Phoenix Comicon!

Last week was bonkers. I spent the first half of the week traveling for business and was in Minnesota and didn't have a chance to get home before the Phoenix Comicon, which meant the burden of not forgetting anything and also getting to the show on time was laid heavy on the shoulders of Ryan and Adam. Ahem.

I flew to Phoenix and arrived with only my dirty laundry and worried that the guys wouldn't show up or get hopelessly lost in the desert. Eventually, the boys DID arrive with all of my stuff (and by "arrive" I mean they roared up in a Volvo c70 convertible, sunburned all to heck) and we set up quick. I snapped a couple of pictures and then totally forgot that I'd dragged a camera all over the place and only took 2 more pictures the whole weekend. C'est la vie!

I decided to only display one example of the peg people on the table -- all the duplicates were under the table. To me, it looks kind of sparse, but there's still quite a lot going on here.

New Star Wars inspired peg people


And Ghostbusters!



Plus, the staff of Sterling Cooper


Santa and his cohorts


Plus the usual arsenal of heroes and villians.


The second story of the house was for animated/cartoony folks...


Including the Futurama set, which was my first attempt at painting these characters and they proved quite popular. Everyone loves Dr. Zoidberg! Hooray!

Thanks to the good citizens of the Phoenix area, a LOT of these peg people went home with someone else. Which is always my goal, obviously, but it made me feel REALLY good to see how some of these goofy little goodies made someone smile.

I have a new theory that there is a single detail on each one that "sells" people on it. I could watch people look them over and smile and think "that's funny" or whatever and then their eyes would go big and they'd squee over a detail -- the Jawa's yellow eyes or the Ghostbusters' ghost traps or the vampire's little teeth -- and that would be when they'd get a giant smile on their face. I love that look! That look is enough to make me want to paint forever and ever...

Special thanks to the little boy with the missing front tooth who had that magical Disneyland look on his face. YOU MADE MY YEAR.

childhood revisited: Heritage Park

I don't have a hearty list of resolutions this year, but one of the things that I have on my To Do list is to revisit some of the fun places of my past. Starting with playgrounds! (I know, what lofty goals I have!)

When I was young, I went to a babysitter who took care of something like 20 kids my same age and every summer we would go "places" 4 days a week (with the 5th day, Friday, being a movie rental day) and a lot of those places would be parks and playgrounds. There are some interesting playgrounds out there, if you know where to look for them!

In Cerritos, there is Heritage Park, which has your standard playground favorites and a giant grass area adjoining a sports complex, but it also has an island (!) that doubles as a play-adventure area. So Kate agreed to pack a lunch and meet me for a picnic and memory walk through the park.

You cross of one of two bridges to get to the island and enter the play world of Boston in the 1770s. When I was young, the buildings and 'shops' on the island had dirt floors and some had props nailed into the walls and stuff. But in the rebuilding of the island portion in recent years, the storefronts have been revisioned, so that they look like individual shops outside, but are a connected play area that is tied together by a really big play structure. There are all kinds of entry points (ladders, stairs, etc.) that lead to various slides and such and the doorways have signs that denote them as individual merchants, like the shoemaker.


Paul Revere is given a bit of reverence with a giant statue of him at the entrance of the park.


On the island, there is a "shipyard" area that leads to a ship, that may be dinky by 30-something standards, but when you're 8? Whoa nelly - you're on a bonafide ship, baby! Prepare for sail and ready the cannons!




There are also oodles of ducks who live in the moat surrounding the island who are more than happy to relieve you of your breadcrumbs and extra chips.


This poor goose was born with a pretty extreme beak deformity (looks like a cleft pallette) but fortunately, this park has lots of kids with lots of sandwiches and he eats like a king. In fact, he was pretty non-plussed about us walking up to him and taking pictures. Even without a sandwich exchange.


The island also has a 'church' that has a big slide inside. When I was a duckling, the slide inside the church was a cement slide (read: not very fast, boo!) that went from the second level of the church interior down underground and came out on a level about 100 feet away. It was awesome. Whether it was meant to be an interpretation of sinners sliding to hell or a garbage chute for witchburnings, I have no idea. It was just awesome to slide into the darkness of the underground tunnel. (a tip for cement slides: both a handful of sand and plastic wrap from your sandwich under your bum will help you slide faster!) Nowadays, the slide is a generic kind of tunnel slide that comes out of the second story of the church into an adjoining landing area. Not as much of a thrill, in my opinion, but the kids were enjoying it, so... I'm probably just out of touch.

