And, with that in mind, I went to see some arts tonight. The original incentive to go was that my friend Nikki was in a pretty big damn deal kind of show. But since I’d gone to the trouble of going to Pioneer Square, I did a little wandering.

My favorite gallery is the Davidson. They largely specialize in prints, and their shows are wildly eclectic. I love at least half of what they show there, and tonight was no exception. I have a lot of things I need to buy right now, but suddenly a bit of art flew to the top of my retail lust list.

Frontispiece for Part II. From The Tales Of Edgar Allan Poe. By Fritz Eichenberg, 1944.

It’s even more beautiful in person. And they have SO MANY amazing works by the artist that they spilled out into a book of original prints sitting casually on a counter, which contained the image above, ever-so-casually sitting in a plastic sleeve. Damn. Guys, if you suddenly buy $175 worth of comics from me (which I have on hand, in boxes in my apartment), I would absolutely support the arts and buy this and look at it every day with the kind of longing you feel for an object you own and love, but that you couldn’t create yourself. It’s a good kind of longing. You and your comics-loving friends could make it a reality.

Mmph.* I need to get back to making soon, as I knew I would. But I’m going to enjoy a last few days of just reading and watching and (sometimes) sleeping for now. Then ambition and frustration will call me right back to my desk.

*This is my theme sound lately.

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.

Ok, I did no such thing tonight, but I couldn’t not use that phrase once it popped into my head.

I went to a gathering of Seattle’s cartoonist society. Or… group. Gathering. Once known as the Friends of the Nib, they’re now known as the Bureau of Drawers. (Say draw-wers. Now say, “Rural juror.”) I guess there’s been some splintering and reorganizing; my first meeting saw me witnessing the voting on a new name. (Rejects: Pencil Friends, Sketch Machines, Registered Sketch Offenders, among others) I don’t give a fig for politics, so what mattered to me was how fun it was.

Man, I love hanging out with artists. I was stunned at the casual beauty of some of what people around me were creating. As I said to one of the, um, Bureaucrats, one of the best things about these meetings will be the encouragement to step up my game a little. It’s easy to be the Office Artist if you have a decent measure of drawing ability and willingness to draw anywhere and anything. Keeping up with professionals is a little different, especially if you hope to be one.

I’m a little glad I brought a low-key project tonight. Instead of wielding ink to make some Great Damn Work of Lasting Art, I did the final thumbnails for Furlough two. I’d done preliminaries to get the page count down (did I mention it’s 35 PAGES LONG OH MAN), but I wanted something clearer and more visually ambitious to work from, once I got to penciling. I’m planning on starting tomorrow, because I need it to be done by the end of May (if not earlier) so I can get copies printed for the Olympia Comics Festival.

I also witnessed more evidence for the following hypothesis: a group of artists, given sufficient supplies and time, will eventually get to the subject of penises.* Conversational subject, subject of art, one or the other or both, it WILL come to that. And I love it. It’s always hilarious, and it can result in some surprisingly interesting art.

*Alternative hypothesis, given that I taint the scientific sample: all gatherings of cartoonists that include me will eventually get to the subject of penises. This warrants further investigation.