Sunday, August 31, 2014

Summer photos


It's the end of my sister's and my first Summer as residents, rather than summerers, in Minnesota. It's a little melancholy, for no longer will this be a thing to look forward to all year. But hopefully we'll be able to find our home here.







Saturday, August 30, 2014

3 A M


Homestuck fanart of Jade Harley in the captivating Three in the Morning Dress. I colored this entirely with nail polish, the first time I've tried that. It was difficult to control and very stinky, but I love the sparkliness. Which, to preserve, took a whole lot of finagling with the scanner.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Blanche Rouge et Noir II


This is a remake I drew a couple years ago of a drawing I did several years ago, fanart of the novel Black as Night by Regina Doman, a modern retelling of Snow White. It's a great book; you can get it from Chesterton Press.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Twilight Tower header


As you can see I put a new header up there, from the picture that's the cover of the first chapter of my Batman fancomic. It exemplifies several things that have come to the forefront of my art, or at least what I'd like to do with it, since I made the last header: ink painting, architecture, lighting, and DC stuff, particularly Batman. ^_^

I'm starting to get to revamping and updating a lot of my online places, and may even make some more, so watch this space!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Chesterton Illustrated poetry booklet giveaway




So, over the past few weeks I've posted my illustrations and the poems from the booklet I did for the Chesterton conference. Now, I'm giving one such booklet away! It's very nice, printed in high quality, with an additional illustration on the cover. Just comment here with your email address to enter. Link to this from your blog, tumblr, facebook, etc., and you get another entry. (Don't forget to tell me you've done so.) I'll choose the winner two weeks from today, September 10th.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The Great Minimum


It is something to have wept as we have wept,
It is something to have done as we have done,
It is something to have watched when all men slept,
And seen the stars that never see the sun.

 It is something to have smelt the mystic rose,
Although it break and leave the thorny rods,
It is something to have hungered once as those
Must hunger who have ate the bread of gods.

To have seen you and your unforgotten face,
Brave as a blast of trumpets for the fray,
Pure as white lilies in a watery space,
It were something, though you went from me today.

To have known the things that from the weak are furled,
Perilous ancient passions, strange and high;
It is something to be wiser than the world,
It is something to be older than the sky.

In a time of sceptic moths and cynic rusts,
And fatted lives that of their sweetness tire,
In a world of flying loves and fading lusts,
It is something to be sure of a desire.

Lo, blessed are our ears for they have heard;
Yea, blessed are our eyes for they have seen:
Let thunder break on man and beast and bird
And the lightning, It is something to have been.

-G.K. Chesterton

The fourth and final poem I illustrated for the little booklet.
Prints of this illustration are available here.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Batman begins


I have completed and posted the first chapter of Masque, the first story of my and my sister's massive Batman gothic lolita-style fancomic Batman: Decadence! You can find it here. 

Warning: It's kind of violent.

Monday, August 18, 2014

A Chord of Colour


My Lady clad herself in grey,
That caught and clung about her throat;
Then all the long grey winter day
On me a living splendour smote;
And why grey palmers holy are,
And why grey minsters great in story,
And grey skies ring the morning star,
And grey hairs are a crown of glory.

My Lady clad herself in green,
Like meadows where the wind-waves pass;
Then round my spirit spread, I ween,
A splendour of forgotten grass.
Then all that dropped of stem or sod,
Hoarded as emeralds might be,
I bowed to every bush, and trod
Amid the live grass fearfully.

My Lady clad herself in blue,
Then on me, like the seer long gone,
The likeness of a sapphire grew,
The throne of him that sat thereon.
Then I knew why the Fashioner
Splashed reckless blue on sky and sea;
And ere 'twas good enough for her,
He tried it on Eternity.

Beneath the gnarled old Knowledge-tree
Sat, like an owl, the evil sage,
'The world's a bubble,' solemnly
He read, and turned a second page.
'A bubble, then, old crow,' I cried,
'God keep you in your weary wit!
'A bubble--have you ever spied
'The colours I have seen on it?'

