Nashville's Parnassus Bookstore

Hooray! We have a new bookstore in town! Hooray for Parnassus Books!

When Davis-Kidd closed we were saddened, but had to admit to ourselves we'd been of no help to the bookstore ...

When it moved from the Grace's Plaza location to the Green Hills Mall storefront, sure, the parking was way better but somehow it had lost its special "bookstore feeling." Not sure why that was ... but having the bulk of the store and its Brontë restaurant down in the basement was not as inspiring somehow as when it was on the 1rst and 2nd floor levels over at Grace's ... and there just wasn't any sunlight streaming into the shop like there'd been at the old location. It also didn't help that for a while there Chris had been laid off, so we would go and browse at D-K but were simply unable to purchase anything. Terrible thing is, I've sacrificed plenty of lunch money on books, but at that time there just wasn't "lunch" money to spare.

So after they'd closed and the hub-bub started up about writer Ann Patchett opening up a bookstore in Nashville, Chris and I made a conscious decision to be actively supportive of our new local bookstore.

Yeah, sure we love Amazon and its convenience, and the other local used bookstores where you can find out of print stuff, and our favorite little specialty bookshop Mysteries and More ... but golly, we're happy Parnassus Books is here! There's really nothing like walking into a bookstore and looking at stuff ... holding a real book in your hands, smelling the paper and ink within, enjoying the sight of the beautiful colors of the illustrations, or the feel of the matte laminate effect (when applicable!) on the cover ... (yes, am I a book production geek or what?!)

If you haven't had a chance to get over to the Greenbriar strip mall at Green Hills (that's the one near Hillsboro H.S. -- where Donut Den lives! YUM-MY!!) do go! Besides enjoying the donuts, and then the Books at Parnassus, you can also stop by Ten Thousand Villages and visit the new location of the Green Hills branch of the LeQuire Gallery...!

The Muppets and their new movie

Yep. I'm one of those kids who grew up watching Sesame Street ... I'm also a huge fan of The Muppet Show. When I saw the trailer for their new movie (actually the many trailers, since they did parody their own parody) and thought at first it was a simple story between humans Amy Adams and Jason Segel, I was totally going to see it just because I thought they made such a cute couple in a movie. So when I found out it was a MUPPET movie they were in (!!) I knew we HAD to see it.

On opening day, at the first showing -- along with all the little kids and their parents -- Chris and I splurged (since the last time we'd gone to the theater to see a movie was to see Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo.) and saw The Muppets.

I love this movie sooooooo much, Chris got me the soundtrack for Christmas. So here, I must share with you one of my very favorite songs, "Man or Muppet":

Struggling to make art ... and Praying For Strangers by River Jordan

It has been a very trying period of time ...

Just when I hoped I could get better and finer focus on creating my comics and artwork, I get slammed with OTHER. VERY. VERY. IMPORTANT. THINGS. THAT. MUST. GET. DONE.

More frustrating: I'd rejoined the Tennessee Art League and had even bought several canvases to start painting again ... I'd bought them at a great sale at Jerry's Artarama last fall and had even followed up on my prep by taking two terrific acrylic and oil paint classes (on how do these mediums work, what can you do with them, how to mix them, etc.,) at Plaza ... [btw, there's another canvas and easel sale at Jerry's Artarama -- 30% off -- this weekend January 27-28-29 at their Nashville location should you need that sort of thing!!] I was wanting to continue drawing the comics, (especially since I'm still working on the Graffiti graphic novel) but also start painting again. I used to paint more when I was younger but then I discovered comics, and they were just more fun to create. Plus I didn't have to justify my work by additionally making silly, high-falutin' artistic statements of Why I Make What I Do ...!)

Alas.

There are bills to be paid and other books to be made first. Long story as to all the reasons why the drawing and painting are temporarily sidelined, but the main one is because my hubby, Chris, is starting podcasts of his stories and books next month, and we gotta get his books back online in a digital format for more readers to enjoy.

There is huge prep work involved ... and covers to be re-designed and etc., thus making my personal artwork output slow down to less than a crawl. That's the weird advantage to having both left- and right-brain skills/access. I am a fiend for scheduling and administration besides drawing and painting. Although I find lately I become VERY CRANKY and am unable to sleep well when I'm unable to draw/paint daily like I had been doing ... (Seriously. I totally had a meltdown yesterday.) So my administration days will give way to supervision of administration and full-time making artwork very soon, God Willing.

MEANWHILE, in the midst of this frenzy of work, I'm also reading LOVELY books and watching both wonderful and hilarious things (which I will blog about in separate posts today, because I simply must!)

