Chris Bachalo is one of my favorite comic artist of all time. If it says Bachalo on the cover, I buy it. The art is just amazing.

I found this image somewhere on the web (maybe ign.com, dunno), and I decided to ink it, just for fun (and practice)

Bachalo pencils:

Digitally inked by me:

Oh yes.  You need a Savior. Just like the character in my little drawings. Recognizing the limits of his own righteousness, he is at a moment of decision.

His mask cast aside, he strides into the arms of his waiting Lord. His rags burning away, replaced by the infinite superiority of Christ’s righteousness.

Beware false saviors. Too often we run into the arms of the worldly solutions to our problems, these will just make life worse.

How about a couple of videos/songs to express my feelings about this?

I have a deadline tomorrow afternoon, so coffee has been my primary fuel the last days. Strong , dark roasted (fair trade) coffee with hot milk.  Simple and a yummy.  But, even if coffee and writing belongs together, neither coffee and paper nor coffee and computer keybords goes well together. So, to get the writing a little more exciting I put my glass of coffee close to the keyboard, forgot about it and knocked it over and ruined the laptop keyboard earlier today. Fortunately – I realized afterwards – the coffee didn’t reach the notebook with notes for the paper, which – since the notes were not written in bulletproof ink -  had been a real disaster. I guess I have to consider writing my study notes in Noodler’s bulletproof black even if I detest the nib creep and that it feels like it is flooding from the nib.Another bright thing is that I have begun to use my Sailor Sapporo again. I had forgotten what a great little  pen for note taking, margin notes etc that it is. It is very precise and even if it is small it is very comfortable to write with. A review of Sailor Sapporo can be found here and if you check the review index you’ll find more reviews of the Sapporo.

since it IS the season for thanks… i have a little “thank you” card to share!

i wanted the colors of the card to “seasonal”, but still soft and pretty, so i chose to use yellows and oranges with just a touch of brown to add some contrast…

!!!

I started with a muted orange cardstock for the card, then added a warm brown block as a backdrop for the rest of my elements.

Then i took a square of plain white cardstock and lightly sprayed it with SMOOCH SPRITZ in GOLD GLOW, then i used an ANTIQUE BROCADE STAMP inked with ANCIENT PAGE ink in SUNBURST to create the background block for the card.

Next, I sprayed another piece of white cardstock with the GOLD GLOW spritz, and stamped 2 “wood grain” flowers and 3 “thank you print” flowers from the PRINTED FLOWERS set using the SUNBURST ink.  Then i stamped 2 “solid thank you” flowers and 1 “large thank you” flower from the same set onto white cardstock using YELLOW OCHRE FLUID CHALK INK. when the ink dried, i spritzed them lightly with the GOLD GLOW spritz. when all the inks and spritz had dried, i cut out the background and the flowers.

I added the background piece first and topped it with a piece of ribbon near the bottom. i then arranged and adhered all the flowers, having the large “thank you” flower at the lower right.

buttons at the centers finished off the design.

inks and spritzes are all by CLEARSNAP, stamps are by HERO ARTS.

We’re drawing nearer and nearer towards the end of the Tales series as issue 70 quickly comes up.  Nevertheless, Jim Lawson and Tristan Jones deliver a good comic involving Chinese mysticism and a round about of villains.

This issue represents the first and last comic Tristan Jones and Jim Lawson have done and will do together.  Unfortunately, it’s also the last Turtles comic Tristan Jones will do.  It’s a shame because Tristan has become a relatively new writer at Mirage with about 5 (I believe) turtles comics under his belt.  All of them have rejuvinated new life into the comics and brought them back to their grimmer, darker days.

However, this comic takes a different approach by being narrated by Mikey in events of circumstance.

I enjoyed the story, but I didn’t necessarily find it as one of Tristan’s best Turtles stories.  It may just be that it’s strange for me to have the mix between Lawson and Jones because their two styles don’t completely mesh.  On top of that, I really did not like the inks by Steve Lavigne in this issue.  They appeared to be some type of water-like brush that caused the lines to be undefined and a little unclear.  I believe that the inks could also have used a lot more black – negative space – to get Lawson’s artwork to match Tristan’s writing a bit more.

