Bugs and the New Year
I know that not everyone is into insects…but I once read the title of a book that described best how I feel: it’s from a quote by evolutionary biologist J.B.S. Haldane (and sometimes credited to Charles Darwin), stating that because of the staggering number and variety on them earth, that whoever our creator is, they must have “An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles.” That pretty much sums up my own feelings.
I did a post on my beetle painting ages ago, describing how I once looked up at a mounted beetle in my room and wondered, “what might a beetle choose if it could customize it’s wings? Thus sprang my “Bad to the Exoskeleton” paint job.
I usually make my Christmas gifts, which usually stems from something I’m interested in at the time. Mom says when I try to hard to do what I THINK someone will like the WAY they like it, it never ends up as well as something I do for someone that’s in my own style, sort of INSPIRED by that person.
So this Christmas, my immediate family got beetles. (Sorry.)
I started working on this one for my niece, with the idea that it was a softer sort of custom, for a sweeter sort of beetle. Beetles would probably love flowers, in a dainty sort of way, right?
The next was for my other niece. The idea was that if beetles could customize their elytra (the hard wing shells), they may choose to elaborate on the idea that–if displayed openly–a set of angry human eyes may momentarily stun human predators, and enhance the beetle’s chance of escape. (While looking at reference, I found an interesting side note, which inspired the addition of the third eye: that the head and mandibles of stag beetles are often sold in some countries as good luck charms to ward off the “evil eye.”)
Next I worked on a double-mounted set for my parents, featuring a sort of Bavarian flower pattern for my mother’s and an Egyptian themed one for my dad, which I thought matched their personalities fairly well. My mom and dad are both artists, and mom loves Bavarian-style flowers, while dad loves anything related to Egyptology and archaeology.
Finally, I worked on the biggest one for my sister, who has a pair of steampunk wings tattooed on her own back. I tried to put as much detail as I could fit on this little guy, with small gears and painted screws.
So that was Christmas! A little weird, yes, but I hope they like them. While waiting for the beetles to arrive, I drew this little “born to be wild” doodle, to which Myla added on, surrounding him with little creatures helping him on his way, wishing him “good travels.”
(It now lives with artist Tyler Thrasher, who we met in Tulsa, who crystallizes insects using his extensive background in chemistry.)
So the holidays are over, and it’s time to start a new year.
I’ve never been one to push a year out the door–years are years through no fault of their own. But this year–from the accounts of my own family and my immediate friends and family–I feel like this year needs a good kick in the pants on its way out the door.
So here’s wishing that this next year is full of adventures and inspirations, of explorations both internal and external.
Here’s wishing for a great new year for all of us…
…And a Happy New Year
The end of the year is here, and for our family, that means a little time with family for Christmas. Since the husband’s deployed, I’m going to count myself lucky enough that we at least have some extended family close enough to visit for the holidays.
The end of the year always gets me thinking a little about the year behind me. This was a bit of a bumpy year for our family, but all told–it really could have been SO MUCH WORSE. I really don’t consider myself an eternal optimist (I call myself an “optimistic pessimist”), but whenever I’m low, I try my hardest to look around for the good things, no matter how small, and if you really take the time to look, they’re all around you. The fact that you’re even breathing is just ONE small gift. It helps to stop and get some perspective on that now and then.
Myla and I have done so many projects and drawings and activities this past year, it wonderful to stop & look at it all over. Sometimes, during my day, I actually stop and look around, and take a minute to enjoy the things around me–paintings we’ve done, sculptures done by friends, artwork from others, cards, books, dolls, toys, and little cutout scraps of paper from Myla’s crafts. I’m grateful for all of it.
This next year, I plan to continue creating. Maybe doing more shows (I’ve got my eye on you, Designer Con!). Maybe doing more custom pieces. Who know what the next year will bring?!
I’ve been flipping through pictures of older portraits I’ve done, and I’m inspired again by some past work–especially in these machine-stitched portraits I used to do. Maybe I’ll do more of those, and offer customs….
In any case, I know it sounds goofy, but I truly am grateful for everything. In the darkest times, in the happiest times, I’m grateful for everything I have, everyone I know, everything I can do. I’m glad for the very good friends I have, even if they’re always far away on the map. I’m glad for the support of my husband, even from thousands of miles away. And I’m glad for YOU! For the fact that you’re even reading this!
I don’t like to set resolutions at the new year (to me, resolutions are for whenever you want to make them)…but I’m looking at a goal this next year of trying to figure out how to maybe have these doodles or sculptures or whatever it is that we do, do some good in the world. I’m not quite sure how. I’m still working on that. There are still a lot of changes to make, and I’m ready to see what sorts of transformations this new year will make.
Being a military family, we’re exposed to so much variety–we have such diversity in our lives that we can celebrate so many types of people around us, no matter what their gender, their politics, their lifestyle, because when you break it down, we’re all just people. (Remember that guy in Muppets Take Manhattan? He said,”peoples is peoples.”)