For Christmas one of my sisters gave me a copy of River Jordan's Praying for Strangers. Ms. Jordan lives in town and I'd actually met her several years ago at a book signing for one of our friends, writer Eric Wilson. At the time I was introduced I had no idea what Ms. Jordan wrote about. I just knew she was friendly, really pretty and seemed really nice and wrote books, and was at our friend's signing to show her support, so I thought that was really cool of her. About a year later, it turned out our new next door neighbor was a HUGE fan of hers, and told us often how much she enjoyed Ms. Jordan's Gothic southern-set novels, and would go to all of her book-signings in town ... so her name kept coming up.

Fast forward to this past fall: I caught John Seigenthaler's A Word on Words on a Sunday morning when we didn't get to church. I caught the October episode where River Jordan was a guest, talking about Praying For Strangers. Literally. It was her New Year's resolution to pray for a stranger daily -- and here's the wonderfully crazy part -- she would also TELL the stranger that she would be praying for them that day. The reactions they had to her were amazing, and inspiring ...

The podcast on the episode is still online at the WNPT site -- it's episode 4o12. I was so amazed and touched by River's (I have to use the familiar for a moment -- what a great name! ) resolution that I told my sister about it, and she went and bought me the book. It is lovely. If praying for others is something you're ever thought about doing (& yeah, okay, maybe you're not ready yet to actually TELL the person you see needs it that you're praying for them!) I recommend you listen to the podcast and check out the book.

Dear Us

Sometimes when you're working on a lengthy project like a graphic novel, the project can take so ... well, long! I'm not going to mention the page count or where I'm at, cause I just can't yet. I don't need to discourage myself. Fitting it in between paying assignments takes quite a bit of juggling nowadays. Although I must admit that those precious moments when I do finally calm down and get to the inking (yes, at least it's mostly inking and paste up from here on out) I do LOVE it. I simply need to calm down in order to sit still and get to the work a lot more often than I just do right now.

It's funny -- I really tried to pull back on the volume of comics work I was doing (I have a short stack of scripts -- several of which I've written -- that I'd really love to draw) because I thought it would help me focus on the big A Church Called Graffiti project. But it's turning out to have the opposite effect on me. Focusing on only the one is not enough comics! Demented. It's like I have to load myself down to draw in order to help me schedule myself more rigorously and make it all work out. ARGH!

So I guess I'll just do that and see if that gives me better results. I'll report after the new year!

Meanwhile, sometimes you need to pull out the old stuff and look at it to see where you've been and gauge where you want to go. Like with this one-pager I did several years ago called "Dear Us". I really wanted to post this one here today. I dunno why -- but it's been on my brain to do since I was wondering what to blog about this week. So, here it is. And frankly, it's too small to read comfortably here, so you can opt to click through that link in the title and read it on our site.

And Happy Thanksgiving!

Makin' T-shirts ...

So for like a hot minute I drew images for some t-shirts, to try it out. T-shirts are cool, so why not? It was fun but the experience certainly made me realize I need to get around to really learning Photoshop should I ever really try to pursue it again (!)

At any rate, I thought I'd share the images, since the second one is for sale ...

This first one on the left -- the guitarist printed on the orange t-shirt -- was for a big church assembly a few months back. It's not for sale. The volunteers in the band wore these while they played. I thought that was a sweet idea, and I was pretty happy with how it came out ... it's my first t-shirt! The guitar player is encased in a guitar-pick shape. And the background is some of the downtown Nashville skyline.

The second t-shirt is one I drew for the folks at Cool People Care. Those are the guys that made those beautiful "We Are Nashville" stickers and Tees after the May 2010 flood for the Community Foundation. Cool People Care teams up with various good causes and make t-shirts (or posters, etc.,) to raise money for them. They also use environmentally friendly printers and inks to do so.

I'm a recycle fiend. The sheer volume of LESS garbage I have to throw out as waste is amazing. Everyone should recycle! I do still have to get around to composting, but I recycle everything else now: glass, metal, plastic, cardboard, paper, books. I'm even recycling aluminum foil and starting on plastic sandwich bags (yes, it's rather obsessive.)

So as a big recycling fan, I drew a recycle symbol for CPC (the logo is theirs) and the cause is the Alabama Environmental Council. If you would like to show your support for recycling, help out the AEC and you'd like to get a t-shirt, please find it at the Cool People Care store.

Watkin's Handmade & Bound Nashville Fest

Yes.

