| Fun times with the Benders |
[04 Jul 2009|05:43pm] |
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SomaFM - Groove Salad |
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Needed to break in my new moleskine-sized WC pad, and it was bugging me what to put in, so I let someone else conceptualize for me here.
And 'cause I'm a registered Grand Master of Dorkdom, and Pop Culture Fanhood... I give you... Avatar: the Last Airbender fan art.
I've got Aang and Sokka under the brush at the moment. They'll come soon enough. And an infected dog thing.
Dick Blick had a really awesome sale on 300 lb WC sheets and an awesome handmade paper sketch pad last week, so we got some of those now. I am an addict of art supplies.
Last night was spent watching an osprey hunt for fish for her noisycute fledglings on the Bay. And gorging on smoked brisket, rockfish, bratwurst, and burgers on the edge of the water. A friend's dad has a GREAT 1930s house right on the water in Deale, MD. Tiny little fishing town, but what a phenomenal view and the weather was perfect last night to see some fireworks across the water at Chesapeake Beach. The ospreys were numerous and cute, as were the fireflies, though the weirdest guest of the night was a wild turkey we saw pecking someone's lawn on the way there.
Happy 4th, folks. Don't get too nationalistic.
Time to shave my head.
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| Annapolis. Undersea. |
[18 Jun 2009|03:31am] |
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Since we discovered it's been something like 300x the normal yearly amount of rain in this area ALREADY, and that there was a coastal flood warning until noon tomorrow, we decided to go see the docks and the Bay at high tide (this being 2 AMish). Well, I put it off last night due to work to get done, and tonight I'm stressing too much over the work I've already done and have to tighten up before the 20th (at which point to the Art Director it goes)... so I agreed to go with Lisa down to the water and see what exactly happens when you have this much precipitation in time with a high tide in spring.
So... yeah, there's very nearly no dinghy tie-up area left, and the water's lapping at the edge of the wall... behind the benches, not in front of. To get to the seats, you have to leap across the surf and its attendant morass of flotsam washed up from the slips. The water makes a very pretty sight as it tugs at the bricks of the dock walk, and washes the feet of the statues of prone children listening to the bronze of Alex Haley read them a story. I like to think he'd now be saying "Now kids, don't you go swimming... you're made of heavy damn stuff and you can't do that."
Parking lot: flooded. Water height along slips: touching the bottom of the dock 2x4s. Walking along the boardwalk, we had to climb atop the dock wall a couple times to get around the flood. It was astoundingly iffy whether Annapolis looks to survive another hurricane like Isabel in '03. There is fierce slapping against the harbor wall and chop that'd make me really ill if I was out on it. On the way back to the car, a half-drowned sedan swept by and made us jump out of the way to avoid its wake. A car. With a wake. Crazy. Of course this was merely a test wave, since further on there was no more sidewalk and our shoes got soaked as we tromped through shin-deep water.
Good part: beautiful water, peppering by slow rain, a city being overtaken by nature. And we picked up the trash tossed by the surf onto the brick walk so it didn't get taken back out to sea when this all drains away. A sippy cup we'd seen earlier today floating by the boats was now close enough to throw away. Bonus to flooding.
Bad part: seawater-soaked shoes, socks, and pant cuffs.
All in all, a grand jaunt.
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| Input |
[09 Mar 2009|05:03pm] |
See, I'm down with Wacoms or whatever tablet you like... I'm really really reaaaaally agog over the Cintiq, see. I really love tablets. But WHY THE HELL IS THE ONLY OTHER OPTION A MOUSE?!?
Seriously, engineers, is it so hard to fit an optical sensor in a vertical housing? If the flybynights at eZonics and FingerSystemUSA can do it, why can't some quality manufacturer make a pen-shaped input device that don't need a wire and don't need a tablet?
Really, now... I'm kinda sick of the whole "mouse" idea anyway. Carpal tunnel sucks.
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| Sprawl |
[08 Mar 2009|04:39am] |
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Evan is what he makes of me. And what made is thereby always-been.
Evan is nostalgic despite the intrinsic sickly-wasting disease this modus operandi begets in the hearts of all who partake.
Evan is flattered when people bring their shining beacons of preconception and enjoyment to the works of his hand, but knows nought of what they really mean behind those eyes so clouded... occluded even.
Evan is fancy made writ, brain jumping like krillfish into the maw of a harmless ocean-going mesozoic hippo with too much mass to exist anywhere airy. Too bad none of the script makes sense to our native guide.
Evan is placating his sense of disaster and unmoored futurehim by pretense that breaks like a crepe tent. Is all that hoped-for unmundane?
