How to use this Page

Been adding to "Seeds" although not as often as I like or should. Progress is dependent upon sudden brain storms or those rare but very welcome "eureka!" moments that give clarification to the story line.

Somehow, and after reading over what currently exists, there seems to be - at least in my mind - that the direction the play is taking, is too predictable bordering on blech. The subject, an accidental meeting of two people in a park, one of whom seems to have what could be classified an unusual gravitation to pigeons, is interesting. However - as mentioned numerous times in this blog, it's always the 'howevers' in life that get you - it's too ordinary and needed a shake-up. So...

A new character has been added. Elwood P. Dowd had his rabbit, Harvey, and now Sylvia Perkins has joined his league with her friend of a feather, Mr. Bird, a pigeon.

Following yet another run in with Hal, a  park supervisor, who wants to maintain cleanliness and limit the appearance of pigeon poo in his territory, Julie feels a moral responsibility to help Sylvia. The two return to Julie's apartment and at the mention of the word "bath" and a failed attempt to remove Sylvia's weather-worn rain coat, Mr. Bird suddenly puts in an appearance, in a manner of speaking.  Maybe it'll work and maybe it won't - hav'ta see where this will take me, if anywhere.

Yet another snippet of dialogue from "Seeds." Julie attempts to convince Sylvia to stay for supper and warm up

Still making progress with "Seeds" but there are signs of a slow down, which is par for the course. It's the point where that distressing word, "blocked" begins to seep through  the conscious writing areas of my brain  and plant doubts like, "maybe the story line isn't strong enough" or plant questions that include "do you know where you're going with this?"

Rather than plug away and continue to write as is suggested in writing manuals and advocated by writing professionals, I use this as a time for reflection. Translation: time to take a rest and think about stuff. Important stuff like an analysis of the characters names and whether they match their personalities. The issue of  "Hal" the latest character addition, is on the analysis block. Initially, Hal was "Chuck" and before that he assumed the temporary name of "Steve." Not that there's anything wrong with any of the above-mentioned names but the names had to have a certain mental image to match the dialogue.

The female characters are also under scrutiny including "Sylvia" who was one of the two players in the original short version of "Seeds" Assessing her character strength and longevity involved walks around the neighborhood repeating her name to decide if the name suited her personality. Did receive some suspicious looks from passer-bys but that's goes with the play writing territory. Somehow, "Julie", was never in question and seemed right - so far.

At present I'm thinking as to whether should there be a head pigeon leading the park pigeons into a rebellion and if so, whether she/he should have a name. Further thoughts require a deep study into a strong pigeon name. Perhaps "Mac" or "Xena"..."Sunny" and whether the pigeons should have the ability to communicate to their humans in English or stick strictly to their well-known, "brrpps."

It's always a good thing to have one's writing priorities in the right place.

My muse paid me a visit this week and it's about time, too. It's been somewhat of a dry spell pursuing the continuing story of Julie, the park jogger, and her chance meeting with Sylvia, the ultimate pigeon lover. The story is slowly developing in an on-again, off-again fashion.

Yet another snippet:

An encounter with Hal the park supervisor, warns Sylvia that more significant steps will be taken if she refuses to cease and desist the feeding of her feathered friends.

 

Been adding dialogue and fleshing out the characters in the extended version of "Pigeon Feed" a.k.a. For the Birds. Always amazed while in the writing process, how some plays (few and far between) write themselves and the characters almost dictate the direction they should take.

Meanwhile, here is a snippet from the opening of the play. The best way to describe it would be a comedy/drama, in that as in life, there are elements of comedy mixed with drama. Formatting is strictly to share this piece from the play.

Lately, many of my pictures are kind of illustrated rants, which don’t feel appropriate for this blog full of children’s illustrations and stories. So…ahem…welcome to my other place, where I can rant freely, offensively and obnoxiously about some of the glaringly obvious ridiculousnesses (a new word) in this brave new world. To visit, just click on the pretty queen…

Elderflush and Stan Motion

They dance like tomorrow’s birdsong
– times one hundred.

Hands meet briefly
making wings.

~~~~~

From the series:
PORTRAITS and SCENES from the ANCIENT REGION of HAIRINESS. Here there is much JOY, MIRTH…and HAPPINESS SOARS HIGHER than PieQuills, because LOVE is given to ALL, from tiny, tiny onwards…

“Refresh” is the word prompt for Illustration Friday this week. I drew a quick one. It’s a good time of year to watch birds doing a little sun bathing, yes? Playing/sitting/standing in/sitting next to/etc. water is always refreshing to me.

Illustration Friday got a face lift this week! (It looks great, Penelope!) Check it out–along with all the other creative entries. And don’t forget to enter an illustration yourself. It’s fun!

It’s fun to separate a gang of pigeons and watch them fly off to different corners..

as long as they don’t poop on you on their way up.

Busy month and year ahead. Doing a series of these two kids and their adventure around New York City. Where will they end up next? Your guess is as good as mine. Preparing for next years SCBWI Winter Conference (which is less than 2 months away). Working on new art to show my agent, new promo pieces, new art for the portfolio showcase…busy busy busy. I’ve a slightly different style than what I started out with this year and a slightly different method of (digital) painting. I like it! Hope everyone does too.

I haven’t done a time-lapse video in a while…maybe I should for the next one. In the meantime, I’ve been posting work in progress captures on the Facebook page!

HAPPY FRIDAY!