Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
johncomic: (Moss)
magazine cover

I spotted a back issue of a magazine online, one with an article I wanted to read. I was about to buy it when I thought, "Wait, I have a few issues of that magazine down in the basement — maybe I have that issue and just forgot?" So I went to check, and: yes and yes.

Grateful that I stopped to think, and saved myself a buck.

Sands

Feb. 17th, 2025 05:00 pm
johncomic: (Default)


My 56th acrylic is, once again, a visual that mysteriously popped into my head and stayed there. (As usually happens with any abstract that I feel moved to pursue to completion.) There's something about this colour palette that seems to connect with me, seeing as I used this same one last year. I can see me using these colours to sub for the white/gray/black palette I'm accustomed to working with in my cartooning, and doing value studies that way. (I even have a vague idea for the next one...)

musings

Feb. 11th, 2025 07:40 am
johncomic: (Uncle Old Guy)
A few times now I've mentioned the graphic novel I'm working on this past year or so. [And, if it gets out of hand, it may get too long for me to get it done while I'm still here.] Anyhoo: 
 
Today I got thinking, "Am I being ridiculous to work on something like this when the world seems to be falling apart around me? I mean, for the first time in my life, I am looking at the very real chance that my country may disappear and be swallowed up by a neighbour... causing untold stress and disruption and chaos. And then, being able to draw a comic will become the last thing on my agenda. Society may disintegrate beneath my feet, and I'm still just plugging away at my comic book like all is well??" 
 
I've thought that a few times lately, but when it happened today, I thought something else: "Yes, there is a chance this could happen. But, if I'm being brutally honest with myself, there's a far better chance that I could have a heart attack or stroke at any moment, and I won't be able to finish my novel then, either. But this has always been true, and I didn't let it stop me from trying. So maybe I similarly shouldn't let the state of the world stop me." 
 
Today I feel like I understand a bit better what the Beats meant in the Fifties when they said, "When The Bomb drops, it will find us painting and writing poems."
johncomic: (piggy family)
My dad, who passed just over eighteen years ago.


taken in his 70s, not THE 70s

I recently ran across this pic of him, shot in the early aughts, and three things about it jump out at me: 
  1. almost everything in that face is his father's
  2. except the eyes, which are his mother's
  3. he kept his hair a lot better than I'm keeping mine

pups

Jan. 19th, 2025 02:47 pm
johncomic: (Default)
acrylic #52

acrylic #53

My 52nd and 53rd acrylics are, as you can see, both pups. One is a gift, one is for putting up at the cafe and [hopefully] selling. I've already realized that my animal paintings are the closest I get to “crowd-pleasers”. So, when it comes time to make a gift, that's what I fall back on. But I've also already begun to wonder how much these paintings actually qualify as fine art. Like, do they say anything? Do they express anything about me? Maybe they're just an expression of “my love of animals”, and maybe that's enough, I dunno....

On the other hand, I can think of an artist I see on Instagram who only ever paints horses, and she quite cheerfully admits that's all she ever has any intention of painting, because that's what she loves most. And I've never questioned her legitimacy as An Artist®, so why do I need to question my own?

On the third hand, lately I've gotten more of an urge to spend at least some of my easel time working on less accessible pieces — I can feel things in me wanting to get out. I've already resigned myself to those new pieces not being understood or enjoyed, but I still feel like they'll be worth trying anyway.

shoes?

Jan. 16th, 2025 04:35 pm
johncomic: (SK BW)
shoes from Lee Holley's Ponytail strip


pencil doodles which are studies of shoes from Ponytail, an early-60s comic strip panel by Lee Holley. Not sure I can explain why, but I really dig the way Holley drew shoes in his strip then. [Among cartoonists, there are a lot of Jack Davis shoe fans, but for me Lee Holley is my Shoe Guy®!]
johncomic: (Uncle Old Guy)
 a clear sunny day, dry quiet roads, serene music in the car, and some peaceful time with just my thoughts

oh and a car heater that works [incl heated seat, woot!]
johncomic: (The Mighty Scott)
It seems that, every year, of all the music I discover, there is one particular standout artist for me who turns me into a major fan. Most often, it is someone new [to me]... but not always. For example, last year my musical discovery was Richie Kamuca — I was listening to records forty years ago that Kamuca played on, but at that time I wasn't focusing particular attention on his specific contributions to those records. Last year, I was given the chance to listen to him more closely and more widely, and finally became smitten.

But my discovery for 2024 is someone I had never heard until a couple months ago: Cory Weeds. He's an exciting find for me — not only for his own playing, but also for the record label he runs which issues work by many other wonderful artists, lots of whom are also new-to-me. There is such a wealth of good music to be discovered here! You can bet that Cory and other Cellar Music artists will occupy my ears frequently in 2025.
johncomic: (Default)
acrylic 51

My 51st acrylic is a nocturne of the Christmas fair at Hebden Bridge, which we visited in 2018. I got into how the night suggests rather than displays things, and really got into the depths of the lights on the tree. There's no razzle dazzle in this work, but I feel like maybe there's some honesty about a night I remember fondly.

gouache 10

My tenth gouache is a horned owl in the snow. This was my first time using an angle brush — I only recently picked up a few of those, in both bristle and soft synthetic — and I really enjoyed how it handled. I can see myself using them a lot in future. And, once again, the limited palette I have felt my way into for animal paintings came in handy here.

doodle

Dec. 22nd, 2024 05:27 pm
johncomic: (SK BW)
 The tiles on our bathroom floor have a design of random swirls and smears and splotches. Every once in a while, I will suddenly see a face in one of them. I decided to doodle one such face: 
cartoon of a bearded bald man
[Please give a holler if you can't see the pic! Not sure this trick will work....]

johncomic: (Steve the Pirate ani)
For a while there, I was not sleeping well. Not enough, and what I got was very spotty and fragmented. Eventually I realized that fretting about the state of the world was keeping my mind whirring and preventing me from settling down. 

