Author: Hggns
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A Good Used Bookstore, For the Love of God
Size does matter. Mine is a bit small by most people’s standards I’m sure, but honestly, I’d rather it be a bit small than too large. Because really, it’s what you do with it. And mine does a lot. I don’t often brag about it because I don’t want to attract a crowd, but it’s…
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Hue and Cry
It’s a rainy day here, though it can’t really be called dreary. After a fairly spectacular Indian Summer, the trees are in full color, and the grass is still green. The colors tend to play off the silvery sky in surprising ways. I’ve settled into a fall routine centered around my workshop. I’ve tried something…
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Falling Into Old Habits
I’m slowly ( once a week right now) getting going in the studio again as other commitments drop away. Hello, fall! I’m re-taking up watercolor, too, which has a similar subtractive composition to printmaking. In simpler terms, the whites- and thus the full range of values- disappears the more paint or ink you add. So…
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Formal Invitation
My experiment with mainstream comics is over, for now, and I’m returning to my favorite category of graphics- the alternative comics. My tour through the mainstream publishers’ offerings- the superhero genre of DC and Marvel, and the sci-fi and action thriller books of creator-owned Image, was rewarding in some ways, and continued much longer than…
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Time Machine
September! It’s the best month for a vacation, don’t you think? When I had a regular job, I always reserved a couple of weeks in September for traveling, or just for hanging around the house or in museums. But one casualty of the creative life is often free time. Make no mistake- I’m free to…
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The Wonder of It All
When Gloria Steinem needed a powerful feminine icon to put on the cover of her new magazine for and about self-empowered women, she chose Wonder Woman. The first Ms. Magazine even published a companion volume of WW stories from her Golden Age, when she often lectured young girls about the importance of letting no man…
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Women and Comics: Coming in from the Cold
Pop culture is often where small battles play out in the larger culture war. Libraries have discovered comics -as a way to spur reading in young people and English second language readers- but so have the censors who see not a revival of creativity, but a challenge to the established bland infantility of the 50’s.…
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The summer has been a cool one with breezes or showers at night for comfortable sleeping. With the Summer Art Market show over and the workshops begun, I’m catching up on postponed tasks, such as paying off credit cards. I’m working a temp job in a bookstore for that, and it makes it hard to…
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Summer’s Here; Time is Right for Printmaking
I’m spending most of my time working on my Summer Art Market show with monotype artist Taiko Chandler. We’re in Booth 99. Looks like the weather’s finally clearing up; I’ve made quite a bit of new work and Taiko will bring a whole different look with her abstract, very organic work. And filling only half a booth…
