Great Book

Just finished reading Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The school district's literacy director loaned it to me. It's a youth novel along the lines of Diary of a Wimpy Kid in that it's told by a young teen who's not completely satisfied with his life. But Alexie's book is soooooo much better! It's REAL.

Children of color in this country learn early on that race plays a huge part in all their interactions, yet books for youth rarely touch the subject. Alexie doesn't shy away from institutionalized racism, nor its legacies of poverty, addiction, and abuse. I also heard that this book was banned from at least one high school library. 

Happy

Am very energetic tonight. It's Friday, and I'm just happy! Yeah, I'm really ready for school to be out. I think my report cards are due on Monday, but I can't bear to spend any of my weekend working on them. My weekends are mostly dedicated to non-work interests. Had a great time tonight drawing for Donkey and just groovin' on rock steady and ska.

Sheep

I'm thinking of sheep these days. Particularly tunis sheep. I don't know much about this breed of sheep, but when I first saw a small flock in Utah, I fell in love. 

Oh, yeah...as you may remember from my profile, I'm a spinner. Drawing fills me with agitation (some day soon, I will explore why this is so), but spinning is pure relaxation! I love spinning so much I want to have my own tiny flock of three sheep. Just three! I've gone back and forth though. Sometimes, when I talk with sheep farmers, owning sheep seems like a whole lot of work. At other times, it's just the kind of work I want to do!

This is one of those times. When we told our four-year-old grandson that we were eventually moving to the desert and that he will be visiting us every summer, he declared that he will be a desert farmer and have chickens and sheep, cows, and horses, and live there with his brother (who, by the way, doesn't exist) and his partner. Suddenly, I knew I was going to own sheep. I realized I would work like the dickens for our little desert farmer!

I spun this merino and mohair single.

The Boy Who was Raised as a Dog

Just finished reading this book a couple days ago. The brain is such an interesting and misunderstood organ--how sequentially it develops and how early childhood trauma can mess it up. But, what's hopeful is that, for the most part, brain damage due to emotional and physical trauma can be reversed! And what's the number one factor in this healing? LOVE. 

Groggy

As the school year grinds down to a halt, so does my bedtime routine. I go to sleep later and later. I didn't get enough sleep last night. My head hit the pillow at 12:15 AM, so when the alarm rang at its usual 5:15 AM, it woke me out of a sound sleep, and all day I was spacey. I certainly do NOT like that feeling when I'm in charge of 21 seven and eight year olds. Am determined to go to bed much sooner.

In spite of my fatigue, the routine that I continue regardless is my writing something in this blog. And that means I have to do something with at least one of the graphic novels. So, I worked on Stella for about 30 minutes.

I Love Memory

Continued working on the page from yesterday. Just finished it. Generally, I'm pleased with it (the beeps in the first cell bug me). In the hospital I did a lot of waiting, and fortunately for me and all those around me, I'm a very good waiter. I always bring something to do. So during all the time that I spent in the hospital with Susan, I spent much time sketching hospital clutter or taking photos of it with my phone. Some things I just forced myself to remember. 

And still yet, there were some things, like postures of hospital personnel, I didn't plan on committing to memory, but found that I did anyway. The nurse putting in the IV in this last cell is an example of this. I didn't know that I'd remembered this posture until I'd drawn it and then said to myself, "Ohhh, yeah!"

Re-Birthday

Today, May 25, is Susan's Re-Birthday! A very important holiday for us--because three years ago today Susan underwent her bone marrow transplant that gave her more years of life beyond the initial prognosis. That time was an excruciatingly difficult one for us, yet it was quite magical at the same time. Might have something to do with being in such proximity to the possibility of death and having to think about life after crossing over, imagining existence where there seems to be none. Yep, that's magic.

In honor of this holiday, I decided to work on the Donkey in the Garden. I've really missed working on it. Took a while for me to find exactly where I was in the story, but eventually I found my place--the time when the machine for maintaining Susan's blood circulation went on the blink.

Headway

Did I mention that Saturdays are the best! Open-ended, free-flowing time is just what I need to get some drawing done. Frankly, while I'm drawing I feel agitated, restless; I bite my cuticles and have to get up now and then and walk around, get something to eat. So having plenty of time to do this dance is essential. 

Anyway, got a good start on #50 of the teaching graphic novel and figured out how to format the next Stella page without having to draw a new cell altogether. Yay!

Audience

Today I went on my last field trip of the year. Actually, it's the last field trip I'll ever go on as an elementary school teacher--I'm retiring next month. It's gotten to the point when I need TIME to work on my graphic novels. Most students know that I'm writing comics, and every now and then a kid stops me in the hallway to remind me to send my published works to the school.

Today it dawned on me that I'm not only creating these stories for me, but for all members of the Malcolm X Arts and Academic Elementary School community. I'm honored and inspired!

Open House

No work on comic books tonight. Stayed at school 'til 8. Watched "Damages", took a shower, and am going to bed.

Hmmm...

Finished another page of Stella and am now trying to remember which page comes next. Several years ago when I first started drawing the story of my little cat, the order just rolled out of me, but now that I'm editing and refining that order, I'm drawing a blank on the next cell!

I really don't think this is it.

Foxtail

No physical work on any graphic novel today. Our border collie/mcnab Kallie got a foxtail stuck in her ear, close to the eardrum. Took her to the vet for sedation and extraction. 

She's fine, now, just groggy. For those of you who know of the herding dog temperament, you'll understand when I say that tonight is the mellowest I've ever seen her!

