Art in Miami

I spent a weekend in Miami last weekend. I know, I know. I'm not a Miami person. But I sure enjoyed snoozing on the beach after working 16 hour days for weeks, so maybe I am a Miami person. Just not a "hot, fist-pumping" miami person. Snookie, I ain't.

We went out clubbing, and I realized the allure that people could fall for. These were amazingly designed spaces, with more DJs per square inch than anywhere else in America. Move everything in slow-mo, and even I could pretend I was cool.

One of the women I was with - we're all 39 and above, mind you - said, "I can't believe that group of guys didn't even look over here. Not even a glance!" So many things wrong with that statement:

A) we're all over 39. That's like 211 in Miami-years.
B) we have husbands and children and no big bazoombas.
C) those type of guys wouldn't have looked at us in our 20's either.





Wierdest part. We went to a club, in the W hotel, called "Living Room". They had an amazing art collection hanging with works from Scharf, Basquiat, Sachs and more from Aby Rosen's personal collection, I believe. I would have happily stayed there all night. They even had amazing art books sitting out at a long table,...that no one was sitting at. But not a single person was even looking at the art. I was so close to beauty that I could literally lick it, and people weren't noticing....or more concerned with licking beauty of a different kind, I guess. eeesh.

Krispy Kreme has done it again

I hate people that speak in "text" but I can't say anything but "OMG". These new Krispy Kreme doughnut holes are divine! They're chocolate glazed chocolate cake and they are amazing. Perfection in a ball, I dub thee! Tummy below should be WAY bigger than it appears. Yes, I ate the whole box myself in 2 sittings. Er uh,..."slouchings" "slumpings" or "wallowing(s?)" is probably more accurate. And only two because I passed out due to junkfood overload.

Cuddle

She's a daddy's girl. 100%. So when I get one of these, I milk it for all it's worth. Apparently, I will even draw about it when she's in bed. They are few and far between these days. "No, no, Mommy! Daddy do it." is what I hear most times. But occasionally,....yay!
Happy Thanksgiving.

Strutter

Okay, so I'm one of those moms who think everything my daughter does is funny. I can't help it. But more importantly, everything that my husband does is funny in relation to her.

She's funny with the Kiss. Sometimes I'll catch her playing with her toys by herself singing it so sweetly. She also likes "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order, and the entire first Joy Division album,...now, how on earth could that have happened?

Sketchbook: Sleeping Babies

These are actually 2 different sketches I did on one page,...but I like how they work together: Giant cat sleeping below a tiny delicate girl. I was watching one on the video monitor and the other was right beside me. One of these days I'll have to give up that video monitor,....and it will be a very hard day for me, indeed. But then, when she's around 14 years old, I can install it again, right?

First Images: Violet

These sketches are for a graphic novel I've had swirling around in my head for some time. Years now. One of these days I'll actually start drawing it. I'm not set on her name yet,...so for now I call her "Violet".

I'm thinking I need to do some more study of her hair. It needs to be wavy and wild. John K. had a good hair exercise that I need to try. She's a tough little kid, that doesn't have a lot of smiles in the story.....so I need to get the right variety of surly, stoic, sullen, and snarly. She needs more work.

New Comic: "Mumbles"

Finally created a new one. It's actually been in my sketchbook a few weeks. But I was using it as a teaching tool for my nephew,...contrast, composition, etc. Yeah, I know,...me teaching about comics, when I have so much to learn myself! But it's always fun to draw me and my husband. I'm always so much thinner....

15 Albums in 15 Minutes: No thinking. Just go.

So I did that thing where you have to name 15 albums in 15 minutes that made some sort of impression on you. You can't think, just write and do it as fast as you can. Once it's written, no editing. I did it in 3-1/2 minutes. However, since then, I've been kicking myself over all the important ones that I missed. (hello, not a single Pixies?...Liz Phair?...Pavement?) But anyway, here they are:

Pop Muzik - extended 12" - M
I got this for my 8th birthday from Chris Benton. I loved the song, but it was also a little sinister to me somehow. Not to mention I didn't understand the strangely sexual cupcake on the back cover. Sort of my first introduction into music. And this album was one of the first that was mine and not inherited from a sibling.