It was fun to go back to a place I hadn't been in to in, literally, decades and see that some of the fun stuff was still the same. Sure, the slides and safety regulations may have changed, but it's still a fun place where kids can play and be creative and enjoy all kinds of revolutionary adventures.

A few more pics

Ursula Octopus Costume Tutorial - Part 3

The final part of the tutorial is actually about the make-up. I used children's watercolors to achieve the effect, because my skin won't tolerate grease paints and I didn't want to spend a lot of crazy colors of eyeshadow that I will never wear again.

To use, add just a few drops of water into the color pallette and swirl to create a thick paint, then just brush on. Make a mistake? No problem! Watercolors rinse right off so it's easy to fix -- and easy to remove at the end of the night!

For the hair, I used a blonde "rocker" wig that I found on clearance. I couldn't find white hair and didn't have time to spray paint this white, but I think the light blonde kind of works. This particular wig had long pieces (sort of mullet-ish) in the back which I pinned up to give more volume to the back of the hair, although by the time we got to these pictures, the bobby pins were losing their grip!



The skirt under the tentacles covered by legs and also created a "water" effect, as if the octopus is swimming along.


I found some false eyelashes at Wal-Mart for $3 that had fantastic little sparkles on them and purple lashes. They added a little pizzazz to my eyes.


Here is my original make-up test: I opted to use the thinner eyebrow and the bolder paint color (to soften the color, add water and dilute).

Long Beach Comic Con wrap-up

Last weekend was the inaugural Long Beach Comic Con and Ryan and I shared a table there in Artist Alley. It was a lot of fun and a really good show! Sadly, we didn't make it to a single panel discussion or even get an autograph from Corin Nemec (for reals!), but the reason was good: the table was popular!

Firstly, I have to give credit where credit is due: LBCC made this an 'artist centric' convention, so the bulk (and literal center) of the expo hall was the artist area. Lots of big-name and well-loved creators came out, so the fans were in an extremely good mood (imagine getting to see your favorite artist, up close and personal, AND the show was less busy than, say, SDCC, so you actually got to chat and get sketches and stuff) PLUS the attendees walked every aisle, making sure they didn't miss anyone. Which meant, of course, that they strolled past our table too. So, thanks to the LBCC planners for a great job on focusing traffic.

My side of the table, as usual, had the benefit of bright colors. In a sea of comic book portfolios and sketches (mostly black and white), my giddy crafts stand out. So they caught a lot of eyeballs. This show, I had 2 offers: my dot paintings and my peg people. Both were very well received, I am grateful to announce! By Sunday afternoon, I was packing up nearly empty houses and had sold almost everything that I brought (sorry to everyone who asked, the houses aren't for sale).It was amazing -- THANK YOU to all the good people who came by and took some of this stuff home for me!!

Friday had a much higher attendance than we'd anticipated (seeing as how it was a 'work and school' day for most people, I figured if 50 people came, we'd be in good shape) and I sold several things right out the gate, which was surprising to say the least! Literally, as soon as I set some things on the table, they found new homes. I was blown away. By early Saturday, I was running low on several things and had to start painting Saturday night to replenish!

One of my display techniques was to use this cupcake, to demonstrate what-in-the-world-would-I-do-with-a-peg-person (hint: a cake topper!). This was a store-bought cupcake that had gone stale and then I coated it with acrylic gloss, so it was shiny and solid. Unfortunately, it was lost/stolen after the show closed on Friday night. My table neighbors were more upset than I was -- I just hope no one tried to eat it! But no matter, I have a more permanent version coming soon. This was just a quick-and-dirty way to show how the peg people could be used. And it served its purpose, so... bon voyage little cupcake!

One of the fan-favorite items was the tiny mailbox with tiny business cards. I have to admit, I'm pretty fond of it too. :)

I also sold some of the blank peg people (seen in the above pictures in a bowl and on the table) so that convention-goers could try their own hand at creating a masterpiece. I figured that the kids would think it was a great idea, but I was surprised at how many adults were buying them -- inspired by what they saw and chock-full of ideas of their own! The kids mostly wanted what was already painted, although there were a few kids who were determined that they could (and would!) do better than what I had. Every one of them said they'd email me a picture - and I hope they do!

