LookingLand

i just watched the Watchmen (and women).

it's a wonderfully complex tale full of gritty harsh realities and the intricacies of moral ambiguity.

yeah, i think i hated it.

please feel free to try to convince me otherwise.

: o p

I have been very busy racing around today and flinging myself at projects (that have an uncanny knack of dodging when I'm trying to catch them unawares).

Nevertheless, I've done a little work on the Harper's Monthlies that have been hogging my desk. I think the fixative will stay the rot on the leather. They already look 100 times better than when I pulled them out of their box (you'll have to imagine how bad they were before!). I've fixed the five in the picture below and have 9 more to work on. Some of those other nine are in seriously crummy shape, though and needing major repair (detached covers, missing spines, etc.). I'll do what I can with them, but I'm putting them off until next week since I already spent enough time with the books for one weekend. No telling how well they'll keep with the fixative, but if it saves them from evisceration for another few years, it'll have been worth it. And now I have been fussing with their sad state so much I haven't even really had a chance to look at what's in them! When the fumes clear, I'll probably put them by my bed so I can flip through them at night.


In other news, I have been working on Reconstruction's website all week and it's mostly in order, but I have so much content to post and haven't even begun! My morning and much of last night was eaten up in messing with the archive section. I'm still not satisfied with it, but it'll do for the time being. Still hoping to "launch" the website tomorrow, but it's going to be a tight squeeze.

Of course I'll never get it done if I'm here goofing on LJ.

P.S. Took that picture with my new camera. It's a Canon PowerShot A2000 IS. Not sure how I like it yet. I still need to figure out how to use all the buttons, etc.

P.P.S. I seriously need some new avatars.

Happy Sattidy all!

: D

Tomorrow being the 200th anniversary of the man in the funny hat's birthday, I sat myself down and read something that wasn't about him getting shot (yes, it's possible to find such a book in my house, believe it or not!). This is a little book written by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews after the turn of the century called The Perfect Tribute. I believe it was originally published in 1906, but my own personal edition, a well-tanned ugly duckling, is from 1908 (and has an owner's stamp of "J. Lewis Riggles" which amuses me).

The story is not badly written, but is bad in general. It's a fictional account of Lincoln's day at Gettysburg and how insecure he feels about his pithy little speech and how no one applauds and therefore it was a complete failure. Scholars have interesting things to say about why no one applauded, but I love to read the reactions from people who actually heard the speech (which is why I really love Gettysburg Remembers President Lincoln). But this isn't a review of that book, it's a review of Andrews' fictional account, so I will leave it at her interpretation for now.


The story goes from there back to Washington where Lincoln runs headlong into a young boy in a dither over his dying brother: a Confederate prisoner who needs a will so that he can leave his property to his sweetheart and she will therefore be forced to accept it (otherwise she's too prideful). Lincoln, being a lawyer, volunteers his services and they go to the prison where he draws up the business for the bravely suffering young man. In the course of their conversation, the soldier brings up the Gettysburg speech, which is in all the papers, and he talks about how astonishing it is, blah blah blah. And of course he says that not clapping was the perfect tribute because the words were so perfect and so solemn. He talks about how he'd like to shake the President's hand, he's so dern grateful. Then the fella kicks the bucket holding Lincoln's hand, never knowing it's him.

The story works, even if it is melodrama. Its apotheosic (is that a word? I doubt it) bent is only mildly disturbing and the depiction of the two southern boys as righteous, indignant, but well-meaning is a rather dull stereotype. But in 1906 I can certainly see the appeal and I enjoyed the story despite my own prejudices.

So happy birthday, Mr. Lincoln. Enjoy your celebration year!

from LookingLand.com

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i've been lurking, but absent from posting for a variety of reasons too dull to go into. while there are yet an intrepid few of you still on my flist, lj looks dead (and i am likewise not doing much to revive it). the departure recently of several long-time flisters as well as the absence of many others (including the recently new proliferation of twittering) have made me decide that lj is in do-or-die mode and mostly dying.

most of you know i have been waffling about leaving or staying, but i'm resolving to make one last push. i'm going to force myself to blog at least three times a week. these posts are likely not going to be very personal. i'm no longer going to be posting about my creative process (which is a zoo in a china shop at the moment) but i will occasionally update with the necessary desk pictures from time to time. i'm mostly going to post about research and books as i get organized to tackle some major projects this spring. so if you are sick of the Civil War, the Lincoln assassination, bad 19th century novels, and/or picture books of various shades, be forewarned. occasionally i will try to post about movies as well.

i'm going to try to do this on a specific schedule. i will likely fail. but if i hope to continue keeping up with you precious few flisters remaining (and i want to!), i have to keep lj relevant for myself and this is the best way i can see to do it. nobody gets a foul for unfriending me. it's not likely that i will be posting anything that won't be totally open access from here on out.

post if you're still alive out there! i will be making a few cuts to trim some non-responsive peepage from my flist.

edit: and i don't mean that if you don't post i'm going to cut you! i really meant post here or to your own journal so we know you're out there and that there's still a community!

