Economics

A lot of people are worried about the economy lately and I know things look grim. But there is a silver lining, friends, and that silver lining is FASHION. Observe:

Madonna e Bambino: A Last Look

For the last few months I have been using my spare moments to work on this small Madonna and Child statue (spare moments, by the way, are like all those little fractions of pennies from Superman III. If you add them all together they're worth BILLIONS).

For a model, I began by using a picture of an obscure 1930s forgery -a wooden statue that was made to look as if it had come from the 1500s. If you think you've seen "distressed," think again. After getting a general pose I sort of took off on my own into the unknown.

The statue is made of plasticine clay, which is a marvelous kind of non-drying clay. It's very handy if you plan to work on something over a long period of time. It reacts to heat rather than moisture, which I also like. And I have nostalgic memories of the smell from working with Mr. Armstrong.

Now I had planned to have this cast in bronze if it turned out well, so earlier this week I dropped it off at a foundry outside of Florence. And by "dropped it off" I mean I carried the soft clay statue, on a hot day, in my hands, on a 4 hour car/train/bus ride that finally made me understand what poor Mrs. Bennet was talking about when she says "my nerves! My poor nerves!" The pictures above were taken just before I left the foundry. My last look at the statue.

Sadly, in the end there was simply not enough time to have the bronzes made (the process would have included several more trips to Florence). But I did purchase the mold so that I can have them made in the future. Someday!

Perfect Little Books

I've been keeping a lot of notes lately, writing down ideas and character designs for future stories as they tumble in. And I've found the perfect little notebooks for these escapades:



There is a little stationary and bookbinding shop in Pontremoli that sells small blank books with reproduced covers from old classical literature paperbacks -Dante, Shakespeare and Wilde. The unlined paper is perfect for drawing, the size is just right for carrying everywhere, and they look great sitting on your desk. To the casual observer it looks as if I am reading Macbeth in Italian.

Portrait Power

Last week I finished a portrait of Giuseppe (that's it pictured above), our eccentric, 82-year-old Sicilian neighbor. I painted it over several short afternoon sessions, always depending on his ability to come and sit. Giuseppe, as energetic an octogenarian as I've ever seen, always has plenty of his own projects underway - all involved with restoring an old house that, a year ago, was little more than a ruin.

This is the first portrait painting I've attempted in nearly two years so, even though it could have been pushed further in some ways, I'm pleased with how it turned out. I mean, it looks a bit like Giuseppe...

Cats and Bags

It's true!

I'm working on the first of two Zita the Spacegirl graphic novels for First Second Books!

This is actually what I've been spending most of my time on here in Gravagna. These days I'm swimming in sketches and thumbnail pages and learning just how challenging writing and drawing a long-form comic can be. I've gone through several drafts of the story so far, tearing down, building up, finding the weakest story elements and either making them shine or destroying them. The process bears an uncanny similarity to sculpting and painting.

Though my "internet life" is kind of sketchy at the moment (connection speeds in the Apennines are slow), I am going to see if I can set up the old Zita the Spacegirl Site to blog my progress.

In the meantime, here's another nice announcement of the project at Good Comics for Kids.

And to top off the comics news, a nice Review of Flight Explorer.

THREE CHEERS FOR COMICS!

The Passing of Another Summer

Today I ate a tasty apple.

And I missed America.

So here's a picture of a typical pit-stop on the Bohemian Highway:



Well I feel like an old hobo, I'm sad lonesome and blue.
I was fair as a summers day -now the summer days are through.

You pass through places and places pass through you,
but you carry them with you on the soles of your travelin' shoes.

-"Littlest Birds" The Be Good Tanyas

Workspace II: the Studio

Things I thought I'd Never Do: Paint a still life. But, thanks to visiting artist, Henry Wingate, now I have:





The figs were plucked from the tree near the house. The basket wraps around a wine bottle and was probably made by Anna's grandfather (we found it in an old cantina).

Most of the paintings I've worked on lately have been small pieces painted on wood panels. I had never considered painting on panel until some friends left me a small stack of them after a visit. It's a different feel from canvas, a little slicker and without the give of mounted fabric, and I almost like it better. It's certainly nice for small pieces.

I've read that originally oil paintings were all made on panel but that, in Venice, where there is a lot of moisture in the air, the panels started to warp. Stretched canvas was the solution to the warping and later became the norm.

Edit: I managed to get a better picture of the figs, so I've replaced one of the pictures in this post. And I removed the picture of my messy worktable. Gotta keep up appearances.

Workspace

I've been working in two places lately, "the office" or "study" and "the studio room." The office is where I've been doing most of my drawing, writing, scanning and e-mailing (and blog updating). The studio is where I've been working on messier projects that involve clay or paint. It's a large, wonderful, unfinished room across from the house with nice big windows and a good view of the church bell tower.

Here is a picture a few of my recent projects hangin' out in the studio room:



As you can see, the little madonna and child I've been working on is coming along. The Madonna's left eye is really hard to get to and, subsequently, it hard to make it look quite right. Yesterday, by accident, while trying to maneuver that little space, I knocked the Christ Child's head clean off the statue. How are you supposed to react to something like that? Even after I had repaired it I kept thinking "what have I done?"

Git R' Done

Commercial Break

My friend Regina just released her latest fairy tale book: The Midnight Dancers -a modern day retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. I read a draft copy of this book about 5 years ago (time should not fly so fast), and it was a pleasure to read the story again. My favorite parts were all still there!

Of course, I have some bias toward this book because it features some of my favorite things: Juggling, Martial Arts, 12 Beautiful Girls, Sneaking About in a Black Outfit with a Mask, Acrobatics, 12 Beautiful Girls...

There's even an explosion.



But don't take my word for it...