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October 15, 2007

A Few Good Excuses

Ok, ok.
I know this blog is turning into an I-can't-tell-you-how-many-reasons-
I-have-for-not-being-a-better-blogger blog, but hey, what can you do? Certainly you can do nothing. I have all the power. And that's just they way it is, brother.

Well, I have one gigantically good excuse for not posting for the last two weeks - I have been preparing Volume 11 which also happens to be a custom project for our friends over at BookPlate, Tom and Sarah. It was a much more highly labor-intensive project than I had previously imagined, so it took way longer than I said it would, and ultimately I was up till all hours trying to get it finished before we left for reason #2 (see below). Generally speaking, my illustration style is quick and dirty and doesn't take that much time (shh, don't tell any clients I told you that). For this project, I ended up deciding to go back to painting, and whoo doggy, I forgot how long that takes me. When I paint, I tend to be all bizarro-Pollackesque - read: hunched over my teensy tinsy "canvas" with teensy tinsy brushes for hours on end. The only part of me that moves is my wrist. When I go to bed at night, I have to ask Matthew to unfold me first so I don't inadvertently hog all the blankets.

Now, I realize I look way too happy in this picture. That's because I'm in a delirium brought on by too much exposure to Cadmium Red Medium. Notice the hellhole that is my office:

I wish I were one of those neat painters, like our friend Michael Mongue, whose studio, I swear, never looks any messier than this. Alas, I am not, so yesterday I spent half the day cleaning off my desk so that I could start my next project, which would be reason #5 or 6, but at this point, who really cares?

So, anyway, reason #1 was completed in the wee hours (6am) of Friday morning. We currently have an ad in the paper for it, because it is of local interest:

The best part about our ad is where it is placed. See the ad just above it? I mean, how often do you get nudie George Washington right next to instructions on how to become tremendously blessed (in just ONE WEEK!)? Whoever put that ad in there is probably sticking pins in our voodoo dolls as we speak.

So, anyway. Like I said, I finished up at 6am on Friday, in order to be awakened at 8 to attend reason #2: the Small Press Expo in Bethesda (MD). I did not take the news very well.

But, we ended up having a great weekend at the Expo and got some decent enthusiasm going about our books, so on the whole it was a big ego-booster, in spite of my lack of sleep. I managed to rally for the adoring masses:

It was great fun, and the bonus was that we also got to spend the weekend with my best friend from since like age 3, Stella (aka Liz). Matthew was much more detailed about it all here, I think in part because he plans to knock me off and marry Stella, who has a way with home cooking that I can only dream of. I mean, he's pretty easy to dazzle (see: me), but she's really got the goods.

And - ok, so reason #3 isn't a great reason, but I had a cute picture so I thought I'd make it a reason. I am now the daytime babysitter of Petey from down the street. He and Iggy spend all afternoon scrabbling around on our wood floors and being general maniacs. I chalk this distraction up as another reason I haven't been posting to this blog.

In this photo, they share a brief moment of stasis:

You can see that Petey is just winding up for another sneak attack.

And finally, reason #4:

No, no, it's not the freshman 15 - and yes, the rumors are true: preggo. I'm due in April, which means yesterday I finally had to break down and buy those crazy stretch maternity pants so that when I teach I look pregnant instead of just sloppy and bunched. Now, it's not really a good reason not to blog (in fact, I know way too many people who blog relentlessly about their "condition") but it's pretty much a good reason for everything else ("I'm so tired right now, I have to take a nap; I'm pregnant" and "I think I have to puke, I'd better lie down; I'm pregnant" and "I can only eat ice cream, I'm pregnant" and "You better take out the recycling now, I'm pregnant" and "I couldn't possibly do my work now, I'm pregnant") - it's really quite handy. So, I'm going to use it as an excuse for not posting more frequently. Sorry folks. Just wait till I pop this baby out - then I'll really have a good excuse.

So those are my many excuses.
As usual, I will promise to be more attentive, and then I'll disappoint you again later on. The great thing about being an artist is that people usually have really low expectations of you.

The best!

Posted by ribbu at October 15, 2007 02:47 PM