I call it… Sausage Stew. I debuted it this weekend at the Portland Zine Symposium, and now it’s on Etsy. It’ll also be part of my cartooning group’s anthology box, which is due out soon. Information about that when I have it…

The zines are rounded up, the dolly is loaded, and I’m leaving tonight for Portland. I’ll have a table both days at the Portland Zine Symposium. I’ve never been before, but I get a general sense of radness from it. You should come say hello. I’ll be the one with the orange tablecloth.

I used to call myself a dilettante, but that was never entirely true. The truth is that I just have a lot of interests. Mix that with the fact that I’m generally pretty capable and learn fast, and you end up with a person with a lot of hobbies. Between June and December of last year, I took classes in acrylic and encaustic painting, metalsmithing, and lampworking – and that doesn’t include all the stuff I pursued on my own.

This year, one of my big changes has been NO NEW HOBBIES. My idea was that I had plenty to do and a predilection for starting and exploring things without actually finishing them. If I just channeled my energy and time in a really specific way, I’d probably accomplish some amazing stuff. And I have so far – two issues of a comic this year, several shows and fests, a thriving affiliation with a local comics group, lots of new friends… it’s been a good and transformative year.

So when my friend Bonnie offered me a trade deal where, in return for some work for her, I’d get to weave a shawl based on her Color Horoscope Weaving method, using her beautiful bamboo yarns and her amazing, enormous loom, how could I say no? I may not be taking on any new hobbies, but I was glad to take on an amazing opportunity. You can see what she was up to that made this loom monopolizing make sense here.

I wove for a few hours here and there over two weeks. It was excellent timing, for several reasons, some of which I may address in comics… someday.

Cutting it off the loom - dramatic!

All ten-odd feet of it, unspooled from the loom's apron.

Untying the knots from the other end, and setting the shawl free!

The shawl, with tied fringe.

I still need to weave ends in and give it a fluffing-up wash, but it’s beautiful already. I’m looking forward to fall, when I can walk around swathed in my own bit of rainbow, looking very bright and dramatic.

After a most gratifying trip to the copy shop yesterday, I can say that I’ve officially completed my newest mini. It’s a short illustrated story about social weirdness surrounding my gym and its pool area. When I showed my cartooning group yesterday, it inspired a spirited and lengthy discussion of ball-related behaviors in the men’s locker room, so I think I hit some vein of truth there. It’s called Sausage Stew, and it’ll be part of an anthology box we’re releasing early next month. I’ll let you know when single copies are available too.

Here are two illustrations I made for this that didn’t make it into the book.

Self Portrait with Goggles

I originally planned on using this for the back cover in some capacity, but I came up with a better idea.

Sausage Stew, a small study

This was originally going to be the front cover, small and dwarfed by the blank space around it, with the title. This kind of thing is what caused this project to begin with – I became fascinated with drawing the eye contact-avoiding inhabitants of the hot tub. I’ll post some of my many pencil sketches later.

So: Sausage Stew. Coming soon, in large and small portions.

Like I said a few days ago, I’m working on a mini for the Bureau of Drawers. I’ve finished the primary drawing for it. Its tentative title: Sausage Stew.

This is the first really concentrated drawing I’ve done since I finished Furlough two. As such, my attention span could use some work; I’ve found my mind wandering. And when my mind wanders at a time when I have a pen in my hand, it usually wanders to the margins of what I’m working on.

To wit:

Next post: more Stew preview, and possibly even information about how and where to acquire the amazing anthologies that my cartooning group just keeps creating. We cannot be stopped, you know.

Post script: I find it funny that, even when I’m doing precisely the kind of work I want to do, I still drift and draw in the margins, much like I used to in math class or meetings at work. I cannot be stopped, you know.

I’M GOING TO HAVE A TABLE AT APE THIS FALL!

Look for me in San Francisco, October 16-17. More details to follow.

APE!!!

Do you know the fastest possible way to ensure that your life bends in order to make sure you can’t blog for a week?

Make a public declaration that you’re planning on blogging every day for a month. It’s true!

It’s a bitch, because I consider consistence and following through with what I say I’ll do to be the guiding rules of my professional life. However, it’s good to get a reminder not to be too rigid, even with ambition.

What am I up to? Well! I’m completing a mini for an anthology project for my cartooning/illustration group. Here’s a preview:

I’m still puzzling out thumbnailing for Furlough three. I’m still working on a novel. I’m still getting my everyday professional life worked out.* I’m eating a strawberry Blow-Pop. I got another cat. This is how she looked last night, sleeping on John’s stomach:

It’s a cold summer here in Seattle, and I’m having to do a lot of adjusting, but I’m doing ok.

*If you know anyone who wants a freelance proofreader, editor, or writer, do let me know.

I am happily announcing that there are now two more places (actual physical locations, I mean) where you can find my work. They are:

There you go. Go out, find them, speak loudly about how amazingly good they are and how they changed your life. Preferably while pointing and saying my name and website over and over again.

You can view the complete list of where my comics are sold here.

The commitment referred to in the previous post has been interrupted by real life. Please stand by.

I’m working on a mini for an anthology my cartooning group is putting out later this summer. Here’s a preview.

This actual image will not be in the mini. Look closely and you’ll see why. Did you know that there exists, somewhere out there, bristol that is meant only for dry media? I have some. I discovered this when I looked at this drawing and went, “Why the hell is it drinking the ink like that and getting all spidery?”

I need to make a new category called, “Breanne relearns to read labels,” apparently.

As for the commitment, I signed up for this. I doubt I’ll do much of the hullabaloo on the page itself, so I’ll content myself with writing something here every day this month. As I don’t like posting without showing things I’ve drawn, that should mean lots of pictures for you all. And I have a lot happening this month – events and shows and other things as yet unmentioned – which I’ll spool out to you over the next four weeks.