Third from the booklet of G.K. Chesterton's poetry I illustrated.
Prints of this illustration are available here.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The Mariner


The violet scent is sacred
Like dreams of angels bright;
The hawthorn smells of passion
Told in a moonless night.

But the smell is in my nostrils
Through blossoms red or gold,
Of my own green flower unfading,
A bitter smell and bold.

The lily smells of pardon,
The rose of mirth; but mine
Smells shrewd of death and honour,
And the doom of Adam's line,

The heavy scent of wine-shops
Floats as I pass them by,
But never a cup I quaff from,
And never a house have I.

Till dropped down forty fathoms,
I lie eternally;
And drink from God's own goblet
The green wine of the sea.

~ G.K. Chesterton.
Second from the booklet.
Prints of this illustration are available here.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

The Trinkets


A wandering world of rivers,
A wavering world of trees,
If the world grow dim and dizzy
With all changes and degrees,
It is but Our Lady's mirror
Hung dreaming in its place,
Shining with only shadows
Till she wake it with her face.

The standing whirlpool of the stars,
The wheel of all the world,
Is a ring on Our Lady's finger
With the suns and moons empearled
With stars for stones to please her
Who sits playing with her rings
With the great heart that a woman has
And the love of little things.

Wings of the whirlwind of the world
From here to Ishapan,
Spurning the flying forests,
Are light as Our Lady's fan:
For all things violent here and vain
Lie open and all at ease
Where God has girded heaven to guard
Her holy vanities.


The first of the illustrations of G.K. Chesterton's poetry I did for a booklet for the Chesterton conference. Once I post them all, I'll do a giveaway for one of the leftover booklets and offer the rest for sale.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Conference Report

 
The G.K. Chesterton Conference was utterly great! As it turned out, I was not a one-artist Artist Alley; there was also Daniel Mitsui, whom I've, ah, mentioned before.

I had most of the things I said I would have for sale in the last post, except I didn't have time to prepare a complete set of Rosary Mysteries coloring pages, nor the short story comic. Well, in the case of the latter, I looked at it and, well, I did it a few years ago, and I don't think I want to put that forth making a first impression and trying to sell. But I still like the story, so I think I will post it here come Christmas, because it's a Christmas story.

The most exciting thing for me was the booklet of poetry by Chesterton illustrated by me. I did four illustrations for four of my favourite poems of his, and I will be posting them over the next few days. And I will offer the leftover booklets for sale here, if anyone wants them, and also do a giveaway of one of them!

Anyway, the conference was at a beautiful seminary in a Baroque Federalist style, so I took many photos of the buildings and grounds.



The campus included a lake. It went all the way round it!



Some of these architectural appointments will definitely be showing up on the grounds of stately Wayne Manor in Decadence.


I bought some books, including the new edition of The Ball and the Cross illustrated by Ben Hatke. The Ball and the Cross is my favourite book ever, so I was very critical as I looked through it deciding whether to get it. I was disappointed at their editing out the N word (Chesterton was not using it in a racist way, and changing it obscures the clarity of meaning, and I just don't believe in altering past things to fit the standards of today) but the last two illustrations, of the climactic scenes which I had always imagined so intensely, were perfect, and that clinched it for me.

Providentially, the same weekend as the conference, the greatest band I have ever heard the music of, Typhoon, was playing only forty miles away, in Chicago. (which was also exciting to visit because it's the city of the second Blue Beetle!) My sister Anna, who's only read a little Chesterton, came along for this reason, and we got to hear and see them in person for the second time in our lives, and it was amazing.


Then here's the chapel, where we had Mass:


And its interior, with a wonderful ceiling:


One thing that impressed me there was how they incorporated the more recent elements: air conditioning vents and electric lights, into the original design. Most places just stick the modern stuff on so it stands out incongruously, but they worked them in.

This was one of the most enjoyable Chesterton conferences I've been to, and I have been to several and they were all very enjoyable, so that's saying a lot.