Choices

Sometimes I have a hard time making decisions, probably because I'm such an annoying perfectionist. I ask, Is it right? Is it wrong? Is it good or is it bad? But I've found that the best way to settle my confusion is to ask, Does it work?

Reading

Read any good books lately? I just finished Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, and like it is with all good books, I really didn't want it to come to an end. I just wanted to stay in the book, to open it up every night and continue to be involved in the plot. The writing was so good that I often reread sentences just to savor them one more time. But dang, I finally came to the last page, and now my life is empty without these characters. The novel is based on the history of the Golden Age of comic books and features two artists, cousins, who rose to fame in the 40's. It's loaded with adventures - it begins with one of the cousins being smuggled out of Nazi-infested Europe in a casket, and includes the appearances of Houdini, Salvidor Dali, a cousin who gets marooned in Antarctica, someone who attempts to leap from the Empire State Building - and these are not even the comic book heroes who show up now and then in their own adventures. If you want to discover more about the author and the real life events and characters that inspired his novel, you can visit this website.

Spring Cometh, Trash and All

It's been so long since posted! Partly because of an illustration assignment (more to come on that), and partly because of the flu!

Today I photographed a sight that captures the schizophrenic nature of spring in Minnesota. The gray clouds that smothered us for months disappeared and a blazing turquoise sky shone through, complete with Canadian geese returning, to reveal a non-postcard sight: the absolute last heap of snow. Black, icky dirty snow, and all of winter's hidden treasures of pop cans, candy bar wrappers, condoms, combs and fast food wrappers. I loved seeing that dirty heap of snow - because it is the last remnants of winter...yayyyyy!

APRIL FOOL'S DAY

I woke up this morning to seven inches of snow! Some parts of Minnesota, my lovely state, received ten inches! Mother Nature, this is SO NOT FUNNY!!!!! I was really looking forward to seeing the lawns green up, the robins hopping, the daffodils popping... and now I have to shovel again. I'm going to ignore this little setback, and think about the tropical days ahead, with sun and lakes and greenery blooming all around!