Thriller: Mikey Jackson
Okay,...so I didn't have a refined sensibility yet. But I got it for Christmas when I got a record player. See, back in the old days, there were these things called "records".....

Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth
Yeah, I loved Sister,....but this album consumed me for a long time. Every song. I met Kim Gordon once in the parking lot of Cat's Cradle and she was super nice and gave me tickets to the show. What a peach. The cover is the 1983 Gerhard Richter photorealist painting Kerze ("Candle"). I got to see it in person when I was last in Chicago at the Art Institute. I almost wept. It was beautiful.

Nirvana - Nevermind
I remember I was in Schoolkids Records the first time I heard it, and I had to have it immediately. So I went back out, sold my plasma, cashed the check and bought it straightaway.

B-52's
The song "Planet Claire" made me fall in love with a boy. So really,...stupid, stupid, stupid. But I actually drove a Plymouth Satellite at the time. Faster than the speed of light.

Chipmunk Punk: Alvin & The Chipmunks
This was an album of covers of current songs. I remember they had Pat Benetar's "Hit me with your best shot". Trang Do and I would dance around on my bed to every song until we collapsed. I wonder where she is now. click here to view commercial for this fine album

Glass Houses: Billy Joel
He was sorta snide and cynical and bitter on this album - which was actually my brother's. But I will always remember the cover, poised to heave that rock. And now I work in the glass industry,...whoooo, spooky!

Freeze Frame: J. Giles Band
They were a little "dirty". My sister like them. I'll always remember the 8-track with artwork of Dr. Potatohead with a Picasso on they psychiatry couch. Pretty trippy to little baby me. See, back in the old days, there were these things called "8-track cassettes".....

Hysteria - Def Lepard
Again, a boy was involved. And I was just able to drive. I remember the sense of freedom it gave me to blast this as loud as I could while driving in the summer.

In My Tribe - 10,000 Maniacs
I remember one Christmas, wrapping presents and listening to this over and over again. Seems sorta "soft" now, but I didn't know people could make this kind of thoughtful, societal message music. Did I mention I was poised to go to college and extremely idealistic?

Green - REM
I loved Reckoning and Fables,...but this was the first concert I ever went to. It was one of the best nights I ever had to that point. Oh yeah, and I was in love with Micheal Stipe. Go figure.
Orange - John Spencer Blues Explosion
This was in the post-college years. Bad apartments, sticky clubs, and unemployed boyfriends. But I loved my friend Adelfa, and she turned me on to this band. I still adore JSBX and would pay them $20 a month just for existing on the planet.

Downsizing: The Gold Sparkle Band
Ahhh, this was the weirdest music I'd heard to this point. It challenged me. [The Lizard and Snake in Chapel Hill - the (first)Transmissions Festival,...I saw a guy play a ladder. A LADDER!] Anyway, I was dating a guy in a band, and I sorta hoped they went in this direction. They didn't. Click HERE to hear what experimental jazz sounds like.

Rid of Me - PJ Harvey
Holy crap. This was a paradigm shift for me. PJ was bad-ass and artsy. And not in a Courtney Love kind of way. In a completely unique way that I hadn't seen before, or since, frankly. She was artschool and completely self-assured....I couldn't imagine.

Goo - Sonic Youth
Yes, that's 2 sonic youth albums. I drove my poor roomate crazy in college with this album. I'd force her to listen to it over and over trying to "convert" her somehow. Poor girl. She turned out really well, I'll have you know. Despite the chronic tick anytime you mention "Mildred Pierce". Is it a coincidence that I named my child Veda? Yes,...actually it is. Or is it?....

Finally, a drawing!

You may be saying right about now, "Mandy, you may say you draw comics,...but we've yet to see one in a long while. Why? Did you lose all your pencils in the great lead famine of 2010?"

Quit yer belly-aching. Here's your bleedin' comic.
I actually saw this guy on my way into work one morning. Very weird.

Free Comic Book Day

Isn't this the hap-hap-happiest Jedi you've ever seen? I mean, the Republic is going to hell in a handbasket, but he seems downright giddy. Oh well, I guess the StormTrooper is stress-eating at least. I'm with ya buddy.....

