Playdate with Zeb

So after years of talking about it Zeb Bennett and I finally had an art playdate. He's in Nantucket High School and really into art. He was thinkin about taking some of my classes before I decided not to teach them thru the Dreamland. So we're starting to organize some times when we can meet up and make some art. Today we mostly swapped cool images and websites and talked about some ideas. Zeb started to sketch some things out and ...

It turned into this.... a lot of layers in oil pastel, scraped down with a serrated butter knife. I was digging it.

I was working on a watercolor example to show the girls in my costume design class. I gave them all a few sketches from What People Wore... a great book for costume reference. I told them to trace them if they want to practice drawing clothes on the figure. Plus, this way on Monday we can practice watercoloring without them fussing over drawing people and clothes.

this is the image I copied and traced...

So I could have a watercolor example to show them.

I missed the day but better late than never...

happy belated birthday Louis Carroll. it was wednesday by the way

Rolling on the River

Yesterday was Jeanne's fella's 60th birthday party. Happy Birthday Jeffrey! It was a fantastic brunch... Jeffrey has wheat allergies so everything was gluten free, but you'd never know it. Plenty of libations and treats and Jeanne even made goody bags for everyone. How sweet is that?!

Zeb Bennett, an upcoming stencil artist, was also in attendance and we were fleshing out some plans to get together and make art. He filled me in on the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea by Swoon. Here's the video he sent me...

also this one, a different project. From the quick exploration I conducted, it's sponsored by Mass MOCA... Not sure if this one does but, I think it would be amazing to travel down the river and have a theatrical performance each place you docked.

thanks Zeb. can't wait to have the art play date.

Haiti Benefit

Come Tonight... 7pm-1am, The Muse. A benefit for relief in Haiti... raffles, caribbean food, live music, rum punch plus we're at the bar. It's the most fun you'll ever have building good karma!

Valentine sweet sweet Valentine

I took some valentines to Bookworks the other day. I used some old playing cards my Grandpa gave me while I was home for x-mas... if you're around come check 'em out. If you're not around and would like some, let me know.

I'd planned on making my love notes but with a little revision... I started a few but they just weren't doing it for me. (Here's an example of the ones I made last year...)

I'd already printed up some cards with the definition of love for the insides of love notes so I worked them into another card design.
and of course the kiss cards made an appearance. The patterned strips around them are wine bottles from a food magazine I had. I put half a card (a heart, of course) on the inside.

These guys are large blank cards... not for any specific occasion... just flippin sweet for any day of the year. The ones on the left are from a book about The Illiad that had some cool illustrations I used to collage with, so I thought why not use the other pages too. And the ones on the right are from some great atlases I found at the Take-it-or-Leave-it.

Ultimate Flip Book

Holy Crap! This is Amazing!

parkour motion reel from saggyarmpit on Vimeo.

Another Birthday Boy

Edgar Allan Poe would have been 201 today. To celebrate, I listened to a few dramatized versions of his stories at the bookstore while I was working. No lie.... it was spooky. It was pretty slow tonight so it was just me and a lot of books on a dark and rainy night. I'm so glad Simon let me drive the van today... no walking alone... in the rain... on a dark night... super creeped out. Just proof that great writing is never dated.

also... check out this great article about a very dedicated Poe fan.

More Wally

So I've been working a bit on the Wally illustrations. I really snagged myself up with a two-page Andrea Doria shipwreck scene. It's not coming together like I want. So I think I'll move on and come back to it. I do like the line drawing of the shipwreck... it just needs to play better with others. Or maybe it's not the shipwreck that I don't like... but the whole mesh of things together.

I was thinking it would be easier to draw pieces separately and fit them together in photoshop. then I would be able to change scale and color and all that jazz. Unfortunately I'm not really in love with the way it's working out. This might mean, back to the drawing board.

but here's the Andrea Doria

and the page where little Wally is mad at his parents, lying in his bed.

Also... a little bonus- Jeanne just told me how to add videos to my blog... yippee! So I'm sharing the fantastic papercut animations she sent me yesterday. enjoy!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

It's my Grandpa's birthday today. So I'm doing an internet shout out.... Happy Birthday. I'm sure he'll never see this but it's the thought. Don't worry, I sent a few cards his way too.

