create your own at:

Pictap!

Here's the above in full-screen-splendor:

Poodle?!

(I had to name it something........)

93 to go

Oh me goddy god I'm glad I went arsing about out in the garden before that torrential front moved in. All morning, it was sunny and dry (relatively speaking......nothing ever really dries out around here). I dithered around inside, inside my jammies, up in my room thinking to go for a bike ride. So I did, and by this time it was early afternoon, and was pelted with pelting rain. A fair bit of wind too. But damn it, I enjoyed myself and the hot shower afterwards! Oh yes! Cleared up for a moment this evening, here - this is to remind myself during the long winter months ahead that the sun really does exist:



I'm doing heads now. One hundred of them. I found this picture on flickr, of a guy. And I spent some time studying it and I liked it a lot. Turns out he's a cancer survivor (TWICE, no less). I learned this through a person who holds him in special regard - the set where I found the photo. Meanwhile, my favorite illustration blog for all things high and lowbrowlustrous ran a post about a 6000 Heads project. And I am transfixed by all these heads with faces on them. And I put the two together and I am doing one hundred heads of a guy named Jason, here are seven so far:

still alive


take two


number the three


4 of ?


sixième de l'homme Jason


numero seis


fifth event

Saturday, November 17, 2007

untitled

untitled

I'm so happy cuz today....sluuuurp....coffee....as is not my usual wont, if you know me at all. So I am of the bit of hyper persuasion, add the fact that I get to work alone instead of with my favorite sharp-tongued co-worker.

Someone threw me a bone fer sure. Yip yip!

p.s. I used Frank Ze's Scribbler, and you can too. Just google it. I'm not providing a hyperlink.

***edit at 1:21***

I CANNOT DRINK COFFEE NO MORE NO I CANNOT!!!!!!

ping ping ping puh-ping pingping

me no like

a tisket a tasket

It was a dark and stormy night........

oh yes, it really was, literally and metaphorically.

I keep inviting Kit to lap dance for me. Kit is my landlady and she reminds me not a little bit of my mother, who irritated the fuck out of me on more than one occasion with her sidewinder slipstream doublespeak ways. Obviously I haven't gotten over all that, because I keep engaging it, at least on what should be my off-hours. I need to put Kit's shit back in her own lap, where it belongs.

I am strongly considering hypnotherapy. Three bags of chocolate chip cookies are admittedly cheaper (on the wallet) but also more expensive (on my psyche). Actually there are no three bags of chocolate chips, but the click in my jaw isn't getting any better so I figure I must be grinding in my sleep.

Fer Chrissakes, put it down, Victoria!

The thunder this morning was grandiose. I loved it.

Here are some drawings.

nothing but the best

free

caught out

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

school pictures

.........oh, fine I guess. A bit bloated and feeling like a stuffed sausage, really. And my hand-eye coordination has gone south for the winter, apparently, because I can't draw worth a damn the last few days. And you?

blah blah blah

I wish I was a skinny little kid again, with no cramps or weird attitudes about food, sex, intimacy, or large pink elephants. A kid who is at the mercy of a well-meaning but barking mad mother.....okay I'll just stay in the present. Wrinkles, fat cheeks, cellulite, and all.

Ooh I'm in a foul mood. Okay, check my hormones at the door next time!

Eroica posted a pic of her cute kid self with a cowlick, so I'm posting mine:

(here's first grade)



I picked out the shirt myself. I've always loved t-shirts above all else. I was sooooo proud of the (mostly) no front teeth.

(here's third grade)



Mom, that you made time enough to make a shirt for me was supercool, but I hated the ruffles. And the material. And I was taken by surprise when the lady styled my hair, I'd no idea she was emphasizing my embarrassing cowlick and about pissed my shorts when the pictures came back.

Wouldn't mind that cowlick now though.

(here's sixth grade)




oh, wait a minute..........

Sunday, November 11, 2007

studious, so studious




Tell ME about it!

Listening to Freeworm..........



