Harts Pass No. 89

Beauty and mystery. Constant companions!

Mid-winter School Visits

 

Thank you to Nooksack, Everson, Machais, and Lakes Elementary schools for four excellent days of school visits last week. I am home again in my studio -- fueled by your enthusiasm -- and ready to work! I've said it before, but I love these trips -- in large part because the interaction boils books and storytelling down to their most basic and fundamental charge: books (stories, words, and pictures) are a medium of expression. An Art. A communication. A shared experience between the creator and the audience, the reader and the listener. A gift to both.

We all tell stories, and in some fashion or another, we should. It's fun. It's hard. It's worth it. It makes us better people. A community of reader, writers, and artists. We laugh, cry, cringe, inspire... K-6, 7-12, infinity and beyond. Stories are the original social network. Keep it simple. Tell one. Listen to many. Live and in person best of all. 

I only remembered my camera on a few occasions during the week, but here you go:

A tiger-shark-panda. Ferocious! Remember to read Everson!

The beautiful silk banners at Everson. Designed and painted by kids during another artist's workshop last year (not me!).

My sweet artistic digs at the Kale House B&B. Art on the walls. A comfy bed. Excellent food and company at breakfast!

Daughter/Mother artists (and Kale House owners) Cori and Bonnie Litorja.

 And finally, some fine hallway decor at the Machias "Day of the Arts!"

Congratulations!

My comic tribute to Liberty Bell High Schools excellent showing at the Washington State High School Wrestling Tournament :)

Sweetheart Sleepdog says...

 Happy Valentine's Day!

Nonsense words -- and then some!

In the print edition of my latest Harts Pass strip, I try out the word winnummer -- a combination of winter and summer. Aware that I needed the extra consonant in order to keep the right 'i' sound, I added an 'n'. For some reason it totally slipped my mind to just simply keep the 't' -- and wintummer (as seen in this newly edited edition of the strip) is better all around.

Just to keep the readership thinking that I'm completely crazy, our forecast flipped a switch today and the glories of wintummer have given way to plain old winter. What I wouldn't give for another wintummery afternoon :)

Super Bowl (XLVI) Sleepdog

 

Sleepdog is tiny. Go Giants!

January Sketches

In no particular order, a few of my January sketches :)