Garage sale find!

Old typewriters have such charm...they are a blast to use too; this one works perfectly.

Junket. page 2

Junket. Chapter I, page 1

May I present to you all, the first panel of my first webcomic:



Since I am still using blogger, the panel is smaller than I would like it to be, but if you click on it, you will able to see it full size.

I plan on trying to update once a week, so stay tuned...I've got plenty of full and partially developed story elements and characters to slowly unfold to you, but you will have to be patient as I navigate these uncharted frontiers. I hope you enjoy it!

One of the most difficult balances in life has to do with the strain that exists between duty and proper leisure, particularly the leisure that is creative. For most of us, the responsibilities that are part of our own personal lives encompasses enough to keep us perpetually busy if we let them; but to allow that would, of course, be a great tragedy. What of good books, sketching, walking, thinking? What of the cultivation of the mind, the solace in creativity, prayer?
Perhaps part of the reason I find this to be a dilemma is that at my current stage in life I have many aspirations that require an amount of time and freedom that are not usually available to the normal working person---I want to be 'settled' with a house, work a job that I am at least reasonably satisfied with, and I want to be living in a location with the intention of staying there for the foreseeable future; I want to put down roots: something I have never experienced, even as a child. I also want to finish my graphic novel, write comics, publish my children's stories, read an innumerable list of books, actually work at becoming better artist---how can all this and more fit within one (happily married and children-ed) person's realm of waking hours? There are only so many directions you can go at one time. Seems an impossible balance sometimes---still, there are always ways to make room for what you really care about.
The most interesting part of all this is how a person's own perspective changes constantly, and the importance you place on your various desires and pursuits wheels constantly across the whole spectrum of possibilities, often opening up new previously un-thought-of areas of wonder. This is, however, one of the best parts of life: warding off stagnation and narrow-mindedness, when all those new and wonderful things that stir and affect you from day-to-day are rummaging continually through your soul, bringing so many profound and beautiful treasures to the front. I suppose that it is really a matter of a certain kind of creative discipline if you wish to preserve any of these moments. I suppose too that if the artist within has something to say that is important enough, it will be said eventually no matter what the circumstances.
After all, it isn't about being heard or recognized, it is about participation in a beauty and the description of some certain truth of which we are particularly aware of at that moment. And that is why the artist or writer will stay up all night even to the detriment of health and relationships just to struggle to put down to paper that ever elusive whisper of something he can't quite describe out loud...

I'm Hooommmmmmeeee!!!

I miss Portland.

I'm itching for a good road trip. One with lots of small, old towns, greasy diners, minor car breakdowns that make us stop and enjoy the scenery, and nights on friends' floors. I think we'll be packing up the '72 Volvo soon...

Weird, occasionally risque, and probably unhealthy, but I like this guy's stuff a lot. The drawing style is rough, careless, intricate, and has that narrow color palette that reminds me of late '60s-early '70s sci-fi covers. His people and characters are very much alive too, and the worlds they inhabit are very compelling...






AC has been posting on her blog the fast few days, which has caused me to browse back through her older posts, for fun and for curiosity's sake, since I had only a vague sense of what was there. Wow! She has collected so much cool art and beautiful design on those pages; I am now struggling with (a common) overwhelming temptation to forget everything and just draw and invent ceaselessly...

After a exceptionally quiet weekend I am back to thinking too much about all the things that need doing; like working on cars, applying for work, figuring out how to make the paycheck stretch 'til the next one drops in the box...you know. And this is the second week on a row that I haven't gone to sleep before midnight.

I almost made it across the threshold of real creativity between watching Coraline on Friday and the wonderfully moody cloudiness and rain that has darkened the sky since Thursday; but I got as far as a partial outline of a new writing project and stalled out. Seems to be the way of things. I'm sure I'll finish a story one of these days...

There have been some great successes though! The Volvo 145 (after a LOT of tinkering and some new parts) runs better than it ever has, I made some much needed extra cash on various car work for folks, and I have responded to four more job listings!

They say it is going to rain for next two weeks. Either we'll get so homesick for PDX that we'll just up and leave, or we'll get all depressed about the economy and spend too much on beer...

Rainy days always produce more creativity in me than sunny ones. This may be because there seems to be an inherent melancholy in a grey day, and sadness is a greater producer of art than happiness. However, I don't feel sad, just thoughtful. Work is uncharacteristically slow today, and as usual, too many peripheral projects with too little time to do them loom near at hand. Perhaps I will have the opportunity to push off all the pressing tasks that consume my mind and channel this arty mood before the day is over...

I guess I am too busy to post.

Too bad.

Bleh.

I have a portfolio! Check it out.

Over the last year or so I have been fixing/tinkering on/rebuilding/reusing, etc. more and more of our things---household items, clothes, car, you name it---as opposed to throwing things away/taking them somewhere to be fixed/buying new stuff. As a matter of fact, we are buying less in general, and after selling and giving away a ton, we certainly own less---a lot less. I ride my bike for nearly every errand these days, and have cut out at least 60% of the money spent on coffee and dinner and movies and beer and all that; partially because things are economically more uncertain than ever, which very naturally changes one's perspective at least a little, and also because with a third person to care for and AC not working, I am generally feeling the 'pinch'. I'm not at all perturbed by any of this, but with these changes we have become so much more aware of how unnecessary it often is to get very many of the 'necessities' of living 'new from the store'. It is also surprising how many things are not such a big deal anymore once you have tried getting by without them for a while.

And I am proud of this. I am no environmentalist, but I have respect for conservation and careful consumerism: not for the sake of the Earth per se, but also for the effects it has on my own soul, my lifestyle, my values and virtues, and the state of the world around me. These is also more time for the simpler, better things in life, you know...? like playing with our little one. Not thinking about all the STUFF you have and all the things that need attention and fixing really dispels a lot of worry and business. I've still got two cars and plenty on my plate, but life has become distinctly fuller since I became poor...

Thinking about building fast cars makes me restless and keeps me from falling asleep at night. I spent too much time on the "Slammed Air-Cooleds" section of VWvortex yesterday and all I can think about are all the modifications I want to make on the 142....

I definitely have a car addiction.