The Work of Drawing

Drawing is my comfort food. My hips might have a different opinion, so I will call drawing comfort food for my brain, and maybe my soul. And while I work at it, it doesn't feel like work.

One of the best things about drawing is that it requires very little equipment, is generally not messy, and you can always walk away from it and come back later, and things will be exactly the same as when you left. No worries about things drying and not being easy to rework the way you have with painting, and no monumental cleanup the way you have with printmaking.

Being able to walk away so you attend to the less enjoyable things in life, like work that actually pays you money, is important too. And so it is with my life.

Because my life is so filled with work these days, I have decided to let drawing off the hook, so to speak, by not taking any more commissions. I have decided to draw what I want, when I want, and leave the rest of life to be the work part.

This has been one of the best decisions I have made in a long time. I have quit worrying about trying to make something that has the potential to sell, and just started making things that speak to me in whatever whispered tones they have at the moment.

Of course, I do still like to make a little extra money with art, so I have revisited Etsy, and started putting some of my drawings into products on Zazzle. You can share my joy if you like, but please don't ask me to work for you.

ottoblotto on Etsy
Incomplete Thoughts on Zazzle

The Quiet Face of Cancer

I did a drawing of my husband recently, which is not really unusual. I've been drawing pictures of him for the last 20 years we've been married. He is one of those rare people that, seriously, never changes. Until this time.

It was only going to be a little sketch, drawn on the inside of a discarded library book. A face I had seen for so long. Something, somehow, had changed this time. It was almost imperceptible. His lips were not as full. His look was a little harder. Very quiet differences.

I would probably never have noticed the changes had I not studied his face so many times before. I remarked to him, almost quizzically, that he had suddenly become old. Now, I am thinking it wasn't the old that I was seeing. Now I think it was the cancer.

I think it would be interesting to have a morning selfie every day for 10, 20, even 50 years, to see the differences. Would you pick up on the changes? Would it be possible to see cancer coming, like an early warning system?

I dunno.

Illustration Friday: Ahead

I've done these Library People drawings for years, and I've always sold them on eBay, but I've decided not to auction them anymore. Since everyone is suffering through the Great Recession, I think it is unlikely I'll get decent bids, so I am going to move ahead and just sell them on my website. Sure, my website gets a hit once in awhile at best, but I remain hopeful that things will pick up. This is Library People 126, and she is for sale at the aforementioned website, ottoblotto.com.

I also sell my work now in my Zazzle store, Incomplete Thoughts. Yes, it's reproductions. I have to make a living somehow.

Illustration Friday: Pretend

I am back to drawing Library People. This is #112 in the series. It is a graphite drawing on the inside of a discarded library book. Since my husband is between jobs, like so many other Americans, it seemed like a good time to go back to these, as they usually sell. I'm not going to pretend this will get us through the current hard economical times, but we'll all do what we can.

We are trying to sell our house here in Phoenix so we can move back to North Carolina, buy a farm, and do more recycled art. Anyone looking for a nice home in Phoenix? Have I got a bargain for you.

Our family has decided to all paint rocks this year for Christmas presents, since we're trying to save for the aforementioned move. There are a lot of rocks in Arizona, so you can pick them up just about anywhere, and they're free, which is a big selling point, since even discarded library books cost money. It will certainly make for an interesting holiday.

Or not.

Return of the Library People

Library People return. It's been a long time since I did any of these. Not that they are all that difficult, but I got a little burned out on them. These are Library People #107-111, and they are, like all the others, drawn in graphite on the insides of discarded library books.

Ed Begley would be so proud.

Anyway, they are up for auction on eBay beginning tonight at 9:00 Pacific, so if you click on the picture you like, it will take you to that auction. I'm offering them in a block so you can save on postage if you buy more than one. They make unusual Christmas presents, perfect for the person who has everything.

101 and 102

More Library People. I enjoy doing these, although I am not certain why exactly. These two are from a new group of books I got recently. I was particularly pleased to get this one from the Public Library of Detroit, Michigan.

I am off to Los Angeles to visit some of my husband's relatives for the weekend. I have the car so completely packed with children's stuff and bird cages that I am unsure if we will be able to move at all. I always think we will pack lighter next time, but it never really happens.

You can click on the pictures above to go to the auctions for these pieces. Thanks so much for dropping by.

And 100

Yes, it's Library People #100. It's a milestone for me, and somehow an accomplishment at a time in my life where every day is somehow the same, even though it isn't.

*

My husband is home for the weekend, and he brought a terrible cold with him. I feel like the whole house is a biohazard. I am spending the weekend sleeping on the couch and otherwise avoiding being in the same airspace with him. I so hope I and the kids don't catch it.

*

I just got a shipment o discarded library books, thanks to the fabulous efforts of my friend Zack. [Thanks Zack] I plan to get on to more Library People this week, assuming I don't catch this crud.

*

I think I'll go have some orange juice.

*

PS - you can purchase him on eBay right now. Follow the eBay link, and feel free to bid early and often.

99

Well, here we are at the precipice of a personal milestone. This is my 99th Library People drawing. I should have #100 done sometime this week, but I think there is something special about the 99th one, too. It's a little like a race wherein the finish line has come into view.

*

Not that I'm finished with the series. I may never be finished as long as I am able to find the old books I need to draw in, and I suspect there will be old books for some time to come.

What will be the future of books, though? How long will it be that we use paper and shelves to house information? Wouldn't it be much easier if everything was housed on a tiny little drive that could fit in your pocket? Think of the space I could clear in my house for other, more useful things like......... OK, maybe not.

*

Incidentally, the book was previously stamped as being from Bertrand Smith's Acres of Books in Long Beach, CA.

Illustration Friday: Emergency

I had all sorts of thoughts about exploiting my family members for this week's Illustration Friday, but I didn't. I decided to draw a recently smashed up guy from one of my picture files. I found this old book on drinking and alcoholism, and the two just went together like a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich.

Personally, I've never had a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich, but a dear friend used to swear by them. Odd. Anyway, this piece will go on auction on eBay starting at 5:15 Arizona time today, which is the same as Pacific time until such time as the rest of the nation falls back, which is in October, I think. Then, we will be on Mountain time again until everyone springs forward once more, which perhaps accounts for the fact that everyone here is late for everything. Go figure. *

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270155703337

Illustration Friday: Geeky

I suspect sometimes that I am geeky when I notice my children distancing themselves from me at the grocery store. Or perhaps it is just the heat. The water temperature in my pool is 90 degrees. This sounds hot, but when the air temperature is 115, it becomes rather refreshing. The thermostat on my car showed it to be 122 the other day. It's a little hard to imagine, but consider what it would feel like to have 37 of your closest friends all pointing their blowdriers at you on high. Why 37? I just made that up. Anyway, the weather brings out the geekiness in my attire, because basically, I don't care so long as I can be reasonably cool. I wear a large straw hat to keep from crisping. I'm at the time of life that I am on the precipice between being ripe and rotting, so the hat is there to ward off the fruit flies. Anyway, I have chosen this other rather geeky fellow to join me for Illustration Friday. I hope you like him. *

To see what I'm really up to these days, go to http://www.fishheadpublications.com/.