Notes, Notings, and Common Refrains

"Optimistic out of SPITE"

Because that's what I'm feeling, right now...

I've made a new tee-shirt design and posted it to my Store at Zazzle.com. You can see it, here:

http://www.zazzle.com/diversity_tee-235301749949289862

(It's a "Message Tee" with the slogan: NATURE Adores Diversity)

Detailed description here for those with screen readers

The word "nature" is in a bright floral colored camouflage (like) pattern against black. The letters in "Diversity" are a diverse set of fonts; the "v" is replaced by a LGBTA-Pride striped heart, and the "e" is turned into the wheel on a blue "Wheelchair Access" symbol.

The text is in two lines, and is positioned high on the chest, so it can be more easily read when the wearer is sitting in a wheelchair.
(Description ends)

Today, I remembered a shirt I hand-painted for myself, back when I was taking horse riding lessons... I had a bad habit of holding my breath when I was concentrating on something, so I made a shirt with "Breathe!" painted on it in dimensional fabric paint ...

Upside down, so I could read it when I looked down...

And today, the idea came to me that an update of that design would be something other people could appreciate.

Yes?
No?

Good Green Apples! took me forever to get motivated for na'arting, today... Couldn't settle on what I was in the mood for drawing... after trying about four different ideas, finally decided to draw a "Seriously rendered" but "Cartoon" creature:



Question: would you wear a shirt with this figure on it? With a slogan/motto? Without one?

(I'm typing this with a cat firmly anchored in the crook of my right arm. There is no dislodging her)

57 minutes.

I've had this vague thought that I should write something New Yearsy today. But to tell the truth, I've been drawing a blank.

55 minutes.

Things I've been thinking about instead:

1) Douglas Adams and Richard Dawkins. They were sort of a pair when it came to speaking about their atheism -- I think Dawkins invited Adams to read from HHttG at one of his lectures, iirc. So I've kind of been puzzling through why Dawkins makes me clench my jaw after reading through three successive paragraphs, and Adams fills me with warm fuzzies. And I think I've figured it out: As a writer of speculative, humorous, fiction, Adams recognized that even if a story were untrue it still has worth, even if it's a religious story.

2) I'm really liking the way the series Chuck is winding up its final season. The Intersect, the hi-tech pseudo-scientific, quasi-magical plot device which has driven everything in the previous four seasons has been completely written out (saying how would be spoilers), but the story continues without it, based on the characters (who'd of thunk it?), and what they've learned and how they've changed because of the Intersect. Even though it's not there, now.

Really. Characters who are written as people who can be interesting even without the hook that got the show made in the first place. Wow.

I'm going to keep my eye out for this writing team, to see what they come up with in the future. Because that? is something every genre of series TV needs.

38 minutes.

3) My monster bear. That's what I've been working on this weekend. I'm working from the smallest, fiddly pieces up to the large central torso. So far, I have the snout, ears, and one arm sewn. The arm is... a lot skinnier, turned right side out, than I thought it would be. The main body is a "bright" maroon (not bright, bright, but vivid, and more red then blue) and for the highlight color (inside the mouth, the inner ears and inner arms) is gold-ish (recycled sweatpants that I first bought for my second attempt at my freshman year of college ... 25 years ago?) So my bear will be a mix of new and old. I hope the body won't turn out as proportionally skinny as the arms did -- or at least, that one arm.

27 minutes

4) 2011 was a mixed bag. Emotionally, I think I was just sadder than my normal average. But I did some / am doing some nifty stuff (Plato's Nightmare / Aesop's Dream, my Zazzle store)

5) There is a New Year's Carol (which was considered nostalgic and old fashioned in 1647) with this as a second verse:

And now, with new years gifts, each friend
Unto each other they do send;
God grant we may our lives amend
And that the truth may appear.
Now like the snake cast off your skin
Of evil thoughts and wicked sin,
And to amend this new year begin
God send us a merry new year.