I realize I really ought to have said something about this way back in September, before the actual Fest happened, so that more people would have had a chance to attend ... but, it being absolutely new this year and me being just loaded down with To-Dos on my list (and not being able to blog as often ...) And being one who likes to see how things go first before I make a big deal (because I was attending as an artist and had a table there with Chris) I just wanted to actually go and experience it before I said anything ...

THAT being said, I absolutely LOVED the first annual Handmade & Bound Festival hosted by Watkins College of Art & Design! It took place Friday September 30th, and Saturday October 1rst. Friday night was a reception and a juried show opening in the Brownlee O. Currey gallery, while Saturday was the fest itself.

It was great! FIRST of all there were food trucks and entertainers outside in the parking lot. Inside there were all sorts of artists specializing in book arts with tables, and we were able to show and/or sell our work. There were fine artists that made and bound their own leather-bound books, or created art in book shapes or artwork out of books themselves. Craft artists that made their own paper, or book-shaped/or paper jewelry (!) Several of us were writer/artists who made our own mini comics and 'zines, along with a couple of comics/zine distributors. Parnassus books -- the newest bookstore that will be opening up in Green Hills -- had a table and gave out bumper stickers and bookmarks. Even our local art supply stores Plaza Artist Materials and Jerry's Artarama had tables there, too.

This was my first visit to Watkins College. I was impressed, and the campus is absolutely beautiful. Breathing in the delicious paint/clay/textile-scented air in the hallways made me fondly reminisce about the few classes I had taken at the NY Art Students League ...! The folks all involved as our hosts for the Fest (I dunno if it's proper for me to identify them each here but they all know who they are ... thank ya'll SO much!!) were so nice and helpful to us and everyone! And God bless 'em for making us coffee!!

Chris & I gave away almost 100 copies of our different mini comics to Fest attendees on that Saturday when we attended. We brought copies of ¿Qué es Amor?, Penultimate Adventures 1 (which still makes me laugh. I really SO need to draw up #3!!), The Den and preview copies of Chapter One of the Graffiti graphic novel I'm working on.

We really enjoyed ourselves and meeting the other marvelous artists in attendance. I highly recommend a visit if you love book arts and are in town for it next year.

Next time I'll also aim to POST in advance and let ya'll know about it before the Fest begins!!

The Graffiti graphic novel, and Graffiti Church's Anniversary

Odd how it took moving from New York City to Nashville, TN for me to get an assignment to adapt and illustrate a graphic novel based on the memoir A Church Called Graffiti, written by Taylor Field.

Taylor is the pastor of the East Seventh Street Baptist Church located on Manhattan's Lower East Side, close to Tompkins Square Park. The church has been called Graffiti from the get-go.

This month Taylor and his family are celebrating 25 years of serving the church and ministry to the neighborhood, so to me, it's appropriate to launch previews of the graphic novel to celebrate that. I found Taylor's story really touching and wanted very much to illustrate it, in order to share the oddball church experience that is being a Christian in New York City. It's a beautiful story, and I hope you'll read the previews online at Titletrakk.com. We'll update weekly there, usually adding 2 pages at a time, until an entire chapter is up.

2011 Free Comic Book Day and Graffiti Previews

Last Saturday was Free Comic Book Day and I got to hang out at Rick's Comic City over in Donelson, showing my work, talking with wonderful fellow comics fans and giving away mini comic preview copies of the first chapter to the Graffiti graphic novel I'm working on.

It was absolutely wonderful! The weather was good and beautiful for most of the day (unlike last year, where Free Comic Book Day fell on the first day of the 2010 Flood That Hit Nashville) so it was a great turnout. The event began early and turned out to be a lot like a mini comicon, complete with long boxes full of .50 comics, giveaways, a life size statue of Spidey and a live Supergirl that you could pose and take your picture with, and then other fans were dressed in terrific costumes, too!! That started with Rick's sister dressed as the Supergirl (How cool is that!? You own a comic shop and your sister can pull off being Supergirl!!) and his daughters: the younger one dressed as the side kick from Kick-Ass and the elder dressed as a manga character in a gorgeous purple-ruffley dress (I'm sorry I don't remember the name!) The crowd also included several boy and girl Ghostbusters, a girl Jedi knight, a Ghost Rider (hanging out at creator Gary Friedrich's table!) other manga characters and a cute couple on their way to the Renaissance Festival (dude was wearing a KILT -- how cool and NERVY!!)

