Hello, again. Where to begin? Well, we can re-cap the last post with a screnshot of the Dolly Parton portrait on SFWeekly.com:
![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j4M2zoRd4Vs/SJupxDnTLEI/AAAAAAAAAQA/Qx5JBiTH_-8/s400/SFWeekly.com-Screenshot.jpg)
Hopefully, this will be seen by someone either online or in print. "The best promotion is published work" is what I keep reading. We'll see I guess.
I'm a little bummed out as I have not gotten any responses from my end-of-July postcard mailing. I know to give it time, but I really get anxious when I'm not working on paying gigs. Plus, its been almost 10 days since I sent the invoice to SFWeekly, and that was really my last "official" freelance work. The client list and website are freshly updated so really its been the waiting game all over again. Obviously I'm working on projects for the site, but time moves so slowly here in Beacon!
The days seem twice as long as there really isn't anything exciting going on here. I am in this routine of getting up, working on projects over coffee at the local coffee shop until lunch (I love th econvenience of working digitally), and then working at home until dinner. Then I try to spend time with Aliyah and then I'll work until I'm off to bed. Errands work their way in as little distractions here and there but its really just working with bits of excercise and chores. On a positive note, I did get my fishing license :) For those who don't know I love to fish for bass. Sadly, I'm out of my element here in NY so I'll have to adjust. Still, just catching little guys feels good.
So even though its slow here, I 'm working alot and THINKING alot. Boredom either begets lethargy or creativity and I'm glad to say that so many concepts for pieces keep entering the ol' noggin. So I can defintely keep myself busy if work does slow down. But I got my fingers crossed that something comes along. I'm waiting to hear back from a dude at the ispot as I have decided to go with an online portfolio for now (as opposed to adbase which I want to do later). Hopefully, that will bring in some work too.
For now, I was very lucky to have found a bit of a time-passer this week. One night ( I think it was Monday), I was tired and bored so I was looking at our bookshelf for something to read. I remembered I had printed out PDFs of some art books years ago that I had only flipped through. I grabbed one titled "Creative Illustration" by Andrew Loomis and gave myself a bit of a re-fresher. Awesome. So much good stuff in that book and I'm only finished with Chapter 1. Its a goldmone of info, and you can't buy it at Borders or Barnes & Noble as its out of print (from like the 1940s). I have a couple Loomis books that I printed out years ago. ANYWAY, this brings me to my point: I happened across TWO Loomis books in an old shop called "Beacon Reads" along with what looks to be a pretty awesome book on pen-and- ink and another on cartooning and illustration:![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j4M2zoRd4Vs/SJuqsyzE4PI/AAAAAAAAAQg/hzwguysDfnw/s400/Camera-072.jpg)
![](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j4M2zoRd4Vs/SJuqsjvXsMI/AAAAAAAAAQI/A6GXvFHrW3E/s400/Camera-069.jpg)
![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j4M2zoRd4Vs/SJuqshXeOCI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/JuZ3mbv2Wlc/s400/Camera-070.jpg)
![](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j4M2zoRd4Vs/SJuqsoOnp3I/AAAAAAAAAQY/pNVVvRIwDc4/s400/Camera-071.jpg)
![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j4M2zoRd4Vs/SJuqsyzE4PI/AAAAAAAAAQg/hzwguysDfnw/s400/Camera-072.jpg)
![](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j4M2zoRd4Vs/SJuqsjvXsMI/AAAAAAAAAQI/A6GXvFHrW3E/s400/Camera-069.jpg)
![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j4M2zoRd4Vs/SJuqshXeOCI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/JuZ3mbv2Wlc/s400/Camera-070.jpg)
![](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j4M2zoRd4Vs/SJuqsoOnp3I/AAAAAAAAAQY/pNVVvRIwDc4/s400/Camera-071.jpg)
All four of these hardbound, out-of-print ANTIQUES cost me a whopping eight bucks! Then Aliyah noticed "The Ultimate Portfolio" on a "Free Books" cart. I insisted on paying the standard two dollars for this hardback as well as the money appears to go to a charity. I was a little too excited to really pay attention :) So I have plenty to work on, plenty to read, and plenty of visual concepts in my brainworms to weather the storm (actually, an eerie calm).
Until the calm recedes, I'm doing pieces in which I take turns with the syles (i.e. one linear, one graphic, another linear, another graphic) to keep my skills up. So here's a linear piece:
![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j4M2zoRd4Vs/SJuqs2dIAwI/AAAAAAAAAQo/32G_Aow6SYU/s400/Snuffed.jpg)
And whats next? I think a certain "gangsta" or maybe science :)
Enjoy the Day,
Chris
Chris
4 Comments on This Strange New World..., last added: 8/26/2008
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hello my dear friend far away
1) love the Dolly Parton print
2) if you're bored you can always do a print for me! I'm into Tom Waits...just sayin' is all.
3) come home to Philly in Sept when I return from Colorado.
4) miss you. hope all is well. catch some fishes!!! big ones!
Love the new work buddy.
PS. Matt C. told me that promotion in the summer is kind of a drag especially when your sending cards to NYC based publications. This is because from what Matt told me, every tries to get out early to go to the Hamptons, and alot of promo cards get put on the desk then thrown out.
Keep your head up and try another promo run at the end of August, early September and see if anything bites.
hey man, thanx for the comment. the vectr stuffs are pretty sweet
congrats!!!! and it's good to see there's plenty of wax left!