Evan is lost amid the waving grasses of a plain only wide enough for his pinky to stir the breeze and yet he can't find the entryway.
Evan is fraught with contradictions real and imagined, irreconcilable to anyone who'd like to try, but willing to share if that's what pleases.
Evan is plastered on living and scared he won't be liable to the bright sunshine and scudding white behemoths of the firmament unless he does more of it than is probably safe for sustenance.
Evan is the least likely guru you'll ever meet. His apprenticeship with our eternal guild is yet to come to a close and silly hats abound.
Evan is breathing slightly-damp air the likes of which once touched the lungs of 1909 and would like to hear the echoes that stir from that century without scrying for meaning.
Evan is mountain-deprived.
Evan is centerless and wants to putter the route of the potter to reroll his clay while watching from the sidelines to see how its done for future reference.
Evan is clearly tired of all those status-fiend glutton boxes that ache for the minutia of each day.
Evan is not the social sphere's feeding trough. Except when he wants to be.
Evan is blown to atomized diaspora scraping his lenses clear for a view of the might yet be. Awful, terrific, and wretchedly spun this skein of May Be.
Evan is needing an environment that breeds Idea like a progressive soup of evolving Possibly.
Evan is strapped in for the ride and doesn't care about that little blip on the road way down there. If action never happened, wouldn't the ideas still be beautiful?
Evan is a terrible cliche, and why not? Fractal repetition has its moments, bringing that lonely oblivion of the infinite.
Evan is frightful in his wakeful behavior. Sleep sounds the grand central terminus of his needs, but breeds only discontent in the populace.
Evan is thirsty, hating that water carrier and unwilling to bend to drink the camel's piss to survive.
Evan is drinking thoughtlate milk.
Evan is proposing a new revolution and no one will ever know. The strong inherit the hearth and your own merit isn't that which brings shining little prawns to your dinner party, it's the ones out back tripped on psylocibin who made the cake.
Evan is functionless and unsure he wants to function. Sharks couldn't fulfill a nicer niche than is lacking here and these spurtlings of commentary cave to expectation.
Evan is creating whole worlds every moment that you see when you're between sunset and sunrise, without regard for logic or pattern. He likes it better that way. The turbines would turn smooth on their bearings without these vignettes just as well.
Evan is silly. And tragic. Without the competition, nothing frightens onlookers enough to make him feel justified.
Evan is plural like a finely-spun shuttle of floss is cradled in the hands that bind our masts together and make the sea our enemy afloat. Scattered would be safer.
Evan is prone to self-unrealization.
Evan is soft and easily bruised. And like pudding, the damage is invisible.
Evan fancies he might see the future tomorrow second minute hour day.
Evan is intrinsically disgusted at lotus-eating seeming-spewers of all stripes, canes, and colors, whatever hat they wear.
Evan is only a friend to animals.
Evan is overburdened by Things, Acts, and Conditions. Hermitage might not be any better.
Evan is home.
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| Culture, art, hedgehogs, paper! |
[04 Mar 2009|02:48pm] |
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Silence Heavy |
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Don't forget! See some art. The kind on paper! (See below)
The 32nd Annual Art on Paper show at the Circle Gallery in Annapolis opens this Friday, March 6th. It'll run 'til April 15th, and the opening reception is March 15th, 3-6 pm.
http://www.mdfedart.org/
I've got a watercolor in there, if you want some culture and some hedgehogs, go see the show!
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| AH HAHAHA. |
[02 Mar 2009|06:58pm] |
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| Oh those rascally logos. |
[11 Feb 2009|10:16pm] |
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OK, so you know those cliches we always make fun of? You know the jokes we make about amateur mom-and-pop logos and photoshop faux pas?
This just... Oh my freaking gods...
Wow.
Tell me that doesn't just about plum epitomize it all?
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| Corpus Clock |
[11 Feb 2009|01:13am] |
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Because every famous college needs a time eating bug.
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| 25 THINGS I COULD DO FOR YOU! |
[08 Feb 2009|09:40am] |
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25 Things --
Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25* people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If you've already done this, you don't have to do it again.
*or however many you want
1. I hated watercolors for the longest time... based mostly on the truly harsh learning curve of this most aquescent of media and the "Old ladies painting flowers" connotations. That and those silly little Crayola tray sets always had crappy crappy holding power. Then, for some inexplicable reason in my last year of college I grew to really enjoy them for quickness and ease of use over top of inked work. Now, I work almost exclusively in watercolor, acrylic washes, and ink. Strange, how that worked out. Sakura are delicious, and a really stiff Arches paper makes all the difference.