I accepted only one commission during the show, which was from 2 fun gals who had recently learned of the meme to find out your stripper name (name of your first pet + first street you lived on) and they were collecting sketches and caricatures of themselves as strippers, so they asked me to paint them that way too. Strippers have relatively little to paint, so I said yes. I always love it when someone has a good, solid, silly idea!

I also was honored to be asked to contribute to someone's sketch book (full of awesome art from all the Cool People there) and I felt terrible that I CANNOT DRAW so I scribbled a peg-person form of me and Ryan (dorky) and the girl asked if maybe I could add something with dots. Well, markers don't really give the same effect, so I painted an artist trading card (ATC) made of canvas with Spider-Man for her to stick in her book instead.

Along the way, my table was photographed several times, including by the OC Weekly, the LA Weekly, a handful of blogs, and I did a video interview with the Daily 49er (Cal State Long Beach's news). So that was all really cool!

Plus, I'm waiting for the photos to roll in. I'm having a contest over yonder on ye olde craft blog, asking folks to submit pictures of their giddy girlie art to win $20! I've gotten a few so far, but there is still time to submit!

Oh! And we also saw a skateboarding shrimp!



And then were driving behind this... a sentinel from X Men. You're welcome.

Rod Serling embroidery

Now that it's totally done, shipped, and received I miss dear little Rod Serling. This piece was inspired by Scott Campbell's drawing of Rod Serling which immediately set my imagination in motion. I love the scribbles and multiple line weights on the original, so I sent off an email to Mr. Campbell, asking permission to stitch it and fortunately he said yes!

When it was done, I sent it to him as a keepsake and a reminder of why being nice to someone at Comic Con never pays off*! ;-)

This was stitched (and framed) in an 8" hoop on white fabric that has a white geometric print on it. Most of the stitches were seed stitches, made with 2 strands of embroidery thread, although some of the delicate lines are a single line of thread, made with a beading needle. The typewriter keys were my first attempt at french knots, so they're a teensy bit uneven but the best that I could do. The original image had circle lines for the keys, but because of the small scale (most of my stitches span 4-5 weaves in the fabric), I physically couldn't fit them in the space, so I opted for knots.

There are some small things that I had to change and some that I changed by mistake. I think I have spent entirely too much time staring at the original, that now I know it by heart. So now when I look at my work, I only see where I didn't 'shade' enough or where the spacing is different. *serenity now!*



*We met him at San Diego Comic Con this year and he was so nice and friendly and let me totally nerd out and have an OMGIloveyourworkandyouaresoawesomeandIamhyperventilating moment. Which was, really, too kind.

R.R.R.E.D.

This week the show officially opens and ho ho ho - what a site to see!! I'm telling you that there is no time better spent than listening to Katie Thompson belt it out from the stage. Hands-down. And fer realz, this could be the last time that you will get to see her in an intimate venue before Broadway snaps her up and makes her into one of those "I knew her when" people.

Besides, the show is a HELLUVA lot of fun. If you have means to get to LA (hey! We have an airport!) I highly recommend it. Discount tickets are available and I know people on the inside (hint hint!) that can save you even more -- but it's a steal at thrice the price.

If you don't love me enough to come all the way to Californiee, do it for the celebs, onstage and in the crowd. It's your chance to share a Coke with renowned redheads from the stage and screen and low-rung celebrity ranking lists (hint!).

Another Fantastic Friday

Friday nights have been pretty fantastic for me the past few weeks (months?) because that's my set Los Angeles hang-out night and I get to see Kate perform in Scandal! (final show is Friday, April 25th - don't miss it!!) and I get to eat awesome cookies and stay up late. But last night might have been the best one yet.

I took the day off of work, so Ryan and I drove up to LA (and by drive up, I mean drive around the entire city because I thought he knew where he was going but instead he has a sonic locator device that delivers you into gridlock traffic at every turn.) during the day and got to hang out at the Natural History Museum and poke around a bit. We didn't get there as early as planned (ahem) so we didn't get to see it all, BUT we did see enough beautiful and frightening stuff to make it a successful trip.

