Follows my family's journey from a small town in upstate New York, to a city in South America,( Bariloche, Argentina), and our adjustment back to the United States, in San Diego California
This morning we sold Girl Scout cookies out front of Ralph's supermarket and like every activity in San Diego it was in the direct sun. So I hovered over the cookies with an umbrella hoping like crazy I wasn't selling melted blobs of chocolate. We did pretty well and sold 45 boxes in 2 hours. I don't know if it's the cute little girls or the fond memories of once having eaten a girl scout cookie but people can't resist these things. I wish my books sold as well.
The frame for the view screen for "Once Upon A Mattress" continues to occupy my living room.
It's making progress though.
I'm hoping it will be done and placed into storage by tomorrow!
In the mean time I've also managed to design this. It's an iron-on for the tunics that the tech crew will be wearing. Isn't it cool everyone gets a costume! I'm so glad that I'm not doing the costumes.
Every day when we drop the girls off at school we pass a little boy walking in with his grandma. I shouldn't say "walking with" her exactly, it's more like she's leading/dragging him along and he's looking wistfully behind him.
The first time I saw this I thought "Awww! The poor little guy doesn't want to go to school!" Except that after school I've seen them walking too. Just the same way, with him looking longingly back at the school and she's walking along at a determined pace.
I know what you're thinking, now. That I'm going to point out how if you're always looking backwards you can't see what's coming. It's not good to be dwelling on the past, instead of paying attention to the present, or that if you don't look where your going you're bound to step in something nasty, etc, etc,. Well, you'd be wrong. My point is only this..."That kid's not right!".
Anyway this week I've been working on my duties as set designer for "Once Upon A Mattress" with Looking Glass Theatre. I created this scene title to be projected during the "Spanish Panic"...
... And I'm working on a giant frame that will go around the view screen above the stage to make it look more "medieval castle-ish". It's currently filling most of my living room. Which brings me to my other duties of organizing storage space, builders, and painters. It's getting there. Fortunately thanks to those crazy anti-girl scout cookie folks (ie A Million Moms) my daughters' cookies are selling like mad this year leaving more space in the living room for my giant frame.
In other news our kickstarter for "The People That Melt in The Rain" graphic novel is down to the last 57 hours. If you haven't yet I suggest you take a look. It's a great YA story told in the comic book format, with awesome illustrations by my husband Mike Dubisch!
Yesterday at recess Phoebe was talking with her good friend Alexis. Alexis is the tallest girl in Phoebe's fourth grade class (possibly taller than me)...
Alexis: "I read that men like petite women"
Phoebe: "Really? Let's be be petite then!"
So they hunched down and bent their legs and walked around in circles squeaking in tiny voices "We're petite! We're petite!"
Alexis: "Are the boys looking at us Phoebe?"
Phoebe: "Lots of people are looking at us."
Alexis: "Being petite is hard and this is hurting my legs."
Phoebe: "Let's be large!"
So they stretched out their legs and stomped about the playground and said in deep, deep voices "We're large!!"
Alexis: "Are the boys looking at us now?"
Phoebe: "Everyone's looking at us now!"
Alexis: "Excellent!" (in a deep voice).
The End
This is another title image to be projected on the overhead screen for "Once Upon A Mattress". This time both Phoebe and Chloe tried out for the play and they've been cast as "Ladies in waiting"! The first rehearsal is this week.
Our kickstarter for "The People That Melt in The Rain" the graphic novel is down to the last 12 days. It's done pretty well though one of our backers changed their mind today (which is a drag). There aren't too many all-ages books out there with strange tiny people, screaming trees, and mysterious curses. Anyway this is a penciled page that you can receive if you pledge and help us out!
I bring my sketchbook with me to theater meetings....
To church ...
And sitting through Naomi's swim lesson at the Y....
Yes, I'm paying attention. In fact if I don't draw, I zone out and am probably not listening. Anyway I'm posting my sketchbook on my art blog and on facebook.
If you'd like to see more check in from time to time. :)
Well, it's a new year, 2012, and as of yesterday it's also the Chinese New Year, the year of the dragon (very cool!). Anyway... We're back! Our first show this year has some great guests...
Our first guest will be Bay area artist, Cody Vrosh. "Vrosh is a mainstay at artists’ expos of the Bay Area and beyond, plying his concept to an unsuspecting world. The concept in which a quaint and waiflike fragility is forced to wear its daily apocalyptic wardrobe of gasmasks and revealing clothes. It speaks of innovation and talent, his pieces bridging the gaps between concept, pop and comic art all at once."
Next on the show,we will be speaking with children's book illustrator and fine artist Giles LaRoche. Little did Giles know that when he grew up, other people would gaze at his books about faraway lands and that he would also travel to many of the places he would come to illustrate and write about in such books as Bridges Are To Cross, Sacred Places, What's Inside? Fascinating Structures Around the World, and If You Lived Here: Houses of the World. Whether Giles is exploring in Europe or hiking in New England, he always has a sketchbook in hand.
Our final guest will be children's book illustrator and monster artist, Kevan Atteberry. Based in the Seattle area, Kevan's delightful drawings have appeared in a wide variety of books, magazines and other media throughout the world. Famous for creating "Clippy the Paperclip" for Microsoft Office, Kevan Atteberry has been illustrating since he was knee-high to a crayon. Join us this month and listen in as we talk with these incredibly talented people.
Yesterday evening we went to Sea World. It pains me to even write that sentence, as Sea World's record for animal cruelty is distressingly bad, but this year's "Cookie Kick-off" for San Diego Girl Scouts was taking place at Shamu Stadium, so I caved.
Here are the girls by the "Whale car" at the entrance.
We arrived early to pick up our tickets and waited in a throng of Girls Scouts out front.
Posing with a penguin. Naomi loves it. Phoebe's okay with it. Chloe's gonna kill me.
So I jumped in the next picture with the whale guy to make her feel better.
We filed into the stadium and got a seat at the edge of the "splash zone". The girls in the crowd were so-o excited. We spent about 40 minutes in a rally to gear up for selling cookies, but unfortunately no cookies were served and we all really wanted cookies after that!
They were selling hot chocolate to the crowd,though, but much to my disappointment, no coffee.
Here you can see the trainers dancing onstage. The trainer's ability to dance is as important as their experience with animals and any marine biology degree they may have. It fact the whales are so intelligent that they are not so much following the trainers direction as following cues like any human actor. Unlike a human actor though they don't get to go home and live a normal whale life after the show.
In this shot you can see the whales onstage in their final pose at the end of that segment.
The whales came to the edge of the pool to pose for the crowd. I was crying while I watched this show and I think it was either the whales or the shrieking girl behind me who burst my eardrum (I'm so not kidding she had a super powered voice!).
Anyway by the time they were setting off the fireworks I could barely hear. It was like listening to faint popping corn.
The big news for the week is that my new e-book of "The Horribles" is out...
Carolyn Watson Dubisch is a writer and artist for children's books, comics, and more. She's also a radio show host for "Art of the Red River". She lives in perpetually sunny California with her husband, world famous fantasy artist, Mike Dubisch, and three redheaded daughters. She blogs about her life, her art, and her ongoing search for the shady side of the street in the urban beach that is San Diego.
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