rahful

A haiku:
rain in the city
bundled up and hunched over
anticipating

I walked to school as Karen was driving me home from the Spiegelman lecture tonight. It was bracing but still still with an enjoyable crispness to the air. We (Cece and I) arrived to class just on time even with the momentary scare that Diana provided by going BOO when I was walking.

We had the model with the lovely tattoos and she had many great gesture poses in which she presented many fun angles to draw. She is very knowledgeable in how to place herself and how to hold poses. She is quickly climbing to the rank of my favorite model. We did a 30 minute pose and I was amazed at how I have reigned myself back. I got the slant of the body correct, the stand looked accurate, and she was in relative proportion. The contours were a bit of a disappointment but it does show real growth. I love how Morgan is really beating the technical stuff into us. Nary a soul in the class even ventures near shading now.

Karen has acquired herself a fancy corner studio. I am looking forward to jamming with her in there. Maddison and Daniel helped her get a desk for her space. Jen is also moving into a studio. The Stevens Annex is going to be a rockin'! Karen has already set forth the layout plans.

Jen and I went to Baja Fresh for lunch. I find the checkered decorations there very peculiar. Like, the food is in a race or something. My chicken quesadilla was most filling and warm. The weather was taking a quick turn for the worst and even with my layers and scarf, it didn't give me much protection. It is time to move to my pea coat. She took me to Reading Frenzy and another little independent book shop. Both had wonderful hipster zines and a beautiful array of independent comics. I caressed many of them but oh woe, I must curtail my bad book buying habit.

Rain was coming down and we hitched a ride on the streetcar to school. I put on my best Russian accent (which wasn't that good but still funny) as we shlumped our way from the streetcar to school. I proclaimed how in our day we had to walk 10 blocks in the cold with only our hoodies for warmth. We ended up loafing in the library until painting started. Karen is borrowing my Scott Pilgrim volumes and is already half done.

Painting was just playing around with the frisket. I think I was a little lazy today but I was also groggy and as usual, tired. We drew hands and masked them and played with washes. I think once I add in lines to my piece, it will look really cool. The mask didn't quite cover as completely as I had hoped but it was much better than the type I was using. It didn't get the paper mushy like the cheaper kind. Our next assignment is an intense poetry illustration thing. It is a large scale piece with a smaller, spot illustration on the other side. We have about 2-3 weeks for it. I have high hopes for it and I will try to push myself to have more detail.

Class was over and Karen and I hopped in her car and zoomed to the Bagdad Theatre for the Art Spiegleman lecture. She parked at Fred Meyer even though she TOTALLY WASN'T SHOPPING THERE!! Jim was waiting and I collected my will call tickets and was dismayed to find the theatre not even a fifth full. Who would have thought that the only Pulitzer winning comic artist couldn't fill a venue within half an hour of it opening. I guess the weather or location kept people back. If it were at Powell's, it probably would have been packed. Karen and Jim grabbed some food and we got a spot on the left side.

Art Spiegelman reminded me, from a distance, of Dan (Stengel that is). His talk came mostly from a presentation of panels and images taken from Breakdowns. He said he had not slept in a few days but kept it together for the most part through it all, including the question and answers. He detailed a brief history and his own personal introduction to comics. Breakdowns is a reprint of a book he put out several decades ago. With it comes a 20 page introduction and an 8 page afterwards. They had pre-autographed copies selling for 30% off and, well, I'm a sucker for a comic deal. I didn't wait to talk to him in person but he is a relatively young comic dude, he will be around. One woman said that she had asked him 15 years ago how he would talk about Maus and the Holocaust with his children and she asked again how he did just that. It was a wonderful talk all around and even though I technically overpaid, I would have been fine with the price if that was what it was. Actually seeing artists and hearing them lecture is just as important to the overall study of art as practice and technique is.

Then I went home and tried to stay awake and read Man in the High Castle. My talking points in my response are: Did PKD not know about Unit 731 when writing the book or do the characters just not know about it. Funny how those Germans made great technological advances by not developing the television. Having the fictional novel of our awkward history within the book gives Philip K. Dick a blank check to write what he wants with convincing suspension of disbelief.