Ink Is My Perfume

Two of Hearts

2012-02-06T22:08:34Z

"Two of Hearts," 8" x 10", intaglio etching, 2012. Edition of 10.

In case you didn't make it over Bite Studio's 4th Annual Love in Print show, the exhibition times are now in the past. Not to worry, because this was my print for the show. Sure, a little digital image doesn't really compare to the glory of actual, physical piece of artwork, but it'll have to do for now. Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day with their sweetie!

Two Day Warning: Love in Print @ Bite Studio

2012-02-01T23:14:11Z

A quick heads up - I've got a print in this year's edition of "Love In Print," the annual show at Portland's Bite Studio (a fantastic printmaking studio). The opening is Friday, February 3rd, from 6 PM-10 PM, and if you can't make that, follow the link and check out the weekend hours! Hope to see you there! Pics and all that to come...

Bite Studio

2000 SE 7th Avenue

Portland, OR 97214

Stymied by Snow

2012-01-17T23:01:03Z

The inclement weather is preventing me from getting into the studio and getting much printing done, but I am keeping busy. I've finally started editing the book that I wrote in November, and also I'm doing a lot of "research" on the internet. Surely, it will pay off in spades down the line.

It has already born one delightful piece of fruit, however. Aesop Rock said on Twitter that this was already the best video of 2012, and I'm inclined to agree. Please enjoy Sir Jarlsberg's "Teach Thee How to Curtsy"...

Tucker and Dale ATC

2012-01-10T20:00:00Z

"Tucker and Dale," ATC, ink and marker, 2011.

I saw this really funny movie called "Tucker and Dale vs Evil." It's really funny! So I figured I'd do a quick sketch card in a more cartoony style, and this is the result. Check the movie out, I'm pretty sure you'll laugh...

Maude ATC

2012-01-10T04:15:10Z

"Maude Lebowski," ATC, ink/marker, 2011.

I'm slowly (very, very slowly) working my way through the Lebowski cast. I've got a Walter (John Goodman) card up somewhere on this blog, but I'm too lazy right now to link it. Don't worry, if I get a few more done, I'll do a round-up post at some point...

Mirror, Mirror

2012-01-06T02:17:43Z

"Mirror, Mirror," 12" x 18", intaglio etching, 2011. Edition of eight.

Hopefully, the idea behind this one is apparent. It's also the last print that I finished and editioned in 2011. You can click on the image to see a bigger version, or if you want to see the life-sized real thing, it's one of the pieces that I have up in that show in Seaside, OR at Hold Fast Tattoo Co. & Art Gallery! First Saturday festivities going on this weekend, and the show's up through the end of the month.

Holiday Trends

2012-01-04T05:45:53Z

Looks like I'm now expected to side with judgmental hipsters. Fantastic...

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T05:05:39Z

2012 doesn't have to be awkward. Just go with it...
c.

Clay's Top Ten Albums of 2011

2011-12-30T07:44:18Z

2011 Preamble:

Looking back at last year's list, I was pretty down on what had come out in 2010. There are reasons for that, partly the material in question, partly a rough year health-wise that had me in a bad mood for extended periods of time. But it's been a much better year this time around, both for me and for music in general. My list of 2011 albums that I spent some actual time listening to was at least twice this list, and there are still a handful of albums that I haven't had the chance to really delve into yet. I've given them all cursory listens, so it's not as if I'm missing out on something that should be on this list (other than maybe the Tom Waits album). Verdict: on the whole, a really good year.

Get Your Free On:

Dub Kweli

Immortal Technique – “The Martyr”

The King Khan Experience

With no further ado, let's get it on!

10. Slim Cessna's Auto Club - “Unentitled”

I will kick off this list with a really good album that I didn't listen to nearly as much as I should have. In 2008, I picked Slim Cessna's Auto Club's “Cipher” as my favorite album, and that album has held steady in my listening rotation in the years since. It's a tremendous album. And “Unentitled” is also a very, very good album. If I was picking one to start with, I'd have to go with “Cipher,” but you wouldn't be wasting your money here, either.