The important thing is that we CAN be different. We CAN show small kindnesses to one another, despite our differences. I want to make sure we share that, and spread it around a little. You might not be able to change the world all at once, but if you can do some good for someone, that kindness is absolutely contagious.
So I’ll leave you with a little drawing Myla did of our family, in a card she sent to her dad. Here’s wishing you all great things for the new year!!!
Dad’s Garden Train Hogwarts
My sister and I grew up in a pretty artistic family. My mom and dad both paint and have always been very creative. So today, I thought I’d share a little project of my dad’s….
I learned to paint and draw when my mom started showing me how to draw shapes and make people when I was still learning to walk. I get so much of my encouragement and imagination from her. And I get a lot of my furious, frenetic, constant MAKING from my dad, who was always knee-deep in a project or two, always creating, always building, always doing SOMEthing. (Sounds very familiar!)
A few years ago, my dad got into building garden trains. He had fun setting up the track, but also building the structures for the cities and towns in his train village. At one point, before they moved, he had worked on a Harry Potter’s Hogwarts castle to add at the back. 
The old town below included Diagon Alley, Hagrid’s, and the Weasley’s. He even included a few fun things with the people…
Awhile back, my parents moved to a new home, and my dad started up a new train village. He built each structure by hand, from sheets of styrofoam and thin pieces of wood, coating them in liquid cement, and then painting and decorating them (often with the help of my mom’s awesome decorative painting skills).
They’re pretty good-sized structures, too–here are our two dogs–a fully grown Boston Terrier and Boxer, who love to sniff around town. (Thankfully, they haven’t destroyed anything…yet.)
The liquid concrete and coats of varnish keep the structures fairly well-protected from the weather.
As fantastic as dad’s sculptures are, Mom’s painting details are just as amazing! She creates tiny handpainted murals on some:
After finishing a good chunk of the town, Dad recently decided to try his old Hogwart’s castle again. But this time, he studied schematics of Hogwarts, looked at reference photos and movie models, and laid out a foundation. He started by building a styrofoam mountain in the back, up against their patio, adding a water feature as well.
Then he worked on the first building tower, sculpting into the styrofoam and shaping it with wooden pieces.
He laid the tiny wooden shingles on the roof one by one, by hand.
Here it is, temporarily mounted on the “mountain”just as a test-run.
Initially, he matched his paint job to a reference he found, which was a lot more rusty orangey brown (the first photo, below). He sent a photo of it, and asked, and we talked about how although he matched the reference, the FEEL of it in the movie (although the shots of it are often at night) is that it’s mostly grayish. So he repainted, and it made a WORLD of difference!
Here are some more progress shots of the mounted castle tower, and of coating and painting it.
So, fast-forward to several steps later, and HERE is the final Hogwart’s castle!
He put lights in them, so the towers glow beautifully at night.
It’s so beautiful and amazing! If you look closely, you can see these tiny Hogwarts shields I painted for him, with each house emblem on them:
I also customized a few figures for his castle, although they turned out a little wonky. I turned one into Harry, and chopped off Darth Maul’s horns and nose to turn him into Voldemort.
Here they both are, complete (lying next to an adorable heart-holding griffin Myla drew on my work board).
Anyway, there it is! Dad’s Garden Train Hogwarts castle.
Growing up, I knew enough to realize that not everyone’s parents were as creative as mine…but knowing that we didn’t come from a ton of money, I realized that everyone had the capability of being creative. Seeing something start from small beginnings to something huge and amazing doesn’t always require specific tools or the finest art supplies or the best brushes. Dad was building stuff when we were younger out of dental floss and twigs! Really, when it comes down to it, the most important thing you really need is a desire to create!
Congrats on your castle, Dad!
Flat Myla
My husband’s in the Army, deployed a billion miles away. Deployments are not easy for anyone, to be sure.
About halfway through my husband’s last deployment, my dentist told me of the stuffed animal her daughter gave her husband on his deployment, and how he took photos with it everywhere. It reminded me of those Flat Stanley paper dolls kids send to family & friends to take with them on their travels. I liked that. So I made my husband a Flat Myla.
To his credit, my sweetheart took her everywhere in his cargo pocket. He took her for pizza and for dinner at the chow hall.
He took her for coffee at Green Beans, to work with him, and out for pie. She used to laugh at the photos…they cracked her up.
He even took her flying, on bus rides, and showed her his tents and some of the sweeter sides of Afghanistan.
This deployment, I thought he needed another updated one…so I just now sent him a new Flat Myla (she designed her own Pokemon shirt).
The older one sits now, retired, in a glass frame on our fireplace, worn from the wear and tear. This new one is triple laminated, which (hopefully) will help her last a little longer. He says he’s looking forward to getting her in the mail, because it’ll give him an excuse to get out and visit places and take pictures with her. That makes me smile.