Rick had even invited Captain Marvel (a.k.a Shazam!) from the 70's Saturday morning TV show. GEEK OUT! I was diagonally across from Jackson Bostwick and it was only when he was getting ready to leave later that afternoon that I worked up the nerve to tell him how I LOVED that show (I so watched that EVERY Saturday morning!!) and what a treat it was to see him. He's got gray hair now but is still dashing -- incredibly tall with a super hero build. So COOL!!

I had a great time! Rick wasn't able to get the extra space like he had last year, but it was cozy and busy inside and outside his beautiful shop on 2710 Old Lebanon Road. I sat behind the counter next to the fantastic Sam Payne who had brought sweet new prints and original art for sale. I had my Graffiti previews and portfolio with original art from The Miller Sisters and Best Mann for the Job (strips 056-074) so people could flip through and see them. I also had found some copies of mini comics I'd made for the 09 NY Comicon -- of The Den and ¿Qué es Amor? so I gave away a few copies of those, too.

One of the best highlights of the day for me was when my friend Daniel brought in his sketchbook where he's collecting sketches of Captain America drawn by different artists. He asked me to contribute and I spent the better part of the day looking down and working on that (which, since I was also dealing with a minor eye injury -- long story -- really turned out to be the best thing for me.) Now I don't usually draw costumed superheroes ... The closest I'd gotten was when Chris and I did our spoofy Penultimate Adventures a few years back ... but I was so thrilled for the challenge (and frankly flattered that Daniel asked!) that I really enjoyed drawing it a lot. It's scary to draw such an iconic character -- especially since I was already drawing on the page following a gorgeous fully inked-and-colored rendition! Egad. Talk about pressure. But drawing Cap really helped make my day a lot of fun.

Not to mention we got a fantabulous stash of free comics and cheap back issues ... my favorites in the freebie stack (so far that I've had a chance to read) were the ones from Bongo Comics, the Top Shelf Kids Club, The Intrepid Escapegoat, and The Tick (naturally!) In the cheapie bins we got loads of back issues with art by Tom Mandrake and Bernie Wrightson and we got a Thor hardcover with artwork by Steve Rude -- and that's only for starters! What a thrill. So I'm a mighty happy and delighted camper.

It sure was nice to have Free Comic Book Day!

1967 Bedazzled, Department S and After the Fox

While I'd been off the blog, I've been enjoying a great plethora of oddities thanks to Netflix; among them the 1966 movie After The Fox starring Peter Sellers, the 1969 British TV show Department S and the original 1967 Bedazzled starring Dudley Moore and Peter Cook.

I've watched Bedazzled at LEAST a half dozen times by now, partially because of its absolutely great soundtrack. And we often skip to our favorite scenes, besides -- especially "Love Me/Bedazzled" where Dudley Moore and Peter Cook play "pop stars on TV" and sing those two songs. We finally bought a copy of the CD, which had been recently remastered, and now I play that almost every day while I draw or at least at night before we go to sleep. The opening theme I find especially hauntingly gorgeous -- and love watching the Maurice Binder credits!

I get obsessive with really good soundtracks -- I had the same obsession/buy watch/listen the DVD & CD with Ed Harris' Pollock movie -- so I've been enjoying Bedazzled a lot. Bedazzled turns out to be a variation on the Faust storyline, which also fascinates me ... I'm intrigued by the wisps of spiritual insight mixed within, so I hope to add a DVD copy to the Well library soon ...

I enjoy Department S and we bought the series first way before we got the soundtrack a couple of weeks ago. Their incidental music is just terrific. We're heading for the After the Fox CD then DVD next. The opening scene music and the song that runs over the After the Fox (more Maurice Binder) credits -- sung by The Hollies (AND Peter Sellers!!) -- are WONDERFUL! Looking forward to playing that music while I work ...

The Icon TPB

I finally bought a copy of the Icon TPB two weeks ago.

For me there's a lot of emotion wrapped up in these pages. Milestone was my first comics production job. When the first 8 issues of Icon was first collected and published a couple years ago, I flipped through a copy of that (and of Static Shock) at Rick's Comic City and the jewel-tone pages jumped out at me. Each image carries vivid snippets of memory.

I remember Noelle and Jason painting these pages ... Dwayne walking around the offices and guiding us all in how he wanted things done. He was just an incredible Editor In Chief ... I remember the gorgeous pale wood floors in our production loft-style offices ... the sunshine streaming in, the photocopier machine running and the scent of coffee ... soft-spoken Derek running the budget numbers in the corner office ... Mark Bright popping in and finishing up Icon pages and even occasionally using me as reference for poses for Rocket. Dwayne giving me pointers on how to do the paste up ... I can remember handling each gorgeous page at my desk ... and how I LOVED using all the (now super old-school) tools to prep and paste up the lettering. I had no idea what a fantastic and challenging span of time being at Milestone was going to turn out to be for me. It was one of the very few bright spots during my 20s.

