Stacyverb

Bragging

For much of last year, my husband spent most days (and many nights) hunched over his drawing table, producing hundreds of illustrations. 

 

 

His clients were two publishing companies, each specializing in fun books for kids.  It was a lot of work.  Sometimes he didn't get much sleep.  Other times, he had to miss out on social occasions or other fun things because he was under the crunch of a deadline.  It's not for the faint of heart, this business of making the transition from unemployment to self-employment.

One of the books is full of simple science experiments for kids to try with basic items (baking soda, peroxide, food coloring, etc.).  The others are joke books that kept us groaning at the authors' bad puns for months on end.  Kids will love them.

Anthony will be modest and say he's not totally happy with some of his drawings, or grumble about how the pay for these jobs really isn't that great if you break it all down to an hourly wage.  To all this I say: WHATEVER.  He's getting paid to draw.  He's living the dream.

 

 

My husband is one of those people who just has a natural talent.  He puts pen to paper, and moves his hand around, and a picture comes out.  What he can do is like a superpower to me.

 

All that, and he's cute, too!

 

Found: Catlanta kitty!

Readers, I'm very excited today because I am now the proud owner of a Catlanta kitty! 

Some background for those outside the ATL: Catlanta is a local artist who makes these little painted cats.  Some are cardboard, like mine, and some are magnetic.  Catlanta is a mysterious figure.  No one knows who he really is.  He communicates with his fans via Facebook and Twitter, and announces when he's about to do a "kitten drop."  He hides the kittens in locations around the city and takes pictures of them in their hiding places, then posts the photos to give his fans some visual clues.  The real fun begins as the fans search for the kittens!  Read more about Catlanta in this CNN interview.

I've been stalking Catlanta for a few months now, and have been foiled every time until today.  Sometimes I recognize a location, but I can't make it there in time.  Another time I thought I recognized where the kitten was, but I was wrong.  So frustrating (yet fun!).

Today, my persistent sleuthing finally paid off.  My husband had just dropped me off at work, and I turned on my computer and immediately saw Facebook news of a kitten drop.  I recognized one of the hiding places as a coffee shop a few doors down from my work!  So I called Anthony on his cell, and he was still right outside, so he dashed down the street and swooped up the kitten.  Oh yeah...teamwork, baby!  *high five*

[Edited later to add: I received a comment from Catlanta himself letting me know that my kitten is magnetic, too!]

The Mustache Party at the High

This week I won free tickets to attend the High Museum's Mustache party!  It was a fabulous evening that included viewing the Dali exhibit, grooving to the sonic stylings of Lyonnais, and watching the French film La Moustache.  Of course, everyone in attendance was encouraged to sport a wacky mustache, whether real or fake.  Adverb and I had a great time, as you can see.

By the way, did you know that November is also Movember?  Men all over the world are growing mustaches this month as part of the campaign to "change the face of men's health," raising awareness and funds for men's health issues (especially prostate cancer).  You can learn more here.

The Future of Tomorrow (is now!)

Last night, Adverb and I were part of the big turnout for the preview show of Blast-Off Burlesque's latest Sci-Fi-A-Gogo show, The Future of Tomorrow, at 7 Stages.  It was an exciting evening of wit, music, dancing, scantily-clad people, awesome aerials, fabulous costumes, double drag, and strategically-placed flashlights...among other things!

If this sounds like fun to you and you're in Atlanta this weekend, then you're in luck--there are two more shows on Saturday night!  Click here to buy tickets.

SUMMER BLACKOUT: Day 6 & Art-B-Que

I apologize in advance for the less-than-fabulous photography in this post.  Night photos are clearly not my forte.

Adverb took this one, so it's actually okay.  The top is another version of Coachella, this time in Louisa Harding Albero yarn.  The skirt was originally blogged here.  The shoes are another treasure from Cinderella of Boston.  The bracelet is really a strand of cheap red beads I picked up at a yard sale and just wound around my wrist. :)  If you liked this photo, you'll love the full version.

Saturday night we were at the Art-B-Que in Avondale and I thought this giant flaming skull would be a great spot for a photo shoot.  And speaking of flames...

...people in the crowd were invited to come up and perform feats of strength.  When someone swung the hammer and rang the bell, it produced a giant ball of fire.  Cool!  Or should I say, hot?  By the way, this was around 11pm and the air temperature was still 88 degrees F.

Hot Toddies Flaming Cabaret provided more fire-based entertainment.  Think of the blur as a cool effect caused by flames in motion at night, not by me being a crappy photographer.

Um, hello, I struggle to keep a virtual hula hoop spinning on the Wii Fit, and this woman is twirling an actual hoop while it is in flames?  Someone clearly needs to step up their game.  Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the fact that she's doing this while balancing on a guy who's lying on a bed of nails.

There was plenty of entertainment for the ears as well as the eyes.  Here's a blurry (yet awesome) performance by Gringo Star.  A wide variety of bands played at the Art-B-Que all weekend.

Sorry, I didn't catch the name of this troupe of bad-ass baton twirlers.  They performed their routine to this song, which has now been stuck in my head for the past 36 hours.  (Before that, I had totally forgotten this song existed!  A blast from the past, for sure.)

Around midnight, we headed back to the parking lot.  I really wanted to steal this car, but we drove home in ours instead.  Sigh.

Boink! at Alcove

It was another fun night at Alcove last weekend, this time a show called Boink! featuring the art of Justin Kauffmann, John Tindel, and Michi.

Fine tunes were provided by our friends Floating Coats, with a couple of special guests sitting in on the set.

Here's Adverb, admiring the art and, of course, mingling.  We're always guaranteed to run into plenty of people we know at Alcove.

The artists were creating a live, collaborative painting throughout the evening. 

