FlugBug & Dan Brereton

It has been a flurry of flu (fince Friday), spent the night up and down, awake, frozen to the bone, then asleep, then Wide Awake, burning alive and kicking off the layers of blanketses. The fever is gone (thankfully), but left a calling card of sniffling, snurking coldishness to annoy me. I have occupied my time reading, sleeping, eating ham (when I could eat again) and colouring a few drawings (including the one that is on the upper right handside of the Blog!)

Finished Gaiman's Anansi Boys which was a very good read indeed; much fun. It is written so visually; I can see it in my mind, not just as a movie, or TV mini-series, but in colour and form very Sandman-esque as a comic (maybe with an accompanying music CD to go along with.) It also had a teaser at the back with Shadow, the character from American Gods.. kind've mean, tossing a chapter at you and then running off laughing into the darkness. Thanks anyway!

Slogged through a Teen novel of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in French by Gilman & Sherman, originally titled "Deep Water" but translated as Les Sirenes Demoniaques, which was also very good. I only had to look up the words in my French/French dictionary* 40% of the time.. then by the mid-point abandoned the dic entirely, as the plot drug me along and I didn't care if I couldn't remember what a "bouqin" was. It'll make my French classes better (so I hope.) I did see Subjunctive phrases popping out at me, which is good; cause we have our first exam on Feb 6th!

Next on the list was a stack of comics Clayton sent my way as I lay swaddled on the couch, covered in tissues (eww!) Dan Brereton's The Nocturnals. Ok, now I know everyone else is celebrating the Nocturnals' 10th anniversary... but for me, they were brand new! It was delightful reading such beautifully painted work, great characters, interesting story, nice meaty dialogue. (By meaty I don't mean intellectual or high-brow; I mean something gritty, tasty that you could sink your teeth into (and claws and what have you.) I will be keeping my eyes peeled for more Nocturnals stuff and checking on Mr. Brereton's web page frequently.

He has a nice little piece about how he sets out to paint, including a pic of his studio. I find studio pictures inspire me; they seem like such a great thing to share. It's intimate; it's a place where the artist or writer spends wayy too much of their time, away from friends and family (if they want to be successful that is.) I love visiting my friends' studios and work spaces; I don't know if it's a feel in the air, or the residue of creative energy and magic..but sometimes I feel like by just touching it I can take a bit of it with me to help inspire myself.

I should post a BEFORE pic of my studio to garner some sympathy. Although I only have myself and my innate laziness and apathy to blame. I've been drawing for over a year on a combination of the kitchen table, a clipboard and those ricketty little TV trays Clay has had for eons. Now, the art is fine... art is art, no matter where ya do it (I mean, "Night Heat", the comic I did for "aBraxIa IV" was drawn mostly on a pic-nic table in Summerside PEI.)

But having a nice studio, all sitting there, READY for you to enter and do your thang; supplies neatly accessible, paper, pens etc, niiice n'est ce pas? Anything that makes the process easier, is good. IMHO.


So; that's about it=-=-more later when I regain my blurred senses.
Cheerio,
Suzanne.

* Yes, a French/French dictionary only contains FRENCH. I can't find my other Larousse French/English... so it is another frustrating and illuminating experience involving language for the Suester.