Summer Wrap-Up: Pencil Time!

Well! This summer hasn’t been a season of regular posting, has it? I’m sorry — I am, really! — but hopefully this post will make up for it. My main artistic project this summer was an ink-only sketchbook, which I began in Vermont in May (about five posts ago). This has lead to some pretty enjoyable improvements in my brush-handling (if I do say so myself), and my style (?) has changed quite a bit. So it was with great relish that I returned to penciling before I ink. I’ve left a lot of the pencil marks on these drawings to show a little of the process. The main occasion for picking up the 3H was a new set of watercolors (thanks Mom!), and I had a lot of fun:

Remember her? It’s Paradisa from Nymphonomena! I shudder when I look at my art from that story, but I guess that’s part of the game now. Anyways, I was inspired by the watercolors over on Gabby’s site, and I’m looking forward to some more experiments. I’ve been home in PA for a little while now, and I’ve taken a few trips, but this time has given me a chance to read some (non-comic) books. One, which I listened to the audio book of, was Medium Raw, the new one by Anthony Bourdain. There’s a great chapter about eating Ortolan. If you haven’t heard it, listen to the amazing story from This American Life, which starts at 18 minutes and 16 seconds into the free live stream.

This next one is a little self-explanatory. I furiously re-read the seventh and final book because I had it here and didn’t want to bring it back to Vermont. Got to be ready for the first of those last two movies. Also, are there American wizards? (This one gets bigger if you want.)

Finally, here’s a chimp.

Oh, and if you want to look at puuuurrrrdy pictures from my California mini-trip with my girlfriend, they’re all here. They’re in reverse order, but it doesn’t really matter. Back in Vermont September 1st!

Much More Cowgirl

As my summer working for Cowgirl Creamery in the ferry building full time draws to a close, I very much have cheese on the brain. Here’s another strip I did for the newsletter:

I have done more just sell cheese recently, and I invite you to peruse my most recently uploaded pictures on flickr. However, it seems to appropriate to regale you with just how deep I’ve ventured down the Cowgirl rabbit hole. We recently had a potluck where each ‘monger cooked a dish involving one of our cheeses. Not so surprisingly, people who love cheese so much tend to love to cook also and there were some real slam dunks. Hits include a Humboldt Fog cheesecake, homemade Capricious sausage, and if I do say so myself, my Mountaineer gratin:

If that doesn’t make your mouth water, then I’m truly sorry. I also recently took my boss Debra up on her offer to see Petaluma and Point Reyes. These are the towns in Marin County, north of the city, where our cheeses are made. I have been hearing about our two creameries and our warehouse since I first started working in the DC store in fall 2006, so it was really satisfying to see how things work up close.

Of course I’m “havin’ a ball” here, and I can’t wait for a certain someone to arrive so we can go on our trip south, but soon enough I’ll be back on the east coast, and in September I’ll be back in Vermont.

Cowgirl Creamery Comic Strips

Well, I’m nearly half into my summer stint here at Cowgirl Creamery. Once word got ’round that I’m in ‘toon academy, I was invited to create a comic strip for our staff newsletter. I jumped at the opportunity, not only because of the uninhibited esoteric cheese jokes, but also because many, many cartoonists have greatly improved through a regular gig. Here’s the first one, to be “published” this Sat. when we get our paychecks. (Click to get it bigger.)

So yeah, these proved to be easy, fun, and — most importantly — fast. This second one was done specifically for Cowgirl’s montly e-newsletter (circ. 6000), and it came out way smaller than I would have liked (scroll to the bottom). There’s also a fairly silly profile of yours truly. As fun as these are, they are most certainly not what I’m usually into, and I’ve been working hard in the ink-only sketchbook, especially with the brush. More of that to come.

The Yay Area

So, I’ve been a bit delinquent in updating. For that, I am truly sorry. A little. I’m out here in beautiful Berkeley, California, selling cheese again. I’ve been working nearly full time at Cowgirl Creamery’s store in the Ferry Building. I like the store very much. It’s a bit of a shock to be working on my feet so much again, but I think I’m getting used to it. In my moments away from the store I’ve been exploring San Francisco and The East Bay.

I’m staying with Nomi‘s family, and they have been excellent hosts. I will quickly note that I’ve just finished watching the first season of Treme with her family, and I profoundly enjoyed it. I’ve also been getting the Daily emails from The Rumpus, and they are far better than I ever thought daily emails could be. There’s more, but I’ll keep it short for now. I’ll update again sooner rather than later.

p.s.: It’s weirdly not hot here, and I can’t decide how I feel about it.

I Still Love Food!

To new readers of this blog, it might appear like I am only interested in comics. But lo ho ho dear reader! This summer I return to one of my passions — selling cheese! I can hear you snickering from here, but it’s true! I’ll be working for at least two months in the Cowgirl Creamery shop located in San Fransisco’s Ferry Building. I’ve only been to California once, so I’m really excited to live there for a little while and “soak up the sun” as pop poet laureate Crow has said. Anyway, I found out yesterday and it was snowing for real again here, so I celebrated with this hearty meal:

Nothing fancy, but extremely delicious nonetheless. Harpoon beer, good tomato soup, good olives, and a fantastic grilled cheese. (Also note my mental meal: Adrian Tomine cover of The NYer and Bone in one volume on the left-hand side.) For grilled cheese, bread is important, and so is butter (Vermont Butter and Cheese Co. butter is the obvious choice), but it’s all about the cheese. When you’re melting cheeses, it’s important to take texture and melting temperature into account as well as flavor when choosing. For instance, I love Parmesan, but it takes forever to melt and it usually doesn’t melt completely.

My ideal cheeses for grilled cheese are “semi-soft” cheeses: good up to the rind, they have some give when you press them, and well, they melt beautifully. In my mind, the first cheese I think of in this category is Appalachian, made down in VA. Anyway, this sandwhich had two of these cheeses, but the one I can remember the name of is Dorset, a local washed-rind cheese that’s new to me but that I like very much. Also, see that green spot in the soup? I have to thank Pat and Caitlin for their tip about making ice cubes of cilantro — super useful.

Eagle Moving Co.

I proudly present my newest comic, based one of Aesop’s fables, “The Tortoise and the Birds.” See the back cover for most of the original text. A quick note on comics from now on: I’ve decided that anything I don’t intend to sell that’s under ten or so pages I’m going to post in its entirely here on the blog. I’ll still give sizeable previews of anything I make, and it’ll be all be organized in the “comics” tab above soon. Let’s just say I’m inspired by recent governmental declarations in favor of Net Neutrality. Click on any of the story pages for a close-up.