This was from May,...Free Comic Book Day at SSaleFish Comics in Winston-Salem. (yeah, I know,...I'm a wee bit behind.) I was able to stop by on my way back from a business trip. It's really a great little comic shop that serves all my nerdy comic needs. They're nice to keep a box for me that I pick up on a bi-annual basis.

When Graphics Go Wrong

This is how we separate those of us who like to look at the pictures, vs. those of us who read for comprehension. Do we run or do we walk? Which one is for our health?

A bit of proof that just because you can do desktop publishing, doesn't mean you can do desktop publishing. (sigh)

The Pizza Man has arrived

Ed and I made this video for a recent vacation with all his cousins from up north. They were having "Italian Night" and it featured a talent show for all the kids,...ranging in age from 15 down to 3 months. We were afraid we'd have to leave early, but we wanted to share our daughter's brilliance. So we decided to make this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6NJgFrKbd0

I hope you enjoy it! If you notice the shaky camera work, it's because I was laughing so dang hard. But this is what happens when you have a 2-year old who will repeat anything you say. It's both a blessing and a curse,....especially when you curse. But we decided not to work "blue" for this piece.

And yes, we do give a nod to Will Ferrell and Pearl for the inspiration. If you haven't seen the classic bit, click here. (if for no other reason than to get a load of Will's hair)

The Lazy 5 Ranch - Thru the eyes of a 2-year old

While you breathlessly wait for the pizzaman video, here is a short video of a family trip we took to the Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville, NC. Please avert your eyes during the turtle scene if you're of delicate disposition.

So pop some popcorn, carve out 2 minutes of time, and enjoy it as much as she did!

Truth in Packaging: Rogue Brewery

This is one of those things you just come across. I came across this beer (malt liquor to be precise) for my husband,...who is honestly, the most giving dad ever,...and then I realized why I was drawn to this beer. It's Ian McShane! Yes, apparently the guys at Rogue Brewery in Oregon, love Deadwood as much as me. The ledgendary Al Swearengen in bottle form. Drink the whole 40oz. and you'll be spewing a litany of poetically beautiful naughty words as well.

Cutest. Pizzaman. Ever.

A still from a video project Ed and I are working on. Is it right? No. But it sure is making me laugh.

She's at that age when she'll say anything you tell her to. Any-thing.

Really, it just writes itself, doesn't it?

16 Topics from Billy Bob's Diner: Topic #5

I needed to get back on that horse, and dust off some more of the "16 topics". If I remember correctly, this was one of my space-filling, less inspired ones. How is THAT for a teaser? Please waste your time reading this.

Let's start again. This is BRILLIANT. If you don't "get" it and roll on your plush carpeting (or fine hardwoods) with laughter, there is something medically wrong with you requiring immediate attention.

Thinking about hair

As I was driving home tonight, I saw a person in a convertible with a scowl and Prince Valiant hair. Whether she/he was mad about the haircut or not wasn't clear,...but that would be my guess.

This leads to important questions,....like WHY does this haircut persist? So I dug around and decided to do a venn diagram on its origins. Very important work.

This leads to the obvious question. Why did this prince valiant haircut prompt me to once more return to my blog? And the only answer I have for you,...is baby steps. Before I unleash upon you my great american graphic novel, I have to start thinking humorously again. And to be honest, I haven't been doing a lot of that lately. Now is this comic genius? Of course not. But if I come back after so long with a 10, there's nowhere for me to go,...so I started at a negative 4.

Plus, I watched 2 hours of "Louie" last night and I realized I'm not funny at all. Dammit.

Illustration Friday: CONFINED

I'm a "root where you're planted" kind of gal. Like I told my husband this weekend, I can make the best of any situation, I just have to know my parameters. The problem is, we don't always realize for ourselves the box we're trapped in.

Illustration Friday: RENEWAL

I did this comic this weekend after getting my first EW in several months. I was DT-ing pretty bad and I missed all the "year end" issues to help me build my Netflix queue. BLAST! Anyway, they got me and I found I can't live without them. Plus, Veda loves the bullseye....