Hydra

After laying awake in bed last night for at least an hour, I finally thought up a few feasible Halloween costumes. From my Stik-Fas flower fairy (with her hammer of love, so named by a friend's daughter) (nixed because I'd have to buy shoes) to a rendering of one of my Monster Dresses (Robe de Globe Oculaire, for instance) (nixed because it would take far more time than I actually have) and finally to that snake-headed wonder, the Medusa.

If I was, again, endowed with more time, I could rig up an art-history-nerd-worthy costume of the Raft of the Medusa, but I'm not so I shan't.

Way back in my early days I watched "Clash of the Titans" on the TV at Grandmom's. That meant it was in full color, and it was loud. And I had horrible visions thereafter of the Medusa's head silhouetted against my bedroom window. This costume wins in two respects: I have plenty of old sheets to make a toga from, and I have a lot of paper-mache and plaster bandage.

The plaster bandage is currently curing on my head. It's cold, it's wet, and it's too late to have realized I'm wearing a shirt I didn't necessarily want to get plastery.

But Excelsior! There shall be a costume made!

now if I could just find the camera...

old gem of a link

Ooooh! I'm taking advantage of Arkonbey being asleep (recovering from 24 Hours of Comics day)and going through my old links list on his computer.

Check this out. Quite pretty, and in keeping with my most recent post, too!

The 24HCD event at the store went well. Around 2pm they forced me to go home, rightly so, and it's a gorgeous day so I'm happy to be here. In a few hours, perhaps I'll go to sleep. The t-shirts with the poster were printed by moi, in a crazy first attempt at 2-color silkscreening. What the hey was I thinking? Well, it kept me focused through the wee hours of the morning...

More birds

By request, I've been working on a few new pieces in the same vein as a previous "Circus bird" drawing. These aren't all that different from the original in terms of pose, so I'm going to take a break tonight and work on something else in order to come back to this with fresher eyes. It's been nice to work in pen & ink again, scritchy and unreliable as it is.

Stormtrooper seeking...

Hmmm. In order to keep the newest version of Firefox from overwhelming the poor miketop, I've been using Safari. This is the first time I'm using Blogger on Safari to do a post, so where the heck has my hyperlink option gone? They expect me to remember how to do html? They are insane!
So, I found this thing that you need to see (if you're a nerd like me and my friends,) and even though it's not delicately hyperlinked, I think you'll forgive me.

Enjoy!

http://flickr.com/photos/doctorbeef/sets/72157603716342376/detail/

(courtesy of Mightygirl.com)

Art Hoppin'

Alright, Burlington! I have finally partaken of the massive event that is the Art Hop. And it was good, largely thanks to the wonderful spot provided by Studio D-3 (Marie Davis, Ginny O'Reilly and Carol Norton.)
The mini heat-wave on Friday had everyone out and about, including the UVM students, for whom this was their first full weekend. I saw quite a few folks with skateboards in hand, and were I so athletic, that's totally the way I would transport myself about for such an event. There were so many venues that I wanted to see, and so little time to run out and see them.
The Mister was kind enough to relieve me for a bit Saturday afternoon, so I could do just that. I also made him bring me food, since I'd survived on one donut and lots of water since 10am. (Not that I couldn't have foraged for myself, but I didn't want to miss anything.) Fortunately I ran into Miriam on the way out, so we went up the street to see her great paintings at the Soda Plant (at Alderson Inc./Jordan Silverman Photography.) We also saw Adam Marsano's wood structures at Recycle North's Building materials site, and stuck our heads in at a few other venues on the way back to my spot. We got there in time to start winding down, which, thanks to Mom & The Mister, went smoothly.

I know I always say this, but Thank You, and I really mean it, for coming out to see me art Art Hop!

Next up, odd things (and good things) overheard at Art Hop.

All in all, a wonderful lead-up to my Birthday!

TWO POSTS in one day? Never!

I just realized the two or so of you readers out there never got to hear my story all about how I made money on the commuter train! It was quick, painless, and I would have only charged the guy five bucks if anything at all, but he was so happy, he gave me a twenty.


Thus ends my sad attempt at innuendo.
So there we were, just settling ourselves into our seats on the Grafton-bound commuter train Sunday evening, and I chose to sit facing Rick, since we were on the seats by the door where you can do that. A couple with two little kids sat down, the mom holding her baby girl sat next to Rick along with her son, and the dad next to me with the carriage. I was pretty absorbed trying to sketch Rick (and it was actually sort of looking like him, too) so I never even noticed the dad leaning over and complimenting what I was doing. Rick had to pretty much kick me. Anyways, he asked if I'd take a commission, drawing his wife (now holding the little guy, who'd fallen fast asleep) So I did my best, and dang if I didn't actually get some sort of a resemblance, and even managed to finish up just as we pulled into their station. He was happy enough with it (or at least the experience & novelty) to give me a twenty when he shook my hand, and I was more than happy to have been given the challenge.

It made Rick's day too. He even posted about it before I ever did.

so very busy

Time again to dust off the ol' blog:

I just got back from the info meeting at Seaba for the Art Hop. Barely two weeks to go, and with all the crazy framing going on at the store, I have to make sure I don't forget to order the last few frames I, myself, need! Debating also whether I have time to design a button to hand out (or sell) at Art Hop, among other venues. Got the link from Arkonbey-- Busy Beaver Buttons. ($35 bucks for 100 1" buttons, how cool is that?) The Art Hop "Juried Show" will be on display for the month of September, we'll see if I got into the "juror's choice" section. Either way, Housemates (Filbert & Darius) will be on display there. Our favorite piece that we saw there at drop-off was one of John Brickels' ROBOTS. Oh, when we win the lottery...

With all the rain, and the long hours at work, we've only been able to do house-stuff here and there. Our garden is this vast forgotten tangle of greenery, but there appear to be several tomatoes, but I dare not jinx myself by describing the rest of the produce before harvest-time! See, I have learned from last year.

Spent Sunday down at the BCA Print studio with Miriam, and we had a good time messing about--first trying to remember how to print from Pronto Plates, then giving up after a few attempts. (something to do with the ink, we'll know more for next time.) Then she did some really nice two-color prints from some older zinc plates, and I followed some old class notes on the "Joe Zurker method" of monoprinting. My pile of experiments produced about two or three good prints. Two of them, 'ghost' prints, have been much improved by colored pencil.

I've started a few tiny paintings in addition to the prints, so it's time to sign off and work on those.