Co-writing Icon #7 was my first real creative break in comics publishing, thanks to our editor Matt and thanks to Dwayne. It was supposed to be kind of a fill-in issue; a writer had been scheduled to help us out. We'd fallen behind -- which is only natural when you have the bosses running the publishing business and also directly creating the work to be published! It was an incredible load Dwayne had to particularly carry because he was our EIC and he was guiding everybody and also writing.

I remember that Friday the fill-in writer faxed in her script, which turned out to be really long and went in an entirely different direction than what they needed, and we were all filled with dismay. I mean, Dwayne.just.didn't.have.the.time.to.do.this. for crying out loud! And the rest of us knew we were SO going to get crushed by the cascading RUSH to help keep the deadline and it would mean fast, fast work and late, late nights. But that was all part of the excitement and exhaustion of publishing comics ... it helped that we were all so young and had the energy and determination to work as a team and pull it off.

I was at my desk and listened to the hub-bub. That evening we left and several of us spoke on the way out. At the bus stop I talked with Matt and asked him something like, so what did you guys really need to happen in this issue? And he answered something like, ultimately we need Rocket to make the decision to keep her baby. I looked over at the traffic and down at the sidewalk as I thought of what he said ...and ping!

I looked up at Matt and his blond angel-halo 'fro (he wore his hair long in those days.) I said something like "Can I try it? Can I bring you a script on Monday? I have an idea."

He said yes -- at this point we were so squeezed it couldn't hurt. They all had too much to do over the weekend as it was.

I brought in a script Monday morning. Anxiously waited for Dwayne to return from behind the closed door to his office ... and when he popped back out into the production room he told me he'd buy it. He's have to heavily edit it -- so now the dialogue is all different and he added the last scene -- but the skeleton of what I wrote is still there. I don't remember if right then I jumped up and down in glee or not, but I hope I did, 'cause that's what I felt. And I felt happy because I felt like I'd helped out Dwayne in the crunch.

I'd put off buying the Icon tpb 'cause I always figured eventually I'd be able to afford to fly out to San Diego Con or Dwayne would fly out and we'd see each other at NY Comicon and I would buy it then and have him sign my copy. And I would tell him yet again, how deeply I appreciate his love for the comics medium and how glad I am I got to work at Milestone and that he'd been my boss. I'd already told him all this several times by email, but you know, it never hurts to say thanks often to someone who had such an impact on you and in the field you love to work in.

I didn't get to have Dwayne sign my copy. So now I look at the tpb and read its pages and feel the weight of all the memories of working at Milestone as I flip through those jewel-toned pages. And I'm grateful for learning the lesson of truly loving the work you do, and especially grateful for working with someone firsthand who truly did, because that's most important if you're going to spend all your time in comics ...

I love the deep respect and absolute love Dwayne had for the work he did. It shines through the excellence in his comics and animation stories and through the work of those under his editorial/production guidance. To me that just shows the real respect and love he had for the characters he worked with, a love and respect that's very rare in comics publishing.

I miss that great gentleman. Dwayne was a giant not just in stature but also in character.

LeQuire Gallery's YouTube Channel

If you haven't checked out LeQuire Gallery's YouTube channel, I heartily recommend an online visit if you can't get to the gallery itself.

Having enjoyed the Open Studio sessions at LeQuire, I also recommend them!

I Absolutely LOVE Mary Perkins On Stage

Chris and I have started to collect the wonderful trades being published by Classic Comics Press.

I remember reading Leonard Starr's Mary Perkins On Stage every once in a while back when I was a kid ... but it was such a sophisticated comic strip I couldn't handle it (hey, I was like 10!) I found it beautiful to look at, and kept returning for that but the storylines themselves were just way over my head ...

Now that I'm in my 40s and can appreciate the interesting, adventurous and romantic entanglement (etc.,) storylines. What an great comic strip! I must repeat: I. ABSOLUTELY. LOVE. LEONARD STARR'S MARY PERKINS ON STAGE!!

We've caught up with the run and are looking forward to the rest of the volumes!

Wrapping Up Best Mann For the Job

To make things easier for myself I've decided to put our Best Mann For the Job comic strip on hiatus. We've wrapped up the first storyline with strip #100, which ran last week on Titletrakk.com.