I'm going to be working on the blog for the bookstore a bit this year. We're going to try out some recipes from cookbooks we sell at the store and post them, have some craft nights in the evenings and take pictures and post those... maybe even some cool movie nights.

It should be a lot of fun. So look forward to that. It's been great to check out all the bookstore blogs and related sites to get some inspiration and try to keep up with book news. Jeanne Van Etten, blogger extraordinaire, sent me links to some of her favorites. Thanks Jeanne. :) So I'll share a few with you.

Book by It's Cover. I really liked the best of 2009 lists. She has great pictures.

A Journey Round My Skull. Jeanne emails me links to this a lot. There's always interesting posts.

Caustic Covers. Another good one to check regularly.

that's just a few... but there are more. I'll add them as i explore further. There's just not enough time in the day.

Christie Cure, my good buddy, is getting back into hosting her "remix" poetry, prose, lyric and any original work in progress, open mic night. I've never been to one of her gigs before and I'm pretty stoked. I'm planning on reading some of my Grandma's work, maybe even a poem from my aunt, since I chickened out at the other poetry reading. I put the flier together yesterday.. we'll have to wait til Tuesday to print them since it's a holiday weekend. But, I'm spreading the word. Come check it out if you're about next Sunday.

sketch books

I made some sketch books for my buddy Suzanne. Both of her sons are artistic and creative so she wanted some cool sketch books for them. Zeb and River, Suzanne's boys, are both surfers so i went with that as the theme. And I didn't get a picture, but the inside cover has a little pocket. Thought that was kinda nifty.

I made a few books a while ago after i found this book.

so I made these sketch books with cardboard scraps I gathered from my work at the time. It was great as a blank cover to draw on. Unfortunately I'm out of all that cardboard, but collage seemed like a good solution too. My mom said that she could start collecting the different cardboard from her work and send it to me.

I need to branch out, try different types of binding and something more than sketchbooks. I keep thinking that I'll take some of my grandma's poem, illustrate them and hand bind a few books to give to a few family members. I really got the idea after my buddy, Christie Cure, showed me The Book of Repulsive Women.

I also have to put a book together for Simon since I tore his apart to steal the pages for Zeb and River's. Simon doesn't need a sketchbook, so I'm thinking I should give a daily planner a go.

spoken word nantucket

Yesterday I went on a walk with my buddy, Jess Manning. She took me out to her "rock beach" so we could collect some striped rocks for her collection. As if my new beach exploration wasn't enough, we met Sarah, Len and their new labradoodle puppy. Such a little cutie! They invited us back today for their poetry reading. It was such a great experience! One woman in particular had a really touching poem about her expectations as she went to visit her son at college... a really wonderful piece. Made me think of all the times my mom came up to visit me. Hope real life wasn't too far off of her expectations.

this is the poetry link...

next time i may read a poem of my grandma's... i chickened out this time. or maybe even write one of my own.

Pear candle

Jeanne found this candle in a shop this summer. Pretty flippin cool that it's Dani and Pear. Nice work Jeanne! thanks. I've already burned most of it.

I'm Back!

Hello 2010! I'm back from a fantastic trip home for x-mas. I stayed with my buddies, Sara and Beka, in Des Moines. Their super cute dog, Simon, (same as my husband, what a coincidence) was a fun and noisy morning companion. He loved to dance with me to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

another little cutie was Shotski. The newest donkey addition at my mom's house. He's a month old in these pics and a little ball of fire. My mom thinks there will be two more babies this spring. Fingers crossed.

Simon and I (my Simon, not the puppy) exchanged presents before I left. He did great! ... a sweet paper cutter... for some reason there's a laser on it. seems a bit superfluous but still cool.

and one of my gifts to him was a little replica of his van. the story behind it is this... Simon is rebuilding a '65 Shelby Cobra and has a little replica of it in his shop. He constantly jokes that his work van, a pretty well used Chevy, "is a very fast van." I painted this guy so his cobra won't be lonely. :)