Big Bend

A tradition of JB's family (going on 40-some years) is to spend a week each summer at Big Bend, a campground filled with sweet rental cabins. It borders the South Fork of the Eel River.

I was invited along this year, though I missed the first round, I was lucky enough to go on the return visit.

It was one of the more spectacular weekends I've had. The days were filled with the following activities:
Eating/grilling food
Swimming in river (with cliff jumping!)
Playing dominioes
Drinking beer
Munching snacks
Playing voleyball
Reading
Playing Badmitton.
Sketching
Roasting Marshmellows
Drinking Coffee and Scotch (seperatley and together)
Sleeping,
Sitting around a fire pit in the evening (when we weren't eating, drinking or playing domnoes).

Does life get too much better? I mean really.


This was my first sketch of the weekend.
It was the morning after we arrived and I am drinking a cup of coffee prepared by JB's pop. He and I were the only ones up.




Our cabin.
Hard to see but JB is sitting at the table on the left reading the second 'Flight' book.
(The first succeful on the spot water color I've done)


Feeding the previous evening's food scraps to the chickens behind our hut.







Woman sitting next to us on the small gravely beach edging the river. She is putting suntan lotion on her daughter.




JB chilling on a beached tube drinking a Red Stripe. Not too long after we all jumped into the river. Lovely isn't she? Can I brag here that we are dating now?



Since last session:

* Drinks: I've learned to apreciate a wonderful 12-yr-old scotch that JB's pop had on hand for the entire weekend. Johnny Walker by the bye.

* Read: Blood Meridian, Cormac McCArthy hhhhh
On the back page of an old sketchbook I have a list of novels suggested by the International Playgirl and Neo. This was the second to last of Playgirl's choices (Lolita bieng the final)

As for the book: fuck. Terse as Hemmingway, but more dry. Sometimes intentially plodding . Profound, but requires strict attention. Oh, and gorey as hell.

* Watched: Alien vs. Predator hhh
This gets three stars, not because it is a good film, and not better than The Island (which I gave two) but becuase it delivers what it advertises. Some Aliens and Predators fucking each other up. The plot, while not great, does not pull any midcholrian-bullshit and stays within the mythology of the two movies.

* Listened to: Shake the Sheets, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists hhh pop pop catchy kizz, oh what a relief it is.


RATING SCALE h Utter shite hh Don't bother hhh Average hhhh nicely done hhhhh farking brilliant

Claviger news

Girl-a-matic has just accepted Claviger!
In October they will be unleashing a new group of artists and I shall be one of them. Two pages a week baby!

When the time comes I will tell you all the info and force you to subscribe and support comic artists. But I was pretty excited so I thought I would share. Now I have to draw.

That being said here is the last completed Claviger image I will post here.



As of yesterday I finished page ten. Including this one, I have drawn Chloé 31 time in Chapter two . The last four pages she almost always look on model. About damn time. It's all in the nose. Heh.

Ps. Only the two panels posted were inspired by other paintings. Just saying.

Since last session:
* Drinks: Rum dumped unexpectedly into a jumbo Coke cup while watching a 70MM print of 'The Road Warrior' at the Castro theatre.
• Read: An effort to complete the last and (acording to the writer) best Stephen King story I will read:
Dark Tower, Book Two The Drawing of the Three hhhh The best of the series so far. Creepy and fun as hell.
Dark Tower Book Three The Wastelands hhh Okay, but two set a high standard this does not beat.
Dark Tower Book Four, Wizard and Glass hhhh The story within a story is almost as Drawing of the Three. Very coolly crafted Western tale.
Dark Tower Book Five, Attached to the characters at this point, so it is fun to seem them plunge through thier comic book-like adventures. One of the more interesting things to happen is the fallen priest from Salem's Lot joining the cast.

Only two left. They are the best King stuff I've read rivaled only by Four Seasons. Maybe I am just wierd cause I dunna' like his horror tales as much as his others.

* Watched: In the Realms of the Unreal hhhh Awesome documentary about Henry Darger, the janitor upon whose death a trove of artwork and thousands of pages of fiction were discovered. Equil parts creepy, sad, and inspiring.

RATING SCALE h Utter shite hh Don't bother hhh Average hhhh nicely done hhhhh farking brilliant

Dead people munching

This art is for an editorial about O-Bon.

My understanding is that it is a sort of Buddhist day of the dead. Relatives who have passed on follow a paper lantern trail to their families home and a place is set for them at the dinner table.



(click click clik)


Since last session:

Last drink:
Beer at Six Flags on Saturday. Budweiser, roller coasters, sun, and some Walrus!

Read: Lots of comics!

Smoke and Guns, Story: Kirsten Baldock Art Fabio: Moon hh
I did not like this as much as I thought I would. Cigarette girls in French maid outfits in matrix like gun fights. Moon's art is sound, and well paced but not very sexy. The problem I think is that Baldock's story is all about sexiness nd without that it is just kind of some stuff that happens.

Dead West, Rick Spears and Rob G. hhhh
Cowboys versus Zombies!! How can you go wrong? No I am not kidding. Cowboays versus Zombies. It is really well done too. What moroe do you need to know? C-o-w-b-o-y-s V-e-r-s-u-s Z-o-m-b-I-e-s.

Rose Charles Vess and Jeff Smith hhh
Vess's art is very pretty and suits the Bone world well, but we already knew all of this went down. Fun to see the old members of the bone casts as teenagers, but I am sick of prequels.

Naruto Volume 6, Masahi Kishimoto hh
When he is on Kishimoto can do ninja battles like no other. When he is off, like the first half of this book, the fights become too elaborate and impossible to follow.
Towards the end when everyone is downed but one chacter, the story gains more focus.


Watched: War of the Worlds, Steven Spielberg hhh
Same plot as the book, though a different story. Does everyone remember the book is just a disaster story? An 'OMG what if aliens existed and they attacked our planet?!' kind of way. This does that well. I had trouble watching Tom Cruise and not thinking he is a crazy carazy man.


Listened to: HiHi PuffyAmy Yumi hh
Cotaining the songs from the Teen Titans, Scooby Doo too, and their own cartoon; I am about 20 years older than their target demographic. This is mostly the work of producer Andy Sturmer (of Jellyfish fame). He leads Ami and Yumi through many different styles of "popular American music." Results: even the few decent tracks end up sounding derivative.