Part of the reason that I didn't get into this album as deeply is that I missed Slim Cessna's shows this time around, and their live shows are blisteringly good. Having the opportunity to experience some of this material in that setting would have definitely boosted my opinion of this album. I admit, that's entirely my fault. And if they swing around my way again soon, I'm sure I'll go see them and get into the period of obsession with this album that I haven't had the chance to experience yet.

9. Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers - “Rare Bird Alert”

I'm not going to say this is the best album I've ever heard. And a big part of the reason that I included it on the list is that it's both really funny and a bit of a different sound than a lot of my collection. When you've been buying albums for a while, part of the consideration is “do I need another album that sounds like (fill in the blank)?” There were a few albums that I backed off of on the basis that my answer was simply, “no.” I did not need something that sounded vaguely like Nirvana (or whomever), but wasn't as good. I'd rather just listen to Nirvana (or whomever), if it's all the same to you.

I did listen to this one quite a bit, and it's an enjoyable, funny bluegrass album. I'm sure that if Steve Martin hadn't been involved, I probably wouldn't have given it a second (or maybe even a first) glance, but he was, so I did. If you need something to keep your “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack company, you could do much, much worse than this.

8. Cage the Elephant - “Thank You Happy Birthday”

I feel like this one may require some explaining, although I'm also tempted not to explain. But I'll put it this way: “Thank You Happy Birthday” feels like a really good throwback album to the 90's alternative sound. It's fine if you're not down with that, if you also understand that I'm not down with strummy/acousticy/whispery nonsense. And that sound has hijacked the indie sound over the last decade, and I just don't want to hear it any more. I have a soft spot for stuff like Cage the Elephant, and there is both a few good songs and a pretty solid rock album present here. Both “Aberdeen” and “Shake Me Down” got some heavy play on my Zune this year, and so I tip my hat to this album.

7. Foo Fighters - “Wasting Light”

I am a big Foo Fighters fan, and I've been on the Foo train since before the first album. They do something that few other bands do right now: just be a good rock band. Their stock in trade is not revolutionary music, it's doing what they do well.

With “Wasting Light,” it was hard not to get my hopes up. Between the choice of producer (Butch Vig, and you should already know why that's important) and having the whole band intact again, it felt like a promise of a home-run. The result was a really, really good album. It's not quite a home-run, but it's like a stand-up triple with the bases loaded. There aren't boatloads of giant hooks; this is a hard-edged album that needs to be played loudly so that you can swim around in the distortion. In Foo canon, this might be their second best album (behind “The Colour and the Shape”).

We all have a pretty good idea of what the Foo Fighters sound like at this point, and that's fine. Saves some explanation here. I'm just happy to have another album of theirs that's at near-peak form. Plus, mega-points for having Bob Mould guest on “Dear Rosemary.”

6. The Decemberists – “The King is Dead”

I own a lot of Decemberists material, but other than “16 Military Wives,” which I really like, their albums have at times felt like obligations than pleasurable listening material. I know that sounds awful, but honestly, their albums have been like “if you like this, then try this” recommendations that didn't quite click with me. I didn't feel that way about “The King is Dead,” though.

This might be a simplified version of what the Decemberists have done in the past; easing up on the vocab lessons, throw some honest to goodness hooks in there, and jangle, jangle, jangle. But the results are more immediately listenable and more pleasurable. It's a good album, it's a really good way to spend forty-five minutes (or however long it is). It's not as if this album is a complete u-turn and middle finger to long-time fans, it's more of a changed emphasis on something that had been lurking in their earlier work.

5. Shabazz Palaces - “Black Up”

This is the album that seemingly all of the online critics think that I should love most of all. And it's a good, interesting album. It's a distinct album, which goes a long way. This album came out roughly at the same time as my #1 album of the year, and this is my second favorite of the two. There's a lot to recommend this album, particularly if you're an indie-minded music fan. And by that, I mean it's a rap album for the skinny-jean, beard-o set. There's nothing wrong with that at all. It's atmospheric, full of empty space that lets the unusual sound palette breathe. That's the sort of sound that makes sense if you're into indie rock albums.