He’s gone for awhile. Through Christmas and through the holidays. Through our 14th anniversary, through our birthdays. We’ve done it before–it’s a bit hard, but it’s okay. We used to joke that he ASKED for a deployment when Myla was a year old specifically to miss her “Terrible Twos” (which were TERRIBLE, by the way, in Alaska with 8 months of dark winter, 24 hour summer, and then her 2-year molars)!
Now, Myla is older, and she’s always such a sweetheart to handle. I can’t wait to put all her Flat Myla pictures in a book to show her how much her dad was thinking of her while he was gone. It’s special, for sure. Myla’s a good army kid–she takes things as they are. She focuses on the moment, because she’s six. But from time to time, she’ll miss something that Dad does, and get a little bummed. But she always thinks of him when she draws pictures or talks about our family. She really is a pretty great kid.
And then I was thinking–the world has a way of telling me to keep my chin up and not focus on my own little world. Today I went to the post office, and just in that short time, feeling a little blue myself, I stood next to an older man struggling to write an address label because his hands were shaky. I helped him write it out, and he told me how much harder little things like that have gotten now that he’s gotten older. I heard a woman say her daughter was in the Middle East for the first time ever, and she hadn’t filled out a customs form before. A woman who lost her phone (and then found it) said, “my husband just passed away and all my recent photos are on it.” People are going through things, all around you.
So no time to feel sad or mopey. Everyone has issues. Everyone’s going through their own things. You can let it swallow you up, or you can focus on the good things.
So it’s time to focus on what we do have. We have each other, even if a million miles away. You can share kindness with a stranger, just with a smile, or by holding a door open. My favorite part about the holidays is how for a moment, it seems that sometimes people turn up the charm a bit, turn up the kindness, and it spreads a little. It’s a great thing to see. But we can do that all the time!
Have you ever read the “Pout-Pout Fish“? How he “spreads his dreary-wearies all over the place”? Well, it works the other way, too. This past week, Myla and I brought the crossguards at school hot chocolate in the morning–Just two cups of SwissMiss, and they were so grateful that it lasted the whole day–one even made a point to give Myla a hug later in the day and tell her how good it made her feel. That stuff SPREADS, you guys. Even the kid knows that.
The bad things ALWAYS shout louder than the good. The good is harder to find, but you can if you look, and if you focus just on that. It doesn’t always happen right away–it’s an active effort. You have to spread it around to balance it out, and then it spreads to others. They don’t even have to know it was you. A smile. A piece of trash thrown away. A held-open door. A little something to make someone’s day better.
A little kindness. A little understanding. A little COMPASSION. Regardless of your beliefs, of your politics. All year round, every day.
As for the husband, I hope he gets to take lots of fun trips with the new Flat Myla, and take her on cool adventures, and spread a few little smiles around, from across the globe!
(We love & miss you , Babe!)
Making More Monsters
After the last couple of conventions, I was surprised to come home with only a handful of our little monster puppies…I thought I was done making them…until I realized that they’re kind of relaxing to make. And as long as I enjoy it, why not, eh?
So I sculpted and cast couple of new faces to add a little extra to the group. I’m not sure I’m as attached to them as some of the others, but they do make me smile.
But what I realized, talking to people at the conventions, was that although the dolls themselves were weirdly cute, it was the story BEHIND them that people seemed to enjoy the most. So I’ve been working on a little foldout flier to put in with each of my orders (and eventually to have at conventions) that explains the story of how the Dream Creepers came to be.
This is the story I usually tell in person, over and over again, several times a day during the span of a convention, to anyone who ever seemed curious about them. It was nice to make it into an easy little flier with cute little drawings that better explained it.
So I thought for fun, I’d share the little pages with you right here, right now…
So there it is! The mostly-true (because–alright, I’m not ACTUALLY a doctor, and Myla’s name isn’t really “M”) story of how the Dream Creepers came to be. As I said, people seemed to find the dolls interesting, but once they heard the story, and learned that Myla named them, they would nearly always find them a little more sweet.
Myla has about 9 of them (she’s not obsessed or anything, she just thinks they’re all cuuuuuuuute), and whenever she starts to worry about something at night, I pretend to suck out her bad thoughts and feed them to the Creepers. Weird, sure, but that’s at least good for a bedtime smile.
I only have a few guys left in the shop right now, but I think I’ll be making more soon, for as long as I find it fun. I don’t really like to do customs with them, as they usually come together based on what fabrics I have, what fur is available, and what faces I’ve cast. They’re much more fun when I get to play!
If you’re interested in adopting the ones I have left, take a look at the Etsy shop and get them while you can–I’ll be closing the shop next week for family visits, but then opening again on the first week of December! I’m not sure how quickly I can build more for the holidays (as I still have my own gifts to work on!), but like I said–for as long as it’s fun, I’ll be sure to do more.
Sweet Dreams!
