Friday, February 24, 2012

Ram. Blin.

Sweet Enemy and I took a trip to DC to visit AndreZero and ScienceGirl. Here are some notes of the trip

- Trains are cool, but better if your seatmate is a close friend.

- Thirteen hours is a long time, especially if you spend seven of them riding backwards

- Drawing on train not possible due to vibrations. Good thing I brought along a giant book. I did make some attempt during longer stops. Here's a small sketch of a guy walking by while waiting in West Haven, CT




- There is no 'wrong side of the tracks'. Every place where buildings meet train tracks is a buffer of garbage. What is with people?

- A train may make good time but, unless your destination is the first stop, it doesn't matter: they never depart before their set time

- DC Metro is ridiculously easy to navigate, if the Metro card kiosks aren't

- DC Metro is also ridiculously clean and the people are relaxed. It's weird.

- Met by AndreZero and ScienceGirl outside Metro station then walked 100 meters to their apartment. Brought them a gallon of real maple syrup. More expensive than gasoline but so tasty. Bags much lighter on way home.

- Downtown DC near the mall is cool and the nicest city I've been in. Probably because it's tourist-oreinted.

- Hit the National Air and Space Museum. Not near enough helicopters, USCG or SAR. By "not near enough" I mean "None"

- National Portrait Gallery is awesome. It is the only gallery where I didn't get art fatigued. I even sketched a marble bust (I meant to just draw the hair but, kept going). Never looked at the card though. Re-drew the picture 'better' the next day waiting for ScienceGirl to wake up. ScienceGirl not MorningPerson.


- Met AndreZero and ScienceGirl at the NPG and they took us to great small Mexican place. Guacamole made right at our table. Fresh and good. Margarittas, too! Good thing not driving.

-Hanging with AndreZero and ScienceGirl on Saturday and Sunday. That's all we really came for.

- Ate with them at a real cafe near Politics and Prose. By "real" I mean that there was a guy eating lunch with a glass of wine all by himself; you don't see that much at regular restaurants. The food was mediocre, but the service and atmosphere was outstanding. If I lived there, it would be my regular place.

- Was introduced to both Cuban cuisine and the Mojito. Both are awesome. Waiter was wonderful. When Sweet Enemy asked for the tiny remains of our dinner to be wrapped up she apologized for having to wrap up such a small amount but "it was so good". Waiter returned with a take-away box filled with more of what we had. Wonderful.

- Home for more drinking and Lego Creationary *. It is fun but, more fun drunk!

-Dragging AndreZero to the Natural History Museum. He was a good sport.

- At the NHM watched a mom deal wonderfully when her two little girls found the human child skeleton on display.

- None of us noticed the stuffed leopard in a fake tree right over our heads. So much for survival.

- Dinosaurs smaller than when I was eight. Also, T-Rex not dragging tail anymore

- NHM is for kids. Not just the layout and interactivity. It's that they don't answer a lot of questions, they just make you want to find out more on your own. Not a bad thing.

- At NHM discovered that there is a creature called the Pink Fairy Armadillo. No, really.

- Introduced to the TV show Sherlock. Very much goodness.

-Ate home-made nachos for dinner while watching Sherlock. It's good to be a grownup

- Much wine consumed over visit. Tried to introduce ScienceGirl to good beer but doesn't like belching.

The worst part was saying goodbye. We didn't need to be in a place with great museums and restaurants. Hanging out with AndreZero and ScienceGirl was the reason we went. Hope we were good guests. We tried to be good and not needy and all.

Listening to while posting: "French Navy" By Camera Obscura
*Note from that night written down on notepad for some reason: "Everyone's like: 'it's the Italian flag!' and you're like 'No, it's Sushi!'"

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Art show, new art and a preview!

Art Show:

I got into my first real gallery show at The S.P.A.C.E Gallery in Burlington! Sure, it might be because Sweet Enemy has been showing there for a couple of years. Sure, it might be because we've gotten to be pretty good friends with the owner and the resident artists. Sure, it could be because it was a kinda-small, last-minute, hey-let's-do-this sort of show and all I had to do was ask.

Or, it might be because it's The Cute Show and The Glitter Dragons fit right in! I submitted this new poster piece and four individual portraits (to be posted soon).



At the opening Friday, I wondered if I should feel ashamed for creating such nearly unbearable cuteness but, I consoled myself that they're cute with attitude and they seemed to go over big with Lucy Lou the standout favorite. There's also been a request for Glitter Dragons Valentines cards. Sheesh.

(speaking of Glitter Dragons: any artist out there who'd like to draw their own rendition of the GDs please do! Just check the blog for details. Any musicians who'd like to write their theme song, let me know as that'd be awesome)


New Art

It's Big Beautiful Wonder Woman-a-Month time again. This time is a tribute to the Golden Age of comics where anything could and did happen!



The yeti is based loosely on Philbert Appleshrug, a live-size plush yeti by highly talented artist Kelice Penny. Philbert was a wedding gift to Sweet Enemy and I from an amazingly awesome friend (I like to say that he's not just cool because he gave us a yeti, he's cool because he's the kind of guy who'd give us a yeti!)

Preview

Coming soon to Obscure Tales