Middle of Summer and Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain. Photo: Travel Channel

I'll start off this month's entry with a small but heartfelt bit in memoriam to a fellow whom I'd never met, but did admire. In many ways, I found inspiration from him in travel, writing, photography, and views of my natural surroundings.

Chef, author, traveler, outspoken voice.

Anthony Bourdain, was the sort of personality that I found endlessly intriguing, but also wonderfully unapologetic. His regard and respect for the hard working Spanish-speaking immigrants hailing from Mexico, Ecuador, and other Central/South American countries, who are cooks and chefs in many American hole in the wall and upscale establishments was well known. He saw them as talented and invaluable, yet underpaid and unrecognized, even though they have become the backbone of the U.S. restaurant industry.

He was actually on my mind, as just this past weekend, I ate at this little underground hole in the wall eatery named Bernardo's Burritos in Des Moines. It was a no frills and dimly lit affair, run by a young Hispanic man, with an assembly line of ingredients that he used to either make $3 tacos or $8 burritos with. I got the $8 burrito, and if I'd had the space, I'd have gotten another one.

If you want to see what else they have there, check it out at 215 4th St. in downtown Des Moines. Little pricey, but it was really good food. It did echo your average Chipotle in some ways though, and was aimed at the late night crowd.

Bourdain was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and he would be the first one to have said it, tinged with a curse word in the affirmation of it. He was worldly, infinitely curious, blunt, and known to be as engaging as he was off putting depending on his mood and the bearing of fellows in his company, and the food on his plate.

He was always one I'd hope to meet someday, and yet again, I have to scratch one more name off of the crumpled list in my wallet. Wherever you are sir, may the adventures and cuisine be literally out of this world for you.

Art efforts and creations.

I handed off a newly completed Frankenstein's Monster's Head, into the hands of my friend and art show organizer, D Ryan Allen. He had supplied plaster heads for artists to customize for a series of shows celebrating the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelly's work, "Frankenstein - or the Modern Prometheus", which was released on January 1, 1818.

I'd never worked on painting plaster before. But this first foray into painting on it, went really well.

I'd meant to chronicle this effort in video, but time constraints left me with little time to get work in on it, much less setting up lighting and the right setup for filming. I did get a few in process photos of before and after. The head as noted earlier is plaster, that I'd base coated with a gray acrylic from IronLak's Sugar Artists' Acrylic Spray Paint line. I need to do a user review and specific project with these paints, because the acrylic was buttery smooth in propelling, evenness of coat, and color lay, and I was astounded by the way low odor that it expelled.

Other art efforts as of recently are including me doing some spot illustrations for Brass Engine Production's upcoming game release of Thief's Hoard, which will be launching on KickStarter soon. Expect to see that flooding my Twitter feed on that day and for the next few weeks afterwards.

Close up preview of one of the spot illustrations for Thief's Hoard.

I've also rebranded/restarted my wood block series into something I'm calling StoryBlocks, which are more of a three dimensional comic panel, or spot illustration. The first three out of the gate are Sonic, a Werewolf, and Wonder Woman. These will be up for sale online soon, and I'll have a video explaining the upgrades and extra art involvement in these works compared to the previous wood panel series I did, including the new pricing structure on these.

In progress Wonder Woman, with others drying behind her.

On that note, I will be having a series of listings of remaining older works, for sale. Like a real sale. Like the kind of sale that if you like it, you can offer what you want to pay for it, and it's yours sort of sale. I'm still working out the details and set up on that, and I have a variety of sized works that will be available.

From slumber, to soil, to sun.

I regard gardening, the little that I do of it, to be an art form of sorts, except the challenge is to consistently nurture the initial seeds, to grow and mature into a final form of physical, and to a degree, mental release. I'd let a few years go by without any plants, and felt something missing in me. Now, I've got a fair few little sprouted seedlings enjoying the current influx of rain and warm weather.

Little watermelon plants who had been in a slumber in my refrigerator for about 3 to 5 years, amazingly sprouted very well. 

Life imitates Art.

Over the years, I've gotten a lot of images that didn't really fit in with normal updates, at least thematically, but it struck me that I could feature a random odd one every update, just for fun.

