‘jealousy’ — drawn on the street at the fringe festival, 2008

the fringe festival is finally over (well, three weeks ago).  it was very productive in many ways.  i got a nice suntan and a knife stuck in my heart.  as usual, people said to me whatever they felt like saying.  it was wonderful and amusing.

i was surprised that many people remembered or recognized my drawings from my show at the mendel gallery over a year ago.  some people even remembered them from my show at royal red gallery at phonographique three years ago.  a few people told me there were looking for me at this fringe this year since i wasn’t there last year.  the best moment was when a guy told me that he’d had seen one of the drawings, ‘inseparable’ somewhere, but he couldn’t remember where.  he left then came back just to tell me the postcard was up on the fridge door at his friend’s house.  he was so excited he came back for the third time to show my work to one of his friends.  i was very touched by all this.  so thanks and arigato!

i kept track of comments that i enjoyed.  so here’s the diagnosis;

•  ’you should do medical illustration.  you’ll be great!’ — i don’t think so…
• ‘do you draw family portraits? i have a photo here.’ — no thanks…
• ’she’s a freak!  she’s a freak!  she is a FREAK!’ screamed a guy with his full body tattooed and wearing a scary outfit with spikes.
• ‘i LIKE it!’  said 8 year old boy who flipped through all the drawings.
• ‘i wish i could draw…’ — i feel the same way
• ‘ahaha!  look at those boobs!’
• ‘these are amazing!’
• ‘i had the EXACT same image ( an elephant coming out of my belly) recently.  i should draw that!’
• ‘do you like creepy stuff?’ ‘no’ ‘… then why do you draw creepy stuff??’ — good question!
• ‘do you take any drugs?’
• ‘you look normal, but i know you aren’t!  you are not normal!’
• ‘did you draw these?  they are so weird and grotesque.  and you are so adorable!’ — do you want a candy?

i feel so energized and encouraged.  thanks for all the encouragement and cheering as well as your nasty looks.  i did a couple of drawings sitting at my booth and i’ve been drawing away ever since.

more soon, including news about shows i’m doing in september…

um… i’m not sure what’s going on here. i wanted to draw a bunch of bugs, so i got some photo books about beetles from the library (children’s section). i like beetles — my brother used to catch beetles in the mountains near our house and play with them in his room. it’s my first time drawing beetles. i’ve drawn a ladybug before, but this one is more detailed than the last time.

the japanese writing says “ahaha, aha, ahahaha~” — the laughing sound. poko-chan and i are having fun playing with the bugs…

i drew this last week.