There's a giant “but” hanging in the air here. So let's get down to why I didn't love it as much as a lot of critics did. It's not a rap album. It's a rap album for hipsters. It came out on Sub Pop, for crying out loud. And I like actual rap albums, too. My only frame of reference isn't fuzzy lo-fi guitar bands. It feels like there was a lot of attention put towards creating a soundscape (successfully, I have to say), but little to no effort put into connecting with the listener. It comes off cold, distant, and emotionally off-putting. It feels like when you wake up from a nap that went on a little too long, and you spend the rest of the day a little off and a little confused. As if you weren't completely jostled out of the dream you had just dipped your toes into. And that hampers how much I want to listen to it.

I like the Shabazz Palaces album. It's an achievement, and a bit of evolution for a rap album. I listened to this album more than a lot of albums I bought this year. But it didn't quite connect with me in the way I'd want it to in order for me to get behind it like Pitchfork did. It's a very good album that I don't want to live with on a daily basis, for fear of what it would do to my general mood and personality.

4. Adele - “21”

Look, I'm not immune to the charms of a good pop album. As much as I hate to admit it, I did buy albums by both Lady Gaga and LMFAO this year, and not as jokes either. Adele's “21” is a pop album in the sense that Amy Winehouse or Norah Jones were pop musicians: even if something's not exactly what people think they are looking for, sometimes good pop songwriting and performances do win out. There's not a lot more to say than that “Rolling in the Deep” has got to be the best song of the year, and I'm glad to see Adele get the widespread recognition she deserves for making a heart-felt album and singing her ass off. Everyone's at least heard that one song, and I'm not even sick of it yet. It seems unfair that something so powerful can just pop up on your radio and take your breath away, without even a hint of warning.

3. Fucked Up - “David Comes to Life”

Here's why I hate Matador Records. There are a few primary outlets where I get my music from (digitally, in order of preference: eMusic, Amazon, 7Digital). And Matador doesn't play nice (digitally speaking) with eMusic, and their records are rarely discounted on any of the other sites. Just for albums released this year, I bought somewhere between 80-100 albums (and that doesn't include any back catalog material from anyone), so getting a good price is pretty important. And one of my rules is that I don't pay $10 for an album of downloads. You can usually track down the physical CD for around that much, and you can re-sell that if you really don't want it anymore. If you're going to maintain a habit of music gluttony over a period of time like I have, you have to set and follow some rules.

I came across “The Other Shoe” on some blog or other that I was following, the person was hyping it as the best single of the year. I don't know if I'd go that far, but it's really, really good, and I knew I was going to have to get this album immediately upon release. Two problems: the downloads were $10 across the board. I'm not saying it's not worth it, but I am saying I won't pay that for any download. Which led the second problem: I live in a small town, and it's at least a 45 minute drive to any self-respecting record store that wouldn't mind stocking a CD by a band calling themselves “Fucked Up.” Go ahead, go to your local Target or Walmart and see the look on the clerk's face when you ask them for “the latest Fucked Up release.”

All of that meant that getting my big, sweaty paws on this album was going to be a big production, involving dealing with big city traffic and parking just to find out if a particular store even had this album in stock. But I'm telling you, it was worth it. I'd listened to the band casually before, I wouldn't call myself a fan or anything. Point being, I was already accustomed to singer Damian Abraham's voice, and it wasn't likely to be an impediment to my enjoyment of this album. To put it impolitely, he's in the running for worst voice in rock, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of Rancid's Tim Armstrong. And many, many people have whined and moaned about Abraham's voice. But it's not about the tool, it's what you do with it, and both manage to get a lot of what might be considered a limited range.

