These are two new sketchbooks that STILLMAN & BIRN were kind enough to send to me. Usually, I put stickers all over the covers of my sketchbooks. This time I did something different. Wanting to have my sketchbooks appear special and unique when I whip them out in front of other artist types, I hand painted designs with acrylics. Doing this probably has more to do with insecurity then confidence. I need to telegraph the fact that I’m decent at sketch booking to mollify the not good enough fears lurking below the surface. All the psychology aside, I do like how they turned out when I was done.
Octopus Teacher
I hope everyone watched the documentary, My Octopus Teacher. It’s playing on Netflix. It won the Academy Award this year for best documentary. You get to see an octopus in the wild develop a real friendship with a human being. If you still want to eat calamari after seeing this film, then something is mentally wrong with you. It is sad that these underwater friends of ours not only have to deal with the onslaught of garbage, climate change, and pollution, but they also must hide from every low-end chef on the planet. Can’t be an easy life. Let’s start thinking of them as neighbors and not as deep-fried appetizers.
Whale Tale
It's hard for me to think about the ocean without reality creeping in.
Seaspiracy
In the conversation about not eating meat or animal products, one thing always gets overlooked. Seafood. I often hear people say, “I eat almost no meat anymore, just fish.” It’s a typical refrain. Seafood has marketed itself quite smartly as health food. The problem is, it’s not so healthy for the oceans, the planet, or the animals themselves. Even other vegan artists never really do art about this subject. I’m off on my own little island. Now that summer is upon us, the air is once again filled with the scent of barbequing, overfished, farmed or illegally caught fishies assisting in the continued depletion. It smells like victory.
Bluefin tuna
There is a show on the Disney channel about bluefin tuna fishermen. The show opens with this disclaimer. “Bluefin tuna populations are about a quarter of the 1950’s level.” The fishermen constantly complain about their hardly being much tuna to catch anymore. They bitch about the legal limits imposed on them but say the rest of the world does as it pleases. It’s bizarre that none of them ever mention that maybe they should stop catching tuna altogether. It seems like the only obvious solution to build back the levels of bluefin. That thought just never occurs to any of them. 71 years to wipe out 75%, then what? You do the math.
Great News
Sea creatures have adapted so incredibly well to all the garbage, pollution, and plastic that has been dumped into the oceans the past few decades. As a result, I’m happy to announce that people no longer have to feel any pressure to change their habits in any way. It now seems it’s going to work out just fine and humans are not going to be inconvenienced at all. Finally, a bit of good news.
Antlers
Deer antlers found years ago in the woods. I decided to enhance them. I used spray paint, frisket tape, and a lot of patience.
Anxiety
This is a drawing of the feeling of anxiety and panic attacks. You begin to mentally leave your own body. Everything is out of place. It’s hard to breath in air or to speak. You hope no one notices how troubled you are and just how close you are from slipping out of control. You fake normalcy as best you can. It’s very Freudian that I did this illustration as a female. Not sure what it means.
Lazyish
Some artists love to draw the same subjects everyday. It’s not really my thing but I get it. You always know what they are going to post next. There is never a surprise. I never know what I’ll do next. Sometimes I’ll do a little series of three or four of a same subject but then I get bored and want to move on. Even this drawing feels like a rehash of past drawings of mine. This happens if I don’t challenge my brain a little. I’m getting lazyish.
Pool
It’s finally here.
Pasta
Pasta is a vegan’s friend. Almost all dry pasta contains no egg making it a vegan’s dream. Just add any type of sauce. Tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, parsley, olive oil, or whatever other vegetable strikes your fancy. This layout I drew would be perfect for a photographer to shoot for real.
Meatfree
A new U.N. report states that a major driver of animal-to-human diseases is increased demand for animal protein. Duh! As populations get richer, they eat more meat. Since 1961, global meat production has more than quadrupled. Americans are among the top meat consumers in the world. In 2018, each of us ate, on average, 222 pounds of red meat and chicken. Consumption in most other countries is far lower, but rising. In China, meat consumption has doubled since 1990.
Ezra Klein article, NY Times
All Dat Jazz
There is a young high school kid who lives in the building next to ours in Brooklyn. He has been learning the saxophone for the past 2 years. He’s gone from squeaking, squawking, and badly botching the scales, to somewhat acceptable. He practices in his room with the window open. I’ve grown to love hearing him strive. He’s very tenacious and plays with a lot of heart. I’ve got front row seats.
