After two weeks the mural is really starting to come together. On Friday, I tightened up the dark green and purple shapes and started adding black and white paint. I’ll need to add more coats of paint this week until everything is perfectly opaque and then I’ll add outlines and details to everything to finish up.
A full day of painting. More blue! Orange! Various skin tones! And much more!
It was a late night at the library last night and a long day today. Hopefully you can tell I’ve added some more color and tightened up most of the shapes. Lots of extra coats of paint too.
The patrons of the library seems very excited about the mural. Everyone has great things to say. One father was sure he had seem my work somewhere and told his wife I was a famous artist. One little boy said, “I think I love this”! The funniest thing today was when a little boy was more excited about what I was standing on than what I was painting—”Look! A ladder!”
I forgot to take any pictures on my third day working on the mural so there’s been a bit of progress since the last post. Actually, if I were able to work 8 hour days this would only be about day 2.
I went in this morning when the library was open so I just worked on the big mural and not the sign over the door. I’ll get back to that tomorrow night.
At any rate, there’s lots more color on the wall now. A lot of time is taken up applying multiple coats of paint—especially for the red and light green. But it’s starting to look like something.
Monday night I drew the mural on the wall in the children’s room at the Watertown Free Public Library. Last night, I finally got to start painting. I only worked for about three and a half hours so I didn’t make that much progress but there’s color on the walls now.
The library was still open when I began and it was nice to talk to the library employees, the children visiting the library, and their parents while I was painting.
After the library closed at 9, I focused on the sign over the children’s room entrance. Working on this forces me to block the only door into the room so I have to do it after hours. I’ll be back tonight adding more color!
Last night I started on a mural and a sign for the Watertown Free Public Library in their children’s room. I had to go in after hours so I could dim the lights and project my drawings on the wall.
The sign for the Children’s Room is going over the entrance to the room. This is part of the sign projected on the wall for tracing.
I’m also working on a larger and more complicated piece that’s 5 feet by 14 feet. The designs are now traced onto the wall with pencil and I’ll start painting later this week.
THANK YOU! Still have a few to finish. Trying to work something out with DC so I can actually get them printed.
I have comics in this book. Check it out!
Recently arrived and now shipping from our mail-order department:
No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics
by various artists; edited by Justin Hall (cover art by Maurice Vellekoop)328-page black & white/color 7.75” x 10.25” hardcover • $35.00
ISBN: 978-1-60699-506-8Queer cartooning encompasses some of the best and most interesting comics of the last four decades, with creators tackling complex issues of identity and a changing society with intelligence, humor, and imagination. This book celebrates this vibrant artistic underground by gathering together a collection of excellent stories that can be enjoyed by all.
No Straight Lines showcases major names such as Alison Bechdel (whose book Fun Home was named Time Magazine’s 2006 Book of the Year), Howard Cruse (whose groundbreaking Stuck Rubber Baby is now back in print), and Ralf Koenig (one of Europe’s most popular cartoonists), as well as high-profile, crossover creators who have flirted with the world of LGBTQ comics, like legendary NYC artist David Wojnarowicz and media darling and advice columnist Dan Savage. No Straight Lines also spotlights many talented creators who never made it out of the queer comics ghetto, but produced amazing work that deserves wider attention.
Until recently, queer cartooning existed in a parallel universe to the rest of comics, appearing only in gay newspapers and gay bookstores and not in comic book stores, mainstream bookstores or newspapers. The insular nature of the world of queer cartooning, however, created a fascinating artistic scene. LGBT comics have been an uncensored, internal conversation within the queer community, and thus provide a unique window into the hopes, fears, and fantasies of queer people for the last four decades.
These comics have forged their aesthetics from the influences of underground comix, gay erotic art, punk zines, and the biting commentaries of drag queens, bull dykes, and other marginalized queers. They have analyzed their own communities, and their relationship with the broader society. They are smart, funny, and profound. No Straight Lines will be heralded by people interested in comics history, and people invested in LGBT culture will embrace it as a unique and invaluable collection.
“I discovered… what I was looking for, a queer world with stories and characters that I could recognize, that I could laugh with and care about. What I needed was a book like this: hairy legs and all.” – Lana Wachowski (The Matrix, Bound), from her introduction
“We’ve all been waiting too long for a collection like this! You must buy this book!” – Alison Bechdel (Fun Home, Dykes to Watch Out For)
There will be 51 and 52—and joker’s too! Hopefully soon. Busy with work, etc. Sorry to keep you in suspense. Thanks for inquiring!
X - 4th of July (by spoilsport1)