If I'm going to dust off the critical adjective checklist, “David Comes to Life” is a post-hardcore concept album, about a couple falling in love. There is a music video for “Queen of Hearts” (which I'll include shortly) that has schoolchildren singing the song: if you can make it through without tearing up, you're a better man (or woman) than I. And when you're listening to the actual album for the first time, after you've seen this video with the smoother vocals, you might find yourself cringing at Abraham's voice. But what you need to ask yourself is that, if he and his band are capable of creating such a moving piece of music, what's a little gravel in one's voice between friends?

2. My Morning Jacket - “Circuital”

There's this episode of “American Dad” where Stan Smith discovers My Morning Jacket, and it completely changes his life. And that episode is why I feel really guilty for how much I love “Circuital.” Believe you me, jam bands and the like (or anything in the Dave Matthews Band realm of music) is not my usual fare, and I'm past the age when discovering a new band is supposed to be a life-altering event. In fact, I think that I'm supposed to merely acknowledge anything that occurs in my life with either a bemused smile or a shrug and a stiff drink at this point. Anything more or less would be alarming and age-inappropriate.

So I don't want to suggest that I have a room dedicated to MMJ, or that I force discussions of their lyrics onto anyone who shows even the slightest interest. But for whatever reason, this album clicked with me in a way that 2006's “Z” didn't (that was my first exposure to the band). I didn't give them another chance until “Circuital,” and then only because I had a surplus of Coke Rewards Points that I could redeem for a limited selection of album downloads. Resentfully, I got this album and Eddie Vedder's “Ukelele Songs” (which wasn't bad, either).

Other than “Holdin on to Black Metal,” there aren't a lot of big, catchy songs. But I suppose that for whatever reason, I just needed to hear something spacy, pleasant, and mellow. And I needed to hear it a lot. I don't want to over-intellectualize this album; I like it, I've listened to it a lot, and it's a good album. It's also probably a really great album for enhanced relaxation, if you smell what MMJ is smoking. But even if you don't, it's still a good album. This is an everyday album: there are a lot of critically acclaimed albums that are interesting or “good,” but I can't live with them on a day-to-day basis. “Circuital” is good enough to keep me interested, but not so off-putting or boundary-pushing that I couldn't deal with it on a fairly frequent basis.

1. Hail Mary Mallon - “Are You Gonna Eat That?”

Hail Mary Mallon is a collaboration between Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic, and DJ Big Wiz. Aesop is the most well-known of the batch, although he hasn't had a proper solo album since 2007's “None Shall Pass,” a stone-cold classic. I had heard of Rob Sonic before this; I snagged “Sabotage Gigante” a couple of years ago from the late-Amie Street music store (they had a progressive price-scheme: if you caught onto an album before anyone else, you could download it for as little as a penny. Each download bumped the price up until it was the same cost as you'd find anywhere else. I got “Sabotage” for around a dollar), and generally enjoyed it, although I didn't give it much more thought at the time.

So when I heard that Aesop Rock had a new project with Rob Sonic, I was pretty thrilled. At roughly the same time, the Shabazz Palaces album was getting a lot of Bitchfork attention, while “AYGET?” got a decent, if middling review. I downloaded both albums at roughly the same time, and while I did like the Shabazz Palaces album (as evidenced by it's presence on this list), I absolutely could not stop listening to the Hail Mary Mallon album. It's influence on my listening habits wasn't contained to just this one album, either. I dusted off the Aesop Rock albums I already had, plus bought the one I was missing (Bazooka Tooth”) and one of his EP's as well (“Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives”). I dusted off Rob Sonic's “Sabatage Gigante,” and bought his earlier album, “Telicatessen.” And I've been listening to all of these albums over the last few months in addition to the Hail Mary Mallon album.

