Jet-lagged... and no one even left home

How I used to luv Tarzan movies... all in glorious black & white. They were like graphic novels for film. Very few words... the action was all understood. Even Cheetah the chimp could understand what was going on... (though chimpanzees have lately been given a bad reputation by certain politicians).

Today is that dreadful day of the year when the genius politicians decided we working people should all wake up one hour earlier!

Virtually everyone I've met today is grouchy... the grocers couldn't count the change... everyone in line looked like they were sleepwalking.

Even Blogger isn't working today... all day long it's been out of commission. Everyone is yawning everywhere I go... it's just plain dumb.

An entire grouchy jet-lagged nation. Leave the time alone! That's what I says.

p.s. If politicians were serious about saving energy they would mandate a 55 mph speed limit, like Nixon did in the 1970's. It is astonishing that I have never once heard this basic sensible idea mentioned in the last 5 years in any discussion to do with being Green or energy savings.

Truly the world's most ironic bumper sticker reads: "I never thought I'd miss Nixon". But he looks like a liberal environmentalist compared to the mindset in power today.

Spelunking Thru History #33

One of my favorite things to do on a boring day is to go looking through old magazines at the library.

It's fun to drift through the decades... astonishing, amazing and amusing what one can discover. And from such a future perspective, it almost makes one feel like an omniscient immortal being.


:0)

The $34 a bottle question?

Lifestyle... that's what people are looking for in today's media-sodden world.

It is a commonly held media myth that artists have lifestyles. Phooey! Balderdash! Ask any Illustrator  if they have a 'lifestyle' and they're lucky if they don't consider yogurt & a coffee in the park to be 'dining out'.  Maybe they even have adapted to cut their own hair. (like I do)

Granted, it may well be that some 'fine arts' artists really do have Lifestyles.   I've read articles about them.  But it's professions like Winemakers who have cornered the market on 'Lifestyle'.  

Winemakers get cover stories in the Sunday supplements. Contrarily, Carrot farmers never get write ups in the Sunday supplements.  And Onion farmers never make it to afternoon talk shows.

Now ask yourselves.... do Illustrators have a lifestyle? lol!

Yeah, we sure do! We have all nighters to beat insane deadlines... juggling 3 different jobs with crazy deadlines... or being totally out of work and certain you'll never work again.  We get to beg for our jobs and beg for our checks... and tomorrow is never a certainty.  That's the illustrator's lifestyle.

Unlike Winemakers, the Illustrator does not live with photogenic plein-aire tables set with translucent glasses of wine in our idyllic rural winery.

We have dingy studios, dusty and filled with lamps, piles of old books, junk of all sorts... with light boxes and ink stained fingers and squinty eyeglasses and tape stuck to our elbows. That's what I know about illustrator's lifestyles.

But never-mind all that.

The really big question I ponder is this: Who are all these amazingly accomplished people who casually buy those $34 bottles of wine at the supermarket??

If I knew the answer to this question, I would be a new person entirely, I'm sure. But as it is, I'm afraid I'm of the stalwart $8.50 a litre Barefoot Merlot sort... and seemingly stuck there for life.

So much for the Illustrator's Lifestyle and the accompanying wine selection!


lol!

My equation for making art?

I've finally received the 'go ahead' on the finish art for my new book. It's a real joy to finally be doing the finish art!

My equation for making art?

It's elementary.....
Photoshop + Real Paints = Artistic Happiness



Here's hoping many days of happy art-making are to come.

:0)

Film Noir Kitty

Sprawled on the carpet, after the party... it's Norma Desmond... a.k.a. Kitty Desmond.... aging faded Star of stage & screen. Last seen in numerous picturebooks and the bigscreen production of Sunset Boulevard.

But now it's after midnight... after the cast party... she's a wreck, unable to cope with reality.
Who will fill her bowl with Friskies now that the directors have stopped calling?
Who will ask for her pawprint at opening night?
Her claws grasp in vain for a vanished past.

What has her agent done for her... lately?
Life is hard when you're a has-been Kitty...

I know the feeling...

:0)

The changeless sea... continued

Roots of a mystery fill the seaside grotto...

Colorful shells adorn the beach.  Eventually everything is worn into the same smooth shape.

This pole frames the space in an orderly fashion... or so thought I.

A shadow is cast by the intrepid photographer... it's the least I can do.

Meanwhile, the 'competition' snaps away like crazy.  lol!  And so ends our brief trip to the beach on a rare sunny day.

The sea, the sea... the changeless sea

The sea, the sea... the changeless sea.

Full of colors on a sunny day...

with Mystery and History to befuddle mere mortals.

The crows find something to laugh about...

You can find broken stories hidden in the shadows..

Up, up, up the Bridge Goes...

All traffic comes to a stop so one little sailboat can pass beneath the bridge. Sometimes there might be 500 cars waiting while this one little boat sails past. So very quaint!

I always imagine a happy little sailor smoking a pipe at his leisure while overhead there are 500 cars full of stressed out motorists waiting 10 minutes for this ritual to be finished. But never having been in such a boat, I can only imagine.

On a sunny day it's a good opportunity to get out and stretch and enjoy the scenery.


Up, up, up the bridge goes... the sidewalk is nearly vertical.

I think there are at least three bridges like this in town. They all date back about 80 years. But they all still work. They operate more in the summertime as boat traffic increases.

Color or Art or just plain Odd

Color is nice...


But black & white seems more like Art somehow... funny how that works.


Lately I like odd photos... photos on a tilt and mysterious and out of focus. Probably because that's more how life works too.

Down to the Sea...

It was that kind of day. It was a sunny day... a day the locals were unaccustomed to. But beyond the strangeness of experiencing sunlight, something else was in the air.


Of course they had to go somewhere... the sun was shining after all. Why not down to the sea? It seemed perfectly logical.


By couples and alone they straggled towards the horizon. Towards what destiny none of them knew. Still they felt compelled... like salmon heading out towards the open ocean.


Yes... intstinct had guided them. They were well on their way now... they had guessed correctly.

Hollywood Outdoes Itself

Just thought I'd post a quick movie review. It's a movie about a children's book-making team... the movie is 'Dedication'.

Just the facts ma'am:

The advance offered to the illustrator: $200,000.00 with a $5,000 bonus for meeting the deadline.
The advance offered to the author: $100,000.00

The book: A stupid story about a horribly behaved miscreant beaver named Bucky or something.

The deadline: The book is due in 3 weeks... but the author hasn't had any ideas yet.

The work: None to speak of. Even with a looming deadline of 3 weeks all this creative team could manage was to lollygag around in cafes, waiting for inspiration to strike. I never actually saw a single illustration being created, though in one scene I did see the writer finally get out a pen & paper.

The inspiration: Failing to come up with any good ideas about a misbehaved beaver in Manhattan, the creative team has to retire to the idyllic shores & waterfront mansion in the Hamptons to find inspiration. They couldn't seem to find any there either.

Total time working on the book out of the entire movie: About 8 seconds. The rest of the movie was all spent working on the so-called romance, though I fail to see what redeeming features the author guy had.

I thought Hollywood had painted our profession badly enough with 'The Door in the Floor'. But they've really outdone themselves with this one! The trailer was much better than the movie.

:0)

p.s. I do wish real life was like this movie and we did get paid like that.

Seemingly endless bleakitude...

Too many days in a row like this and you can't hardly think straight. Ugh! Turtles are wise to be sleeping in the mud at the bottom of the pond.


A bright sunny morning would be the perfect tonic.


Yet the snowdrops don't seem to mind. They poke up regardless.


A wonder... the beginning of the end of bleakitude!