Can't get my car to start this morning. Yesterday it was -17 and it cranked over okay, but today at -21, it just ain't going to happen. I'm waiting to see if, when the temp gets up to at least 0 (we're supposed to have a high of 8 today!), I can get the poor thing on the road. If not, I get to work on Saturday. Which completely screws up my anticipated 3-day weekend, but oh well, what can you do?

So while I'm trapped here and AAA is so clogged with calls that I can't even get through and I'm stuck in my house (which is about 54 degrees right now ~ 4 below what's comfortable for me, so I'm going to have to turn the heat on, God forbid), I thought maybe I would do some blogging since I've neglected it for a while (being too busy and overwhelmed with other nonsense as of late).


The last book I read in 2008 was Howard Bahr's The Black Flower. I am a huge fan of Bahr, though have read his books sparingly and over long periods (I want to make them last and I'm now down to only one, so he better write another). The Black Flower was his first novel and I remember distinctly passing it over when it first came out because I was turned off by the paperback artwork (which I did not reproduce here, though it's the edition I own). I made the lousy assumption (judged it, I confess) that the tacky exterior was indicative of a tacky interior (and my apologies to Mr. Bahr because I know the photo used on the paperback cover was his own).

Anyway, after reading The Judas Field (the cover of which appealed to me), I was so impressed with the writing, I collected all of Bahr's other books ~ and it was a treat to end the year on such a positive note. The Black Flower reads like a great first novel. There are parts of it that seem a bit disconnected from the whole as though they were written independently before the whole thing was put together ~ so it is a bit disjointed in places, but Bahr is still amazing with a turn of phrase and his occasionally long-winded metaphors are never overwrought, always worth labor of reading. His descriptions of battle and its aftermath as not so evocative of Crane, though people naturally make the comparison. But where Crane's impressions come from inside Fleming's naive observations, Bahr's impressions seem to come from inside the exhausted veteran perspective of men who've seen it all and worse and just want a cup of coffee: good, bad or indifferent. To me, it's a whole different world. Fleming doesn't want to die. Bahr's Bushrod Carter just wants to get it over with if it's got to happen. Bahr's female characters feel a little flatter to me, but I like them and can appreciate the challenge. Writing women in this era is always a battle between prissy wallflower and full-blown virago, it seems.

Bahr's story here is pretty simple: following the messy Battle of Franklin, the army lands on the doorstep of an estate that gets commandeered as a hospital (if you follow that link you can see a picture of the actual plantation house where the story takes place. Actually, there's a really cool one here). What happens next is predictable, but so well-drawn you forgive it for being cliché: yes, the whole wounded soldier/nurse thing. But here the nurse doesn't want to fall in love in spite of her emotions, and honestly, I wasn't sure how it was going to end, which made restraining myself from reading forward too quickly a real trial.

I had a lot of problems with how The Judas Field ended. It was conclusive and completely realistic, but it made me angry (sort of in that good way that a book ought to provoke ~ and then again sort of in a way that annoyed me because I couldn't see why it had to end as it did). The Black Flower is similarly conflicting, but I felt like it was clearly "right". It felt right. Hard to talk about without giving anything away here, but I don't want to spoil it.

So that's my long spiel for the morning. If you love amazingly sensory, great writing, read Bahr's work.

from LookingLand.com

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I was really hoping to bring in the new year with a clean workspace, but I think the picture below tells it all. On the bright side, I'm busy and enjoying the busy-ness! I'm working on a ton of projects simultaneously and don't know how long I will be able to keep juggling them, but for the time being I'm going to ride this enthusiam train to the end of the line. Today I am cleaning off my actual drawing table (which has been buried under a map of Washington D.C. for the last six months at least) to see if I can't move some my work over into the other room and alleviate a little bit of the clutter.


Yesterday I worked on Reconstruction a good deal and am excited to announce that I think I can probably start posting three times a week very soon! I've finally distilled the process into something I can knock out very quickly. The art only suffers mildly for it and I have so much more fun moving through scenes quickly. I've finished drawing the "For Katie" scene that I have been working on and I like the way it wraps up. I'm glad I started with this sort of non-sequitor as a lead-in. It really gave me a chance to experiment with the tools I'd allotted myself and to get the story rolling. If you have been occasionally checking in at WebComics Nation for the updates, you'll notice that it's not very well organized over there, but I'm hoping to work on the "official" website this month and get that up and running at the start of February. Then maybe it will be easier to follow along.

It's a new year, but I'm slow to change my habits. As usual, I'm struggling with the usual pile of nagging doubts about what I am doing with my life and talents (I suspect many of my creative friends and readers go through the annual self-assessment thing around this time of year), but I'm going to just work through it (and I hope all of you do too!). Even if there are projects on my desk that I'm not entirely in love with at the moment, I will probably love them again next week.

I've been so busy that I haven't been posting much, which is a good thing, I guess ~ but I have so many cool books and things I want to share. I hope this week I can start to catch up!