What is it exactly that's so appealing about “Are You Gonna Eat That?” Firstly, it has a different atmosphere to it than a lot of rap albums. Like the Shabazz Palaces album, you're not going to hear this album on your stereo and wonder who made it. It sounds different. Like really, really different, and very specific. As in the complete opposite of generic, cut-and-paste a rapper in this spot kinds of productions. There are a lot of, shall I say, flavors here. At first listen, you're going to be struck by two things. First, the music is going to sound a little cold, paranoid, and distant. Not in an unpleasant way, but this isn't an album that's begging for your approval. It's all there, but you're going to have to invite yourself into this party. And unlike the Shabazz Palaces album, which is all open spaces and coldness, it's tempered to a more manageable point here by more danceable beats.

Secondly, these two rappers are going to barrage you with words. These words aren't coming from the usual angles either, you're going to need to do some work to figure out what the fuck they're talking about half the time. And this is where the reward lies: once you get over how different the album sounds, once you get over the fact that Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic aren't going to spell every little thing out for you (although their rhymes have a nice flow to them that you can enjoy simply on that level), you can get down to the business of really getting into the meat of what's there.

There are a couple of entry points here; it's not all off-putting music and obtuse wordplay. Try “Breakdance Beach” to start with. Here's the video for that:

The beat is bigger and bouncier than normal, and on your first spin through the album, this is probably the track that's going to jump out at you. Also useful: you can start to get used to separating the two MCs. They have similar flows and word choices (in that neither use plain language), and their voices are just similar enough to not be jarring when they trade off. This song is pretty playful, and it's got a fun chorus.

Once you're done with that song, the next one that might catch your ear is “Grubstake”

This one isn't quite as bouncy or playful as “Breakdance Beach,” but it's a good transition into the rest of the album. There aren't a ton of narratives on this album exactly. It might not always make perfect sense. But it you've ever been listening to a rap album and just get smacked upside the head by a perfect line or rhyme out of nowhere, you need to prepare yourself for that happening over and over again on “Are You Gonna Eat That?” I don't know why Rob Sonic is wondering if his eggplant sammy got put on the same receipt, but in the context of the song, it jumps out of the speakers.

This year, it was completely easy to pick this as my favorite album of the year. It's not a beginner's album (as in, if you're not already into this sort of thing, you might have difficulty getting into the album with the same intensity that I did), which feels like a necessary warning. I want other people to hear it and enjoy it, but it's not a pop album. If the idea of rap music that isn't primarily club music sounds weird to you, Hail Mary Mallon might not be a good fit. But if you're ready, and curious, dig in and enjoy.

*****

I hope all of that made sense, because it's taken me all week to put this post together. If you've got some time, check out some of those videos, and if you don't, I'm working on putting together a mixcast I'll have up on this site later this week featuring these ten bands. You know, to listen to on your drive to wherever it is that you'll be going next week. Until then...

Funky Bah Humbuggery

2011-12-22T03:45:34Z

Still alive, still chugging along. Had a great time in Seaside for the art show (Hold Fast Tattoo & Art Gallery, if you're in that area - show's up through January!), been working on some things that don't yet have any tangible results. That's okay, though. Enjoy this glorious bit of funky bah humbuggery to get you through the week...

Holiday Sale at Reverend Clay's Finer Things!

2011-12-09T02:06:43Z

The title says it all, really. If you're in the mood to buy some artwork, allow me to lubricate the process a bit: all purchases in the ballpark of $50 get free shipping until the end of the month! I say ballpark because I'm not going to let a few pennies get in between you and I making a beautiful, bouncing capitalist transaction.

There are brand new, never offered before prints available now, and there will be a new batch of Artist Trading Cards up early next week. What are the subjects of these cards, you might ask? That depends what swirls my inky pen makes this weekend, but I'm strongly considering a few Lebowski-related cards, and maybe even some Mighty Boosh ones, too. We'll find out together!

Get your purchase on at Reverend Clay's Finer Things!

The non-art side of making art

2011-12-02T07:55:31Z

So this is what I did today...

And a sneak peak of a brand new piece (and a dirty floor), freshly framed and nearly ready for curious eyeballs...

Headed to the coast tomorrow to set up my show in Seaside. Pimping, and then pics to come...