Inktober 2015
Last month, as if I didn’t have a million other things going on, I decided to join in on Inktober. Have you heard of it? I had seen artists do this last year: a drawing a day for the month of October, usually spooky-themed, and usually done in ink or pen. And just because I wanted to make it a little more fun, I asked Myla (the 6-year-old) if she’d like to join me. This was a challenge because 1) I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to keep with the theme for the whole month, and 2) it sort of limited what I drew, as I had to sort of keep it within something that fit both of us, and wasn’t TOO creepy for her.
I made my own rules, so it didn’t feel like pressure: if I wanted to add color, that was fine, and if I didn’t get to it one day, I wouldn’t stress it too much. But Myla was already full of enthusiasm, so we got started.
Day 1: VILLAIN. Elle Driver from Kill Bill, and Megamind (who’s she said is special because he’s a villain who turns nice).
Day 2: BEETLEJUICE. This is one of those characters that she didn’t really know, because she’s not so into creepy things…but with things like that, I tell her about them, and she gets the jist. My Beetlejuice is wearing a shirt of a guy named Beetlejuice from the Howard Stern show, and hers is the cartoon version, holding beetles in his hands.
Day 3: WITCH. Bellatrix LeStrange from Harry Potter, and the Playmobil witch from a show Myla likes called Super4.
Day 4: SKELETON. A “real-ish” LaMuerte from Book of Life (with Myla finishing the body) and Turbo fighting Vanellope from Wreck-It Ralph.
(And since LaMuerte looked a smidge too boring in black & white, I added a little color later to spice her up…)
Day 5: WEREWOLF. Old school Teen Wolf and Aisling, the little wolf-girl from Secret of the Kells, who’s sniffing another girl…like ya do when you’re like a dog.
Day 6: EDWARD SCISSORHANDS. Another character she doesn’t personally know, but she’s always been fascinated by. I told her the story, and she loved it. (Hers is crying because he has no friends, poor guy…)
Day 7: WEDNESDAY ADDAMS. It was a Wednesday. It was another character she didn’t know. I used to LOVE the old Charles Addams drawings as a kid, and devoured his books and drawings. I told her about the movie characters, which cracked her up (especially Thing).
Day 8: HELLBOY. Again, I did NOT let my 6-year old watch Hellboy, but she’s seen him around (especially at conventions), and always liked the fact that he’s a good guy who was supposed to be bad but CHOOSES to be good…and she really digs that he loves cats.
Day 9: VAMPIRE. I drew Vampira–and here’s a little trivia break: I learned that she created the character and hosted a show of horror films in the 50s and added campy comments to them. In the 80s, studios wanted to recreate her show, but cast the actress who now plays Elvira in her part, pulling her look and the style of the show directly from hers. Since she created the Vampira character (based loosely on Charles Addam’s Morticia drawings!), she tried to settle in court but lost. Strange, the things you learn, when looking up references. Aaanyway, for Myla’s piece, she drew Drac, Mavis, and the curly-baby from Hotel Transylvania.
Day 10: SWAMP CREATURE. Old-school (and quite dapper) creature from the Black Lagoon, and the Missing Link from Monsters vs. Aliens.
Day 11: ALIENS. My very favorite Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man,” and a tiny Gallaxhar from Monsters vs. Aliens.
Day 12: ROBOTS. (Can you tell I love Twilight Zone?) Uncle Simon from a creepy episode of the ‘Zone, and a sweet little C3PO (even including his silver leg! Aww.).
Day 13: MAD SCIENTIST. Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, and Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phinneas and Ferb, having some trouble with one of his “innators.”
Day 14: ZOMBIE. This one was tricky, since they’re one of Myla’s absolute creep-outs. So I tried to keep it harmless with Michael Jackson from Thriller (she even liked the video, although I didn’t show her the full beginning skit). She drew the zombie “Bad Guy” from Wreck-it Ralph.
Day 15: MUMMY. Myla has a thing for mummies–they fascinate her! She even has a bedtime book on the whole ancient Egyptian embalming/mummification rituals (yeah, for some reason, THAT doesn’t freak her out at all! Haha!). Old school Karloff and Akhmenrah from Night at the Museum (she has a little crush on him), both catching some Zs.
Day 16: Another WEREWOLF. Eddie Munster, and the wolf-dad from Hotel Transylvania, covered in his wolf-pup kids. (Side note: I can’t see Eddie Munster without thinking of Ben Stiller playing a grownup Eddie in a skit on SNL…)
Day 17: GHOSTBUSTERS. Apparently, she already knew Slimer from a “Just Dance” song they did at school. “Who ya gonna call?”
Day 18: CREEPY SMILE. Really just an excuse for me to draw a goofy Nacho Libre smile, and for Myla to draw the Animaniacs.
Day 19: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. I had initially planned on drawing the kid from the movie, but then remembered I had once made her a Max Halloween costume when she was 2 or 3, and decided to draw her now, as a wild thing, roaring her terrible roars. She drew the goat-one…plus a flying wild thing she made up.
