Officially Ready for Thanksgiving!

Crazy 4 Cult Book

Photo by Cool & Collected

 The new book is getting a ton of press already: very exciting!

Purchase the book on Amazon

...and a calendar?!

Titan Books

What Culture!

Guardian UK

Moviefone interview with Jensen

T-minus Three Days to Alaska!

   My friend Linda C just got back from Alaska & brought back a ton of brochures, magazines and information for me! I can't wait to start studying up on the plane... whales and mooses and bearses and whaleses and seaplanes and kayaking and salmon and halibut fishing and hiking and mountains and glaciers and dall's sheep and orcas and... (((head explodes)))

Jump Book

   The idea for a "jump book" came from photographer Philippe Halsman, who had 101 Life covers to his credit when he died in 1979. He "felt a portrait that did not show psychological insight was 'an empty likeness' of its subject." His fun work was introduced to me by my sister, Kelley, who requested jump photos of friends and family as a gift for her husband's birthday—which is today! Happy Birthday, Eric!!!
   A review of the book online states: "Much of Halsman’s work embodied the sunny, playful, and optimistic side of post-war life in America. Calling himself the discoverer of 'Jumpology,' he compelled hundreds of subjects to jump in the air for his camera—everyone from Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe to Robert Oppenheimer and Richard Nixon. He wrote in his 1959 Jump Book, 'The roots of my discovery reach into my early childhood. I was born with an intense interest in jumping…. I could run, jump and turn over in the air.' He delighted in jumping throughout his life and in photographing others in the act of jumping. “Everybody hides behind a mask,” Halsman writes. “In a jump the subject, in a sudden burst of energy, overcomes gravity. He cannot simultaneously control his expressions, his facial and his limb muscles. The mask falls. The real self becomes visible. One has only to snap it with the camera.'”
   There's another guy, David Leckness, who has been cataloging jumps for over 20 years and posts them online.
   I couldn't wait to work on this assignment, and I took inspiration from my surroundings. Aki and Taylor wanted to get in to the act too, of course! Tay jumped for his giant stuffed lobster in the living room. He looks like he's dancing a jig, with one foot raised up. (He looks like he has a heart on his chest, too!)

"Riverdance, Tay! Good boy!!!"

 "I could've had a V8!"

   Aki jumped for her squeaky soccer ball in the backyard at night. I played around with different camera settings and got some cool effects with slower shutter speeds. She looks like a Wereshiba in this one, with the glowing orange eyes.

"Wereshiba?"  "There. There, Shiba."

Now she's doing her T-Rex impression:

GOTCHA!!!

   This one is actually my favorite: love how you see the spray of snow, and you can tell how high she jumped and how athletic she is. She jumped so hard that her tail straightened out!:

   For my own, I relied on programming the camera and some lucky timing. (It took me a few tries!) As ridiculous as this looks, I couldn't resist the idea of taking advantage of the snow, since Kelley and Eric live in LA and weren't likely to get many snow jumps. So there I was, freezing my assets off, wearing nothing but a bikini and my cute boots in 10 degree weather.
   I know I should be totally embarrassed to post this, but I work out. And you only live once!   :)

   Reminds me of something my History of Illustration teacher, Mark Hazlerig, said in college: "You should all have portraits taken of yourselves working in your studio now, so that if they write about you when you're old, they'll have a good-looking photo of the young you." Note to self: still need to have that done...

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

   My mom used to say that to us when we were kids, when we were pushing the limits of her seemingly-endless patience. Well, by "us," I mean Kelley and Kristin, because as we all know, I was pretty much a perfect child. (Stop laughing, Mom!)
   I am being tested by my dogs at the moment. I knew what I was getting into, adopting a high-energy breed. That's why for the last 2 years I have taken them to the dog park up to three times a week, plus I've taken them up to Antioch Park to run 2-3 times a week. And when I say "run," I mean the three of us would run for up to 45 minutes at a time. And when we got home, they'd often race around the house or the yard because they still had energy to burn. 
   That was good for all of us... right up until the time I tore my hips back in July. I continued training just long enough to get myself through my goal of running the equivalent of at least one 5k race per month in 2010... I even surpassed that, doubling or tripling up some months which fortunately allowed me to stop in November. So I haven't been running regularly since October, as it is the one thing that really irritates my hips past the point of reason.
   Couple the cutback on exercise with all the amazing trips I've taken—Thanksgiving in Maui, Christmas in LA, Steamboat Springs for New Year's—and you have a recipe for some bored shibas.
   Don't get me wrong, I still take them out in the yard to throw the ball, and we still go to the dog park, but it isn't enough to sap their energy. Even Mary Ann's multi-weekly visits don't seem to curb them. And now during the hours I'm either at work or at the gym every day, they are inventing new ways to amuse themselves. This does not amuse me. This week's casualties were two of my favorite books from Japan (which they pulled off a bookshelf), a pen and a bottle of nail polish (from different tables), which fortunately they didn't quite get open.
   It's not the dogs' fault, it's mine. But my patience is wearing thin and they are now relegated to the kitchen anytime I can't supervise them. Until they regain some manners and while my hips mend.

Christmas in LA: Kelley & Eric's house

   I arrived in LA just in time to catch the last three days of the 10+ day monsoon. This was my first time seeing Kelley and Eric's new digs, and I left with house envy! The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

   And it's rainy and marshy and all wet out there! (That's their guest house. Yay, bonus house!)

   Nelly is funny. She's so mellow that half the time you don't even know she's there! She could teach my idiots a thing or two.

   Eric goes out for his daily pre-work pool-bailing. I brought not one but TWO bathing suits with me and hoped to get a tan. But it was in the 50s and too soggy. At least I needed a suit for Scuba, so all was not lost!

