The Pen+Gear Sketch Diary—just under $5 and ready for my next masterpiece (or at least some decent doodles).
I was in an art supply store recently to pick up some gift items for a friend, and I thought I would pick up a smallish, mixed media, sketchbook for myself. I was thinking a 7-inch by 10-inch sketchbook would suit me well. It fits in my bag nicely and offers more drawing real estate than the tiny tablets I have been using. I was willing to settle for the less expensive store brand, but they had either pads that were too small or too large — nothing that was just right for old Baldilocks. So I started looking at the name brands of sketchbooks, and I was horrified to see that a 7-inch by 10-inch sketchbooks would eat up most of a twenty dollar bill! I decided that the paper I had at home was perfectly suitable, and I would give my wallet a break. I fled the store with the gift items and nothing else. Continue reading →
The Teenage Beast, cloaked in flames, bursts from the punk club like a meteorite tearing through the smoky night.
I’ve been pouring my heart into Teenage Beast, a punk rock horror story set in the 1980s that’s slowly clawing its way out of my brain and onto the page. Right now, it’s a chaotic mix of notes, half-formed scenes, and sketches that fuel each other. I often start with a drawing—chasing some grisly image that sparks in my mind—and then find a way to weave it into the story. One scene in particular has been haunting my sketchbook of late: the climactic chaos at a grimy punk club where all hell breaks loose, flames erupt, and my monster, the Teenage Beast, becomes a blazing force of nature. Continue reading →
I bought a half dozen, lovely Italian plums in the market over the weekend and baked this cake. It’s a one bowl, brown sugar batter flavored with orange zest, vanilla, and a touch of cinnamon, then topped off with plum halves. This would make a good dessert at Thanksgiving, as an alternative to pies. Continue reading →
Here is another sketch from my developing Teenage Beast story. The crowd awaits the arrival of Brian Bubonic and the Plague.
I drew this with sky blue mechanical pencil leads and Sailor Fude De Mannen fountain pens in a small UCreate sketchbook by Ticonderoga. It takes ink surprisingly well and is far from the worst sketchbook I’ve ever purchased. The price is right and they are readily available at Target as of this writing.
Two hundred and fourteen in a continued series creating a collage using five elements.