Lastly, I need to post this picture as annual proof that yes, I do have the cutest dog that ever lived. This was taken at my sister's house on Christmas, which is why he's wearing the silly ribbon with the poinsettia on it.

from LookingLand.com

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I am back from the Christmas holiday vacation and trying to wrap some things up around the house before I have to return to work, but I wanted to check in and see how everybody is doing ~ haven't a prayer of catching up on the Flist, but I'll try to catch up as best I can. Christmas was lovely this year and I received some very nice gifts. I feel very blessed.


Among the many books I received for Christmas this year (and wow, I did receive many!), I wanted to share with you this beautiful picture book illustrated by P.J. Lynch. It's a telling of the classic Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski. I love the simplicity of this Christmas story: the gloomy woodcarver, the lovely young widow, the nativity figurines. And it has the elements of a really good sappy Christmas romance: lonely people who find each other; brought together by Christmas. I also love that the miracle in this one is so very ordinary, almost. No intervening angels or magic at work here ~ just the quiet interior change of an icy heart thawing out. In so many ways it's a greater miracle, I think. I don't have preferences when it comes to this sort of thing with Christmas stories, but I think I like this story all the more for being so understated.

This particular edition is exquisite. The pictures are warm and luminous and the expressions on the people's faces very real and very nuanced. I only wished that the picture of Jonathan Toomey carving Mary and the baby Jesus showed a little more glimmer in the eyes. He's described as crying in the moment that immediately proceeds this, so he just looked to me to be too dry-eyed. But that's getting really picky considering how pretty the rest of it is. This is definitely a joy to read. Nothing especially spectacular in the format to point out; just straight up fabulous in its overall content and design.


More from me later! I have all manner of other irons in the fire to share with you.

: D
from LookingLand.com

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If the condition of my desk is any indicator, I've had a pretty good weekend as far as productivity is concerned. I've really taken the pressure off myself with regard to certain specific goals. This weekend I mostly ran errands, changed a broken headlight (I'm so car-savvy), wrote Christmas cards, and worked on the annual Christmas story. This year's story is pretty silly, but I'm having lots of fun with it and I'm pretty sure it'll be done by the coming weekend (haven't decided whether I will draw pictures for it, however). I wanted to finish a draft this weekend, but I have some key conversations yet to write and there are tons of transitions missing (and it's so far a very sloppy first draft). I'm going to print it out tomorrow and maybe finish it during the week.

Otherwise, I worked on paper dolls. No particular reason except that I've been sorta sloughing off on making dolls, etc., and I'd like to have some done before the year ends since it was one of my "non-resolutions" for 2008. Interestingly (or rather, typically), I started with one set of dolls and worked on them Saturday evening, and then today decided I didn't really like them as much as I thought, so I completely redrew them and then made a third that turned out better than the previous four. Hey, I'll take it!


I didn't work on Reconstruction at all (the break I was taking last week spilled over into the weekend), but I think I'll be ready to get back to it soon. This Wednesday we wrap up all the "buffer" I had socked away, so I've got to get on it. I don't know if I have solved the problem I am having with the style, but the time away has given me some space to mull over the style changes I'm looking to make. I think they're a go, so after this week, you will probably start seeing a noticeable difference in the artwork.

And now I'm going to take some drawing stuff to curl up in bed (and my laptop so I can watch The Dark Knight for the 187th time ~ I believe in Harvey Dent!). Looks like the snowfall will nicely replace what got rained on this morning. I love waking up to a fresh white world!

Coming up: some more illustrated books and maybe actual pictures of dolls-in-progress!

from LookingLand.com

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Today's amazing children's book is a marvelous retelling of the harrowing story of the Bounty by Patrick O'Brien: gorgeously painted in this recent edition.

This book makes the most of both the story and the history without watering down its grimmer aspects (no, Fletcher Christian does not sail off into the sunset into a happy freedom). O'Brien, who is a biologist by early education and a naval draftsman by experience includes wonderful details from the age of sails and renders the Bounty inside and out. His attention to detail, in fact, make this fun to revisit again and again since you can overlook nice little nuances in some of his larger panoramas. There are enough dramatic sweeping scenes of the Bounty on the ocean in full sail as well as plenty of action as Christian overtakes the ship and the casts Captain Bligh adrift. I think there is the influence of The Bounty in the artwork here, but you get no objections from me on that note.

I mostly bought this book on a whim because I thought O'Brien's placement of images was really interesting and worth further investigation. He has many a "splash" page, but breaks up numerous other pages with various blocks of sequiential-like art. The narrative remains intact, but dialog is sometimes assigned to an image which helps heighten the dramatic effect (you can see a sample below). I'm considering this as a model for the Eleison series as a nice compromise between the narrative and the sequential.

I don't know, yet, whether it has any implications for Reconstruction yet. I'm still rather attached to my word balloons at the moment. As a random side note, someone once asked me whether naming my protagonist "Fletcher" was influenced by the story of the mutiny on the Bounty. Resoundingly yes.