Mentally, of course, I'm always thinking of my comics. I'm really excited about the next page of the teaching graphic novel (I wonder what the title will be). It's a full page of a blighted, forgotten urban block. I'm looking forward to the straight lines and angles all working together to express depth, and then all that contrasted with the organic forms of humans, dogs, and trash.

It's a Go

Susan, my live-in editor, gave me the go ahead for inking the page. This page is, of course, from my teaching graphic novel. In this book, I talk about what I've learned along my journey of 19 years of public elementary school teaching. One of my realizations is that, for the most part, the school systems in this country, public and private, do not serve natural human learning styles. This is a page from that section of the book.

I forgot to mention that yesterday I scanned 49 pages of this teaching comic book into Photoshop. Began work on page 50 an hour ago.

Eyes After Forty

Whether I'm revising on computer or drawing on a pad of paper at the drafting table, it's a strain on my eyes. I never really noticed this when I was younger, but right after I turned 40, my view of things up close became a little bit blurrier. Over the years, I've gotten a couple new prescriptions. My newest pair just isn't right, though (prescription too strong), so I can't wear those for up-close work of any kind. For reading and noncomputer drawing, I wear one of my old pairs of glasses. For the computer I don computer glasses, and for everything else I wear my brand new pair. It takes some juggling, but I'm getting the hang of it.

Saturday

If there's one day I like better than Friday after work, it's Saturday! Got to work on the teaching graphic novel. I finished penciling in the entire page, but I had to wait for Susan to get home before I inked it.

Susan reads my pencilled pages. She told me, "Sarita, I warn you: I know next to nothing about comic books, but I'll read it anyway." Susan is the perfect reader; she let's me know right away if something I wrote or drew is unclear.

Fridays

Gosh, I love Fridays! Once the students are gone, I see open-ended time stretched out before me. I take my time cleaning up my room, working on newsletters, getting Monday's homework together, feeding the pet snake. Most Fridays I leave school at 7. When I finally arrive home, I just want to stay up all night, knitting, spinning, watching TV. Tonight I worked on Stella. 

Trying to balance fur with solid contour line is tricky. I gotta work on this one.

It's Like That Sometimes

Still didn't work on anything this evening. Today was my last day of working after school with a small group of kids. Shortly after that I had to scold (and not very skillfully, I'm afraid) two of those kids who'd decided to harass the custodian because he is Mexican. I stayed after and straightened up my numerous piles, fed the silk moth larvae. When I finally got home, I managed to do nothing but eat dinner, take a bath, and watch Grey's Anatomy. Oh, well.

Grounding

The end of the school year heralds a huge transition. Teachers are mentally taking down classrooms while conducting end of year assessments. Students who have trouble with change start freaking out at this time, and next year's second graders are already on our radar. All in all, everything's shifting, and we all eventually have to just let go for the summer. 

Today, this groundlessness was very unpleasant. Sometimes working on my books is the only antidote.

This is the Stella page I'm working on, now (I've positioned the tablet cord correctly tonight).

Rest

Didn't work on anything this evening. Usually after work, I'm able to spend 30 minutes on one of the graphic novels, but not this time. After an all-day field trip with 19 second graders, on one of the hottest days of the year, I was way too tired to do anything once I got home. It didn't help that it was the second consecutive spare-the-air day, and my allergies were at their worst.

Doesn't really matter what the excuse is. When I sincerely can't muster the energy to draw, I don't. I know that I always get back to it with joy.

Technology

There are some advantages to working on more than one graphic novel in more than one medium. My Wacom tablet is on the major blink! Yesterday, I got it to work, but the day before--NOT. The problem is that the cable is not a detachable kind, so after about 5 years of bending the cable as I wind it up after working, it's now got some kind of kink in it. 

Only after many attempts to straighten, push, and just hope, I can sometimes get the cable positioned just right for the tablet to work. It's time for a new tablet. Oh, and ever since I got the printer cartridges refilled, our printer hasn't been working, either. Hmmmm.....

Works for Me

Once I've written and sketched in my journal, I then draw and redraw a page with nonphoto blue, as accurately and honestly as I can.

I also find that I have difficulty working on any of the graphic novels without something to listen to. When I'm working on the computer with Stella and Donkey , I'm hooked up to headphones, listening to my playlist (an eclectic list ranging from Aretha Franklin gospel to banda with Julian Alvarez) or old timey and reggae on Pandora Radio. 

However, when I'm working on the teaching book, I actually listen to dharma talks from the San Francisco Zen Center. I think this works for me because meditation and practicing a big picture view of human life is very healing for me. This teaching graphic novel retraces my life as an artist and teacher, and the mere writing and drawing of this autobiography is also healing for me. 

Biting the Bullet

Okay. Enough already. I DO want to get my work out there in the world, and I finally stumbled upon just the right book to tell me how to do it! It's Show Your Work by Austin Kleon.

Bought it last night at Pegasus Books, and of course the first thing Austin says to do is to share my process via the internet. Daily. So, here goes...

Well, first of all, I'm now working on THREE graphic novels. I can't seem to just settle on one, partly because I have six more graphic novels already being worked on in my head, and I just gotta get them out. Anyway, the latest one is about my journey being an elementary school teacher. It's also the first one in which I've finally discovered a process that really works for me. 

With Stella I just drew directly (with Sharpie and India ink) on paper, scanned the drawings into Photoshop, and now do some touch-ups and quite a bit of redrawing. At least with A Donkey in the Garden I drew it all out in sketches and scanned them into Photoshop, but I also spend A LOT of time redrawing. 

But with this teaching graphic novel (the title hasn't come to me, yet), I said, "To hell with redrawing on computer!" Now, in a journal, I write down exactly what I want to say and how I want to say it. I work out a few thumbnail sketches, too, before going onto the next step of the process.