The tale was rather humorous and it was nice to see some of the characters tie back into the new-ish villains Jones begun sculpting for the TMNT universe.

No doubt, the best part of this issue was Mikey’s drawings/interpretations of events.  I felt that Jones definitely pushed Lawson to try some new things and it came out with some stellar results.

Overall, this Tale was bittersweet.  Good compared to most comics, but only decent for the standard that TMNT comics set.

Thank God for the waiting room at the ER. It seems to be the only time I get to draw anymore…

We thought my youngest might have had pneumonia, but the chest xray ruled that out. He just has the asthmatic ickies. Pook kid.

Yeah, it’s pretty mundane, but it gives me an excuse to work on my perspective skills.

What a great stamp set this is – and versatile too.

The first stamp that pops up when you look at it is the Santa’s Sleigh one. Perhaps because we are right in the middle of the Holiday season? Maybe. But the other 2 stamps are also beautiful, and good for just about any projects. They would look great stamped as is on a page or a card, or you can get creative and create borders, tags, or pennants. Use a Stampin’ Write® marker to “colour” only parts of the stamps, and leave out the text for a more visual look – or, use only the text! There a lots of possibilities that will bring you way beyond the Holiday season!

Items featured:
Wandering Words© stamp set – set of 3 stamps
$33.95      #116507     Holiday Mini Catalogue, p. 16
Stampin’ Write® Markers
$4.50 ea., or available in 12-packs for $45.95
(In Colours only available in 6-packs at $25.95 / Neutrals pack is a 4-packs at $15.95)
See 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalogue pp. 155-157 for more details, and colour selection

HOLIDAY FEATURES DEAL - Ho! Ho! Ho!
This is my gift to you! If you order any of these featured products within the next week (so you have until Friday, Nov. 27th), you can get between 10% and 15% off!

Any 1 or 2 products = 10% off
3 products or more* = 15% off

* Markers packs count as two products, regardless of the size of the pack.
Individual markers count as 1 product each.
Example: you order the Bold Brights® markers pack (12 markers) with the stamp set – that counts as 3 products, and you get 15% off.

Snag the deal and save this Holiday season!

(Please note: this is a personal promotion not offered by Stampin’ Up!® directly, therefore, taxes and shipping have to be calculated on the full amount. You are definitely still saving, though! If you order directly online, I will send you a cheque by mail for the discount.)

Today it is my Aurora Talentum – loaded with Diamine Majestic Blue – that is accompanying  the Lamy Vista at work.  The subject for today is legal history which is interesting – as long as I forget that the reading and learning is compulsory…which I try hard to do. A review of the Talentum – a gorgeous pen in fire engine red – can be found here.  Sleek italian design that combines classic and modern features. Chrome and this lustrous red. Perfect for cheering up a bleak November day where the sun has been hidden (still is) behind a very thick duvet of clouds. November + Sun= Not True. Aurora with vibrant blue Majestic and fire engine red and Lamy Vista with Sunshine Yellow must be one of the most effective ink-and-pen-based counter curses against darkness that there is.  Below is the Talentum on an excursion earlier this autumn when the sun was a more regular visitor here.

Yesterdays work was partially performed in a very nice café with an atmosphere perfect for accompanying studies.

It is also equipped with very old fashioned  (non-lit) tile stove which contributes a lot to the cosy and peaceful atmosphere.  During one of the big restoration eras in the 60’s and 70’s an awful lot of landlords and condominiums chose to remove these old fashioned tile stoves, lower the height of the ceilings in old buildings (often with quite toxic plastic materials) in the name of modernizing. So thoughtless and short sighted. Today flats and houses with tile stoves are sought after. They are not only cosy interior details – they are, as a matter of fact, very good at keeping the heat and rather efficient. Not as solely heater, but as a very good and pleasant complement.  Again something that seemed irrational to keep, but in the long run turned out to be both rational and pleasant – more so than doing what was seemingly rational at the time. Ekelöf is – once again – right. The irrational is the only rational thing in end. Read more about him here.