2. When I was between 13-15, my family still made us go to church on Sunday mornings (I was raised RC) at either 9 AM or 11 AM. Needless to say, this was antithetical to my teenage sleep schedule, which ranged from around 2 AM til noon. Besides which, I certainly didn't buy into the Judeo-Christian religion thing, so it seemed particularly hypocritical to force me into attendance. When we got there, I'd usually leave very quickly from the mass and go walk a bit east until I got into the woods of our community park, where I'd spend the hour or so of mass wandering in my own sort of spiritual fulfillment among the deer paths and creeks of these few acres. And then I'd wander back to the church in time to go home with the rest of my family
3. Before I ever knew what an RPG really was, or considered art as a serious career path, I was at a Waldenbooks somewhere with my mom and the player's guide to Werewolf: the Apocalypse caught my eye on an endcap in the fantasy/gaming section. And being somewhat a fantasy geek already, I took a look and not only was the style of the interior comic book way beyond anything I was seeing at Marvel or DC or whatever else I was reading then, but the main character was named Evan, too. This was just almost unfathomably awesome to my 13 year old mind, so I cajoled and wheedled my mom into buying the book for me. I still adore Tony DiTerlizzi's artwork to death, and the premise of WWtA's eco-warriors is dear to my heart. There used to be a gaming group that met at the local army base, and I would go play Magic: the Gathering (3rd ed.) and Rage, the WWtA CCG there on Thursday nights, but eventually I moved on to more destructive pursuits and highschool.
4. I love the feeling of being utterly worn out, bodily fatigue. Mental fatigue I could do without. Unfortunately, I'm more prone to stay awake making something til 9 AM and accomplishing the latter than I am to do something physically draining to get to the former state. Funny how that goes.
5. Growing up, my parents would have called me hopelessly messy. I left stuff all over my room... but I knew where everything was, or at least the general locality. Now, I can't stand a cluttered desk or floor, though if it's just crowded, that's quite different. Then you're simply lacking proper flat surfaces. It started in college, I think, when I needed constant access to my art supplies.
6. I absolutely REFUSE to buy furniture, kitchen wares, tools or machines that couldn't theoretically last a hundred years beyond my lifetime. I'm sick of the disposable nature of our goods nowadays and everything from my drafting table to my trunk and knife block are either solid wood antiques or something I paid dearly for. I'll avoid getting something needful if it means waiting til I can afford something that won't break in a year.
7. When I'm tired of my playlist or it's being obstinate and only playing one genre, I listen to Groove Salad on SomaFM.
8. Sometime in 2006 I became allergic to cashews. Which sucks, because I reaaaally liked cashews.
9. I would give my left pinky finger to be able to paint like John Jude Palencar or engrave like Gustav Dore.
10. One of the finest memories (or set of memories) that I have from teenagerhood is all my store of "Tunnel" adventures. There was a very large drainage/sewer arrangement that ran between an apartment complex near where I lived, under the Kmart, the parking lot, under the highway, and gave out into a deep drainage ditch which ran to the water treatment plant. Most of its length was low height, but navigable if hunched over and unless it was pouring, didn't have too much water in it. But about 8/10ths of the way down there was a largish room with some table-like areas where we'd go and hang out, burn things, set off bottle rockets down the tunnels into the dark, and carve into the concrete walls with picks. I remember running from the cops a couple times late in my teenage years when neighborhood nannies would call them about the "hoodlums" in the sewers. Sometime while I was away in college, someone committed suicide there, but I never remember hearing about anything else bad occurring in The Underworld.
11. I hate flat landscapes, but I could totally live in Holland. It was wonderful to visit.
12. Rather than get a rat for a pet when I lived in Fairfax, Virginia, Lisa got me an illegal-in-Fairfax-County hedgehog because my roomie's ferret wouldn't eat that like he would a rat. September is a great little thing, though. And has inspired a series of art after all.
13. I've never seen a truly amazing dawn over the ocean. I tried a few times, living here on the east coast, but it was always cloudy and grey. I saw the best sunset ever in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA. I did see one over the Chesapeake that looked like mercury had spilled over the water, which was incredible, the dawn after the Winter Solstice.
14. Arts and Crafts is my absolutely favorite architectural/design movement. I go ga-ga over Stickley furniture.
15. DC's quirkiness lacks severely compared to that in Cleveland, where Lisa went to college. They have the awesomest used bookstores (Loganberry, Mac's Backs) next to Powell's in Portland. And the west side market is a farmer's market the likes of which I've never seen in the States. If I could transplant some of that kind of cool here, I would do it in a flash.
16. Honestly, if we wrote out the amount of circumstantial and synchronious occurances that have beat "go to portland!" into our heads... it would probably frighten even Jonathan Edwards.
