Thursday, December 29, 2011

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Retail Life Part 5

I kid you not- I saw this happen.  Almost peed my pants laughing.

Monday, December 12, 2011

November Project Day 30- Kiss Test

And that's it!  I finished all 30 days!  It only took me until December 11th to complete all the drawings, but hey, ahimsa.  Don't think that this will be the end of the comics and drawings- this was way too much fun!

November Project Day 29- Cell Phones

It seems nowadays that just about EVERYONE has a smart phone.  I am still limping along on my little brick phone.  I am only able to make phone calls and text and take pictures and such, you know, what phones are designed to do.  Yet I see everyone, everywhere, with their smart phones out!
But the incredible power of the smart phone isn't it's amazing technology- it's the power to completely absorb the user so much so that he/she becomes completely unaware of his/her surroundings.  This causes all kinds of problems, but what I find the most irritating is when smart phone users become so enraptured they forget they have legs or how to move them, or the fact that they are currently standing in a major traffic flow area, and other people have places to be.
(I am not happy with the above drawing- stairs! oof!)
It does amaze me how many people have them, all across social and economic groups.  Paying for a data plan isn't cheap- and will be the reason I will probably not get one for quite some time.  Yet I always wonder how some people are able to cough up those dollahs every month.
P.S. There are "homeless" con artists in Chicago, who actually have apartments and, ahem, cell phones.

November Project Day 28- New Band


November Project Day 27- Bus Stop

Thank goodness now there's Bus Tracker.

November Project Day 26- Sexy


Thursday, December 1, 2011

November Project Day 24- Poops

No, seriously, this is for realz. 

Ok, so I realize it's already DECEMBER (yikes), and I still have 6 drawings left to go.  I have one in progress, and plenty of ideas- it's just making time to sit down and draw is the problem.  Hope to finish the project and stay true to my word (more or less)!

November Project Day 23- Winter


November Project Day 22- in the wild


I don't have many occasions to draw lions...  should keep practicing. This is still missing the punchline- Kera, you know whut it iz.

November Project Day 21- No Right Answer


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

November Project Day 16- sarcasm


The Slow Clap.



Also... unless I'm super human, I won't be updating any more this week. Sorry.  Happy Thanksgiving! And Black Friday!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

November Project Day 15- Christmaganda Part 3

Good Grief. 

November Project Day 14- Christmaganda Part 2

It's coming sooner than you think.

November Project Day 13- Christmaganda Part 1

At the Big Box.

November Project Day 12- shit, guys


But on the same day I thought this, I saw a lady in a purple raincoat with a plastic bag dress underneath.  And kids on the street corner giving away Free Hugs. So things couldn't be that bad.

Friday, November 11, 2011

November Project Day 11- Nudist Boyfriend

Thanks to everyone who has been watching so far and giving feedback here and in real life!   30 Drawings 30 Days

November Project Day 10- Cruelty

Taken verbatim from an overheard conversation. Ouch.

November Project Day 9

Wicker Park Characters.

November Project- Day 8

Wicker Park Characters.

Monday, November 7, 2011

November Project Day 6

Maybe one day I'll join the ranks of the...

30 Drawings 30 Days!

November Project Day 5- The Professional Smile

At all three jobs I currently hold, the skill of smiling is essential.  I am paid to smile, to look friendly, (pretty), open, and helpful; usually the goal of selling something.  David Foster Wallace describes this as the "Professional Smile" in A Supposedly Fun thing I'll Never Do Again.   I find that smiling professionally can diverge into different facial expressions given different situations.  Now that I use the Smile most every day at work, I have begun to successfully incorporate it into my personal life!  It typically aids in concealing emotion; akin to lying. But with a smile!





Level 1 Smile
Possible phrases that accompany this smile:
"Hi Ladies, how's it going?"
"That looks SO cute on you!"
"Would you like to try some toffee?"
"The show is two hours long with a ten minute intermission."
 Level 2 Smile and accompanying phrases:
"That looks SO cute on you!"
"It's okay you forgot to call me back."
"Please silence your cell phones!"
"Made with no preservatives or artificial ingredients.  And Gluten Free!"
Level 3 Smile
"That Looks So Cute On You. Please buy the fucking sweater!"
"I had a great time on this date with you!"
"I'd LOVE to hang out with you and your boyfriend!"

Day 4- College Grads


November Project Day 3- Earplugs

30 drawings, 30 days!  Since I have three part-time jobs, getting one up each day isn't really possible, hence, I'll be bunching them up like this.  Still counts! 



Wednesday, November 2, 2011

November Project Day 2

At my retail job we play custom mix CDs made for us by various DJs.  Of course the songs tend to get stuck in your head, and finally I looked up these lyrics and found the video and female rapper behind it all (I am so 5 months behind, but whatever).  Kreayshawn.  I kinda dig it:


 

Drawing for today:

I am expecting the Occupy events to become a consistent theme.  I have several many related ideas.


November Project Day One

Last year I attempted to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days- an undertaking otherwise known as NaNoWriMo, which hopes to get us all off our lazy asses and write the novel we have inside us.  I made an honest effort and wrote about 13,000 words, but meandered around with several characters and very little plot idea.  I have been writing other stories and sketches this summer and fall, which has been a very useful creative endeavor, but there's part of me that thinks the 'novel I'm meant to write' won't actualize itself until I've got a little more life experience.

