First, artist Steve Loya, who seems to maintain several sites including his excellent “A Splotch Monster A Day” blog, was one of the recipients of poet JoAnne McKay’s excellent book Venti which included several illustrations by me. It still gives me a thrill to see my art properly printed up like this, and accompanying JoAnne’s ridiculously fantastic poetry. Steve posted two photographs of the book which I am going to shamefully steal with the caveat that this theft is only because I have not yet had the time to teach my digital camera to talk to the new computer (and am really not sure when I will) so for the time being I can not post any digital photos I’ve taken myself. Also, Steve, I am sincerely sorry for stealing these, and if you’d like me to take them down please don’t hesitate to let me know. Take a look at this...
...and this...
...and there you can see my illustration for page 268 accompanying JoAnne’s poem “Octopodes.” Steve also wrote some very very kind words about me, and I appreciate that very much.
Both of JoAnne's books, The Fat Plant and Venti are remarkable and beautiful and you can still get them from JoAnne at her site. She is in Scotland, but she ships very fast! Steve's art is also just incredibly good and it looks as if he might have a book available as well although I haven't been able to find any links for purchasing it. Which is depressing because I'd really like to buy a copy. Or an original. Or both. You can see some images from the book at this post (scroll way down) and there is lots of amazing art to look at on any of Steve's sites.
This project was also mentioned at the Travel Between The Pages web site, right here in this post. It's a nice post in that the author mentions my web site as well as other Moby-Dick online resources as well.
Finally, while not a "mention" specifically, artist Kathryn Collins was kind enough to write to me and will soon be giving a new home to one of my Solar Brothers drawings. Kathryn is a great artist as well as a poet, and she shared with me her poem Three Jellyfish which she very perceptively connected with one of my drawings as well. Her work, both the art and the poetry, are deserving of further attention.
Alright, back to work for me now. Hard to believe there are less than 150 pages remaining. It almost makes me a bit sad, really.
4 comments:
It is a bit sad to think of it coming to an end. I suppose you'll just have to start illustrating Pierre.
Hey Matt, thanks so much for the kind shout out! What you are doing is truly a wonderful thing.
In the meantime, the pics are absolutely not a problem! Also, that book I made was only printed as seven copies, for a little art show i recently had. Some were sold and a few were for friends/giveaways. Perhaps I'll make more but the shipping itself costed a fortune (from China)! Anyway, I look forward to what you have in store next for us my friend!
Odly enough, I had actually, briefly, considered that novel Winston. For a time, I thought I would either explore "Pierre" or "The Confidence Man" and am still undecided. Of course, the prospect of illustrating either one of them terrifies me, and I've got a long long way to go in terms of working on my art before I could even do justice to them. But we shall see.
You are most welcome, Steve. Your art is absolutely phenomenal and deserves to be seen and loved by lots and lots and lots of eyes.
I'm bummed about the book, but I can certainly understand why a limited number were produced. I'll be checking your sites regularly for any news of a possible reprint.
Finally, thank you very very much for the kind words. This project has been seen by so many strangers, most of whom have offered such genuine friendliness and encouragement, that it has been a life changing experience for me. I am constantly humbled by how wonderfully people have treated the art and myself. It's been amazing.
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