Banjo Boy

Just finished this drawing, for the "Be Still My Darlings" series. It'll be available at Rebus Works tomorrow.

new drawing

I'm working on some drawings for my upcoming show at Twist Gallery in Nashville, TN in January 2010. It's going to be a series of book illustrations, torn from a book tentatively titled "Be Still, My Darlings", about a journey involving fear, courage, and collapse. Here's a sketch of one part of what will be in this series.

Other drawings will include windmills, a banjo, ferns, a forest fire, and possibly a narwhal. You can buy a print of this sketch from Rebus Work's Daily Images.

I got blogged

I'm usually pretty startled when I find out that I've been on other people's blogs. Startled, and flattered. One that I was recently featured on is Panel Patter, a blog dedicated to comic and zine reviews, by Rob in Pittsburgh. He reviewed my Art School Chronicles zines, and was incredibly insightful - even gave me few things to think about, along with the fact that the final issue is way past overdue. For the handful of people out there who have asked about the conclusion of this story, yes it is going to be made, but no it will not be done anytime soon. I'm working on it, but it is definitely on the very bottom of my priority list. I know, not fair to all of you (and maybe not fair to me, either). One reason it's taking longer than the others is because I've decided to combine my 4th and 5th years into one book, and call it "The Graduater", because that's what I did. I graduated. And then the following year I graduated again. I'm done graduating now, so I'll put it down on paper in pictures and let everyone know how it went.

Another fun little blog I was featured in is I Dreamed I Saw, a blog of mostly images. One of my drawings made it to her "Grin and Bear" posts, of various bear drawings she finds intriguing. I must admit, I like her taste.  :)

(Art School Chronicle zines and prints of this bear drawing can be purchased at my Etsy site.)

Big Questions

Anders Nilsen, my most favorite comic artist, has finished the next issue of Big Questions, #13. He's inspiring both visually and through the stories he tells. I definitely recommend you check him out.

blogging and tweeting

Last week I went to a workshop at UNC-A about marketing for DIY crafters, given by the fine folks at Figs & Ginger. They had a lot of good suggestions that got me out of a craft-hating slump, including the importance of keeping up with a good blog. So here I am, trying my best to be a good little blogger, and tweeter too. I've always tried so heard to keep my personal life out of these social networking doodads, but they have a good point - the only ones worth visiting are the interesting ones, and the interesting ones get personal. Don't worry - I won't let you know the details of my love life, but I will probably post pics of my cats. Consider yourself warned.

So, I'm feeling like a good little blogger now, but a bad little printer. I've finally finished my page for the Iowa City Ladies of Letterpress 2010 calendar, which was due on November 1st. Yes... 9 days late and they are still sitting here in my studio. They're so inky that I'm letting them dry overnight before I trim and package them to send out. I feel especially crummy since these are for friends and I knew about it since *May*. It'll make me feel better if you head over to the UI Center for the Book and inquire about purchasing one - all sales will help support UICB, too.

Speaking of Ladies of Letterpress, we now have set up a Scholarship Fund for members of LofL. If you'd like to help support this fund, check out our shop at our new Etsy site.

it's so purty

The website is new again! Really, it's mostly the same, but much prettier. I've cleaned it up, added new photos, used some photos for backgrounds, and updated the "Shop". Now you can see much more of what I see everyday - misty mountain landscapes, the fern garden, and an Edward Gorey cat sitting on the nipping press. Oops, that might have been cut out of the scene, so I'll post it here.


Go visit the new website here - www.HeroesAndCriminalsPress.com.