But, not wanting to lose out on that NaNoWriMo creative energy, I decided to try my own project this year.  I have decided to draw and post a small comic, sketch or character idea EVERY DAY for the month of November. The objectives for this project are:
1) Exercise the creative muscle- use it every day.
2) Practice and develop a technique/ form/ style of illustration or comic drawing.  What type of paper, materials, etc, work best for me?
3) Generate ideas for other projects- what I post here does not have to be finished and polished (there won't be time: also a tenet of NaNoWriMo philosophy)
4) Maybe build a small portfolio (maybe?)
5) Prove to myself this is something I can DO!  Just get up and doo it.

So, here I begin (one day behind schedule).  "It would have been weird if it weren't Halloween."







Wednesday, September 14, 2011

China and Recycling

Wow, wow, wow. Serious internet toboggan this afternoon that began last night at Foresight Design Initiative Green Drinks. The topic was "Art and Sustainability", so of course I was interested (and also the founder of Foresight is an Obie alum), and so I went and listened to members of Chicago-based Filament Theatre Company discuss their journey to become a sustainable theater company. I met an artist there who does performances using trash, and looking at her blog led me to My Plastic-Free Life.com, where a woman has dedicated the last 4 years to almost completely eliminating plastic from her daily life. She challenges others to analyze their own plastic consumption by collecting, photographing and blogging a week's worth. I want to take this challenge, and I'm hoping my sister will do it with me (we live together).

I feel very fortunate to have gone to Oberlin where the awareness of living sustainably was rampant, and at times even militant. Other students knew a lot more than I did, and I credit co-ops and my friends Margaret and Jake for their influence. Now I know how to compost, and not to flush after peeing, among other things. But I realize that not everyone has this experience, and aren't as inclined to change their behaviors and buying or flushing habits. Living in awareness of the environmental choices I make is very important to me, and I want to spread the awareness, but I often struggle to be a very convincing activist. I trained my parents to take fabric bags with them to the grocery store, and bought my dad a home water carbonator for Father's Day (it's awesome!). But I had trouble 'converting' my previous boyfriend, and currently my sister, who doesn't think my "hippie" deodorant is worth the natural sweat (antiperspirants contain aluminum tri-somethings that are a known carcinogen). I feel like this is something I could write more about.

Yet, in a further slip down the internet slope:

Crazy, right? I knew that a lot of the US's recycling went to China, but seeing the images themselves is something else entirely. I spent five months in China during which time I drank the tap water (after boiling, of course). I didn't want to buy purified bottled water, which would result in piles of empty plastic, yet now knowing what was in the water I drank makes me feel a little gross. What will I do next time I'm in China?

Monday, September 12, 2011

Sunday, August 28, 2011

I Enjoy Being a Girl


Click to see it bigger (and read more easily). I'm experimenting with this!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Pinterest



My sister showed me this awesome new website Pinterest.com. It's an online cork board where you can collect visual images; art, clothing, home decorating ideas, etc, and save it all in one place (more easily perused than your Favorites list), and other people can look at what you've found and "re-pin" it to their own boards. You can have as many cork boards as you want- to be categorized by theme or topic. It's an incredible resource and an amazing way to collect and share images on the web. Each image "pin" includes a link back to the source website. Above is a screen shot of one of my boards- I don't have as much stuff on there as other people who've been using the site longer. Check it out!! In order to sign up you click "request invitation" and then they send you an email a few minutes later with log-in instructions.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Playmobil

When I was at home this summer, we laid out every last piece of my favorite childhood toy across the kitchen table. My sister and I played with Playmobil constantly from the time we were old enough not to swallow it well into middle school. We would build Playmobil tree houses in our Christmas trees (and thus prevent mom from getting to decorate them) and take over huge sections of the living room floor. We collected so much of it!


The Orange Cat was a very important character in many games.

It was really fun to look at all of it again, and I was really surprised how I remembered exactly what pieces went with which set and how things fit together. Looking at all of the pieces from all the sets (ranging from "family road trip" to "water park" to "school room") reminded me of the crazy stories we would make up with these very diverse characters.
The knight falls in love with the One Woman Band (it used to be One Man Band but we gave him/her different hair, and so now she's a babe, apparently).
The wild skateboard kids terrorize the proper Victorian ladies with baby buggies!

Friday, July 22, 2011

The Garden for Wayward Girls

The show went really well! Sorry it's taken me so long to post. Micheline has uploaded a montage of clips from the approximately 25 minute piece onto her website, available here.

I took close-up shots of all of the "Pandora's boxes" I created (used as a metaphor for each dancer's personal discovery and growth), and I will try to post those, too. I am in the midst of a move to Chicago and also bought a new computer! So, things are still a little disorganized.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

The Garden for Wayward Girls

Micheline Heal, my friend and fellow Oberlin alumna, is choreographing a beautiful modern dance piece called "The Garden for Wayward Girls". I am flattered that she has asked me to help her with the "static" visual elements of the show- mainly some props (a Pandora's box for each dancer) and set pieces/ installation. It has been really fun to work on so far; the boxes are done (pictures later) and now, with a week left before the performance, I am posting some pictures and drawings to help Micheline and I communicate about the set. She's coming down to Richmond from DC tomorrow to hang out and then take everything back with her. Eeeek! Nervous about how much that needs to be done. Pictures below.


Show information: If you are able to get to DC, I would love to see you at the show! The performances are May 20th at 8pm and May 21st at 3pm and 8pm. Tickets are $10 in advance, The piece will be performed at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop at 545 7th St. SE, Washington DC. You can learn more about the theater company curating this event here, and view Micheline's website here.



Crazy millwork piece I found and painted


"Vines"?