Then I saw a post from someone saying that they were cutting the news out of their life for a while, for the sake of their own peace of mind. The gist of their perspective was that they already knew by now what things were awful, so they could take that as read. They didn't really need this awfulness underlined again every day. Knowing the particular details of how the awfulness had shifted somewhat was no help to them. And these were all things that they couldn't do anything about, so more knowledge was not a guide to more action or more solutions. 

Then someone else said that they had set up filters on their social media, for similar reasons. This is not something I had ever tried myself, but I decided to now. So I did, a few days ago. 

Now, posts will appear on my social media, but instead of content I get a message saying this post contains filtered items. So I know the post is there, and it's up to me to decide if I want to see it or not. So far, I have been declining. 

And I can't help but notice that I am consistently sleeping more soundly since I began to filter out some of the awfulness. 

I understand there are those who will object. Who will tell me I have a duty to know what's going on in the world. As in, knowing everything, every detail. [Most of us who grew up in the days before the 24-hour news cycle realize that you can get by without unceasing news updates.] And there are those who will accuse me of flaunting my privilege, because it must be nice to be able to afford to ignore these things. [I don't deny that my life is privileged and blessed in numerous ways, even if I'm not rich.] 

But the people who were cutting out this influence from their online lives were framing it more in terms of self-care. Protecting their health which was suffering because of this psychic onslaught. And that's how I'm choosing to frame this for myself: self-care. Like, I don't accept that I am flaunting my privilege by eating regularly, simply because there are other people who don't. [I do count my blessings, though.] If I have the capability to nurture myself [as opposed to wallow in decadent luxury] then I will do so, as much as I am aware and able. 

Maybe that's just me.
johncomic: (Uncle Old Guy)
Getting back into The Painting Groove®.

It's been weeks [months?] since I painted, largely due to adverse health circumstances, but also lack of ideas-slash-inspiration. But the deadline of Christmas looming has been making me fret, and I owe some people paintings as gifts, so I finally panicked enough to force myself once more into the breach.

I've noticed that, whenever I'm away from painting for a while, I eventually get to feeling like I have forgotten how. I lose what little confidence I've developed, and start to believe that whatever I produce now won't be any good. [Something similar happens with cartooning, but that feels more like gotten rusty than don't remember how.] But, in the last couple of days, I have finished the gifts that absolutely had to be done, and once I got about a third of the way into each one, I realized that they were turning out Okay Enough®, and I started feeling like I have a clue again.

I realize that the solution is “don't go so long without arting”, but this is me we're talking about here, so....
johncomic: (Steve the Pirate ani)
Being stocked up on [most of the] stock-uppable things.

Knowing that, when I'm getting near the end of a container or package of something, there's another full one waiting somewhere. Not needing to worry that I might Run Out® — it's a gentle form of security, but a precious one.
johncomic: (Sweets)
Lately I've been seeing a lot of old indie comic books [someone on IG is selling off a big collection, looks like], and it shames me to admit this but... some of these books get me feeling kinda judgy.
 
Like, they look poorly done, and the subject matter doesn't interest me in the least, and some of it looks tasteless or pointless or dumb, and I feel like You really thought it was worth your time and effort making this?
 
But today I suddenly thought: there may well be lots of people who think those same things when they look at my comics. And the guys who make those books may well believe in what they do as much as I believe in what I do. So we all gotta do our thing and be ourselves, right? Nothing wrong with that.
johncomic: (Frank)
I saw this quote on Mastodon a couple weeks ago that keeps coming back to me:
Art is not a sport. The point is not to be impressive at something difficult. It's expression, it's a way to focus on yourself, it's a way to get feelings out, it's a way to get ideas across. There is no cheating.
johncomic: (Uncle Old Guy)
 Naps: the freedom [and ability] to get some rest when I need it.
johncomic: (Uncle Old Guy)
blackcurrant jam

jar of blackcurrant jam
I have some with my toast basically every day and never tire of it. I have to get it at the import shop cuz no one makes it domestically, but it's worth it! A little taste of the UK to brighten my day....

johncomic: (Uncle Old Guy)
 People who put their Christmas lights on early in the season — they make the drive home after sundown so much lovelier, and I never get tired of them.
johncomic: (Moss)
 Today I have [just barely] reached my lowest weight in at least thirty years. Knowing how my body works, it will likely bounce back up some tomorrow, so I need to make note of this today and not forget.
johncomic: (Steve the Pirate ani)
 the first solid night's sleep I've had in weeks — what a difference it makes

June 2025

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
2223 2425262728
2930     

Most Popular Tags

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Style Credit

Page generated Jul. 16th, 2025 12:43 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios