Day Two Hundred Seventeen

Well, once again it’s late in the evening and I’ve had a bit of coffee.

“Late” being too late, and “a bit” being too much.

Ah, well.

It rained this evening, and then it poured. Snapped a few photos downtown before the drops started smashing into us on the way to the car...

Got some Billie Holiday on vinyl and a fresh cup of iced coffee...I think we’re ready for this post. Are we?

Well, if you aren’t ready by now, you’re beyond help.

So!

Where were we?

Ah, yes...

The word.

ros-ter n. A list of names.

Well, that seems simple enough.

Immediately, I thought of a rather annoying character taking roll.

Without any better ideas coming along the, eh, stream of creative consciousness, if you will...I stuck with it.

I can’t quite be sure about the rest of this character, but I enjoy the heck out of those feet.

Evening, everyone.

Xx

r

Day Two Hundred Sixteen

Spent the day with some pretty cool people.

I’ve got to back up, though, and tell you about some artwork.

I spent part of my morning (between batches of cookies) finishing a print run that I’d been wanting to work on for, what I’m embarrassed to say, was weeks on end.

Anyhow, I finally managed to do a run of 11 prints, plus a couple multi-layer prints with the same screen.

Sweet!

Now I can finally pull out the material and use the screen for new projects. It’s been too long, print studio.

So, today’s word:

par-snip n. A plant from the carrot family cultivated for its long, edible root.

Now, I had a vague idea of what a parsnip looked like, but I thought I’d google them anyway to get some ideas.

When you’re googling something as specific and simple as a parsnip, you generally get exactly what you asked for-dozens of pictures of similar looking parsnips.

Deciding I liked the look of the many lines, and the sort of strange, knobby way parsnips look, I wanted to simply illustrate a parsnip literally.

I didn’t want to draw definite lines-I wanted to allow the shading to define the shape of the parsnip.

I don’t normally go for the realistic, or try to illustrate food, but I do like the way this came out.

Well, I think that’s about all I have to say for this evening.

Goodnight.

Xx

r

Day Two Hundred Fifteen

We didn’t leave the house today. I think, at one point, the heat index reached 120 degrees. I wasn’t going to set foot outside in that kind of heat... So, we stayed huddled indoors out of the sun and did a bit of re-organizing. Got back down into the print studio today; it was wonderful even to ink the first layer of a two-print run.

Settled down in front of a movie to relax for the evening. We’d spent a good chunk of the afternoon loading CDs into a 300-cd disc changer, and another good chunk clicking through to find some decent music. Okay, so the clicking through was entirely my doing... Anyway, the music I finally settled upon has been stuck in my head since hearing it. When I came upon today’s word, it fit perfectly.

spell v. To say out loud or write in proper order the letters which make up a word; to relieve. n. The state of being controlled by magic; a short period of time; a time or period of illness; an attack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua2k52n_Bvw

Have always loved this song.

I am struck by the way she, in this song, is both powerful and powerless. It’s as if she does not beg for love; she demands it.

This has stuck with me, and I wanted to illustrate a character that portrayed this contradiction.

It’s rough, but I enjoy it.

I like the way this character turned out looking broken yet resolute.

I aspire to be like that when, if ever again, I find myself in that place.

Evening.

Xx

r

Day Two Hundred Fourteen

Ah, I think today was a good day.

Got quite a bit figured out.

I wanted to do something strange and kind of abstract with today’s word.

re-broad-cast v. To repeat or broadcast again at a later time or date.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t super psyched for today’s word.

Anything to do with broadcasting is always a treat to illustrate.

I drew the same character from different angles to symbolize “broadcasting” again at a later time.

Ah. I’ve very much got to post this.

Xx

-r

Day Two Hundred Thirteen

Took a sick day today.

Which is ironic because today was the most artistically productive I’ve been in a while. Nothing large was achieved, but I’m slowly getting back on my feet as far as sketching and printing go.

The one part of today that I really enjoyed was digitizing a stack of LPs. I worked my way through to a Dizzy Gillespie album I’d bought in Livingston. As it finished, I played it for the first time on a computer, and was overjoyed to find that the deep warmth of the vinyl had come through the digitizing process-every soft crackle and pop was left intact.

Perfection.

Today’s word really resonated with me in kind of an abstract way.

I’d continue and try to save myself from coming off as a pretentious artsy type, but I think I’ll have to tell you the word first or my attempt will make little sense.

shelve v. To put aside; to place on a shelf.

Alright, so, back to this explanation.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the split between enjoying your life and being desperate for something different. I can recognize the near perfection of my situation-I can look at things and see how much I enjoy them, and how much they mean to me. Sometimes, though, I wish I could put this life on a shelf-just store it for a while. I think I’m selfish enough to want to fall off the map without burning any bridges; and to be able to return to the way things were without consequence.

Now, I’m not sure that sentiment is entirely captured in this quick sketch-good thing there’s a written element to this blog.

I don’t know.

I think I’ll battle this feeling for some time to come. I may never figure it out, but I just might. I guess we’ll see, eh?

Xx

-r

Day Two Hundred Twelve

Ah! It’s gotten super late...and I’d completely spaced out on this poor blog.

Nothing much to report about today...for once, things were incredibly...normal. Which made it special, I guess.

shout v. To yell. n. A loud cry.

I went with just a ridiculous interpretation of this word, and ended up with an odd little character.

Who knows...

I believe it’s bedtime.

Xx

-r

Day Two Hundred Twelve

Woah, woah, woah.

Kansas...you aren’t allowed to do this to me.

Walking out of the house this morning was like falling into a lukewarm bath.

Give me back my mountain air, damn it!

Speaking of mountain air, or, really, mountains...

sea level n. The level of the sea’s surface, used as a standard reference point in measuring the height of land or the depth of the sea.

So, although Kansas isn’t sea level...I don’t think? Nah, I don’t think so... Anyway, this made me think of coming down from the mountains and knowing that I was heading down from gorgeous, cool, crisp, pine-scented bliss and trading it for a wet, boring dip in the middle of the country. Okay, not to slam Lawrence...it’s a wonderful town, but I’d love it to be somewhere not so sticky! Sheesh.

Since I’ve been hung up on mountains lately (and probably will be until it starts to cool off here) I decided to illustrate the sort of longing for the mountains.

This turned out to be sort of...I’m not sure. I’m lacking an appropriate adjective here.

I enjoy it, though, I think.

Xx

-r