Funny and sad that this first BMFTJ story takes place in the space of a day and yet took about 2 years to tell (by only updating weekly!) But that's the way it goes. I've found it too difficult to toggle working on the Graffiti graphic novel, a weekly comic strip deadline and also teach 2 days a week besides. SO, I've wrapped up the comic strip, and school is ending for the term so I'll now have a lovely couple of months only working on Graffiti ... Thanks to ya'll for reading BMFTJ, and for your patience in letting the story unfold over such a long period! (And yes, I haven't forgotten I still need to get back to The Miller Sisters ...)

Titletrakk.com will run previews of the Graffiti graphic novel -- and indeed, started this weekend in time for Free Comic Book Day -- in Best Mann for the Job's place. They'll update two pages weekly, and keep a chapter up at a time. This makes me very happy. Sharing the previews gives me great incentive and helps me focus on completing the book!

Chris and I do have plans to bring Sheriff Grace back for another BMFTJ story arc, but we'll return to her after I complete Graffiti.

Chihuly at Cheekwood (and ...)

If you wonder how "a glass artist" can take over two different art venues and a performing arts center, then you are just not familiar with Dale Chihuly's work.

I sure wasn't.

But I was curious. I mean, it was apparently such a big deal. News about it was everywhere -- in the paper, on billboards around town. How could this be? Why?

Then two dear friends of ours decided to go to see the Chihuly at Cheekwood exhibit this past weekend and called us to join them. We just never seem to find the time to see eachother, so this was a prime opportunity to see them, chat and catch up, see the INCREDIBLE glasswork and also have a fabulous meal together at the Loveless Cafe.

So off we went to Cheekwood.

We parked the car, got our tickets and started walking. Since Cheekwood is an Art Gallery housed inside the former Cheek family mansion, and also an amazing botanical garden, Chihuly's glass sculpture work is installed all over 20 of the 55 acres. We stepped into the first garden with the first few pieces.

OH. MY. GOLLY.

And it only got better.

The glass sculpture is placed among grasses, among plants, among the bamboo, on rocks, in the water, on the water, hanging as chandeliers inside the house! Wow. You will need a good 3 to 4 hours to get around to just see everything. (Be sure to take sitting breaks because of this crazy heat, too.)

Seeing the sunlight gleam, shine, glint, fill up these lovely glass sculptures is so ... how do i say this? ... just SO worth seeing!

These are the moments when you look at something beautiful and it makes you feel like you are 5 years old and the world is just gorgeous and amazing.

If the daytime heat is too much, Cheekwood is staying open late on some weeknights so you can enjoy it then.

Painter Lori Putnam's new show

My favorite painter of the Harpeth River School (Michael Shane Neal, Dawn Whitelaw, etc) is Lori Putnam.

I will admit part of that is probably due to the fact she'd joined the Nashville Artist Guild the same year I had, so I got to meet her during the brief period of time we were members. But most of it is because I'd found out she'd started out in graphic design and was now pursuing painting full time because it was in her heart to do. I admired that purity of vision and dedication to her craft. Plus super-most of all, she's just a freaking GREAT artist. To see her achieve her dream of being a full time painter, and see her artwork blossom has been breathtaking, and makes me very happy.

This week Lori's latest show (scroll down to 5th item on her Events page) opens at the Marnie Sheridan Gallery located in the Harpeth Hall School, 3801 Hobbs Road (get to Gallery via Esteswood). It will be huge (58 pieces, her largest exhibit to date) and will run Monday August 16 through Wednesday October 13th.

There's an opening reception for her at the Gallery this weekend -- Sunday, August 22 from 3 to 5pm. Enjoy!

Jester's Art Gallery + Opens

In this economy and post the Nashville May flood, you have to admire anyone with the nerve to start a new business, and Nashville is just a jewel of a city for entrepreneurs with that kind of a brave heart. It's thrilling and inspiring, really.

This past February, Jester's -- a new art gallery/gift shop -- opened across the way from Gallery One in the Belle Meade Galleria Mall on Harding Road. They focus on artwork for the home, and sell paintings, jewelry, wine bottle holders, and sculpture that serves both a beautiful and practical need.

The West Meade Wine & Liquor Mart (which is just down the road) is celebrating their 35th anniversary this month, and will be hosting a wine tasting Event at Jester's next week, Tuesday August 24th, from 6 to 8p.m. Come by and show your support to both local businesses and welcome Jester's to the neighborhood!

