Costa Rica!

Last week I WENT TO COSTA RICA! 

I know, I know, this was a spontaneous trip but I simply had to get away. And my brother gave me money for Christmas (Thanks, Brian!) so I had to seize the opportunity.  You can see all my Costa Rica pics here, but here are the highlights...

I flew into Liberia, Costa Rica. This lil' airport was just had a fancy makeover so there are some GREAT flight deals from New York...

 

The first half of my trip was up by Rincon de la Vieja, a volcanic national park. 

Here are some pics of just how pretty the area was...

 

 

First up: RELAXING! Soaking in natural springs, bathing in mud, and--gasp!--taking naps...

 

 

Next up: ADVENTURE! I spent a day doing horseback riding, zip lining, and some hiking....

 Next: BEACH! I went over to Golfo de Papagayo, where I stayed on the super-quiet-you-can-have-a-beach-all-to-yourself Playa Panama...

 

But I also visited Playa Hermosa and Playa del Coco, which were more lively. (There will be more on this daytrip adventure in a future blog post)

Traveling solo, I met lots of awesome random people! A hilarious private jet flight crew, a group of Frenchmen who sell mushrooms, a couple environmentalists/geologists from NY, a pair of childhood friends from Toronto/Paris (and a local dog named Tequilla),  a rowdy clan of empty-nesters from California, and a local guide who let me tag along on his wave runner.  LOTS of adventures.

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And of course, no trip of mine is complete without MR DUCK'S travel photos!  He had a great time, despite being gnawed on by a toucan. (If you want to see the past decade of Mr Duck pics, go here!)

Currently Reading: Why We Broke Up...written by Daniel Handler, illustrated by Maira Kalman

Super 8 Home Movies

This past Christmas we surprised my Mom with a collection of all the old 

SUPER 8 HOME MOVIES converted to DVD!

I edited together some highlights from the Laura Lee footage, and thought I'd share them in case anyone would find them amusing. I gained 3 insights from watching these...

1. My personality is kinda....the same.  I'm still in my own world, clumsy, either super happy or super grumpy, and highly motivated by cookies. 

2. My parents really ARE the most supportive loving people ever.  They gave my brother and I such a amazing childhood, and I'm so thankful for that.

3. I was born a nerd. In the 3rd video here, I'm not only wearing glasses and sporting a lazy eye, but when my Dad asks what I got for Christmas I exclaim, "STAR WARS!" And I dance like Elaine from Seinfeld. Wow.
 
Part 1: Newborn- First Steps (1979-80)


Part 2: Toddler (1980-81)


Part 3: Toddler - Preschool (1981-83)

And speaking of my Virginia roots...

I just got a shout out on the Prince William County Schools website!  Living in a city where no one really knows me at all from back in Virginia, it's kinda nice to see myself referred to as an "Osbourn Park High School Alum." Warm fuzzies!

Playing with markers

The other night I just HAD to play with some markers. You know how it is.

These leaves were in a package I received from my friend Lauren Larken (more on our correspondence later) and I love the shapes so much I used them as my inspiration. 

Rory helped.

"I'm sorry, were you using these markers?"

Here are scans of how they turned out! 

My scanner doesn't handle marker colors very well, but you get the idea...

I totally overworked this one, but I couldn't help myself! Rainbow colors!

(This was the drawing in the very first photo)

Currently Listening: Warpaint...Exquisite Corpse

Bushcraft: Snowflakes

This month at Bushcraft we made paper snowflakes!
And more shrinky dinks!

 

Some were STAR WARS snowflakes.

Then we broke out the Shrinky Dinks...

 

 

This was a fun way to spend a freezing cold evening, thanks to the folks who braved the weather to join us! And my apologies to our host Bishop for all the glitter that is still embedded in his floor from last Bushcraft. Oops!

Currently Listening: Sigur Rós...Inni

Jugs & Capes....and Robot 6 Interview

So I recently joined the Brooklyn based all women graphic novel book club...

JUGS & CAPES! 

 This month we read Habibi by Craig Thompson and had a fabulous discussion.

We also had a brag-able spread of goodies.  Yay!

 

I wrote some DISCUSSION QUESTIONS afterwards based on our conversation...

1. For most of the book the reader was led to believe it was set in the past, but then we learn it is contemporary.  What did you think of this switch and how did it change the story for you? 

2. There were many passages where myths, stories, and passages of the Qur'an were woven into the story. Did you think this enhanced the story? Did this method of storytelling work for you?

3. Discuss your take on the environmental undertones and the re-occuring role of water.

4. What were some similarities between Habibi's storyline/themes/characters and the ones in his earlier work, Blankets?

5. His layouts are amazing, and are all very different. Which were your favorite pages visually? How did he use panels and layouts to direct the pacing? And what about the pages where he left lots of white space?

6. Did you find the use of Islamic patterns distracting or appealing? How do you think his drawing style has been influenced by Islamic calligraphy? Has his style evolved since Blankets?

7. There is a surprising number of dynamic action scenes in this book. How does it compare with other more typical superhero action comics?

8. He included words a lot within his images, especially in the water.  Pick an example where you think this was especially successful. 

9. As a white male author, how do you think he handled the portrayal of women? And the portrayal of middle eastern characters?

10. What role did words/stories play in Dodola's life? Do you think they were what kept her strong through all her hardship?

11. The relationship between Dodola and Zam was very complex. (And at times confusing!) Discuss your take on it.

12. Would you consider Dodola a prostitute? What was her relationship with sex? What did you think about her first husband?

13. What was your take on Noah (the man in the boat)...was he a fool, crazy, kind, demented, a good guy, etc?

14. Did you feel emotionally attached to the characters? Like, cringing for them at certain points, feeling suspense when they were in trouble, rooting for them, etc. What were the parts that really got a reaction from you?

15. What did you think about Zam as a character? Was he developed enough? What did you think about his castration?

16. In the end, who saved who? The little girl they buy in the market, Zam, Dodola? Or did they even need saving? 

And finally, our two favorite questions...

17. There were drawings of breasts on most of the pages, but no penises. We didn't even get to see what Zam looked like post-castration. What's the deal with that?!

18. If you had to pick an image from Habibi to get as a tattoo, which would it be?

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ROBOT 6 INTERVIEW

Oops, I TOTALLY forgot to share this before the holidays! I was interviewed by Brigid Alverson from Robot 6 (A fun comics/ pop culture news blog) about my work as a scenic painter on Christmas windows. 

You can read it here!

 

New Drawings: Closing a Chapter.

So here's the post-break-up-angry-phase artwork that I made last week.

I expect this is the end of my Kurt-inspired series of drawings, which all together make quite a solid little body of work. (50 drawings) Since it illustrates the whole rise and fall of our relationship through art,  I thought it'd make an interesting little book.  I expect I'll simply self publish it myself as a little passion project. But who knows.

On to the art!  With this first drawing I took process photos for once, since I drew the shapes by tracing the shards of broken glass from the night of the break-up...

And here's the finished drawing...

This drawing is called "I'm a maker not a breaker." Here's the next one...

 

The text in this drawing reads, "Fuck you for blaming me, fuck you for scaring me, fuck you for manipulating me, fuck me for letting you." The knives represent the suicide-threat nights. 

The drawing was inspired by this angry rant I scribbled in my notebook one night after an argument...

And here's the next drawing...

 

This illustration was about feeling like I just run from this, from him, from us.

This one was about fixing the holes he left behind in the wall, which felt rather metaphorical.  

Let the healing begin.

Currently Reading: The Isle of Avalon: Sacred Mysteries of Arthur and Glastonbury  by Nicholas R Mann.