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

2011-11-30T04:46:06Z

I did it! 50,000 words written in one month, the first draft of a novel. What is going all the way through a NaNoWriMo like?

Let me give you a quick background on my writing, so that you know where I'm coming from here. Despite the fact that I spend most of my time creating art these days, my degree is in creative writing (from the University of Washington, class of 1999). The bulk of the work I did back then were short stories, although I also wrote most of the comic books that I have drawn as well, and spent a little over a year writing record reviews for the school newspaper. Since that point, I have written a handful of screenplays, but didn't really put forth the effort needed to sell any of them. Screenplays are probably the most similar in terms of scope and effort to a novel. I co-wrote a couple, and wrote a couple on my own.

Generally speaking, it would take a number of months to come up with a usable first draft of a screenplay for me. Part of that is one of the chief pitfalls of collaboration: you've always got to convince two people to sit down and work, and not just one. That works great if your partner is motivated and focused, but if either of you aren't both of those things, neither of you get anything done. Between rounds of editing, I was looking at a minimum of six months before having anything that I (or we) could show people when working on a new project. That was just reality, and part of the reason that I haven't done any sustained writing in a number of years. It's like pushing a boulder up a hill, which isn't very appealing.

Last year, I started a movie review blog. I didn't do it to purposefully train myself for a situation like NaNoWriMo. My purpose was twofold. Firstly, I watch movies fairly regularly, and I was looking for a way to more thoughtfully interact with them. The biggest compliment that I can pay a filmmaker is thoughtful attention, and considered feedback. Just kicking back and looking at the pretty pictures and bright lights wasn't as fulfilling as you might think. Secondly, I do have a writing degree that's been collecting dust for a long time. I really enjoyed my time doing record reviews in college. I considered it an essential part of my training as a writer; at some point, you just need to sit down and crank out words, preferably in exchange for money and free CDs and concert tickets. I'm not as in touch with the local music scene these days, and didn't figure to reconnect with it in any meaningful way in the near future. Thus, movies. I don't have a big readership, and that's not really the point of it. The blog is a sort of movie-going diary, and I figure that public history of watching films will be more interesting to me as time goes on.

So, having said all of that, I've always wanted to see my name on the spine of a book. Always. I had tried to go through a NaNoWriMo two or three years ago, but I wasn't enamored with the story I was writing, and didn't get very far into it. Less than a week, to be sure. I don't even remember the experience, that's how little of an impact it made on me. This year, around late-September, an idea started bouncing around in my head. I thought that it might be enough for a longer story, but how long? I didn't know exactly. I saw some mention of NaNoWriMo in a forum somewhere (I can't remember exactly where), and it clicked. This idea had to stay in the oven until November 1st. I was going to go for it.

Here's the math: 30 days, 50k words. That's 1,667 words a day, on average. If you keep pace, that's supposed to end up being around a 175 page novel. Depending on where you're sitting, that either sounds like a piece of cake or an absurd, pie in the sky goal. Dessert metaphors are the best metaphors! I didn't have a good idea what those numbers really meant; college essays were measured in number of pages (infinitely cheatable pages, in my experience), and it's been so long since I've written record reviews that I couldn't really tell you how long any of them were. For a frame of reference, this review I wrote of "The Rum Diary" is a shade over 1k, so you need to write about 5/3rds of that on a daily basis to get to the finish line.

Now, there are people who finished the 50k goal in a couple of weeks, there are people who finish the month with over 100k words. There are people who brag about writing 10k words in a day. And that's fine. As for me, I finished a day early. There was only one day in the entire month where I wrote more than 2,500 words in a day, and that was yesterday. I skipped a couple of days entirely (I fought through a cold this month, and a frequently cramping back as well). For 25 of the 29 days, I sat down, wrote somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500 words, and called it a day. I wanted to avoid burning out; my goal was just to incrementally get myself to the finish line.