   I settle in for some light reading... (Kristin reminds me how glad I am that I went to art school) P.S. I'm pretty sure "PHACODYNAMICS" is a made-up word:

   Nelly snaps up to attention when she realizes she gets to go for a walk or a jog!

Exciting news!!!

   Just got the word that two of my plush creations will be featured in a book celebrating the pop culture themed shows of Gallery 1988! "Red Stapler" (Milton from "Office Space"), 2008 and "You've Got Red on You" (Shaun & Ed from "Shaun of the Dead"), 2010 made the cut. Both were for a series of shows celebrating cult films.

   The publisher will be releasing the book at the same time as the opening of Crazy 4 Cult's newest installment: July 8th, 2011. And they're getting some incredible people to write up their favorite parts of the exhibit (including some of the buyers of our pieces to give us a quote about how they've enjoyed in their house since the purchase). Kevin Smith will also be writing the book's foreword. LA, here I come!

   And in other gallery-related news, I will also have work featured in "Is This Thing On? A Tribute To Funny People" at Gallery1988:Melrose to kick off 2011. The show will open January 7th and will feature over 100 artists creating artwork portraying some of the best classic, vintage comedians—and emerging stars! The line-up for this show is incredible and the gallery is partnering with FunnyOrDie.com as their exclusive press outlet. Wow. Kinda pinching myself that they keep including me in the madness. I won't say yet who I'm portraying, just that I couldn't be more excited about it!

Onimushi flashback!

   I've been browsing randomly online since I'm too sick to get off the couch, and found these awesome Onimushi plush that someone made, from the Plush-o-Rama book in which my designs were featured a couple of years ago. How cool is that??? You can download the pages here, or view my webpage featuring the book here.

Snug as a bug in a rug in my...

   I love that my animals love me so much, but it is hard to get my required reading for work done with them around! Most of the day I had 2 cats on my lap & 2 dogs on my feet. I started to worry that I might spontaneously combust from the heat! (And the leopard print Snuggie was not helping. I shouldn't warn you, but that Snuggie commercial should be considered the new Rick Roll! I love it.)

Read All About It!

   I read a book this weekend. A whole book. In 2 days. This is unprecedented for me. Usually when I start a book I languish over it for weeks. Months. Years, even. Part of it is because my days are usually so adrenaline-filled (running around the office attending to "fire drills") that by the time I sit down, it's lights out. I don't do sedentary activities, even if said activities might be good for me. The other reason is that I am highly experiential. I'd much rather learn something by doing rather than by reading about it. I quickly get bored & my mind starts wandering as my eyes skim the words, and when I get to the bottom of the page I realize that I have no idea what the *H* I just read.
   But this book ("Leaders Make the Future" by Bob Johansen of IFTF: Institute for the Future) was important. I was assigned to read it for a class in which I'm enrolled at work; a class that is actually a ginormous honor to even be invited to attend. So I resolved that I'd finish this one before the class started tomorrow. I read some on Saturday afternoon & evening, but with an unexpected foster puppy in the house, it's not terribly surprising that I didn't get far. It was all up to Sunday.
   Mother Nature had my back. The heat wave finally lifted, and this morning was absolutely gorgeous. I got up at 6:30 (actually, the puppy had me up at 4, but I managed to get back to sleep for a bit—after relegating him to the garage!), made coffee, fed the dogs, and we all headed outside. I sat at the table on the deck, my feet up in a chair. (Next to Lobo, who pretty much behaved himself.) The temperature was perfection. It was bright & sunny, but I had shade until noon under the umbrella where I was sitting. The hummingbirds were especially active, so I took occasional breaks to try to catch photographs of them, which helped capture my interest.

   And much to my great relief, the concepts in the book were actually quite eye-opening. It poses that tomorrow's world will be even more volatile, uncertain, complex & ambiguous than it is today, and forecasts 10 years into the future to what the 10 most critical leadership skills will be. I was happy—and a little surprised—that several of them are traits that I feel are innate to me: immersive learning ability, bio empathy, quiet transparency, clarity, rapid prototyping & maker's instinct. Of course, the challenge is to determine how to best leverage each of them to improve my skills as a leader, which can be trickier in a work context than a personal context. But I was glad that I had been recognized as someone who has these traits, and that Hallmark was investing in me (again). I'll get a lot of hands-on practice in the all-day work sessions with Bob & his colleague Rachel in the next 2 days.
   I'll share my favorite quote, which served as the introduction to one of the chapters: "One should... Be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise.". -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

   Turns out that leadership runs in my family, too. My aunt Martha just sent me a link to an interview she gave to Cleveland Foodie blog. Re-reading it, it's interesting how the same skills apply in such a different context: social expression product creation vs. seafood sales. Go Marty!

   And I should mention, too, that in his book, Bob calls out the bio-empathy & the leadership of my hero Cesar Milan, famous for his "exercise, discipline, affection" approach to dog (and people!) training. So without further ado, a few more photos of Lobo:

Blast from the past: Hallmark book

Steve dug up this illustration that I did (probably 6-7 years ago!)

for a Hallmark book. It was never used, but Steve & I still like it!

日本語がすごく美しい言語ですね。(Japanese is a beautiful language)

These photos are of an antique printed book that Wayne Tompkins purchased some time ago. I admit I don't know much about it, but it appears to be hand-printed stamps, as from a Japanese はんこ。The book was hundreds of pages long, with dozens of stamps on each page. Some were kanji, some intricate designs of animals (tiny cute rabbits and moths, that may have influenced みやざきさん—Miyazaki), or traditional icons (さくら—cherry blossoms, fans, maple leaves), some more abstract. The paper was thin yet strong, with a great texture. I probably sat & studied it for an hour, but could have spent all day!