17. If I wasn't an illustrator and designer, I'd want to be a jeweler. Metalwork, particularly small metalwork, is delicious and fun.
18. I don't make it a habit to do charity work, if only because I'm selfish enough to keep my time to myself, but I had a really good time helping fix homes in Appalachia over the summer sometime in highschool.
19. When I was 6, I was attacked by a friend's doberman. It put a huge puncture into my right leg, and I limped for two weeks or more. In case you didn't know, I'm a small fella. I was REALLY SMALL at 6. But, I also really love dogs anyway. Even dobermans. Am I forgetful or forgiving or just masochistic? Wouldn't you like to know.
20. I think copper is a much finer element than gold, silver, iron, aluminum, platinum, or any alloy thereof. Though I do like bronze, too. It's certainly nicer than gems of any sort.
21. I once spent 2 weeks refinishing a giant bookcase off craigslist and turning it Steampunk. See number six.
22. For two months at the beginning of 2008, I lived in a 100-year-old country church (best wooden construction I've ever seen) that we'd renovated to house three people. There was as yet no hot water, no shower, no stove, and no central heating. Granted this was the Dallas area of Texas, but it still got cold in January. I showered at a friend's house and ate at the office. It was an experience. The whole double-wall structure was of red oak. I wanted to strip and steal it all.
23. Sometime this year, I have plans to build myself a bamboo-and-carbon-fiber bike frame. Calfee Design makes some badass ones, but they're $2K each... which is plain ludicrous for a bike. This will cement my addiction to Instructibles.com.
24. My great-grandfather and great-uncle had a restoration company on Staten Island, NY early in the 20th century, painting church altarpieces and building decorative woodwork and furniture. My great-uncle was also a commercial artist in NYC for a while.
25. Lisa and I will one day do the Camino de Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route from France to Spain. Because walking town-to-town for three weeks sounds awesome, not out of any religious interest.
//TAGGED: I think everyone has done this, so if you want to do it, take this as your super secret cue. Surprise me.
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| Annapolitans, Districans, Baltimoreans! Here ye, here ye! |
[07 Feb 2009|05:30pm] |
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The Maryland Federation of Art's "Annual Art on Paper" exhibition will feature our intrepid explorer of far-flung Hedgehogidom this year. March 6 - April 15, 2009 at 18 State Circle, Annapolis, MD.
Reception/Opening on March 15th 3-6 PM.
Keep an eye out for more shows soon, too. I'm waiting to hear back from one in Denver, one in Baltimore... not to mention Spectrum. Also, I'll be participating in the Oregon Inkspot Print Exchange. The other shows will likely include Jilly, and the rest of the Merricule series plus an as-yet-unconceptualized print. I think. Anyway, I'm finally finished with the children's book I was working on. Selections of it are up on my devART account if'n anyone's interested like.
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| Exit blender. |
[21 Jan 2009|02:48am] |
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Tom Waits - Long Way Home |
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Finally. I can look at DC and see my President, rather than an enemy of the people.
Thank heaven, 7-11.
And no, despite being here, I didn't go into the festivities in DC. Get up at 3 am to see a noon event? Nah. Crowds? Nah. I watched it on the interwebs. Besides, my stuff came finally from Texas today. I have bookcases, drafting tables, and a knifeblock among other things. A dresser! Finally a place for my clothes. : ) Only problem: half my shit was left behind or stolen by someone. A bookcase, bamboo cutting boards, my blender, half my kitchenware, a stone inlay coffee table, a vacuum and a portfolio full of easily $100 worth of blank papers. This has me mighty irked.
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| Art |
[18 Jan 2009|06:40am] |
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Groove Salad |
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You show off the work like it matters or improves the life of those seeing it... but sometimes you wonder if it ever does.
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| Abortion Donuts? |
[17 Jan 2009|12:24am] |
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Still the hungarian station... |
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Abortion donuts!
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts released this really apolitical and seemingly innocuous press release, saying that they’re giving away free doughnuts on Inauguration Day: “Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American’s sense of pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of choice to every customer on this historic day, Jan. 20. By doing so, participating Krispy Kreme stores nationwide are making an oath to tasty goodies — just another reminder of how oh-so-sweet ‘free’ can be.”