(To the tune of Greensleeves)

I wish New Year's was the Big, Gift-Giving Holiday, instead of Christmas. Because it's a (mostly) secular day; even cultures with different Official New Year days (Chinese, Jewish, Persian, etc.) recognize the Common Era calender, for business, if nothing else. So it's got the energy of a global cultural push behind it. And people could exchange gifts without wondering what holiday name to tack in front of it, and worry if they're using the wrong one.

And that global energy is one reason why the New Year (9 minutes) is a bigger, more emotional holiday for me, personally. But, because of all the local emphasis on December 25, nearly every one else around me is burned out just when I'm starting to want to sing.

(I guess this turned into a New Yearsy post after all.)

6-something minutes...

I discovered that:

a) One of my sweatshirts seems to have disappeared, and

b) Many of the shirts I still have are filled with Swiss-cheese-like holes.

So I decided that, when I got home from the trip, it was probably time to buy some new sweatshirts. Since I have a Zazzle Sweatshirt Store, I also decided to buy at least one of my own designs (hey, at least I know I'll like it).

So I went to my store today, and made a new design:

Image:


Description:
Whether you are a reader, a writer, or both, show your fantasy fan pride with this shirt!

The image features the Fantasy Plot Bunny drawn in the black and white style reminiscent of old-fashioned scientific illustration.

This creature has the head and tail of a rabbit, the body of frog, the wings and antennae of a butterfly, and the talons of a hawk -- just like the genre itself, it is well-adapted to almost any environment, and is both adorable and weird.

The creature's common English name (Fantasy Plot Bunny) is written above in bright fuchsia lettering, while the Latin scientific name (Sylvilagus Fabulae Alienigenae) is written in green, below.

Also, today was a special promo day, with 50% off shirts and mugs in total orders over $50. So I bought another sweatshirt of mine, and my plot bunny coffee mug, and paid 30-something dollars for the whole lot. I think that's a pretty good deal. If I say so myself...

So -- it's art-making month over in Live-Journal land, and while I went in thinking I'd make a new something for my Chimer(i)gons store (nearly) every day, and really boost my inventory, it hasn't worked out that way.

But, since the start of the month, I now have four (4) new designs, and I thought I'd share them (it's been a while, hasn't it?). Image links are behind the cut, with brief descriptions of the products' mottoes (I've tried to write detailed descriptions on each item's product page, in the store):

( In order from most recent to least: 'Autism Spectrum', 'My Responsibilities', 'Cerebral Palsy statistics', and 'Wishing I could walk is BORING' )

---
Designs I want to do in the future:

• "Cerebral Palsy is a Broad Umbrella" With a picture of a broad umbrella with a whole crowd of differently-postured people underneath (and maybe the word "normal" falling down as if it's rain around them). That was going to be today's daily art. But it turned out to be more complicated than a one-day project.
  
  
• "Dear Pity Junkie: I'm not here to be your fix" I'm not sure what sort of graphic I could put with that that isn't ableist against those who require lots of drugs. Maybe just the words, and no graphic?
  
  
• "Bitter Cripple! (I'm cool with GOD. It's YOU I'm pissed at!)"
  
  
• "I don't 'suffer' from anything (but you, Honey, are getting on my last nerve!)"

-----

In other news, the Virginia State Assembly cut funding for home assistance for the disabled and elderly to 56 hours a week, and now, kids won't be able to have personal aides with them in school past kindergarten (even if they need someone trained in administering, oh, say emergency anti-seizure medication within 90 seconds to save their lives). So Audrey is now having to rethink her livelihood, and J's mother is seriously considering homeschooling him. However, the latter development is mostly because all his teachers and therapists are obsessed with "fixing" his weaknesses rather than developing his strengths. Right now, they're obsessed with getting him to cut paper with scissors, and won't teach him anything else until he masters that -- even though he is now able to finger paint quite well, and that skill could be expanded to writing and using a computer mouse, and heck -- making really nifty art (speaking of art-making month).

