Disintegration

(above: in progress (page) for another anthology)

Awful blow-ey today. The water’s really rippling outside my window. The geese are still hanging out. December’s really been making it apparent that the earth is warming (eep!) Seriously feels like March out here. I’m looking forward to the new year. Lots of stuff planned. 2011 was a rough year towards the end for me. Here’s hoping next year will go smoother as I continue to learn to balance the day job, the arting and life. Maybe I’ll win the lottery… probably not.

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Reminded today of the dire shape my local news is in. As of this year, one owner (the Dispatch) now owns both alt-weeklies: the Other Paper & the Alive. The Dispatch has made the Alive completely unreadable and turned into a longer version of the Dispatch’s Weekender. A fluffy local entertainment rag with no hard news what so ever in it. I never read the Dispatch except the Arts and Comics section, which were pretty lame. This year, they bought out the Other Paper. It hasn’t changed… yet but I’m waiting for the day where they kill it and phase it in with the Alive. Now I only have Columbus Underground as my main source of local news. It’s a great site mind you, but doesn’t quite hit the spot that the Alive (or the old Guardian) did.

I Must Winter

(above> goofing around on a christmas stocking stuffer. )

On idle till the turn of the year. Who needs the winter weather to remind people of the cold. All’s you have to do is turn on the Republicon debates. Disturbing, shocking, headache inducing. The two most chilling parts were the crowd applause during Perry boasting about his high tally on a death penalty question. And Ron Paul’s blatant disregard for human life. In a nutshell, we’re ‘pro-life’ until you stop paying or can’t pay insurance. (Which everyone else agreed with that night) That guy was in the medical field before he went into politics. Chilling that was an applause line. Really?

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Brought this up elsewhere, but the best of lists are out and Bon Iver is at or near the top of every single list. Bon Iver? The guy is two heartbeats away from being Micheal McDonald. I can’t listen to the guy now. Lana Del Ray is another one that drags. ‘Video Games’ sucks my soul. I am pretty stoked that Zola Jesus is coming to town in February.

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So yeah, 2012 will boast some creator-owned stuff from me for a change. More painting and yeah, more. Right now I’ll be focusing on output and then figure out how I’ll push this stuff out into the world. I’ll be doing more shows next year. There will be some t-shirts in my merch pile. Have yet to pick them up due to the holidaze. Have a happy and safe new year everyone.

Lonely Star

(above» trying out some new software. Lobster Johnson.)

I have a couple of small things in the pipeline then I’m free to work on whatever I want. I feel an urgent need to work on these things. Partly because I don’t feel positive about where things are going with the industry. I’m really trying to stay positive. Really. In the back of my mind, one might call it… panic? I’m watching things unfold. Comics (to clarify- floppies)are crying out to be distributed on the cheap as digital downloads. While there is a readership for these things, it’s small and well… aging. With no new blood coming in. Finally publishers are doing digital downloads. Yay. But the bigger companies are charging the same price as the print versions. Boo. Temporarily this will work short-term but it’s not sustainable.

At one time, I honestly thought I could make a career out of comics. That quickly faded as I watch the numbers slowly dwindle.  The reality is if you’re not one of the lucky few making a living doing comics, you’re creating these on the side. You have a day job and draw these in the evening or weekends. Now, for the last few years, I’ve been diversifying my output. Prints, small gallery shows, t-shirts and then comics. I think back on it now and yeah, sometimes I think I should have gone into something more viable, like tattooing.

It still could happen. I’ll always have a soft spot for comics but it’s a very hard road to travel.

peppo-ray ray go go

It’s Christmas time and I’ve been poked into doing cards this year. Haven’t sent out cards to anybody in eons. Hand drawn cards- yeah I do those for friends and family. While the execution takes almost no time at all, it does take a bit of time to gestate an idea. A couple of weeks or so. I couldn’t work for Hallmark. You give somebody a handmade card and the reaction is worth more than gold. This will be sent out to friends, family, shops and clients. I really need to invest in a card scorer. I found one on Amazon but I’m resisting giving Martha Stewart any of my money.

Half the time spent in freelance is either trying to score work or waiting for a contract to turn up. I’m close to officially announcing something really cool, that happened by accident. At the rate it’s happening, it’ll be after the new year.

holiday in the sun

(one of many dilapidated pieces of americana lying around my ol’ homestead)

I’m taking a break from everything. Well not everything, I’m currently poking around ideas that I pull out between things. I can’t believe Thanksgiving is near. Last I thought about it, I was kicking around costume ideas. I’ve been working too much. The day job has really dragged me down and caused me to cancel or postpone things. Things I didn’t want to bail on. Simply not enough hours in the day. A feeling of being stuck comes to mind.

But I carry on. I’ve got a meatloaf going. Back-up in case I get hosed on leftovers. As I have been for the past few turkey daze. Looking forward to going back to Jumbo for my family’s thing. Wondering what book by fill-in-the-blank conservative hack get’s pushed in my face. I go because I’ve hit that age, that era, where sadly you don’t know if a piece of your life will slip away. Next year. Next month. Who knows if that family’s neighbor ‘will be around next year’. That sort of thing. It runs through the back of my mind now. Has been for a while.

I’m always moving forward. Moving. The next project. New interests. It’s part of being an artist. Never remaining stagnant. I sometimes forget how old I am, till something happens. Like sleep apnea. Or I go check out a band and everyone looks underage. E-v-e-r-y-o-n-e. I honestly don’t know where that decade went. An entire decade!?! Everything seems like it happened 5 years ago when really it was 1999. Shit gets fuzzy. Yikes.

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I find myself really connecting with Henry Rollins lately. Not so much the Black Flag stuff. I’m not going to front here but I first became aware of him (and Bad Brains) from his outing on the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack. Kick out the Jams!! A spiritual awakening of sorts. A much needed one after living so close to the Amish. Anyway, I happened upon his killer radio show on KCRW. Listen to it religiously. He pours over his record collection. Spouts off some wisdom. It’s great.

I would watch a travel show if Henry Rollins was the host. Seriously.

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Occupy’s restored my faith in America and democracy. People finally waking up to the current state of things. Ready to start changing it for the better. America is not broke, it’s just that all the funds are held by the few. Corporations are not people. I’m not anti-business, I just want accountability restored. Only looking out for number one is not an American value. We need to start looking after each other. As a group but more like a planet. Military needs to be reigned in. Tax Wall Street. Tax speculation… heavily. Repeal the Bush tax cuts and increase taxes on the top earners. Trickle down doesn’t work. Never has. People will still invest and participate in start-up’s. The sky will not fall.

The constant showing of courage and non-violence is inspiring to say the least.