Day 20: FLYING MONKEY. Easily my very most favorite characters in the Wizard of Oz. I went for a realish-version, and she drew the cutest, most adorable BABY flying monkey that I’ve ever seen. (Seriously, I LOVE that little guy! Can he be my pet?)
Day 21: QUEEN OF HEARTS. We’d just been reading “Through the Looking Glass” at bedtime, so we thought the Red Queen would make a fun topic. From the movie, and from the Disney cartoon.
Day 22: BAT. An old-school Bat…man, and Stellaluna.
23: NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. A handsome Jack, and a real-ish Sally.
Day 24: GREMLINS. Myla once fell in love with a Gizmo doll she got in a gift shop, so I drew Spike, and she drew the cutest little Mogwai.
Day 25: Another SKELETON. She wanted to draw a skeleton again, so I chose a soggy little skeleton kid based on a character created by the talented Matthew Gordon. She drew a little guy from a book they’d read at school called “Skeleton for Dinner.”
Day 16: Another FRANKENSTEIN. Bride of Frankenstein, and Johnny Stein from Hotel Transylvania, pulling down a disco ball.
Day 27: GIANT. The ship-giant from Time Bandits (one of my all-time favorites), and the lady giant from Into the Woods, tearing down trees.
Day 28: CAT. Old-school Cat…woman, and the Cheshire Cat.
Day 29: GOBLIN KING. We both love the Labyrinth. I drew Jareth and his goblins. Myla drew an “inappropriate” Jareth on the toilet (because bodily functions crack kids up)…then added another, drawing him when he transforms into an owl (so I couldn’t help but post them both).
Day 30: CREEPY OCTOPUS. A category she completely created, because she wanted to draw a vampire octopus from Octonauts. This one stumped me for a bit, until I remembered the COOLEST “creepy octopus” of all: Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean, with his heart chest.
Day 31: DRAGON. Admittedly, we were at the convention in Austin and couldn’t really go out with a bang, but hey–we tried! Myla drew a “rain dragon” (which is how she describes drizzly days), and I drew the sad little Gringott’s dragon from Harry Potter.
So there we are! A drawing a day for October. And honestly, Myla was the motivator the whole time, asking me excitedly every morning, “what’s our drawing of the day today?” We both picked the topics–she was so good at coming up with themes that we both could do.
Anyway, I hope you all had as fun an October as we did with Inktober!
Halloween Con
So I’m back from Wizard World in Austin, and I thought I’d tell you a bit about how it went…
Friday, the first day of the convention, it was absolutely POURING down rain, and super windy. The staff actually let vendors park INSIDE the venue to download our supplies, because HOLY COW I don’t know how we would’ve done it otherwise. There would’ve been some soggy supplies!
After unloading my stuff, I had to go park my car in an actual parking garage a couple of blocks away and WALK BACK. In the rain. And wind. With a flimsy excuse for an umbrella. This resulted in a very soggy mockingbird. My shoes were soaked, as was my whole body, neck to toes.
They extended the opening time to noon, and although there were still quite a few people there, LOTS of people stayed home (presumably), because it was pretty slim that first day.
I was right across from the celebrity aisle, so I got to see glances of people as they came in. See that little speck? That’s Lou Ferrigno, the original Hulk. I felt really bad for him that first day, hardly anyone came to his booth. It’s a weird feeling, waiting around for people to come up to you. I felt a little bad for the guy.
But really, it was like that for everyone all day Friday. Pretty quiet, considering the weather. While I shivered in my soggy Converse, slowly trying to dry out, I had a chance to walk around a bit. The best part: since there weren’t many people there on Friday, I got to meet the fantastically magical Caroll Spinney, and talk with him quite a bit.
If you don’t know Caroll Spinney, and you’re at all interested in Jim Henson and the Muppets, maybe go right out and watch “I Am Big Bird” to hear all about his life. He’s played Big Bird and Oscar on Sesame Street since day ONE. I mean, Big Bird has ALWAYS been in my life! My mom attributes my learning to read at an early age partly to the fact that I watched a ton of Sesame Street. And as someone who has nearly been moved to tears upon seeing an original Kermit puppet in a DC museum, I was so happy to have spent some time with such an iconic character (I am in awe of everything Muppet).
(FLASHBACK: Here’s that photo of a MUCH-younger Me, staring in awe and fascination at that Kermit puppet in the Smithsonian, in awe of the stitches and the story behind him, and how much one little green guy and the guy who made him come to life could make so many people smile…)
But since it was so quiet on Friday, I was lucky enough to get to talk to Caroll and his wife Debra several times. I kept coming over to his booth, and he kept coming over to mine. At first I was giddy, but not like meeting an actor on a show–more like a meeting fellow artist, one that I admire, and I just wanted to talk and talk and talk to him. He was so polite and quiet and humble. He immediately noticed my little Dream Creepers and asked if I made them, and I told him the story of how I made one for Myla, and some girl told her it was creepy, and how Myla said they had to be a bit creepy to chase the bad dreams away. He said that was VERY insightful for a kid, and said he didn’t find them creepy at all, he thought they were adorable (a-thankyouverymuch).