And this is why, my friends and readers, when you conduct a survey of "children's" developmental disabilities, their population seems to suddenly explode when you bother to look outside the classroom...

-- Sigh --



So yeah, the disabled are the first to get their rights to life curtailed and the last to get their civil rights protected.

So. For months, now, I've had this C.P.-related design idea for a Zazzle Tee-shirt/mug/whatever that, today, sent me searching for images of infant brains showing C.P.. And that led to reading paragraphs around the images. And just now, I found the following (from a site aimed at medical people, based on the vocabulary):

(Quote) Approximately 30-50% of patients with cerebral palsy have mental retardation, depending on the type.[6, 7] However, because of oromotor, fine motor, and gross motor difficulties, communication in these patients may be impaired and expression of intellectual capacity may be limited. However, if cerebral palsy is approached in a multidisciplinary manner, with physical, occupational, and nutritional therapy to maximize rehabilitative efforts, patients can be more fully integrated academically and socially* (Unquote)

[Emphasis my own.]

This is what I have been saying for 20-something years, now. But if that second sentence is true, then the first sentence is false. Let me try to fix it:

Approximately 30-50% of people with cerebral palsy may not have been given full educational opportunities, and are thus classified as mentally retarded.

There! That's better!

From Medicine-Science: Cerebral Palsy (Posted by admin, August 6, 2011)

Object of discussion: Shirt (or mug, or mousepad, or whatever) with a picture of an alligator, and the words "Shameless Alligator," in fat hand-lettering.

Question -- Should I also add the word "Agitator"?

Either as:

A) "Shameless Alligator Agitator," or
B) with "Alligator" struck out, as if fixing a typo, or
C) Not include "Agitator" at all?

I've got everything drawn and inked, except "Agitator." and I need to make a decision before I scan it.

Thanks, in advance, for answering.

[Edited to add: I both Version B ("Shameless Proofread") and Version C ("Shameless In-Joke"); the in-joke one takes up less space (natch), so it's better for small items, like refrigerator magnets and trucker hats. I've got a trucker hat ready for posting for sale, but I'm stumped as to what to do for a description. So I'll post it tomorrow, after sleep.]

So -- next Monday is Helen Keller's 121st birthday, and so, to celebrate, I want to put up some stuff in Zazzle store with a few juicy quotes from her on rights and activism, with cartoon illustrations. The one I've wanted to do for nearly a year now is this:

"... our old ideas are up a tree ... traditions are scurrying away before the advance of their everlasting enemy, the questioning mind..." The New York Call, October 17, 1913.

Folks who were with me for last year's National Art Making Month (August) might remember how I was puzzling out how to illustrate "old ideas" in a visual way, as they scamper up into the branches of a tree while hounds with question-mark spots are close at their heels. Some ideas I worked with was old men whose heads and faces were personified thought balloons, or personified books with tattered covers, and the words for outdated ideas ("bigotry", "NIMBY", etc.) on their covers.

And then, late last night, the idea came to me: skeletons -- maybe "monster" skeletons (human bodies with bird skulls, maybe) -- dressed in rags. Y/Y?

So I want to start practicing drawing that. But the light in my office has burned out, and it's cloudy, so I don't really have strong natural light, and I slept poorly, and I'm just teetering on the verge of a migraine, and ... and...

Even though I'm happy that I have a good idea, I'm cranky because I don't have the energy to play with it right now. And I want to play! Now! But it's not coming out well, and...

I'm cranky.

Oh, well, the UPS driver was just here... maybe he brought me my new book... I will go check. That might cheer me up.

[ETA: It was not my book, but my apron... which is, yes, long enough to cover my entire front in case there is a surprise!doorbell when I'm not wearing any pants. ... So that's good. Crossposting to LJ failed, last time. I shall try again]