Cold Hands pg8

I write really strange stories. For some odd reason, that dawned on me yesterday as I was drawing up a short three page comic for another anthology.

...

Ever since I bought my new Wacom tablet, I've enjoyed doing more and more digital work. Hmm... enjoyed? Well, I don't enjoy it the same way I enjoy using watercolors but it's been better. I realized why I didn't like painting digitally before was because I was so uncomfortable. Coloring thirty some odd comic pages with a mouse hurt my wrist after a while. With the tablet, my wrist doesn't hurt like it used to. My coloring has sped up. I can't color as many pages as I can pencil or ink, but that will come with more practice. It's nice. It's not even an incredibly big or expensive tablet. Maybe if I was commissioned for more, large digital projects I might consider upgrading. My Bamboo tablet is just fine for me right now.

Cold Hands pg7

Sometimes I mean it and sometimes I don't. Cookies aren't exactly my go-to sweet. I really like chocolate and fudge. Yesterday, I made myself some Hazelnut Brittle. The recipe was for one pound of brittle but, I rarely ever follow a full recipe. I was going to cut the recipe down to a quarter of a pound, but there were a lot more hazelnuts that needed to be used up or were never going to get eaten, so I made half a pound instead. I know a lot of the times other people can become a bit hesitant to try new things, so I'll end up eating my "creations" all by myself. I made coleslaw the other day. It was very tasty. Nobody else wanted to try it and I felt like Marge Simpson when she asked Bart, "What's wrong with my sundaes?"

Cold Hands pg6

Over the holidays, when I had started making this comic, I was doing a lot of baking. It was a nightmare when I was in the middle of a cookie recipe and realized I had, previously, used up all of my vanilla extract. Hands over my head in exasperation, I panicked for one second and then ran out of my house, not properly dressed. Snow was on the ground and I was in socks and my peep toe flats. No scarf. No gloves. Though considering I was running around, that actually kept me just warm enough.

I'm still doing a lot of baking and cooking. Thanks, in part, to the great gift my older sister gave me: The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. Man, is there a ton of pie recipes in that book. Some of the meals I've made haven't been too good. Here are some of my favorite recipes:

Cheesy Chivy Scrambled Eggs

English Farmhouse Scrambled Eggs and Bacon

Custard Tart

Rice Pudding

Homemade Fudge

Beef and "Guinness" Stew for Kids (I didn't have any actual Guinness on hand to make the real thing, so the kid's version used soda instead)

Kreacher's French Onion Soup.

Making my own desserts from scratch has really opened my eyes to just how much sugar goes in to this stuff. I wanted to test out a lot of the recipes in the book right away, but now that I've made a majority of them, I'm content to wait a good while (maybe even months) before I make them again.

Cold Hands pg5

Things are starting to get a little strange.

One inspiration for me, for this particular page, is the movie Cabaret, starring Liza Minnelli. My favorite scenes are when the camera pans around to the inside of the lounge to the laughing audience. There is something very grotesque and unsettling about watching everyone laugh, and even more so in the context of what is happening outside the lounge (the Nazis running rampant). These things stand out most in my mind just like the scene in Citizen Kane, when all the men are gathered and the troop of girls are dancing in honor of Mr. Kane. The camera shows a close-up of Kane's two closest companions alongside the other men, laughing and clapping, and not on Mr. Kane, himself.

Cold Hands pg4

I made a comic a couple of years ago and it, also, had the same idea of this black bird that was watching over me. I'm not fascinated with all birds, just the ones that tend to perch outside and across from my window.

The other day, though it was freezing outside, I felt like Spring had finally come. The snow was melting and, most of all, there were plenty of birds out chirping away. They were in the trees and in the bushes, too. I feel extremely content when I wake up to the sound of these birds. I, also, love listening to crickets chirp at night. There are a lot of people who would be annoyed by some of these sounds but they keep me aware of the world outside of my studio. Plus, I think they are far, far more pleasant than the sounds of traffic. One of the reasons I hate summer is because of the sounds of lawnmowers and that dang ice-cream truck that stays parked adjacent to my building. I really despise that truck.

Black Morning 01

"Black Morning" is a new series of paintings inspired by classic black and white films.

Watercolors and ink. Original art for sale here.

I do love a man in a suit. A proper, pulled together suit, too. When I was at the train station the other day, looking around, I noticed a lot of guys with:

1. No tie

2. Jackets unbuttoned

3. First few buttons on their shirt collar unbuttoned

And it was sad.

But public television is great! "Arsenic and Old Lace" came on a good while ago (it's probably been months yet I'm still thinking about it) and that is such a fantastic film. Cary Grant is simply superb.

I, also, want to mention (if you hadn't already heard): A little while ago, I was hired to illustrate issue #92 of "The Gutters." It's a web-comic that parodies the comic book industry. Here is my issue, but I recommend reading it from the beginning as there is some really funny stuff in there.

Cold Hands pg3

Jiminy Crickets! I had the Superbowl on my mind all yesterday and completely forgot to upload a new page ^^' It was my first time trying to sit through a whole football game and I must say, I didn't make it. I fell asleep. Those games are too long and I'm getting too old. I did wake up in time to see the winners, so there's that. Mostly, I watched the ads, ate wings and cheesesticks. Yum. And of course, slept.

Back to my yarn and more relevant to this week's page, sometimes I find looking at the rolled up skein more beautiful than a finished object. I mean, I can't deny the beauty of an FO, but I think, especially, hand-painted yarns look gorgeous untouched.