No More Episodic Television For Me ...

And by that I mean the old-school week-to-week format.

Why?

I can no longer stand the week-to-week suspense of a TV show "cliffhanger" anymore. No patience. Or if a particular episode is not so good, on a DVD I can jump to the next one and hope for the best. Otherwise, I tend to think after the lame episode I probably have better things to do next [enter day/timeslot here.]

I was one of the weirdoes who waited until Monk Season Eight was out on DVD to watch the entire season and the show finale. Thankfully, even though Chris and the rest of my family had all seen the finale online and on cable the week it aired, they didn't tell me how it ended other than they did like how it wrapped up. (I did too.)

I did the same with Doctor Who. I waited til we'd bought all the episodes THEN I watched them in a crazy weekend-long-plus-great-junkfood marathon. I had discovered with Season Two that watching this way was really the best way for me to get used to the new Doctor -- which I have to admit (both times) I was none too happy with at first. (Totally think he works now!)

Same for Eureka.We borrowed and watched all of season 2 with Netflix then bought Season 3 (on sale, yay!) and watched that in another crazy weekend-long-junkfood-filled marathon. (I'm SO looking forward for the Dr. Who Christmas Special and Eureka Season Four to all be out!!)

I love weekend long DVD/TV marathons.

LeQuire Gallery Expands

So no more complaining that real art galleries are inconveniently located. (Which isn't true at all, especially not if you know where Gallery One, Richland Fine Art or The Arts Company -- for starters -- are located!)

Not only has LeQuire Gallery expanded the footprint of its original Charlotte Avenue location (4 new rooms!) in a fit of brilliance, this past Spring the LeQuires have also expanded into a retail location at the Green Hills mall! So not only can you conveniently see (and purchase!) their roster's beautiful paintings, but you can also conveniently see (and purchase!) one of a kind turned wood pieces by Brenda Stein, excellent and fun letterpress prints by Jim Sherraden, and the gorgeous sculpture and jewelry by Somers Randolf (just to name a very few.)

LeQuire's new Green Hills location is inside the Green Hills mall, on the main floor. Enter through that Cheesecake Factory/Starbuck's entrance and they're located straight down the hall, diagonally past and across from Godiva (you can see where my priorities are; chocolate and art!)

If you haven't visited yet, please go and see how friendly visiting and buying artworks can be!

Gallery One Has 5 Year Anniversary

Okay, so this is completely old news for me to "report" because Gallery One celebrated their anniversary this past Spring, but I wasn't blogging then! And besides, I couldn't post now without mentioning such a significant celebration for one of my very favorite art galleries. (Congratulations!!) Especially since it's home to several of my favorite modern painters, including Jeff Faust.

Plus since I'm posting today I can mention Gallery One has a new show opening up next Saturday, August 21rst. It's titled "Earth Water, Fire" and features ceramic artist Debra Fritts, and painter Thomas Monaghan. Join them for their reception from 6 to 8p.m.!

So While Under The Proverbial Rock (of Work)

Besides working like a fiend (Okay, need to NOT do the 14 hour, 6-day a week thing. THAT'S far too exhausting) I have been watching absolutely terrific documentaries and movies thanks to Netflix. And actually managed to go see some art! WOO-HOO!

I watched this just lovable documentary titled "Herb and Dorothy" which is about two modest, middle-class art collectors that live in NYC and who were just enamored with modern art, supporting modern artists and collecting artists' works. What a delight the movie was! I even watched it twice because there were three pieces of music in it that I. JUST. LOVED. I am a big movie soundtrack fan, but oddly enough the composer wasn't credited. Chris helped me find him online: David Majzlin. "Miracles" is just such a beautiful piece.

Also watched a bunch of French movies, and I was already a fan of French movies before, but now it's solid. We watched -- Elevator to the Gallows (cool!), Diabolique (cool!), La Jetee (weird and cool, kinda like motion fumetti) and My Best Friend (a.k.a.: Mon meilleur ami) which was funny and sweet, and did I already mention here the (maybe not completely French but's got Jean Reno and it's written by Luc Besson) very fun Wasabi sometime back?

Plus I'm so happy Futurama is back! Woo hoo!! (Congrats!!!!!)

And I'm also really enjoying the newest cartoon version of Scooby Doo on Cartoon Network! (go figure!?) The stories are still mighty goofy (though they now have a thread of continuity and we actually get to meet the kids' folks!!) and talk about gorgeous-looking. The background art on these are just beautiful -- a stunning, watercolory-saturated bold palette. Beautiful.