*why? because today I don't care about my love handles cellulite stretch marks pasty white skin belly overhang....fuck it..I feel good*

yesm, it is a very small carrot from the garden:



deetle deetle deetle

Thursday, November 08, 2007

wot wot wot?!

I managed to scrape up another grubb for Free Art Friday. But before I post that, I would like to share with you why I like winter, since I am trying to be brave and positive about the upcoming dark, drizzle, cold and general oogyness of this celebrated season. See when it's dark so soon, I think it's really really late, like 10 o'clock. Like in summer. But no! It's only 4:30, and there are scads of hours left in which to do art projects before I have to put my jammies on and go to bed!

Winter. I love it.

Grubb for Peace.


So my pal Mara aks'd me if I would consider posting some pics of my newly henna'd hair, so one might see the sheen achieved. Well, since there is no sunshine to glorify the glints, nor will there be until July probably, an overhead tungsten/flourescent mix (one of each) in the bathroom booth will need to suffice. These were taken after wearing my bicycle helmet to and from work. Bear that in mind.





Now, you will see that I have on several layers. Under the plaid hoodie with industrial zipper (one of my favorite thrift store scores), there is an Old Navy Sweater (another score from a thrifty store). And under that, there is a soft long sleeved shirt (which I'll have you know, I bought at Target, not at a 2nd hand store, so alert the press). And under THAT, is a very comfortable long tank top (guess where I found it). Yes. I am warm and cozy. And do not doubt that my tootsies are inside the yeti slippers. Well, first they are inside two pairs of socks.

I think I lost sight of the fact that I was supposed to be showcasing my hair.

nighters!

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

sweet dreams

MMMmmmmm........Big Hunk.........leftover Halloween candy, ya perve! I love those things. Candy, not perves! My jaw only pops if I chew chewy nougat candy on the left side. Good to know.

Ooooh shitskeys and I had bad teeth dreams last night. Was it my eyeteeth that crumbled? And like when you chew a brussel sprout, they grow in your mouth? Yeah, because the mouthful of crumbled tooth kept growing and growing until I spat it out in a mealy mess.

FREAKING ME OUT!!!!!

Makes sense though, if Freud was right about teeth dreams, and I think me he was.

It
is
all
temporary
.

Even the things you are accustomed to thinking are not or should not be.

Well then. Here's a nice cheerful doodle to contemplate:



Actually I quite like this one. It even creeps ME out. A little bit. Heh heh heh.

Did a mail art jam with Haddock and MusicMaster and maybe some other dude I don't know, last night:

another mail art jam

If you click on it, you will be redirected to my flickr photostream where you can view a bigger, more detailed pic.

Who are you, anyway?

Monday, November 05, 2007

a leetle ketchup

Hey diddle diddle!

My tribute to 2001: A Space Odyssey. And learning how to play around with gradients in Photoshop.



This morning, I finally did a collaboration with Jack, who sent me a postcard-sized slab of wood (several weeks ago) with his first-ever stencil......niiiiice!......then I filled in the rest. Sharpies, gel pen outline, acrylic.


Some mail art for me pal Haddock!




And, a doodle with gel pen and colored pencil. Imported into Photoshop. Playin' with backgrounds.we're in it for life

Yesterday I headed on over to do some art with Jacque. I brought along some stuff to work on this collaboration with Miss Manou who hails from Germany. She sent me a passel of stickers, and these fishies. I collaged them onto a canvas that Jacque had done years ago (the rust-colored ink squigglies), then airbrushed on shadows, bubbles, and 'seaweed'. Thanks for the awesome donation, J. MissM, you are a fabulous playmate. The size is uh.......it's big, my biggest piece thus far. I'll upload another picture for perspective on that.

click on it fer a big 'un, it's quite delightful



Hey, it's Jacque and Marsha!



Here we go now. Dressing up our dear Mr. Eugene Skinner, sitting in eternal contemplation outside our public library. Stefan Bucher supplied the mask. Heh heh. But I needed my scarf, and pointy hat so I rode away with those but I left Mr. S the mask.


Twas ch-ch-chilly today! I made pie tonight.

I leave you with this: