Ankh-Morpork in the Fog
With the Brass Bridge, the Tower of Art, and the Patrician's Palace blurrily present.
(Digital)
Two of Wands
The twos are finished! Hurrah!
(Ink on Paper; see more in the Tarot Gallery)
I also just finished my Supernatural rewatch. It took all 15 seasons of Supernatural to finish 22 tarot cards. That’s roughly 1.5 cards per season.
First of all: While it’s true to I drew some other things in that 15 season stretch, holy shit, that’s a lot of Sam and Dean per card. With a dash of Cas and a dollop of Crowley thrown in.
Second: what the fuck am I gonna watch now!? It might be Battlestar Galactica, it might be LOST, I might just listen to Discworld for a bit. The nice thing about having a show on is that it encourages me to look up and rest my eyeballs once in awhile.
Ending Supernatural while moving past the twos and toward the higher cards is nice narrative congruence. For a show that starts out about good and evil, with clear delineations between right and wrong, it sure works its way into refreshing complexity.
I’ll try to do the same.
Lab Expressions
I just finished a 4-day counseling training and my brain is muuuuuush. Here are some of the doodles from my notes:
(Ink on Paper; this one I actually drew today)
(Ink on Paper; high art and deconstruction of reality)
(Ink on Paper, Digitally Colored; sketch of my goat skull)
Two of Wands Pencils
(Pencil on Paper)
The last of the twos. I’m excited to get beyond duality, balance, exchange, and dichotomy and start stretching out into greater complexity.
Portfolio Review
From a dream.
(Digital)
This dream, which was about going up in front of a portfolio review board for comics I did not have (because, obvs, I am an illustrator, not a comics artist), reminded me of one of my favorite videos: Ice Cube Celebrates the Eames. In it, Ice Cube discusses his love of architecture and the Eames in particular. I’m not sure why my anxiety dream about comics and identity made me think of this awesome thing Ice Cube made. Something, maybe, about a deep, deep love for an art form for no reason other than it just speaks to you.
If you don’t love Ice Cube already, I have no idea what to tell you about the way you live your life. But, hearing him talk about how rap and modern architecture are alike because they both sample from their respective predecessors… holy shit. It changed the way I think about space, architecture, and music. In one sentence.
I guess that’s what poets do best.
…I’m not really one of those either….
I wonder what I am.
Storytelling
From a dream….
(Digital)
A dream about infinitely folding pages covered in infinite panels with infinite connections in all directions.
The Tower
Tarot Major Arcana XVI
(Ink on Paper; see more in the Tarot Gallery)
I have two more art shows this year and one of them will include as many Tarot cards as I can finish before then. Hence: the intensity of recent Tarot content.
Which is kind of a lie. This is just how my brain works. I’m best at tasks when I’m looking side-eye at them. If I look directly at anything I have to accomplish, I flinch. If I sort of… sidle up next to them I do things like get a PhD, open my own tattoo studio, and write a bunch of (decent! not good but decent!) books.
The only thing I’m always doing is being an artist. And I’m a better artist when I’m studying something new and I'm better at studying something new when I’m working on an intense art project.
Right now, I’m getting my second master’s degree. No offense to the counselors of the world, but this one (in counseling) is significantly less intellectually taxing than the first one (in art history). Probably because it’s practical, and there’s less use for a full onslaught of philosophy in practical, hands-on matters.
It is, however, far more personally and emotionally taxing. Getting a master’s degree in counseling requires near constant self-awareness and self-confrontation. Nearly every day is The Tower. Was that your foundation? Hahahaaaa… we blew it up. How about this one? Nope! Not anymore! Sucker!
Revelation does not come easy. Which is kinda fun… if you’re into that particular brand of suffering.
Bright Light Detail
From The Tower.
(Ink on Paper)
It took every once of my being to resist making this a Dark Tower reference. Maybe I'll make another version…. I also want to make a second version of Death with Terry Pratchett's Death of Rats sitting on Death’s shoulder.
But there are limits to how many things I can do.
…I guess….