After that, we met up with Kate and grabbed a quick dinner before releasing Ryan into the wilds of LA all alone. Kate and I had a date with Julie Andrews so Ryan was left to fend for himself. We made our way to the theater, got an EXCELLENT parking spot, then fell in line to pick up our tickets. At which point, we found out that Ms. Andrews wouldn't be autographing her books as planned, but had pre-signed a number of books that were available for sale. Kind of a bummer, but still ok. Apparently not everyone else was as cool as us. People were screaming and raving and ranting and acting like assholes about the fact she wouldn't be available to sign their book. It was a mob scene. Seriously, all this because the poor woman didn't want to be mobbed by morons. If I were her, I'd never leave my house and become all Howard Hughes about it. It never occurred to me how people sincerely feel that they are entitled to celebrities. She's Mary Poppins, therefore I own her. It was scary.

The interview was lovely, and Ms. Andrews looked brilliant as always. She told lots of funny stories that didn't make it into the book and other side notes about the people she worked with. I need to write them down so that I don't forget, so remind me: The Rex Harrison fart story. I only took a few pictures because apparently I am stupid stupid stupid and forgot to charge the extra battery pack that I brought. I hope that Kate's pictures turn out better than mine.

After the Julie Andrews interview, we headed over to the Acme Theater so that Kate could prep for her show (Scandal! Final episode this Friday, April 25th!!) and I checked in with Ryan who had apparently been comic shopping with Adam for hours (let this be a lesson: never go into a comic store with these two. Separately is ok, but together... you'll be there all day). The boys came to meet me at our favorite cookie spot for Cherry Bombs and Mont Blancs before the show.

Since it was the show's second to last episode (final one this Friday!) there was a giant audience - everyone is dying to know how it ends! - and also the characters were in GREAT form. Everyone was working hard to bring the show to an exciting final conclusion, so lots of great things happened. Daring escapes! Fistfights! Burning buildings! Girl-on-girl kissing! Gunshots! The living dead! It was really really really great. And I don't say that just because Kate is in the show. Seriously, I wouldn't drive to LA in 2.5 hours of traffic (ahem) if the show wasn't good. I got some cell phone pictures and cursed myself the whole time for not having camera batteries.

Afterward, we went for rejuvenation at the neighboring restaurant/bar to catch up with the cast and chat around the group. I was also able to give my presents to Kate and Dan (who plays Stone Rocket in the show). They are both truly wonderful improv actors and hilarious characters to boot. And since they were so kind as to sit through my dissertation on Why Needle Felting Is So Awesome last week, I made them each a figure of their character as a keepsake from the show. Giddy Girlie: #1 Fan Girl of Sketch Comedy! I had so much fun making them, that I almost didn't care if they liked them or not, but they were both very sweet about accepting them. For the record: I fully comprehend the weirdness of receiving a felt sculpture of yourself. Which is why they're not obligated to keep it or display it. My feelings won't be hurt.

During the post-show excitement, we learned that Ryan and Adam had failed to feed themselves during their 4 hours together (not enough time!) so they were languishing. We took them over to Toi Thai, which is like a punk rock club (including bouncer) but is a Thai restaurant and had some excellent food and I introduced everyone to Larb. Seriously, why doesn't everyone know about the deliciousness of lime and chili sauce?! We were given fortune cookies after our meal, and everyone agreed we'd opened the wrong cookie. So we switched our fortunes and then headed to 7-11 to play the lottery with our 'lucky numbers' which was hilarious because Adam had never played the lottery so we had to school him on how the scantron worked AND because right when we got there, the machine broke and so we couldn't buy tickets anyway. Everyone kept their form and is supposed to buy a ticket sometime this week - don't forget.

It was now nearly 3am and we stood around saying goodbye for another good, long time. We had a rock, scissors, paper tournament to see who would get to drive Adam home (we lost) and then we set off toward home.

Ryan and I were so amped up from the day that we ended up staying up talking for hours after we got home and decided to call it a night when the sun came up. And then we layed in bed giggling about our own sketch ideas until we heard the neighbors wake up and start making breakfast. So around 7am, we reeled it in and went to sleep. As soon as we stopped talking, we fell asleep immediately. Until 11, when Ryan's alarm went off so he could go to band practice. Good times!