Gallery: Three Decades in the Past

I was sorting stacks of art a few weeks ago and I came across this image. It’s from 1991, soon after I’d started attending figure drawing classes. It’s a long way from perfect but it’s definitely an improvement over the work I’d done just the previous year. I don’t remember having posted it before. It’s a fairly large image and I haven’t had a scanner that can handle large images for long.

This was a promo illustration for a proposed miniseries about a couple of “crazy” people who can see the supernatural menaces that are invisible to the rest of us.

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i’m writing this on Tuesday morning. I’m hoping to be away from my computer most of the day.

No Story Seeds or Recommendations this week. Every time I came online here to write I made the mistake of checking news sites or Facebook first and fell into the black hole of human stupidity. God, that’s exhausting. I did have one morning when I couldn’t access the internet because someone had cut our cable. That was peaceful. I got more artwork done that morning than any four other mornings put together. If I were smart I’d unplug my ethernet cable before I went to bed and only plug it in again in the morning after I’d accomplished something.

If I were smart.

I went back to work on Tuesday, May 26th and worked a 12 hour day. The day after a holiday is usually a heavy one mailwise. Some Congressmen have proposed suspending mail delivery on Saturdays. Clearly none of those folks have worked a delivery job. Mail and parcels keep coming even when they aren’t delivered. That day was unusual. Parcel volumes have continued to be high. I worked all those hours on my own route. Fortunately there were few sick calls that day and so few routes had to be delivered as extra. I know some carriers were out much later than I was.

I had some overtime every day the rest of the week. Mostly it was less than an hour. All of that was because of parcel volumes.

On Thursday we heard that one of our recent retirees had passed away. She’d only retired within the last couple of years.

On Friday we celebrated the retirement of another carrier. He’d been on the job for 33 years. It’s hard for me to imagine having the same job for that long. Out in the private sector, at least these days, it’s rare to work at the same company for more than 5 years. I’ve tended to stay at jobs for a while but the most I’ve managed was 10 years.

Yesterday, June 1st, I put in overtime carriyng both my own route and part of another route. We had a lot of sick calls. I took myself off the Overtime Desired List last year in order to have more time to do art and, well, just breathe, but I don’t mind carrying another route occasionally. It’s pleasant to see another part of town.

Last week I got news of the passing of a couple of acquaintances.

I knew Nick Roberts when we were both kids in Sebastopol in the Seventies and Eighties. He lived a couple of blocks away. My brother and I would hang out with him occasionally. I’d lost touch with him after I moved to Santa Rosa and beyond. His obituary doesn’t say why he passed but I don’t suppose that’s important.

I knew Noel Franklin as part of the Seattle comics scene. She stayed with us for a few weeks a few years ago. We provided her with place to land when she left an abusive relationship. As another acquaintance has said, Noel was battling demons. She passed on Friday. Accidental overdose apparently.

Hearing of Nick’s passing didn’t hurt. Enough time had passed since I’d seen him. Mostly I was glad to read that he’d been married for 26 years and had kids. The news of Noel’s passing was a harder hit in large part because I was still connected with her via FB and she’d seemed to be doing well, even with the current isolation.

On Saturday afternoon my phone did the emergency klaxon buzz. Protests over the murder of George Floyd and become riots and a curfew was being called down. I had no idea that there were protests going on here in Seattle. I’d been delivering mail in a downpour a good part of the day. I’d checked Facebook on breaks but hadn’t seen any protest notices. Just another reminder that FB is not a good place to get news.

Curfews were announced on both Sunday and Monday evenings.

I spent a good part of Sunday moring cooking. I chopped up the last of the ham from Big Sister’s last care package and make a ham and bean stew in the crock pot. I also make a spaghetti squash cassarole that I’d intended to share that afternoon. We’d planned to visit a friend across town who has a big back yard. The plan was hang out together at a safe distance. We bought some individually packaged mini cheese cakes and I’d cooked two casssaroles so we could avoid sharing space as much as possible.

Saturday’s rain continued into Sunday and we had to cancel. We tentatively rescheduled for yesterday afternoon but our friend had to cancel due to food poisoning. Given that I had to work overtime I suppose it was just as well.

Today is my day off. I’m taking one of the cats (Chemo) into the vet for a check up and getting more electrolytes for Sabe. Then Costco. Then a phone call with a guy who needs me to do production work on a comic he’s writing. Then I’ll make more progress on the Lovecraft Country Holidays illustrations. I’m working on the art for the last scenario.

Take care. Be well. Be safe. Be angry but pick your targets with compassion. And proper focus. Stabbing up is always best. See you next week!