Yes, I know exactly what you’re thinking: how dare those sugar-peddlers promote the murder of unborn babies???? Right? What else could you possibly think? Well, rest assured that the American Life League is with you and put out this statement: “Just an unfortunate choice of words? For the sake of our Wednesday morning doughnut runs, we hope so. The unfortunate reality of a post Roe v. Wade America is that ‘choice’ is synonymous with abortion access, and celebration of ‘freedom of choice’ is a tacit endorsement of abortion rights on demand. “President-elect Barack Obama promises to be the most virulently pro-abortion president in history. Millions more children will be endangered by his radical abortion agenda. “Celebrating his inauguration with ‘Freedom of Choice’ doughnuts - only two days before the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to decriminalize abortion - is not only extremely tacky, it’s disrespectful and insensitive and makes a mockery of a national tragedy. “A misconstrued concept of ‘choice’ has killed over 50 million preborn children since Jan. 22, 1973. Does Krispy Kreme really want their free doughnuts to celebrate this ‘freedom.’
And for some strange reason, Krispy Kreme hasn’t responded to the organization’s requests for comment. Imagine that. I guess that at least they still have their new National Sanctity of Human Life Day.
I don’t know about you, but me? I’m going to be running out on January 20th to get me an abortion doughnut. Mmm . . . tastes like women who don’t know their place! _______________________________
Miami News: feministe
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| Wintertime! |
[16 Jan 2009|11:53pm] |
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Some Hungarian Folk Station |
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This went out in an email to our friends, but here it is for anyone who's email I don't have.
( Winter Cast )
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| Modofly Moleskins and Colorific Awe |
[04 Jan 2009|06:15pm] |
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Final Fantasy IX from the TV. |
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GOOD EVENING ALL-
In the fine crispness of a Winter Eventide, this NEW YEAR makes many of us a bit nostalgic for the GENEROUS WARMTH of our MEMORIES and DREAMS. I know I for one am wont to sleep late, drowsing wiling my way awake in the grey Winter months.
To coincide with your dreamy liberation of self, I have been selected for the latest run of Modofly's GLORIOUS MOLESKINES, this fine selection being of predominantly Steampunk and Curious Machines, with the co-theme of "Girlie Art". Which, I can't really define, though it seems to involve young women in strange roles and accoutrements. Go see for Your Self!
By NO MEANS are mine own works the cream of the crop, either. There are STRONG CONTENDERS and BLAZING WONDERS of ARTISTIC MERIT in the newest and past collections of Modofly's laser-engraved moleskine notebooks. And coming soon, they're printing FULL COLOR collections of custom moleskineries.
Go, adore, and get wrapped up in the warmth of a moleskined Winter morning. With tea, of course.
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[01 Dec 2008|07:48pm] |
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Oh. Yeah. So did everyone know I'm married now? I figured I'd make that announcement, but I somehow just went on as if everyone knew what was up in my existence on a daily, monthly, or half-decadely fashion. So, now you know.
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| Illustrators and Writers |
[27 Nov 2008|02:52am] |
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Wandering ideas. |
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OK, so I'm rather shaken. In a good way. Like a juice that's settled. ; )
I found out yesterday that I'm one of the Three Third Quarter winners of the "Illustrators of the Future" contest. Now barring the 90s website and the fact that it was started by THAT GUY... this is a pretty nifty little bit of contestation between drawers and writers of every stripe. Except that they're all spec-fiction-inspired, I guess.
But hey, I get a nice little check and some bragging rights? Or at least a check. And next year I get to compete for a greater award and then go to LA. Whether or not I win the last stage. Do I know anyone in LA? I can't recall at this point where everyone is dwelling, though I know at one point I knew a few people there. *nod* Either way, Lisa says I have to go to the Museum of Jurassic Technology. No matter what.
WHOO!
...And goddamnitcatgetthehelloffthesnaketerrarium! He just doesn't get that he can't get in, she can't get out and we're going to spray him with water every time we see him there. Stupid bugger.
Oh, yeah... happy Thanksgiving to the other citizens of this country! Turkey and good deliciousness abounds?
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| I'm happy now. |
[05 Nov 2008|10:49pm] |
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Velvet Underground - Juno Soundtrack |
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Well, yanno, about certain things. Like the election. I'm hopeful, though ...come on... politicians. I'm only cautiously hopeful.
Also, despite rumors to the contrary, I have neither died of the pox nor been abducted by Canadian secessionists from Quebec who mistook me for Rowan Atkinson.
I am in fact, getting over the flu as our cat is getting over intestinal surgery. For. eating. a. blind. pull. He tore it off the blinds and ate 3 feet of nylon cord. What the bloody fuck, cat? *shakes head* He now has a very silly Elizabethan collar. I do not have such a collar. I do, however, have a very nice commission for a coloring book to do with an energy-saving squirrel named Sparky. Goofy, but hey... I like squirrels.
Now, back to coughing my lungs out. Toodles.
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