Thanks, Alcove, for always providing a fun, welcoming, and creative atmosphere!

Xperimental Puppetry Theater (XPT)

Last night I got to attend a preview performance of the annual Xperimental Puppetry Theater show at the Center for Puppetry Arts.  XPT is an opportunity for artists to showcase new works and push the boundaries of what puppetry can be.  About a dozen short pieces are featured in this year's show, ranging from hilarious to sad to frightening to just plain cool.  I've attended a lot of XPTs over the years, and I have to say, I think this year's is one of the strongest I've seen.

XPT officially opens tonight and runs through Sunday, May 16.  Get your tickets here!  If your exposure to puppetry has been limited to kids' stuff, I urge you to check out this or any of the Center's adult-oriented* shows and expand your horizons.

Here's a video that shows a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process leading up to this year's XPT:

* XPT contains mature content, including nudity, and is restricted to ages 18 and up ONLY.

Cartoon Madness 5: The Lunchbox Show

There was a big turnout last night at Alcove for the opening of Cartoon Madness 5: The Lunchbox Show.  Artists were challenged to create art using the blank canvas of a metal lunchbox. 

My very own hubby contributed this fabulous piece.

Here's the back view.

All over the gallery, amazing lunchboxes hung from the walls and ceiling.

This incredible Russ Vick sculpture was a crowd favorite.  It's called "Gimme Your Lunch."  One lunchbox is beating up another lunchbox.  So cool and clever!

Here's me with a few of A.'s work peeps who came out to support him.  Notice the new blouse made its debut!

Sperber exhibit in Knoxville

Last weekend, Adverb and I headed to Knoxville, TN, for an early Thanksgiving with his family.  While there, we paid a visit to the Knoxville Musuem of Art (valuable tip: the museum offers free admission on Sundays).

It was a lovely, warm, autumn day to be out and about in downtown K-ville.

Here's a nice shot of the Sunsphere in World's Fair Park, as seen from the upper level of the museum.  Some of you may know it as the Wigsphere. Heh.

The current exhibition at the KMA is Threads Of Perception by artist Devorah Sperber.  She has scanned famous works of art, converted them into low-resolution versions and then found spools of thread to correspond to the color of each pixel.  The results are then suspended from the lengths of chain, with the overall image inverted, like this:

(Image courtesy of Knoxville Museum of Art web site)

The KMA web site explains the presentation this way: "The thread spools works are hung upside down in reference to the fact that the lens of the eye projects an inverted image of the world onto the retina, which is corrected by the brain. A clear acrylic sphere, positioned in front of each work, functions like the human eye and brain, not only inverting but also focusing the image so that it appears as a sharp, faithful, right-side-up reproduction of the famous painting."

This exhibition was so fascinating to me.  What was most interesting was that even from across the room, even though these masterpieces had been greatly simplified, produced in an entirely different medium, and turned upside-down, you could still recognize them immediately.  It made me think a lot about how little information our minds and eyes actually need in order to understand an image, and about how some images are so prevalent that they are basically branded onto our brains.

Props to the KAM--for a smaller museum, they do quite a good job of bringing thought-provoking exhibitions to their patrons.  Threads of Perception runs through January 24, 2010.

Weekend in Asheville & western NC

Over the weekend we headed to Asheville, North Carolina, so Adverb could attend the annual conference of the South East Chapter of the National Cartoonist Society.  This is always a fun gathering.  The Society's Asheville membership had worked hard to show us all a good time.

Friday night: Carolina barbecue and live bluegrass at The Fiddlin' Pig.  I bought a T-shirt from the Pig that says "Gettin' Piggy With It."  Ha!  I especially enjoyed the sweet potato fries.

Steve H. was dressed for the bluegrass, but maybe not excited about having his picture taken.

Saturday the cartoonists attended meetings and presentations all day.  The highlight was the guest of honor, Jack Davis, of MAD magazine fame.  Everyone reports that Jack was a very sweet gentleman.  At dinner, he petted my hair in a charming, non-creepy way.

While all these meetings were going on, I was getting some work of my own done in the hotel room, as well as swimming in the heated pool.

Who knew the cartoonists were such a multi-talented bunch?  A jam session broke out in the hotel ballroom on Saturday night.  I ended up doing a duet of "Jackson" (sadly, no footage of my performance is available) with some random guy, who I later learned was a filmmaker from Michigan working on a documentary about MAD.

After the conference ended on Sunday, Adverb and I explored the great shopping and dining opportunities in downtown Asheville.  (More blog coverage on this topic coming soon!)  

Monday, we spent the whole day driving back to Atlanta via the long, scenic way.  It was a lovely day to explore the countryside.

While on another road trip in NC several years ago, we had seen a million billboards assuring us that we were very near Harrah's Cherokee Casino, and yet we never actually saw it.  This time, we drove right up to it, completely by accident.  This cracked us up to no end, so we just had to go in and play some slot machines for a little while.  We ended up $9.00 in the hole.  Oh wait, correction, make that $8.75--on the way out, I found a quarter in the parking lot!

More lovely scenery in the Blue Ridge area of western NC.  Fall was definitely in the air.

We stopped for a late lunch at this nice spot on the Nantahala River. 

Our last visit before heading home was to the John C. Campbell Folk School.  (Long-time Stacyverb readers may remember that this is where Adverb took a class in the art of kaleidoscope-making last fall.)  We had a nice time exploring the grounds of the Folk School, including this nice fence dedicated to the different arts.  These were two of my favorite panels.

This beautiful old barn on the Folk School grounds was looking very autumnal.  Someday I hope to return to the Folk School as a student myself.

A fun, relaxing weekend in North Carolina.  Batteries recharged, and ready for fall to come to Atlanta!