I bought a signed copy of his book, with an Oscar drawing in it. I loved that when he accidentally spelled Myla’s name wrong, he wrote “Oscar made me do that.” I brought him a kid’s Sesame Street book like one I had as a kid, and he signed that for me.
And I even splurged, and bought an original from his little book of beautiful drawings he had for sale–finally finding a sweet one of Big Bird with a little baby bird on his beak, which seemed pretty fitting for me. It’s hanging now, framed and matted, by my bedside.
I was even able to give him the signed copy of our book, in which Myla had drawn a little Oscar and Big Bird for him. He absolutely LOVED it. I told them about our collaborations, and he and Debra were so kind and sweet, and just loved hearing how we worked together, and how the collaborations came about. He said, “She draws VERY well for such a young age!” He loved her creativity. He asked if I’d be sure to sign it too, and I was so distracted that I THINK I wrote something to the effect of “thank you for the years of inspiration.” (…At least, I hope so!)
We talked about the military, about art, about how I wrote to Jim Henson when I was 8 and I got a letter back, about Brian Froud (and how Debra is allergic to his cats), about caricatures and portraiture, about kids and creating, about living in Hawaii, about moving and traveling. Caroll started to tell me about how he and Debra met, when she giggled and said, “Oh, Caroll, she’s SEEN the movie!” (if you haven’t seen the documentary, the way they met was a very cute story) …In any case, I would’ve been just has happy not selling a thing, just to have spent the whole convention talking to the two of them. It was one of the things I really missed when the convention was over. He had been SO busy all day Saturday, but made a point to stop by before he left and said, “I REALLY wish I could stay and talk, but we have to go–we’re late to meet someone.” He said it was so nice to meet me and Myla, Debra said goodbye, and before he left for good, he turned around and said, “Please tell Myla I think she’s WONDERFUL!”
Sigh. A MUPPET, you guys. I made friends with a Muppet, and his wife. I miss them already. They were so kind that I suppose everyone feels like old friends when they meet them.
AAAAANYWAY. Another cool thing was that an old army buddy of mine that I hadn’t seen in YEARS (maybe 12 years?!?…holy cow..) stopped by, and we got to chat quite a bit. He had commissioned me to draw him a portrait of Ash from Evil Dead, and was going to get Bruce Campbell to sign it. So it was funny when he came back to show me this:
Hahah! He said he nearly gasped when he saw Bruce drawing all across the actual ARTWORK! I thought it would’ve been funny if he had gotten angry and thrown a big fit about it. “MY FRIEND drew that, dude!! WHat the HECK!??!” Heheheh! I’m not really an Evil Dead kinda girl, so it would’ve given me the giggles.
When Myla came on Saturday, we made some time to do our drawing of the day for Inktober. We didn’t miss a day! I’ll have to post all the drawings together, soon.
She also, in a little bit of down time, asked if she could draw on me, so I ended up with some new (temporary) ink.
I left the convention with only a handful of Dream Creepers, but one of the big hits were these little figures…at the last minute, the week before the con, I sculpted this little guy, and made resin copies of him, had my dad (who was visiting) help me pour and then sand them. I made about 15, and they completely sold out. I’ll have to do more, they were fun.
Anyway, Friday was so busy that I hardly got pics of anyone in costume, but it’s fun to go to conventions to see people come as characters. I love being surrounded by art, and meeting other artists. I’m not always sure I fit in these places, but it’s fun anyway. Might have to see if there are more I can handle doing…
So that’s it in a nutshell! We just sent my husband off to another deployment, so I’ll be sure to share any projects we do related to that. We’ll definitely send him packages. Mostly, we’ll just hold down the fort til he gets back. The only good thing about saying goodbye is that you know a homecoming is on the way (if that makes sense).
Hope you had a great Halloween!
(This picture is from the last homecoming…We’ll see you soon, Babe!)
Boo!
This Halloween is a busy one–my family is visiting because my niece is graduating from a nearby tech academy, my husband is getting ready to deploy for the third time, and I am preparing to spend the weekend at Austin Wizard World.
Thankfully, in the midst of everything, I was able to put Myla’s James costume from Pokemon’s Team Rocket together. Since I’ll be at the convention on Halloween, I tried to take Myla to our small town’s safe community trick-or-treat event, and had one of the WORST nights ever. Thanks to rain and overcrowding and traffic and LONG LINES OUTSIDE in the cold rain, we had an terribly, horrible, no-good very bad time. And we didn’t even get to go in! After waiting FAR too long, Myla finally made the call, shivering and miserable: “Mom, I just want to go HOME.” I was happy to oblige, poor kid.
We’re supposed to have bad rains here in Central Texas again this weekend, so who knows if she’ll be able to even trick or treat with her Dad on Halloween night?!? This week, there’s supposed to be a school Halloween party, so I’m hoping that’ll be better…
In any case, I’m pretty darn sure she’ll be able to get some costume time and trick-or-treating in at Austin Wizard World this weekend!!