A modern moment of life no doubt inspired by "Creation of Adam" (Italian: Creazione di Adamo), a fresco painted by Michelangelo, which forms part of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, c. 1508–1512. This is also the standard way to pay for a burger and fries in the midwest. No really.

Because I've had some people at shows ask me for a streamlined information area for links on various subject matters I write about in my entries, I've decided to now add what you see just below, a "links of interest" area highlighting the subjects that were in the blog entry. Thanks so much Jenna W. for suggesting this at NakaKon earlier this year.

Links of interest:

• Anthony Bourdain
• IronLak's Sugar Acrylic Spray Paints
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
• Brass Engine Productions
• National Suicide Prevention

Until next time, support your local artists and businesses. Be kind to your fellow beings. We all may live in times uncertain, but kindness, understanding, and believing in the good that is in most each and every one of us is what can bring about better days.

- Mario, the Artisan Rogue
Illustrator, Voice Actor, Writer, Animal Rights Activist

www.theartisanrogue.com

After the rain, the horizon is still not so clear.

Rainy days. Inspirational and numbing all the same.

Just a few weeks before Planet Comicon. And I find myself in a hell of a creative slump once again. It's not about finding the inspiration to keep creating as much as it is to keep on creating.

To keep myself motivated, I've been vlogging, recording and producing short time lapse videos of my one off originals.

Thank you to all of you that have watched and enjoyed these little videos.

I've done a lot of this to myself, in regards to being far more analytical and observant about my creative process. See, in documenting through video, thinking about what I am doing as an artist, and WHY I am making art, it's had a side effect where walls of self doubt and seas of self deprecation clash, all the while a small canoe with my self esteem and self worth attempts to not capsize.

New "HellBot" digital work. Just 10 of these large ones. Numbered, signed, debuting at Planet Comicon.

But in these moments of insecurity, I've had moments that helped raise me up out of some doldrums. I recently started teaching with the art education group Young Rembrandts. Getting back into grade school classrooms, but this time as the teacher, has been both intimidating and enlightening.

Watching them work on the lesson I was instructing was such a mental and emotional high.

I went through some heavy firsts in this. I had taught before at alternative schools and with the volunteer based Scribblers program, which were invaluable, but because I had been going through all of that self judgment, I was actually not totally sure that I would be able to pull off instructing these kids.

I thankfully was incorrect. And I learned a great deal just in this first class of twenty plus students, from them, and my assistant teacher Marcia (who came with a formidable background of many many years of teaching). The kids warmed up to us quickly, and to hear and see them making art, started chipping away at a lot of my self doubt.

But if I thought that this was the only confrontation I would have with my newly unearthed armada of issues with my creative side, I was wrong. Later in the week, I had volunteered to join up with a few poets at KKFI to read some of my own prose, and formulate the foundation for a new bit of programming based on poetry discussions.

I was pleased to say that my fellow poets (whom gave me enough bravery after our initial meeting by immediately setting me at ease about using the label), and I had a lot of fun recording a 15 minute segment over the course of three plus hours. We read our own works, and each other's, spoke about life, you know, things that I may vlog about, but in this case, became a treasure so much more rarefied in the bond we all shared that Saturday afternoon.

I am sincerely looking forward to the next recording session.

One thing I had promised myself was to reach beyond boundaries and comfort zones professionally and creatively. I know I am just scratching the surface.

Not being "officially" full time employed has definitely been the most powerful aspect of that. It's sobering. It's stressful. It's liberating. It's got it's blessings. It's got it's pitfalls.

The deception of life is prominent.

But not unlike that little robin's egg that had fallen from my oak tree, some things can happen where life and choices are cut short. I had hoped to maybe get the egg back into it's nest, but upon turning the egg over, the facade was broken as quickly as the shell had been upon falling from the nest.

I watch more sunsets now than I have in years.

I know that I am going through a rough patch. It happens. It's not easy for anyone around me for any extended amount of time.

But it doesn't rain all the time. And just like the moments in class, or with old friends and new, the sun does finally come out, and with it, the warmth and familiarity of things.

Thanks for reading. I am so very grateful for the subscriptions and views on my blog and videos.

Until next time, support your local artists, be kind to your fellow beings, and always take the path less traveled!

- Mario, the Artisan Rogue
Illustrator, Podcaster, Writer, Toy Collector, and Animal Rights Activist

www.theartisanrogue.com