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.

Resurfacing

I can't believe that it's been almost a YEAR since I'd posted anything on this blog! I just have to face it: I'm not a daily blogger. If writing a blog is anything similar to how I normally go about doing something, I'd be more known as a spurt blogger. For example, it's been over six months since I'd touched the accordion, and now I'm on a jag.

 I don't worry about putting it away for another six months because I know another accordion spurt will come. So it is with keeping a blog. In my next posting (which promises to be much sooner than a year from now), I'll tell about where my restless boots have been!

The Last Day

     Today I finished cleaning up my classroom. Among other tasks, I cleared off my kidney table, took artwork off the walls, emptied and unplugged my refrigerator, and got stuff off the floor so that the custodians can do their job this summer.

    My favorite part of the day was visiting with Brett Cook, a parent of one of my students, and a vital member of our classroom community. He invited me to his studio and showed me the process of his artmaking. He works at breaking down the exclusionary nature of showing art.

     I couldn't help but wonder how the visit to his studio and our conversation will influence my work on my graphic novels. It should all be interesting!

Still There

    I went outside tonight to move the car back into our parking space in front of the house (evidently there was a Father's Day event at the nearby community center, so when I'd returned from shopping, our parking space was occupied). Anyway, the best way to handle living under a first quarter moon is to lie low. Don't make any major decisions. Probably not a good time to start a new project. So, I spent hours on the spinning wheel yesterday and continued today. As I said, I went outside to move the car, and there it was sharp and symmetrical--the first quarter moon. It hadn't changed much overnight, yet I feel great.

     Sometimes when I'm feeling unsettled and not too great, it helps to read a little bit of Lynda Barry's What It Is. This book, which explores creativity, is equally unsettling and accepting of everything that one is.

First Quarter

     It was after my dog broke through the screen door and attacked a familiar dog walking with its owner past our house. And it was after carrying an itchy unsettledness today that I looked up into the late afternoon sky and saw the first quarter moon. I almost smiled. For more than 20 years I'd noticed that, often enough, on the first quarter moon things just would go wrong. I don't know why this is so. But, today, I just wasn't surprised.

     Anyway, it may've been a first quarter when my old cat Sam was viciously attacked. Maybe Stella's adventures and misadventures have been influenced by this moon. However, working on her story today is one of the most calming things to do.     

The Edge is Near

     The last day of school, though thrilling, is exhausting. I still have to go in and clean up my room and prepare it for being deep-cleaned by the custodial staff. As a kid and most years as an adult, the last day of school marked the edge  from which I jumped into a happy, care-free, and open-ended life. But this year the end of school means the beginning of our road trip with our travel trailer. Frankly, I'm terrified. But my plan is to document the trip with quick drawings. I'm trying to figure out how to upload them to this blog. Thinking of taking my scanner and the laptop.

Refocusing

      It's been a while since I'd posted anything. We're in the last week of school, and there's been a lot to juggle: last minute assemblies and performances, assessments, yearbooks, and the taking down of the classroom. But in spite of the busyness, I'm gonna try to write on this blog daily. A couple things:

     A friend of mine, after reading Myeloma for Dummies, suggested that I might consider writing and illustrating nonfiction subjects. I'd never thought of this, but now I'm intrigued! 

     The other thing is that my next door neighbor really wants to see more of Stella. So the next postings just might be of her.