something old...

Anna posted about illustrating her own wedding invitations and it got me thinking about when I did that myself (almost 10 years ago now.) Artistically, it was a weird period between graduation from art school and my first book, winnie (dancing) on her own. I was trying to find my "style." It was a time of experimentation and so I insisted on doing odd things like painting on vellum even though it wrinkled horribly.
Looking back I can see the roots of what would become my style. I can also see that though it felt like FOREVER, it was only a brief 26 months after graduation before I was working as an illustrator.

this is still my favorite bit--to paint and because it is the truest detail about me:

Dropped Scones are American Pancakes

addendum to last post:

I realized that while Mr. Chabon will never know about my invitation to an Imaginary Tea Party, an intern at McSweeney's could totally find my last post. And understanding what a potentially dangerous foe a scorned sconeless intern could be, I extend the invitation to everyone who worked on the production of this book. I better get baking.

friday: from the pages of

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger*

"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it."

In my world, it would be a chat over tea, not a telephone call on a black rotary phone.

It is reading Maps and Legends Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands by Michael Chabon that has me thinking about that quotation and about how I Heart McSweeney's Books. That is one awesome book design! So while I am making Imaginary Tea Party guest lists, I'll say Uncredited Book Editor, Uncredited Book Designer** and Jordan Crane, cover illustrator, please come, too. I'll make scones from scratch.


*I know you you know this one but just in case Mr. Salinger is running Google Alerts.
**Or was the triplicate book jacket and case dye art all Mr. Crane's idea? Nancy Drew time. Stay tuned.

friday: from the pages of

Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card

"You know how writers are. Like Hikari, they create themselves as they create their work. Or perhaps they create their work in order to create themselves."

"It's to remember you in the entire"*

i have this tendency to listen to a new song or a new album over and over and over again. (have i told you this before?) Nelson asks if i am trying to memorize it. And yes, i suppose in a way i am,. i listen until all the surprises are known and then until it becomes background music.

the latest is the Decemberists Always the Bridesmaid single in particular "Record Year" and because it had me wondering and i did guess, well, almost--Proserpina is the "daughter of Ceres and wife of Pluto, L. modification of Gk. Persephone (q.v.), perhaps infl. by L. proserpere "to creep forth" on notion of the germination of plants."**

*Record Year, the Decemberists
**thank you to Mr. Douglas Harper (entry #3.)
photo: december sunset from the car on 1-90 upstate new york.
how are you still reading the tiny print and not going to download the song?