Everyone writes differently. For some people, those 10k sprees are just part of how they get work done. But what I found more valuable is the ability to sit down on a daily basis and get the work done. Anyone can rack up a huge word count for a day and then take three days off. What I found valuable (and rewarding) about NaNoWriMo is that it's helped me develop a little bit of discipline, turning a sporadic indulgence into a daily habit. That's the real value of the experience for me. I probably won't keep up a 2k a day pace, but it's no problem at this point to commit to producing 1k a day, between whatever fiction writing I do and the movie blog. This month proves without a doubt that adhering to a schedule over time yields results. This post itself is a shade over 1k words right now. That boulder doesn't feel so heavy anymore.

So yes, NaNoWriMo is a completely achievable goal. It just means that you're going to have to commit to setting aside an hour or two a day, come hell or high water. But you'll have a stack of pages to show for it on November 30th, and an ongoing writing habit beyond.

Obligatory celebratory video (and back to regular programming henceforth):

Two Week Warning: Seaside, OR

2011-11-22T23:16:15Z

This is your official two-week warning!

Have you ever wanted to see a ton of my artwork in frames and hung on walls? Possibly while getting tattooed at the very same time (not mandatory, btw)? Do you have the means to get to Seaside, OR during the month of December?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be interested to know that I have a way to tie all of those things together. The Hold Fast Tattoo Co. & Art Gallery in Seaside will be hosting a show of my prints for the month of December! Help us close out 2011 with a bang, and come check out the big show! As an added bonus, I'll have a handful of brand new prints that haven't seen the inside of a frame nor had the joy of hanging on a wall yet.

The show opens Saturday, December 3rd, and is part of the Seaside First Saturday Art Walk that day.

Hold Fast Tattoo Co. & Art Gallery

611 Broadway Street

Seaside, OR 97138

(503) 738-4055

Hope to see you there!

Leftovers II: I'm not internationally known, but...

2011-11-20T08:02:45Z

A quick bit of exhibition news (with even more exciting news coming soon, but one thing at a time)...

Are you going to be in New Zealand during the month of April 2012? The "Leftovers II" print exchange that I am part of is going to be shown in Kerikeri, New Zealand from March 30 to April 30, 2012, at Wharepuke Gallery and Print Studio. There's something like 120 different prints in the show (I've seen about a quarter of the prints personally, and there's definitely a consistent level of awesome here), so there's a lot to take in. So if you ARE going to be in New Zealand during that span of time, definitely consider putting this show on your cultural to-do list.

Secondly, if you're interested in owning any of the prints in the "Leftovers II" exchange, and weren't one of the artists involved, there is literally only one way to get your hands on the print of your dreams (personally speaking, my entire edition went to the exchange - I didn't even keep any for myself). And I quote exchange organizer Amy Nack:

The First Annual Leftover Print Silent Auction will be held at Sockeye Grill in Boise (Idaho) beginning Friday, November 25 and will close at 6:00 PM on Monday, December 5. Proceeds will benefit the Idaho Hunger Relief Task Force.

Good cause, good work, good grief! It's closer than New Zealand, at least!

And because you can't tease with a title like that...

Writing Novels is Totally Easy

2011-11-15T08:05:56Z

Remember how I said I was trying to write a novel in the month of November? Here's a widget that shows how well I've been doing.

To sum it up, I caught a cold, and week two wasn't quite up to snuff. I'm not so far behind that I can't get there, but I've used up most of my lazy days already. Really looking forward to hitting the 50% mark - it's all downhill from there...

The Funny Pages on Veteran's Day

2011-11-11T23:06:43Z

I'm one of the holdouts that actually still reads a physical newspaper nearly every day. I'm not shunning technology - I keep tabs on a ridiculous amount of websites also, but I like the ritual of sitting down with a newspaper, some coffee, and maybe even doing a couple of crossword puzzles. Naturally, I also like reading the comic strips, too (well, some of them). But over the last couple of years, I've noticed a trend in the funny pages. I present you with all of today's strips that pay tribute to America's troops on Veteran's Day:

Well, there you go. Hope you enjoyed everything that America's professional comic strip artists could manage to say to tip their collective cap to American soldiers (at least in the strips carried by Portland's "The Oregonian"). There's also a sort of military-themed joke in "The Family Circus," but no direct mention of Veteran's Day.

