Moved and on the move
Hello from being on the road over seas
I moved from my beloved Los Angeles to my beloved Montreal. And then I left for overseas. I suppose I’m officially entering my nomadic period.
I spent the summer overwhelmed at the change of leaving my beautiful nest on Griffith Park Blvd. I had lived there for 28 years and so it felt gigantic to leave. I couldn’t have managed it so seamlessly without the help from my brilliant and beautiful friends who kept me on track for such a big move, drove me places, stored my stuff, fed me, held my hand, bought me drinks and let me be sad with them about my leaving. I may have left, but I will always be an Angeleno.
A photo of my beloved LA home from when I just moved there in 1996 and the old Nerdy Girl van that drove me to LA.
But I am also and have always been a Montrealer. And Montreal is a gentle incubator for artists, I think. It is where I first truly bloomed as an artist. I know I’m going to have a lot of fun living here, being nourished here and making new vital work here. I am lucky to already have such a vibrant circle of friends and artists here. A bonus will is being equidistant to places like Europe, NYC, LA, and Toronto so I can expand where the possibilities for collaborations are.
The lesson is change is scary, change is sad, change is exciting.
I landed in Montreal and hit the ground running with a workshop performance of a new opera with Andre Ristic HOUSE ON FIRE. It was a part of Chants Libres Oper’Actuel conference for works in progress. I met some great composers and saw some of their great new operas. I especailly bonded with Ashi Day (Waking the Witch) and Mario Cortizo (Hort/Garden)
The begining of September brought me back to Viborg, Denmark where I taught at the Graphic Storytelling program at The Animation Workshop. It was my 7th time teaching there and I was doing one of my favorite workshops: helping the graduating fourth years with their final bachelor projects. I love the students - current and former. They are all a delight and all really amazing comics creators. It’s so cool, as the years go by, to see them grow in their work. I’ve even collaborated with some of them. Mads Skovbakke and Thit Bitsch are a part of I AM THE COMIC BOOK and Thorbjorn Petersen and I have a story in the upcoming STARDUST SUPERWIZARD anthology.
From there I travelled on to Assisi, Italy where I am currently in a sweet little artist apartment on a little self directed residency working on a strange little project that is sort of a sister project to what I was investigating with my Fulbright. They are cousins in a way and so it is nice to think that work lead me to something interesting and new that pulls me out of my comfort zone.
It’s so quiet here in Assisi. I feel as thought I’ve been transported out of time.
In other art news, I know that many of you are curious about how I AM THE COMIC BOOK is going! Update: It’s going great! I had a little hiccup between Chapter Four (art by Chris Wisnia) and the recently applied Chapter Five (art by Hope Larson) because in the big move the tattoos I ordered for Chapter Six and Seven kept arriving in the country that I was in previously so they were chasing me from address to address. I solved this technical difficulty by putting a temporary placeholder of Mad’s Maxi character design as a bridge while my mail caught up with me. Luckily the tattoos finally arrived at my parent’s house and as they are meeting me in Italy for a little family vacation, I’ll have them and so it’s all good.
There are a lot of moving parts to endurance promenade performance comics anthology pieces! Reminder you can follow along over on Instagram at I AM THE COMIC BOOK.
In book news, in November I have two short comic stories out. The first of my shorts for Oni’s EC Cruel Universe Comics. I’m really excited about the strange little story with brilliant art by Andrea Mutti. In November I have a short story with artist Lauren Knight in The Secrets of the Majestic anthology about the crazy men’s bathroom there. You’ve got to see it to believe it.
I’m also just beginning a draft of my newest original sci fi graphic novel and I’m so excited about it. More on that later, but it’s getting real. I even made a pinterest and a playlist for it heralding the true beginnings of a project becoming a thing in my artistic process.
I hope you are all fine!
Send me your news!
Love
Cecil