And So 5 months Later ...

So sad to get out of the blog-posting habit ... I admit I miss it, but have to say I do love drawing more. And it's a lot of work to draw!

Plus, besides working on the graphic novel I'm also teaching now. And that takes up lots of time out of the sheer interesting-ness of it. I'm tutoring art and Spanish to elementary homeschool kids. It's a load of fun! What's especially wonderful about this though, is not only do I get to basically keep in practice with my Spanish, but as a huge BONUS, with the art class I'm learning all the history and bios of artists that I didn't get taught at school myself. I feel especially happy about that and very blessed.

Hope you're having a good summer! :)

More New Faves (aside from Dr. Who)

Okay, I'll try to keep this one short and sweet.

List of the latest favorite people/things I discovered in 2009 while I was not blogging:

1) composer Philip Glass

My first exposure to his work was in that movie Koyaanisqatsi back in the 80s. I thought his music, quite simply, was really WEIRD. Then we saw a great PBS special on him and we got a good sense of who he was. I really grew to respect his work and like certain pieces a lot, and appreciate him as an artist. Very cool.

2) The TV show Psych. (The guys are funny!)

3) The vegetable Squash.

Seriously. I'd never eaten squash before. Then one of our elders at church shared some yellow squash they had grown in their garden, and told me how to sautee it. LOVE it! Tried spaghetti squash and zucchini for the first time, and loved them, too. Yay!

4) The TV show Burke's Law.

Old 60's detective show produced by Aaron Spelling (!) It's the relationship between Captain Burke, Detective Tim and Detective Les that's a hoot. Love 'em.

5) The writer James Cain.

Read his Mildred Pierce and Double Indemnity. I love that the same writer wrote two such very different novels.

6) The TV show Coach.

Well, at least the first (I think) 6 seasons. Don't love it when they "moved to Florida" so now I'm stuck midway through season 7 (is it?) kinda not compelled to watch more ... though I DO wanna know what happens with the baby.

7) The comedian Jack Benny.

Been watching some old episodes of the Jack Benny show just because (I've heard about him often, just wanted to know what he and the show were like). And what I just LOVE about him is the way he'll deliver a line really deadpan and then look at us, like we're in on the joke with him. Love that.

Anyway. Aside from drawing comics, that's what I've been doing while I've been away!

New Faves -- Dr. Who!!

Okay, so I've been SO busy not blogging, I've actually been working on 3 other key things: reading non-fiction, working on this graphic novel stuff (I will never complain about WHERE Craig Thompson's next graphic novel is again. Dang, if this stuff isn't SO time consuming!) and watching lotsa TV/movies (yes, that's sad, I know. I'm indoors a lot.)

BUT, in all couch potato geekiness, I have to say I have a number of new favorites now. On the top of the list has to be the absolutely brilliant new Dr. Who series. (Okay, so the new kid you'll see on the link there to the official BBC home page is the latest Dr. Who, and he starts on the next season set to begin. Dunno what he's like yet. But we are hoping that the very obvious "making the Doctor younger" each time he regenerates is actually part of the overall plot.) Meanwhile, we are in the middle of watching Season 3 with David Tennant as Dr. Who and we just LOVE IT!

"My" Dr. Who is still officially Tom Baker, since he's the one I "imprinted" on back in the day (didn't watch many whole episodes then, but GOLLY I loved the theme music!) ... & yes, I know it's corny -- but I even crocheted my own version of a tremendously long, stripey Dr. Who scarf that I would wear. (Tom Baker's Dr. Who wore a crazy long scarf.)

Now of this new set of Dr. Who episodes, I must admit I'm still rather partial to Christopher Eccleston's Doctor from season one, because frankly, you can't top that totally gleeful smile of his! And he has a great nose (talking drawing-wise.) But I must admit, I've now grown to love David Tennant's portrayal of the Doctor as well ...

The stories on the show itself have really been terrific. Part sci-fi time travel, part crazy monsters and machines, part mystery and political intrigue. Great fun. Also wonderful to be able to fill in the gaps and watch the old incarnations of the Doctor (I think Chris told me the new kid is number 11?) and get a good sense of overall series continuity.

Now totally wondering whether the comics will be any good. Looking forward to finding out.

To Blog or Not to Blog. Sigh.

It's pitiful. It's now nearly a full 8 months since my last post. Clearly I've been avoiding blogging, and of course the longer I go not blogging the worse I feel about not bothering. Oh whatever.

It's just sometimes hard to keep up. There's plenty to do in 3-D life, you know?