I Had This Weird Dream...

Here are some intriguing drawings from this show here, called Diplopia. These are by Eleanor Davis, who seems to be a pretty awesome illustrator. Kinda creepy, kinda dreamy. I look at these drawings and feel all kinds of ideas opening up in my head, which is just what I need because I've been a bit artistically stuck lately.

Eleanor Davis, Dreams #14

Eleanor Davis, Dreams #13

Eleanor Davis, Dreams #11

Eleanor Davis, Doubles #21

If you happen to have more money, you can even buy some of the drawings and paintings in that show, just imagine! And if you live in LA you could even go see it! Shame LA only exists in the movies. Bette Porter could go see this show, she likes Art.

Powerlines

Walking along the Springwater corridor last night, a lovely clear January evening.

Finally Some Computer Skillz

So I am taking a class in digital art this semester, we are learning to use Photoshop and Illustrator and I think some animation after that. I know, I am only just getting around to using these things, I like to be pretty low tech.


Here we have some of my first faltering black and white exercises in Photoshop. I tried not to use any of the cheesier effects, even though those things are damn tempting even for a total elitist art snob like myself. So mostly just fiddling around with the different brushes.














Wish me luck with my Compooter Artz class. I am going to need it, I find already that I am confused about 70% of the time.

Dwellings What I Have Dwelled In

This post is a little self-obsessed, but I hope you will indulge me based on the universal human desire to poke around in other people's stuff. Goodness knows I request a nosy in my friend's rooms when I go to their houses, and enjoy it very much.

Here is the room I live in right now, in our cosy little house in Portland. I have what I consider to be a reasonable amount of things stuck up on the wall by this point, although I expect to add more. I like a lot of stuff up on the wall, especially prints and the like.



This is one of the very best rooms that I have lived in. My last house in Norwich, also known as The Deep Freeze (a bad-ass nickname rooted in the fact that our heating didn't work very well) was also one of the very best houses that I have ever lived in. Truly, I continue to be blessed by very wonderful friends who consent to cohabit with me! I lived here for two years so I had plenty of time to accumulate stuff on the walls, and it was a cute attic room with gabled ceilings. A perfect nest.



I loved my room at Reed, too! That was also a top floor room with a view out into the branches of an oak. Plus all this dark wood furniture and exposed floorboards. And in one of the nicest dorms on campus.

So where do you guys live right now? Do you like it? Do you LOVE it?

Q & Q at S

Look at this booklet they give to prospective freshmen at Swarthmore. It is all about having a safe, inclusive and fun time at Swarthmore for the gays!



Sorry, this has nothing to do with anything, I just find it cheering.

Your Horoscope is for Posties

Some very quick postcards I made today. I am not really into zodiac signs, but these were requests. And they were pretty fun to do.

Hey, if anyone would like a postcard of their own zodiac sign, I would be very happy to oblige.

In fact, I am totally open for requests: if you would like a postcard with anything at all drawn/stamped/printed on it, I would be happy to do that! Provided you send me something good back in return, of course. And don't expect it until a good amount of time has elapsed.

Reliving My Teen Years (Not)

God, I am so flipping excited about the new series of Skins!

Anyone know a good way I can watch it in the States?

Here are some things I miss from England:

Friends/family, obvs.

The NHS

Lucy Mangan in The Guardian

The money (I HATE dollar bills, what a pain in the arse.)

Jaffa Cakes

SKINS.

Books That My Eyeballs Have Alighted Upon in 2009: Part 2

Well, I was half way through my list of sort-of book reviews, covering the entirety of what I read in 2009, which is not as much as usual: see below. Now I shall continue. I know you were anxious for me to do so.

16./17./28. Dress Your Children in Corduroy and Denim/Me Talk Pretty One Day/When You Are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris

I am just loving the particular brand of comic and vulnerably honest autobiographical stories that David Sedaris has to offer. They are funny, but not as laugh-out-loud as I was expecting - more just comically insightful. I also felt like I had really gotten to know Sedaris, through his warts-and-all approach. And you know, he is a really weird guy, interested in a range of really macabre stuff. Which is why I love him. (Start with Me Talk Pretty One Day, is my recommendation.)

18. Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck

I have a really old edition of Tortilla Flat, and the blurb on the back dates from a time where they hadn't discovered irony. I am fairly sure the contents have discovered irony, unless I entirely misread the whole thing. It's about a bunch of guys living in Monterrey, drinking wine and stealing things and generally having a good time, but told in a chivalric style which makes 'em all sound really noble, which I suppose they actually are if you look at it another way! Blows my mind! Nah this was good, I mean it's Steinbeck.

19. Locas - Jaime Hernandez

A re-read of all the Maggie and Hopey comics by Jaime Hernandez. So freaking good! Punk chicks living in a California barrio in the 80s, a zillion well-drawn characters, with a little lesbian lovin' thrown in. Plus just the best artwork I've seen in comics, I swear - the way he plays with light and dark is just incredible. Look at this, for example.

20. Home - Marilynne Robinson

Reading this book you are very aware that the author is an actual genius. Quiet, lovely, cuts to the quick.

21. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka

I read this while I was at the American Embassy in London queuing for my visa. Takes bloody hours, you need something to read. Thanks, Caroline!

23. The Vesuvius Club - Mark Gatiss

I read this on the train from Southampton to up North. You need something to read while wedged on a train with hundreds of drunken Millwall supporters. Thanks, Lydia!

23./26. Dead as a Doornail/Definitely Dead - Charlaine Harris

A couple of those books that True Blood is based on. These are pretty fun reading, full of sex, death, vampires and werewolves. It's a nice antidote to Twilight, because the heroine actually gets stuff done, and shagging a vampire is no big deal and certainly doesn't involve 500 pages of moping.

27. American Gods - Neil Gaiman

My first book read in American in 2009. Oh yeah. It was a lot of fun, but I enjoyed the more low key earlier sections when you meet all these deities fallen on hard times and driving taxis and whatnot. The latter chapters were a bit overly-epic, and then it wouldn't end. It was like Lord of the Rings. I am glad I read it, though, because it was enjoyable and people have been recommending it for many years.

29. Palimpsest - Catherynne Valente

A totally crazy book which I am very glad I found. It's a steampunk-ish fantasy novel about a fabulous dream city that you can only get to when you sleep with the right people. Said people have a tattoo on them somewhere which is a streetmap of a neighbourhood in this wondrous city (called Palimpsest), and then when you have your post-sexytimes nap you wake up in the city and have all sorts of adventures with animal-headed people and mechanical bees. But then a tattoo appears on you in the morning! And you want to go back so you have to find some new tattooed person to do it with. Palimpsest was a bit overwritten at times, but full of great ideas, not to mention lots of fluid-sexuality shagging.

Alright! Some good books there, some forgettable. None terrible. Roll on 2010, here's hoping there are many fabulous books in my future! (Actually the book I am reading right now is pretty awful. So it can only get better.)

Cat Drawings of the Month

Are you all excited about the upcoming Daily Comics event that all your favourite webcomic artists are about to embark upon? Sacrificing both their time and any opportunities to lie about for a few hours without drawing anything, and all for us.

The excellent Lucy Knisley is doing it, she's just put up a preview, check it out immediately RIGHT HERE.

Here's a taste of Knisley's work:

Hipster Zombies, Lucy Knisley

Milshire, Lucy Knisley

Check out Knisley's livejournal here, her website with a ton of images here, and I have blogged about her here and here. Jeez, clearly I have a bit of fangirlishness coming on.