be not faint of heart!

still working on clare. this comic makes me think i'm nuts--that is, i never thought i'd be drawing something like this. but i will try not to falter!
happy spooks everyone!

excitement of the hunt

i forgot to mention!!

after looking in one big art store and not finding the nibs i wanted, a friend passed this along to me, an antique box (which once belonged to someone's grandfather or great-grandfather) of nibs--hunt 67 round point:



"a pen is only as good as its point" sez the box and well, i would like to believe these were probably crafted from a far superior grade of metal than ones i could find new today.
i'm pretty happy about these nibs and they are what i've been drawing clare with. they've seemed pretty durable, not that i have to worry about burning through these in a week or even a month. these come from when getting your nibs in bulk was more than 3 or 12--i'm not gonna count or figure how many would come in this box.

oh! and further exciting news--yesterday was a drawing day and i arrived to discover silky had burned me a wooden name plate for my drawing table!! yes, austin has been pretty decent to me thus far.

CLARE

hey all
i started a new comic two weeks ago that i am tentatively calling "clare"
i've been having fun with it. last week i averaged a page a day, which with job and social obligations, i was pretty happy about. but now it's averaged a page every two days cuz i only did two this week. here's one of them, page six:



so other fun news, i have a drawing buddy here in atx: silky! i went over other day to draw and just the night before she found a drawing table on the street that she brought home for me to use over there! so, i worked on the above page then. and we also talked about gathering together screenprinting materials. yes!!
we'll see how clare goes--
i apologize for the picture quality. thanks for tuning in in these sporadic times.

falling right into place, things are

hey cadets!

first of all, WHY ARE WE BOMBING THE MOON?!?

second, big congrats to miz colleen and cat for winning ignatz awards last weekend at the small press expo (SPX)!! miz colleen recieved one for promising new talent and cat got one for outstanding online comic!

speaking of spx, the funny aminals anthology is now available!

i didn't have a chance to mention that rob clough wrote a nice review of some of my stuff here a couple months ago. check out high-low anyway; rob gives thoughtful and intelligent reviews.

so what else is there?
i've relocated. i left white river, had some summer travel and work(see below), and i have very recently landed myself in austin, texas! with so much going on, it's been hard to get to the drawing board. and i also have not yet found the nibs i like to use. but! i do have a space where i have been drawing when i get a moment to do so. just to stay limber, i've been messing around with one-page 2x3 grids. also just sketchbook scribbles and brush sketches. but i also do not currently have regular access to scanners or for that matter, computers. so do not worry, those of you anxious and awaiting! i have not forgotten! but i may not be posting regularly for a while...



with my new location, you can pick up some of my books at domy books, down on cesar chavez. russell there knew jose, and i saw a singular issue of pizza wizard! in the austin store there are also items of interest, a gallery show (and i think ron rege might have a show here later) and a secret room with an installation. check domy out if you are in austin or houston.

also (not quite comics) when i first got here i started compiling and adding to one of my backburner projects--an illustrated basic chainsaw safety and maintenance book/zine/primer. i hope to have it completed for next fall, where some of us extended family of ida are planning to participate in a workweek and i may be presenting a workshop on chainsaw basics and the manual would accompany it.



and i guess lastest is some recent aquisitions--i ran into edie fake out there in the woods and i got three more of his books: gaylord pheonix issue 4, thisisnotaplaceforlovers, and rico mc taco. edie's pretty swell and look for some of his work -possibly this winter- from secret acres. also, my fantastic new housemate gave me the kinship structure of ferns by dewayne slightweight. some good readin'



oh, and as for secret acres, it looks like ken dahl's book, monsters, is finally out!! i do highly recommend this.

here are some pictures from the in-between, for the curious:


i finally got to see a LAVA performance at summer camp! they're hard to take pictures of due to all the moving.



my baby-love, valentine!


look how close to the barn this walnut was!! we cut probably over 20 trees from around the front barn. the chickens were temporarily moved and part of the coop fencing taken down for this and some other trees. there's some of the firewood produced on the other end of the lengths.





still standing sturdy: i worked on the structure of this bridge a little over two years and some rushing highwater ago.


that's it for now! thanks for reading!