I'm not sure why it is that this bothers me so much. I'm not a veteran myself, and I don't really know what to say to veterans. "Thanks" seems too small, but I haven't come up with anything else that works better. Maybe one of the reasons that this bothers me is that I grew up on comic strips that would at least acknowledge real events from time to time. Not every strip did, and I don't think it's fair to expect them all to (even though I'm sure that the vast majority of cartoonists will manage to make a timely Thanksgiving or Christmas strip). But a lot of the cartoonists that I grew up reading were either part of World War II (60 MILLION casualties, 2.5% of the entire world's population) or Vietnam (58,220 US soldiers killed, plus up another 3.5 million in opposing forces), big wars that touched everyone's lives in one way or another.

I find myself very disappointed that no living strip cartoonist (again, in "The Oregonian") bothered to even acknowledge today's holiday. The only artists who were willing to show any gratitude at all for the sacrifices made on their behalf are gone now. This isn't even something that you could blame on the younger generations, there are plenty of strips in the paper not created by 20-something tyros with no respect for anything. In fact, most of them are not.

Maybe it would be less noticeable if that "Peanuts" strip hadn't run in the paper, everyone would just forget about comic strips occasionally paying tribute to those who deserve it. Even from the afterlife, Charles Schulz is making other cartoonists look bad.

There was an article in "The Oregonian" a couple of weeks ago, about "Pearls Before Swine" creator Stephan Pastis making an appearance to promote his new book. After portraying himself as a Schulz follower, he then has this to say about "Peanuts,"

There's one thing Pastis doesn't like about "Peanuts." Schulz died in 2000, but "Peanuts continues to run in newspapers around the world. Strips from the past are recycled, which annoys Pastis and others who would like to see new blood on the comics pages.

"Repeats are the worst, and 'Peanuts' was the one who started that," Pastis said. "The don't rerun the news, do they? They don't repeat any other part of the paper. Why do they do it in the comics?"

I single out Pastis because he has the misfortune of being on record very recently complaining about this, but when you look at today's "Peanuts" strip and today's "Pearls Before Swine" strip, one of them is a throw-away joke and one of them is literally the only thing on the entire comics page that shows even a hint of gratitude for anything. If other cartoonists (not just Pastis, but every single one of the cartoonists whose work ignored the meaning of today, which is to say ALL of them) haven't absorbed everything that needs to be learned from "Peanuts" and Charles Schulz's work, they're not ready to take over those spots quite yet.

November to Remember

2011-11-06T23:16:48Z

Aside from my usual amount of drawing and printmaking activities, I am also a writer. And this year I decided to take the NaNoWriMo challenge to write 50,000 words in one month. Six days in, I'm right on pace, and things are looking rosy. Here's hoping I stay healthy and productive for the next three and a half weeks! If you're into this sort of thing, feel free to friend me on that site (I'm clayholio there, just like everywhere) and get down to cranking out some superb wordage!
c.

Sheer Madness (This Is Lycanthropy)

2011-10-27T18:07:05Z

Look, I don't even know what to tell you about this, other than it's completely awesome and that I couldn't stop laughing the whole time I was watching this. What more could you want from a music video? I present Duck Sauce's "Big Bad Wolf" (possibly NSFW, although there's not any actual nudity)...

BIG BAD WOLF duck sauce from caviar on Vimeo.

via Dangerous Minds

Punkin

2011-10-21T23:45:01Z

"Punkin," 4" x 6", mixed media intaglio print (watercolors, various inks, color pencil), 2011.

Just your friendly neighborhood Halloween pumpkin dog. Soon to be available for purchase at Reverend Clay's Finer Things...