(Inside A Black Apple)

New York Dispatch 1

Monster Matryoshka!

We're back from our trip! I will have some NY-specific posts soon, but I've got to share these little nesting dolls that I made during my sicky-hurt-ankle-under-blankets weeks. One of my favorite people had a birthday last week, and my rad friend Robert happened to send me some blank wooden nesting dolls, so the timing was just right for a custom matryoshka set for Devlin's birthday (monster-themed, for he is a very lovable, monsterish person).

I've been so excited to post them, and now I can because I know they've been received!

(From Left: Rockabilly Vampire, Lagoon/Sea Monster, Frankenstein's monster, Lil' Wolfman & Baby Mummy)

They're all acrylic on wood, with hefty coatings of hard-drying protective varnish. It was hard to let them go, we got quite attached to the little fellas.

  

The most fun thing to do with them (for me), was putting them in the "wrong trousers":

 
The little wolfman in the Frankenstein-pants!!  Be still my heart.

Another really fun thing was designing and drawing the packaging:

 
It's (a dressed-up) one of those cookie/candy boxes with the plastic window. I was so excited that I had one around that fit so well, though I did have to make a little platform so he could peek through the window correctly.

The birthday-man loved them...and I'm so thrilled that he did. He's one of those people-who-has-everything (everything cool, that is), so something like this was all I could think of that might fit the bill. I would love to make nesting dolls for the shop, but this little set took so many afternoons and evenings that I just don't think I can. But if a toy manufacturer came a-knockin' and wanted to collaborate on a set, I'd jump at the chance!

I hope your week is off to a good start & Happy Tuesday.

Taking the Airship

(amazing old postcard image via Flickr)

Even if it won't be all salmon-tinted skies and airships, I'm pretty excited to be back in ol' New York.

Bagels!
The Natural History Museum!
Books!
This American Life!

We leave late tonight/early tomorrow...Take care & See you soon.
xoxo

Tiny New Presents

It's a little funny (in a good way) that after all this time of having The Black Apple, I still get giddy about shop stuff. Such is the case with my new order-enclosure bookmarks, featuring a troupe I like to call "The Library Society" (the image also appears on my new shop banner, which a few eagle-eyed folks might've noticed) . They just came from the printers yesterday, and I love them so:

I wasn't 100% thrilled with the last batch of enclosure bookmarks (the image printed really, really dark) but since I had, oh, several thousand of them, I felt bad reordering right away.

I made it a few months before having these made! Oh, I love them.

And I hope that every customer  who finds one inside their official Black Apple mail will, too!

Fronds & Flora Print Suite

I usually don't do this, but I'm making the Fronds + Flora print suite available in the shop before the originals are available. I'm really excited about this trio...they print beautifully and look almost indistinguishable from the originals. I hope you enjoy them! I really wanted to be sure that they had plenty of time to arrive as Mother's Day gifts, and I don't think I'll be able to get together my Spring mini-update before our New York trip next week. But soon!

Mutants

Hello there!

My ankle-situation has drastically improved (thank you so much for all the well-wishing!), but wouldn't you know it? Now I'm as sick as can be with a horrible cold. Back to the couch and blankets for me...and Josiah made me very comforting chicken soup last night. I'm starting to fear that April is going to be a bit of a "lost month" as far as painting and sewing... so sad and really pretty maddening for me.

Yesterday, in the midst of feverishness + chills I read most of this excellent book:

I picked it up, along with a mighty stack of others on my "to-read" list, at Powells over the weekend. Not only is it fascinating under any circumstances (full of genetic anomalies, patterns, historical examples), but I've been feeling so sickly and like a Victorian consumptive for the past three weeks and the book reminds me to be grateful for the random chance of minute chromosomes that gave me thumbs, a working heart, etc. (and not, say, a third eye or a tail).

Daffodils and Chocolate Eggs To You!

In This House That I Call Home

We went out to the X show last night (with me hobbling on crutches) and goodness gracious, it was unbelievably good!

The whole set list was "by request", meaning the songs were voted on ahead of time. I'm not sure if this is great fun for the actual band, but watching a show that's fan-curated this way was so fun. The set was so solid, almost every song was one I was really excited to hear and sing along to (I never realized just how many X songs I know almost every single word to). I just screamed out words and did a little crutches-supported dance and had the best time ever!

They did two encores which included four (four!) songs that are very special to me. Real, honest-to-god top-favorites of mine:
-"See How We Are" (John + Exene acoustic. This song makes me cry and Josiah loves it too = big plus)
-"White Girl" (I love the haunting guitar hook in this song, and I think it shows off the odd melding of J + E's off-kilter harmonies, which is my favorite thing about X)
-"The World's a Mess, It's in My Kiss"...Possibly best X song title ever and has also succinctly summed up my feelings about romantic/general malaise at dramatic times in my life.
-"Burning House of Love" I was shocked (shocked!!) they played this, because it's an amazing song from an otherwise pretty deplorable later album of theirs called "Ain't Love Grand". I have a big affinity for some of X's later and less critically lauded music, though, and this song is really dear to me. I used to listen to the acoustic Knitters version and cry and cry.

It was just so good. John Doe's voice is one of the most comforting things in the world to me (I'll gladly listen to his sometimes-patchy solo albums to be around it) and he looks just as handsome as ever. I find him mysteriously and stupidly handsome. He's not even my usual "type"...and he's almost a little weasel-y (normally a deal-breaker). Do you remember a looong time ago when I had the UPS man who looked just like John Doe? *Sigh*

I'll stop boring the majority of you who aren't X-people with all this talk, but I'm still all giddy from last night.

Happy Friday!

Nara and The Wagon

I was really excited to see a snippet of the new Nara show at Blum and Poe in the newest Hi Fructose.

Image from Arrested Motion

I love seeing his portraits framed like this.

Image from Arrested Motion

Or just sketches tacked to the wall...it feels right casual or carefully presented.

Image from Blum + Poe

The show is everything lovely about his work that you already adored, but with the magical element added of a small installation in the shape of a scallop-roofed wagon!

 
Image from Arrested Motion

Image from Arrested Motion

Inside looks like the coziest, sweetest little drawing studio imaginable. It's all too much...I love it so much it makes me want to cry.

Image from Blum + Poe

Over at Arrested Motion, there are tons more photos and even a little video tour of the show for those of us that don't get to wander through it ourselves. Nara was one of my first favorite artists that I didn't learn about from an art book, so he'll always be about 1 1/2 inches away from my heart.

Spring Hats & Kinglets

Thank you for all the kind words about the Floral-coiffed trio!

I have a few more new ink paintings to share with you today:

The Fetching Spring Hat     5"x7"    Drawing ink on Bristol board

Ruby Crowned Kinglet     8"x10"    Drawing ink on Bristol Board

I hope you all had nice weekends. Saturday, I was a comics-widow, because Josiah was in Seattle for their big comic convention...but I did our taxes, which I'm glad to have finished. On Sunday, I managed to get out for an extended afternoon (considering my hobbling) and head to the park, get dizzy over all the blooms, and read on a picnic blanket with my favorite person (who was back from Seattle). We went to a late showing of Adventureland, which was so much less slick and cheesy than the trailers made it out to be...it was actually pretty charming. I like the main guy, who played the older brother in the (I think) underrated The Squid and The Whale, which is a highly quoted movie in our household.

Happy Monday!