Friday, I’ll most likely be solo at my corner booth in Artist’s Alley near the celebrity signing area, but Saturday, I’m pretty sure they have a fun Halloween day set up for the kids. Apparently, they’ll have a list of booths to “trick or treat” at for free things, stickers, art, and candy. Along with regular comic con awesomeness!
I’ll be selling our Dream Creepers…
Our Creeper Guardians necklaces & pins…
Along with some cool little pins…
Some weird little Creeper-bats…
And these odd little resin figures (if I get them finished in time)…
And I’m crossing my fingers, wishing and hoping, crossing my T’s and dotting my I’s in the hopes that all goes well and Myla and I can meet Carroll Spinney on Saturday. They don’t always let you, but I’d love to be able to give him a copy of the book we made. Myla even signed one especially for him…
Anyway, that’s our Halloween weekend, in a nutshell. If you’re near us, come give us a hello on Friday or Saturday!!! I’d love to see you & say hello!
This Is Halloween
It’s nearly Halloween!
If you’re like me, and you’re horrible at decorating for anything but Christmas (I mean if you put a bunch of stuff UP, you have to take it DOWN, right??), I thought I’d share with you a couple of my easier Halloween projects that don’t take a lot of work, or effort, or even skill for that matter, but projects that still make Halloween fun, and make you ALMOST feel pretty Martha-Stewarty. …Almost.
First up: PUMPKIN PAINTING
I don’t know if I’ve told you before, but Texas is HOT. I don’t know how people can carve up a pumpkin without it turning all moldy & mushy before Halloween night (that’d certainly keep any trick or treaters away, if that’s what you’re going for, I guess), but painting is just as fun and creative with just about HALF the mess!
Since my sister’s young adult-kid is visiting, we all picked pumpkins and painted them. Now, I’ve seen the amazing things people can do with pumpkin carving and pumpkin painting, and in my mind, I can do a super cool thing too, but when it just came down to it, I went with the “ain’t nobody got time f’that” approach, and just made a big goofy face. Myla did the two on the left (I believe it is a golduck and a psyduck from Pokemon–of course). Maylin did a skull, and mine’s the giant big goof-face. BOOM. Happy Halloween.
Next up: DECORATING COOKIES
If there’s one sort of cooking I CAN do, it’s baking….especially when most of it comes from a box, and all you have to do is add butter and milk. The fun part was just getting out all the sprinkles and eye candies and decorative icing-tools and just letting everyone go wild. BAM! You just Halloween’ed.
Also: CHALKING THE SIDEWALK
Alright, admittedly, this isn’t very spooky, but hey–it was fun (especially since Texas’ version of autumn is for the wind to blow a little so you might have to put on long sleeves). Granted, you could chalk something spookier than we did. I drew a cute decorative little moth, and then realized that wasn’t really very Halloweeny, so I tried to spook it up by adding (and labeling, in case you couldn’t identify it) a “GHOST BAT.” Myla did Slappy the flying squirrel (because: Animaniacs), and Maylin drew aliens and stuff. But yeah, spooky stuff would work, too.
And oh yeah: DECORATIONS.
This one I’m not so great at. I put a store-bought plastic sheet on the door that says “Happy Halloween,” and we got a giant spiderweb with a cute big black spider. That’s about it. Myla loved it. But that’s about all we did outside because did I mention you have to take DOWN the stuff at some point??
So my friend asked me what Myla’s going to be for Halloween, and it made me nostalgic for some of her older costumes. Like the time she was madly in love with C3PO, and the store costumes were lame, so I made her one, cosplay-style (I blogged about it here) which I think turned out SO COOL….and I threw together a quick sugar-skull Vader (because why have a Vader, when you can have a sugar-skull Vader?).
(Sorry for the watermark, but she’s my kid, and stuff has a way of going weird places online. Which reminds me, I think I’ll do a post on the whys and hows of watermarking soon…)
Last year, she was Nightcrawler (not that Jake Gyllenhaal movie about a serial killer), the teenage version from the cartoon X-men: Evolution, which she discovered at superhero summer camp. I made her little blue ears with hairclips in them (although she decided later that the wig was “too itchy.” I made 3-fingered gloves (she insisted on that, and thought it was so awesome). I made a tail to pin onto her black leotard, and a simple belt. The shoes were the hardest, as they were supposed to look like they had two toes (like one has, if one is a mutant).
Anyway, here’s what he looks like in the cartoon:
She liked him because he was funny and goofy and silly. And HE COULD TELEPORT. Too cool.
So THIS YEAR, she has decided to be James, from Pokemon’s Team Rocket. He cracks her up. She even knows the whole motto (say it with me: “To protect the world from devastation…to unite all peoples within our nation” –what, no takers? Just me? Hello?)
