« February 2008 | Main | April 2008 »

March 31, 2008

More Arty Goodness

Please keep in mind, as I post the daily drawings, that these are not intended to be great works of art. They are, quite literally, daily drawings I've assigned myself and sometimes are the result of just a couple of minutes of doodling. Sometimes I have to stop drawing to respond to "MOMMY, I NEED TO GO POTTY!" and never get back to it. So I move on to the next one. I'm trying to keep it fun and interesting and have it be a combination of elaborate doodles and small drawings from observation, just to try to get some of the finesse back into my draughtsmanship. The paper I'm using is only about 3" x 5". I only have one more to make a full week of drawings. Then I might pause, and I've bought paper for a more ambitious 30-day project.

I have also made a little progress on the Carousel painting, though I still can't seem to get the color right in the photo...

Another fun thing I'll post photos of is the set of 36" x 47" steel flat file cabinets I scored for a song on Craigslist. I'm hoping to paint them this weekend and get them in the studio, to give many many too-long rolled up paintings a breath of fresh air and a chance to be stored flat.

Posted by mwashburn at 06:43 PM | Comments (0)

Daily Drawings, Days 1-3

Posted by mwashburn at 07:21 AM | Comments (0)

March 26, 2008

Writers and DIY

I don't know a whole lot about the book publishing business, but I do know several people who have been, or are trying to be, published. It seems similar to fine art in that even if you are really really good, you have to have some angle and you have to have the right people notice you. And I've heard from a few people that it's all about marketing these days, so the marketing concept drives what gets published. But with the web, DIY, and self publishing services like AuthorHouse, it seems like if you can bankroll it yourself, you can get your work out there. It's a pretty cool concept. This is also a great opportunity to give my friend April a plug, because she used to work in the graphic design department there. We own a great kids' book called Martimus at Midnight, which was published via AuthorHouse and is sold as a fundraiser for the Children's Museum of Indianapolis (it's a story about their stuffed polar bear, Martimus, and all the other exhibits, coming to life at the museum at night). Now if I could just find the time to write my novel, I'd be golden. I'm all for letting people print their work and letting the market decide what's great literature. Wait a minute, 90% of people in the marketplace are idiots. Scratch that.

Posted by mwashburn at 07:52 PM | Comments (1)

Oh yeah, I have a Blog

So I've been dealing with some personal crap lately, and haven't been a very good blogger. I have started a "drawing of the day" just to force myself into some kind of artistic production/visual journaling. My first goal is to do one drawing per day for a week, and in April I hope to start the more ambitious one drawing per day for a month. However, actually scanning and posting these drawings seems like more than I can handle at the moment, so sorry to tease and not share. I'll share what I can, when I can.

Posted by mwashburn at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2008

Happy Easter!

Posted by mwashburn at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)

March 17, 2008

I am The Cat in the Hat

The first thing I do when I get home from a trip is freak out about how dirty my house is. On Saturday, I stood inside the entryway of our house staring down at my orange Ikea Saxan Rund rug and the collective foot-wipings of the past year and a half (the vacuum cleaner only gets out just so much, you know), and realized that I don't have any Woolite foaming rug cleaner in the house. My next though, since I'm really trying my hardest to be a bit more health and environmentally conscious, was that perhaps there was something less toxic I could use to clean the rug. You can clean just about anything with some combination of white vinegar, baking soda, and borax. Cue the internets.

I found a recipe for all-purpose rug cleaner that consists of equal parts vinegar, borax, and salt. I mixed up the stuff, finding that the borax and salt weren't quite dissolving in the vinegar. I dumped it on the carpet (and a spot on our living room area rug that's always bugged me, just for good measure), and scrubbed the stuff in using my little utility brush. Of course, the fine quality Ikea rug shed an alarming amount of orange fuzz, slightly discoloring the scrub brush, but so what. I now had a wet wool rug (and if I learned nothing else from last summer's "Let's felt a whole sheep" party in my friend's backyard, it's that vinegar and wool just don't smell very nice together) with clumps of salt all over it. Swell.

Wait 24 hours for the crap to dry. Vacuum. I now have dried-on patches of whitish salt and borax mixture in my carpet. A second scrub-brushing did loosen a little of it, but it still stinks like a wet, vinegar-y dog. I've sprinkled some Arm & Hammer carpet fresh on in in the hopes of at least making it smell less unholy. If anyone has any ideas for something to clean the cleaner out of my wool carpet, I'm open to suggestions. Stupid internets. Stupid tree-hugging hippies. Next time it's Clorox and petroleum products that smell fresher than a fake pine tree.

Posted by mwashburn at 05:08 PM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2008

Spring Break Woo!

Well, we're just back and there's lots to tell. We're sick of the road, sick of eating crappy food, and very glad to be home. There were laughs, there were tears, there were new friends and old. A very epic Spring Break. The worst thing is that we are just terrible about taking photos while on trips, so I'm sorry that most of this post will not be illustrated. But, let's see... a few highlights:

• Easter Egg hunting (yes, a week early, and no, we don't actually celebrate Easter at home) with the Bug and her cousins.

• Meeting an online friend in NYC for the first time. If you're ever in the West Village, eat lunch at 'Snice. The food was awesome and they make a PERFECT latte. And despite my trepidation about meeting someone I've known only online for the last 3 1/2 years, it all went really well and she was a lot of fun.

• New ink for the first time in 10 years (I know, I couldn't believe it either). I figured I couldn't let Adam have all the fun (and a shoutout to all the fantastic artists at SAVED TATTOO in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.)

• Meeting friend CA's new baby. He's just as cool as she is.

• Getting home to find that Patita sent me a card signed by Heather Armstrong (assuming they met up at SXSW, which I WILL make it too someday)

Lows include:

• Parents who repeatedly used words like "dummycrat" and kept insisting that Obama is a "sleeper." Don't even get me started.

• Ridiculously excessive signage in the state of Pennsylvania. I mean, ridiculously. Twenty-three posted rules at each highway rest stop. Big green mileage signs EVERY TENTH OF A MILE. Etc.

So check out Adam's blog too; I'm sure he'll be posting more interesting stuff than I, and I couldn't presume to post his tattoo pics, so you'll have to check there. Here are mine:

Posted by mwashburn at 04:03 PM | Comments (3)

March 05, 2008

Sigh.

I am feeling a little crestfallen today, in the wake of the Texas & Ohio primaries. I was actually excited about politics for the first time in my adult life. I mean, it's not over 'till it's over, and we've still got a chance. So, in the meantime, I've come up with a new slogan explaining my personal Democratic Candidate preferences.

"I like my Presidential candidates like I like my coffee. Strong and Black."

apparently. giggle.

Posted by mwashburn at 07:16 PM | Comments (1)

March 02, 2008

Weekend

Seeing old friends good.
Bloomington Brewing Company Java Porter good.
Bloomington good.
Runcible Spoon good.

The Bug scored an awesome hoodie sweater from Chile, we got to catch up with S & L who we haven't seen in nearly 3 years, Captain Keys got lots of attention, and we enjoyed the best 24 hours we've had in a while.

Posting may be spotty from here on out, as we've got more travel coming up the end of this week, but we'll see what transpires.

Posted by mwashburn at 06:52 PM | Comments (1)