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sorting the stories

For those of you who have enquired, over the next few days I will be putting together a wee site dedicated to selling my cigar-tin stories. Quite a few of the first twenty are already sold, so my first order of business is to list what's still available. Anyway, please watch this space. And Happy New Year!

{clandestine} ... concealed, secret, enigmatical, recondite, privy, mysterious, labyrinthine, veiled, hidden, inscrutable, problematical

Two journal covers, one of which is going to C, the other to my brother Kevin, who needs all the help he can get, because his mind is like a city made of fog. * * * * * The final drawing of Shaz , who seems well-suited to purple undertones. * * * * * Lazy holiday watching: The 39 Steps and The Dark Knight . Despite how much she hated it (she's more of a Midsomer Murders person ... *yawn*), C still found watching Heath Ledger very sad.

voices {for IF}

her last one, the one in A minor , mixed media on canvas, 8x8 inches. * * * * * Our mini-holiday in Toronto, from top: faux angry; not angry but possibly very gassy (stay back); quite possibly very angry ... as all short people are from time to time (and more often than not).

I am ...

... still processing my late-night event at the studios on Friday. I say my event because -- for whatever reasons -- it was only my guests who showed up ... and even then it was pretty hit-and-miss. A big thanks to the people who did brave the winter night and come by ... it was great to see you (and thank you, as well, to my studio-mates who opened their studios up to all the little tours I did). And speaking of seeing, it was fantastic to finally lay eyes on Krista (below), just to verify that this digital sprite was real (her own always-generous thoughts on the evening are here ). * * * * * ... watching JCVD , a meta film in which Jean-Claude Van Damme plays himself ... or at least a more hopeless and damned version of himself, made all the more painful by his self-awareness, how he can feel the currents taking him down. And then he gets caught up in the robbery of a post office. * * * * * ... watching the finale of Survivor: Gabon . A mediocre season with a mediocre winn

for illo friday ... {rambunctious}

Cigar-tin story #16. I put this one at the top because she seemed the most rambunctious. As for myself, I hardly know what the word means anymore. The last few weeks I've run myself ragged trying to get ready for a studio event and the results have been mixed -- people are busy, sick or distracted. I promise to never, ever do this again. At this point I'm just looking forward to being done, and spending December in disconnected indulgence. Cigar-tin story #20. Cigar-tin story #19. Cigar-tin story #18. Cigar-tin story #17. Cigar-tin story #15. Cigar-tin story #14. Cigar-tin story #13. Cigar-tin story #12. Cigar-tin story #11.

for illustration friday ... {similar}

Cigar-tin story #10 (A Primer for Calling Melissa). Two cigar tins, two paintings, two stories, two of many, all similar but different. Cigar-tin story #9 (Dead Motorcycle Cops).

christmas magi

For Christmas cards.

i am a refractory factory

Cigar-tin stories (from bottom to top) #6, #7, #8 ... the grim production continues ... #6 contains a story called Victory Girl , #7 contains Free Rein , and #8 is In the Kingdom of Chicken ... all previously published stories, all with additional illustrations on the booklet cover ... now I know what a factory feels like, where everything comes down to numbers ballooning, and mashing the requisite parts together ... meanwhile, there's rain falling on snow here today, and the sky is like poker smoke in the morning.

Quintal

Drawing for a story, pencil on paper.

sydenham street studios late-night opening, december 12th

The invitation (extended to anyone who sees it – that means you) for our late-night opening on December 12th. It's simply an excuse for people to drop by, have a cup of coffee, see some new art and say hello. * * * * *

cigar-tin stories #3, #4, #5

For Pinch Me , Blindekuh and Death of a Dictator respectively. As of today I'm at #14, I think.

to be of the opinion that

Cigar-tin story #2. Inside is a story called Broken Head , which takes the form of an introduction/acknowledgements to an imagined book, and wherein the narrator/author has some jagged opinions on exactly who has helped him become who he is today. * * * * * More cigar-tin stories. I'll have a bunch done for our late-night opening as SSS on December 12th. * * * * * Our new sign outside SSS, lighting up the winter night. * * * * * **Add-on!** Not part of the original post! Psyche! I'd almost forgotten that Sheri had tagged me, so here's my eight bits: 1} I am second of seven kids. 2} I have never left the continent. 3} Right now, I'm eating an orange. 4} In the winter, my skin falls apart. 5} I think life tends to dip at the edges. 6} And that things will get worse before they get better (C hates that, subscribing to the happy-thoughts school). 7} Despite her Pollyanna attitude, C is awesome. 8} Her cats are not. At. All. And now to spread the pain: 1} Melis

pretend me this

Making: cigar-tin stories. One Panter dessert cigar tin + one painting on its lid + varnish + one previously-published story in a booklet (my own stories, of course) = one cigar tin story. They're meant as fun, decorative, curiosity objects, facing outward on bookshelves or adding life to a coffee table. I will have about twenty of them ready for our late-night opening at Sydenham Street Studios on December 12th. * * * * * Watching: Into the Wild , directed by Sean Penn. A sad story about a young man who arrogantly abandons a life lived with others for an idealized version of nature and its wilderness. Sean Penn shows us accidents and misfortune as the reason for his demise, but really he was simply ill-prepared, and so starved to death. * * * * * Reading: Batman: Year 100 by Paul Pope. It's Batman re-imagined yet again, and while the story adds no new ideas to the territory (a standard-fare plot about a conspiracy amongst government security agencies), the artwork