MTV GETS TV RIGHTS TO “THIS IS IT”

The New York Times reports that MTV
Networks has acquired exclusive
television rights to the Michael
Jackson concert film “This Is It”
for six years beginning in 2011.
The deal allows MTV Networks to
show the motion picture on all of
its channels, including MTV, VH1
and BET Networks.

LA WANTS REIMBURSEMENT FOR MJ
MEMORIAL

The Los Angeles city attorney wants
back the $3 million it shelled out
for Michael Jackson’s memorial at
the Staples Center, a spokesman
said Monday, despite an audit
concluding the event generated even
more revenue for the city.

50 CENT INKS FILM PARTNERSHIP

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s Cheetah
Vision Films joins Emmett/Furla
Films in partnering with Georgia-
based entrepreneur Richard Jackson
to produce and co-finance three to
five pictures per year.

SHARPTON LEADS ‘OUTRAGE’ AGAINST
VIOLENCE

Hip-Hop activist Erica Ford, CEO
and founder of Life Camp Inc., has
partnered with the Rev. Al Sharpton
to lead “National Day of Outrage,”
a nationwide protest against
violence on Nov. 23.

This is a Calico Tribe chieftain.  Tribes will normally have one chief and two or three elders who govern the tribe.  Power in a cat tribe is almost always being challenged by up and coming warriors.  It is rare that a chieftain will maintain power for more than a few years.  This chief is named Proud Claw.

A group photo of the pens I use most frequently right now – for everyday writing.

The Lamy Vista is loaded with Diamine Sunshine Yellow for highlighting and suns,

The MB 146 is loaded with Diamine Majestic – a lovely deep blue ink of which you find a review here.

The Pilot M90 is loaded with Diamine Steel Blue (more like a dark, somewhat muted greenish turquoise) – review here.

The Pilot VP is loaded with Pilot Blue-Black.

A very pleasant quadruple that about covers all needs (and more…) during a workday. The pen that would join them if I had a case for five pens instead of four would be one of my Delta Profilis – preferably with red ink to break the blue dominance.

Speaking of colours; something I find interesting, confusing and amusing is  that Europe and the US  interprets blue and red differently when it comes to politics.  In the US blue is associated with the Democrats (left-centerfield) whereas it in Europe is associated with the center-right part of the political spectrum and vice versa for red. When I followed the latest presidential election I forgot about that for a few secs and was initially utterly surprised and puzzled when the first red/blue map appeared on the screen.

To make any kind of writing – even the most dreaded – a pleasure, the setting is important to me. A good writing session (by hand) includes a peaceful place. The place is preferably equipped with a lovely view – how I’d like to have a desk placed by a window facing the open sea. I have a nice desk, but not even the tiniest window facing the sea, which is (lake) a few  kilometres away or (sea) over 50 km away. But, the view from my study is facing a pretty nice yard with threes, flowers and bushes and a big lawn – in the summer. Now the trees branches are bare and the rest is in various shades of brownish-greyish-green.

But, even if one has a room of one’s own – to quote Virginia Woolf  – I love writing at cafés. A corner table by a window at a nice, not-too-crowded café. Preferably a café with the opportunity to bump into friends in an un-scheduled spontaneous way. Chat a little, write a and chat some more. Sipping on a nice cup of coffee – strong with (warm) milk, please! Write a little more, waving goodbye and continue writing. Simple ways to enjoy life. When the place is chosen and the coffee in place I’ll pick up my pen case and choose the weapon for this session, open the notebook, take a sip, look out the window and start to write. When writing something as a paper for my studies the writing is often interrupted by brief reading, checking facts. When done like this even this dreaded paper-writing can be pleasant. Not always, but it is a way of adding a little bit of everyday pleasure even to the boring tasks.

One pen that I use everyday and which has brought me a lot of additional joy is my Lamy Vista with a broad italic nib. I load it with a sunshine yellow ink and use it as a highlighter and the happiness of that colour makes me doodle small suns in the margins. Here is me and my dear and most faithful servant the Pilot Vanishing Point. It is often my weapon of choice. The texture of the carbonesque finish is very nice and adds pleasure to the writing.

