Back!

Well, I am back from Vegas... or sort of Vegas. The hotel was about as far from the strip as you could get and still be in Nevada! This was the first time I've ever been a nominee so it was exciting to attend and have the extra bit on my name tag!

 Alas, I did not win. Mark Parisi, who is the chapter head of the NE Chapter of the NCS and a friend, won. He was very nice in mentioning me and Wiley Miller in his acceptance. Too bad I didn't know he'd won ahead of time... I could have paid off some stewardesses to accidentally leave the exit door open!

But for me, the nomination was a huge acknowledgement of my work (and submission package) from my peers, the peers being the Canadian Chapter of the National Cartoonist Society. So a Big SHOUT OUT to Canada! The panel that was nominated was "Smile" which has been running in the Rochester Times for 16 years or so. It was syndicated in 1995 and the title became "Fair Game" but is still running as "Smile" in the Rochester Times. See below for some examples:

It is also huge in that not many women have ever been nominated or won in the Newspaper Panel division.

It was most fabulous to get to hang out with two of my favorite cartooning girlfriends, the beautiful and fun (and hilarious!) Benita Epstein who is the Friday Chick and the lovely Isabella Bannerman, the Monday Chick!                                           

This is how we roll in Vegas. Chix getting ready to hit the town. (Actually, no town hitting was done due to expensive cab fare!) (Thanks to Benita for the technicolor pic)

Swinging cartoonists hanging out in the el Green Valley Ranch hipster lounge.(Yes, girls, it is I with cartoondoms # 1 cool guy Roy Doty). Below, John regales Roy's lady friend, Nancy, with stories about the darkside of the newspaper biz plus gardening. (Thanks to Isy for these wonderfully lurid photos!)

 

Night of the Reubens. Very exciting to see my work on display with all the other nominees.

That's the dapper Mr. Chris Sparks on the right!

At the cocktail party with Mark and Wiley. This is the before picture.

And... after the awards. Hmmm... Mark looks a little TOO happy!

Well... there is always NEXT year.

I had lots of people wishing me luck so thanks to everyone who did, it meant a lot. See you all in Pittsburgh!

Shocking Pen Repair Update!!!

I happened to be looking at Pen Doctor Richard Binder's site and saw this notice!!!

ATTENTION CLIENTS We have discontinued the repair and regrinding of pens that would be sent to us by clients. The growth of our retail business has made it impossible for us to continue to take on this type of work. We will complete all work on pens that are now in house, but we won’t be taking in any further pens for repair or customization.

We will continue to sell new pens and accessories, and to adjust or customize pens or nibs purchased from us, and we’ll still also continue to put up our monthly tray of restored vintage pens. And of course we’ll continue to sell pens and accessories at pen shows and to work on pens there just as we’ve done in the past.  

Alas! This is a loss for pen lovers everywhere! Boo hoo!
If anyone knows of another pen repair pro out there... let me know!

Return of the Artpens

As you know, if you've read my previous post, I sent away my Koh-i-noor Artpens to Pen Dr. extraordinaire Richard Binder back in November 2011. He said it would take around 16 weeks or so before he could perform miracle surgery on the damaged nibs. 16 weeks is a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time when you are anxiously awaiting their return.

It got me to thinking that there were people out there (I'm talking to YOU Mr. Matt Groening!) who may have more pens stockpiled than I do...and they might have MORE working pens than I have!!!

The weeks went by. Luckily I still had 3 working pens to draw with.

Then I received an e-mail from the Pen Doctor telling me the pens were being shipped on April 18!!! But... there were these words regarding the extra nibs I had hoped would be fixable...
"All of the other art pen nibs are cracked and useless"!!! AAAAARRRRRGHHHHH!

At last! The package arrived!!!

I opened it and unwrapped the precious, priceless (OK, ebay sellers put some prices on them, pretty HIGH prices, curse them!) Artpens:

Inside were 3 completely repaired artpens!

and the beautiful old pen had been repaired like new!

  and a rebate for the unrepaired ones.

 Moment of silence for doomed nibs:

Moving on... and testing out the pens 

Oh, happy day! What could be better than dependable pens to draw with???

The Trials of Big Eric

Big Eric is a pretty big cat. He is also famed as Almost Feral Eric. Always suspicious. Not easy to round up for flea medicine and has been known to circle the couch numerous times rather than allow himself to be cornered.

The other day I went out to the shed to water the seeds I had planted.

















That night, we did not notice Big Eric. He often sleeps in the barn, so we were not worried. The next morning, I went to check on the seeds and I heard meowing. "Hmmmmm" I thought. Some poor cat has gotten itself trapped in the shed. I couldn't find it, and still hearing it, I looked up. Uh oh.

OH No! Big Eric was up in the rafters! Was this a problem? Usually he can get himself down from anyplace he gets himself... but obviously, he had been up there ALL night!!!

Would he need to be rescued?

It looked like the answer to that was YES! As I am the opposite of tall... I tried standing on the step-stool.

I was going to have to leave for work. What to do? Just then kitty Conor Makem arrived on the scene. He had been out front in the flower bed.

He assessed the situation and raced up the side of the wall like Supergirl's cat Streaky!

Then he went right over to Big Eric.

Normally, Big Eric would probably have smacked Conor right off the rafters. But not today.

Conor decided to leave Big Eric to his own devices and leaped down and took off. What now? There was a plank leaning on the rafters and going to the floor. It would be simple for Big Eric to walk down the plank to safety... but for some reason he remained clueless as to what I was asking from him. Even trying to lure him down the plank with bits of ham didn't work. I ended up tossing it up to him as he was being pathetic.

I had to leave so I called John and told him the situation. Hours later... back from the library, John said he was still up in the rafters. He had set up ladders but couldn't get him to come down. That was it. i went out to the shed and climbed the ladder. Big Eric came closer to see what I was up to...

and I GRABBED him, normally a dangerous move as I could have been slashed to ribbons by his claws.

He was SAVED!

A Happy Ending for all!

Pat Keck: Genius and Best Artist Working Today!

A few years back, friend of friends Steve W. and I went to the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park to see an exhibit of an artist whose work I was excited to see and which turned out to be one of the very best and most memorable art exhibits I've ever seen...and I've seen a LOT of exhibits. Pat Keck carves beautiful and intricate figures out of wood that she saws and sculpts herself in her own sawmill. They are painted in a highly glossed paint with beautiful decorative patterns and many are interactive or automatons of different types.

She has a full size figure of the alternative singer Klaus Nomi reclining on a crypt. When you stand at the foot of the crypt and step on a lever... the figure rises up.

Then, there are 4 small figures sitting at a table under a sign that says "Messages". You put a coin in a slot and one or another of the figures taps out a message which then drops out a slot. Brilliant!!!                                   

Above is one of the messages I saved from this sculpture.
Another reason I feel so connected to Ms. Keck's work are some of her influences, one of which is actor Conrad Veidt who played an eerie yet captivating somnambulist in the early German expressionist silent film "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari".

 I am a huge fan of  German expressionist films many of which I saw as a teen in NY, including "Dr. Caligari" and Fritz Lang's "Dr. Mabuse" films.

(me painting Caligari's landscape in a High School art class)

I wish there were a permanent collection of her work established somewhere where I could take occasional pilgrimages to see it... because it haunts you, even years later and I would love to see it in person again.