Here they are, from the cartoon (James is the one on the left):
See that little cat? That’s Meowth, the other part of their team. And to help better identify her as James, I whipped up a quick little Meowth doll for her to carry with her:
He was super simple, easy to whip up. Basically just a front-and-back pillow with appendages. I painted on everything. So if she carries him around, it might make a little more sense who she is….although I’m very aware of the fact that Pokemon was in its prime like 20 years ago. Still, you’d be surprised at how many of her school friends know EXACTLY what she’s talking about when she talks about Poke-stuff (which is quite often).
The funny thing is, she asked me if I’d be Jessie. Yes, Jessie from Team Rocket. Have you seen her? I’ll give you a minute while you scroll back up to look at that picture again. She’s the one on the right. Go ahead, I’ll wait….
…Okay, RIGHT?? Sorry, kid, I’m not exposing my midriff, I have NEVER worn a mini skirt, and my legs just don’t do…THAT. And the hair?? I have looked at what the cosplayers do, and again: ain’t nobody got time f’that.
BUT WAIT! I came up with a solution: I got a white t-shirt, painted a big R on it. I have black leggings, black boots, black gloves. As for the hair, I got a red Bettie Page-style ‘do, which will have to do. I’ll be “retro Jessie!”
In any case, it doesn’t matter. She doesn’t care about authenticity. She cares about fun. She doesn’t care if I make homemade cookies from scratch, or if I just add water. What she cares about is having fun together. She won’t remember that we never actually CARVED a pumpkin…she’ll remember that we had fun painting them. Kids don’t always know what they DON’T have unless you make them aware of your shortcomings. Just go with it! Have fun, and make some awesome memories. Even little efforts can make the long-lasting, forever-kind of memories.
And hey–if all else fails, and you haven’t got a costume, grab some eyeliner, and turn yourself into a sugar skull.
BOOM! You just Halloween’ed AGAIN! Easy peasy.
So get out there and have a good one! We’re doing a lot of our Halloween fun stuff this weekend, as I’ll be in Austin for Wizard World on the 30th and 31st. Myla will be there on Saturday. If you’re there, come see me–I’m giving out free stickers to kids on Saturday, so come & say hello!!
Zoo Doodles
Since things have a way of keep on keeping on, I’ll share with you some good times we had at the zoo a few months back.
You guys, Texas is hot. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but it’s really hot. It’s the kind of hot that makes me never want to leave the house. But one weekend, the husband & I heard it’d be a bit cooler that normal (a tiny bit less than “sweltering”) and left the house early to take Myla to the Austin Zoo. I like the Austin Zoo because it’s a rescue center, and it’s so small that you can get pretty close and personal with the animals there.
Ages ago, I suggested to Myla that we bring our sketchbooks on a zoo trip. We did, and we had a great time. She remembered that this time, and asked me could we please please bring our sketchbooks again? And, since I really really love when she asks me for easy things, I said yes, of course we could.
We made a bit of a game of sitting and stopping and drawing the animals. The giant tortoise was out & about, most likely wondering if we had any more lettuce, but also just as likely looking at us thinking, “what are they DOING?”
Myla and I sat there for quite a while, politely sketching him (or her). We complimented him (or her) on its shell and all of it’s lovely bumpy skin.
We sat and drew a bear cub rolling around with some chickens and a duck. And although she was a little annoyed that they wouldn’t hold still (“Hey duck! Stop moving around!”), she used her imagination to draw them for the most part, anyway…
(PS: Since the husband came along, it was a nice change to have photos with BOTH me and Myla in them!)
The tiger was out, totally passing up her pile of meat to come over and check us out…and then sauntered over to a shady area for a nap.
Myla drew the “three little bears,” as we watched the bear cubs getting fed, and playing hide and seek for their veggies. Myla continued to “collect” animals in her sketchbook. “OH! a parrot! I haven’t gotten a parrot yet!”
Most times, collecting the animal wasn’t as important as using it to create something else. When we found the serval, she gave it spikes and a dragon tail…because: REALITY.
It didn’t really matter WHAT the drawings looked like. In fact, everything I drew ended up as just a little strip of a tiger stripe, or a rough doodle of the turtle’s eye. What I really enjoyed was watching HER excitement, and seeing things through her eyes. “WOW, mom! That pig is so big and cool and guhSKUSTING!”
And we also took time to put the sketchbooks down a bit and look around at all the beautiful things, and enjoy just being together.
…And then it got really really hot, and we went home.
But hey–you’ve got to find smiles in the little things! Those little things are truly what leave the biggest memories.
And it doesn’t have to be the zoo–It can be a walk down the street, kicking rocks and catching grasshoppers. It can be the crunch of leaves with each step on a walk through the forest. It can be in your backyard, drawing daisies, or splashing paint on paper.
You can try it right now! You can try it when the kids get home from school. You can try it alone, or with a friend.
Enjoy the little things, and be glad that they’re there…
busy mockingbird 