To write at home is rather tricky – it is easy to find so many things that needs to be done – clean the bath tub, fold laundry, polish shoes… To succeed I need to get outdoors for a while. Either just a walk  + short photo session to clear the mind, or a walk +café – get the writing started at the café.  Everyone has to find what works for them, but these tricks usually work for me. But. It is never so clean in my home as when I’m getting nearer a dead line…

…are a rather cheap and easy way to lighten and brighten up the spirits when the darkness feels a little bit too much…or just to enhance the happiness…or because it is fun with bright, playful inks.

Here are some of my current cheerers! Mostly Diamine, so I would like to add that I don’t have any affiliation with Diamine. They just happen to produce inks that I like in small convenient plastic bottles which – even with shipping from the UK to almost anywhere in the world taken into account -  are cheap, comes in something like 60 colours and are of high standard.  Me like. Another pleasant feature if you order straight from their website is that – ordering 3 or more small plastic bottles – that you get a pack  of 18 assorted cartridges for free. That was what made me realize how many beautiful, strange, fun and gorgeous inks out there, that are just waiting to be used.

Animals willing to move into the Borderlands are a peculiar type, and this lot is a good representation of the motley bunch willing to live outside the safezone. Some are pioneers, some are criminals, some are brave, and some are simply outcasts.  Originally, only dogs were willing (or forced, depending on your point of view) to plant new communities.  This is how they came to be nicknamed dog towns.  They would strike out with a bunch of guns and a rabbit and find a place to mine water.  It is a hard life living outside a forest.  Water is scarce, cat raids are frequent and justice is most often found at the end of a fuse gun.

Sorry. Imsomnia after a big night out….

Inked Cybrute…

Inked Hattie…

Colorized Beetle-Girl…

And now for more doodles that are poorly oriented to our gravity.

This is the kind of art that I would show the kids in the psych hospitals and say “how many animals can you find in this picture?” And their answers were astounding.

Feeling much better this mornin’. Woke up at 8:30pst. I went to bed before 9:00pm…my dad is telling me how that’s almost 12 hours! I usually go to sleep at 11:00 on Fridays… Anyways, all of the prayers I’ve been getting from family and friends has definately helped! (In case you didn’t know this, I’m Christian and believe in the power of prayers. (: ) I’m going to put up a picture I did while I was sick.

I wanted to see what a fox looked like with blue fur. Foxes are very popular picks for characters, too He may go back to a more normal fox color, Eg: Red, gold, orange, black, gray, etc.

Here’s me trying to decide what Rodney should wear. I wrote a story about him for English and I wanted a new outfit, other than his turtleneck. So, I brainstormed.

Yes. He is singing “Apoligize” by OneRepublic. I tried doing one of him sitting at a piano doing it, but the perspective didn’t look right. When I make a good one, I’m TOTALLY going to photoshop it and make it AWESOME!!

For the editorial piece:

Right now I have a Bienfang sketchbook. Now, if any of you work for Bienfang, listen up: I like your sketchbooks. I need a BIG sketch book cuz I mess up A LOT. Probably more than half of my sketch book is messups. I’ll give them to you in bullets:

PRO:

• Big is good.
• Durable: The metal rings keep the paper is place and won’t go flying. That’s happened to me on several occasion…with others.
• Small enough for me to put in my backpack/canvas bag.
• Not overly priced.

CON:

Bienfang, if you could just PLEASE do this, I’d be happy

• The paper is really really really thin. When I scan stuff, if I drew something behind it, you can see through the drawing and at the other one. That’s all.

So, overall, I give Bienfang 4.2/5.

If you’re SMLAARRRGGGG-y and you know it clap your hands!

– A Mending Agent M

my time as a guest designer for PRISM PAPERS is almost up!

i’ve really enjoyed being part of their team for a little while - getting to chat with their designers and seeing what terrific projects they create… {not that i won’t STILL be checking their blog to see what they are up to after october ends }

tomorrow, my last project will be up, and i hope that you will hop on over to the PRISM BLOG and check it out;  i can only give you a t-nin-see peek here! 

 if you like the project, i hope you’ll take the time to post a comment so i know you looked!

and if you LOVE cardstock like i do, i hope that you have bookmarked the Prism blog so that you can enjoy more of their fabulous design teams creations too!

These are a few scribles I have done…