I got a pyrography kit! I got a pyrography kit! Wooooo! New toys! I’m going to be playing with this all day. At first I thought that the images online of pyrography were kinda hokey, but now I have the utmost respect for people who can render eagles and puppies and shit in this medium…because DAMN it is hard to control. But, that’s kinda what I like about it. It’s hot and dangerous and sexy and out of control. What I am working on today: burning writhing bodies into hunks of wood. Thinking about: Hell, fire as a destructive and cleansing force, fire in the belly. Maybe later I’ll try to find some time to do a baaaawla portrait of Captain Jack Sparrow or burn a kick-ass scorpion-ninja-thing on the back of my sister’s banjo.

Why, I was drinking a cup of coffee, of course! ;-P

I was getting a quick cup and looking over the notes for my next class when I overheard two “brahs” sitting next to me discussing a very intense subject: apparently, the young woman Brah Numbah One had over last night had the audacity to take a shit in his bathroom. Because we all know girls don’t do that. (At least, not without permission. Better yet, not unless you’re under 25, hot, able to smoke at the same time, and men are watching.)

At first I was confused. Like, where was she supposed to do it? On the floor? On his couch? Was she supposed to be collecting it in little baggies for him? Luckily, Brah Numbah Two was there to clear things up for me. “Aw, man, brah! Dude, did you throw her out? You dodged a bullet with that one, brah. I’m tellin’ ya, man, these bitches… you hafta watch them. I’d never let a bitch shit in my house. I’m tellin’ ya…you give them an inch, they take a mile. Next thing you know, she’d be draggin’ over a U-Haul.”

Ooooh, cupcake. If only you had more than an inch to give.

Frankly, this conversation was so ridiculous that I couldn’t be offended. I started illustrating Brah’s Worst Nightmare: The PooPoo Plot of Domestication. Because when the ladies poop in your bathroom, they turn into evil monsters who want to domesticate you and interrupt your Bromance. Pssh, obvs.

Oh boy. Well, Brahs, be careful how you express your idiocy in public; somewhere, there might be a feh-muh-nust Art Grrrrl, not-so-privately mocking you.

Ladies, just in case you are in danger of actually going home with one of these idiots, I found a handy little chart for you to avoid tragedy:

(The background of this doodle is supposed to be bright neon high-lighter yellow, but for some reason my scanner made it look like I never colored it at all. Weird. Do scanners not pick up fluorescent colors?)

Stuff I’m into this week: Kent Bellows, Madhuri Dixit, La Strada, “Cat’s Eye”, bizarre constructions of crayons and balloons, granny twins, “Snow Crash”, kittehs, JUSTICE, and Hold Your Horses

This is a doodle I did in class (aaaah, yes, that’s why I carry around all those different metallic gel pens) of my cinema professor as a young woman (she is in her mid 60′s now). She is from eastern Europe, and came to Chicago in her early 20′s. She is always saying, “Follow your call! You must do _____ before you really get old.” She’s been on my mind a lot recently because her husband, who taught this class with her, died last week. She is fragile and full of greif, and often on the verge of tears in class. I wanted to privately send her some positive energy into the universe, especially now when she is in a brand new world without her husband… a world without her husband is like a foreign land to her. It is very sad. In this image of her I am acknowledging her grief while trying to wrap her–embrace her–in light (gold pen) and flowers.

Sarah. HelloooOOO! Whatever happened to drawing every day? Posting a few times a week? Girl, where you been?

Well… life kind of sucked there for a bit. I was going to class full time, and working 35 hours or more (so, almost full time) at quite possibly the most thankless job that I’ll ever have: cashier at Binny’s Beverage Depot. For non-Illinoisans, Binny’s Beverage Depot is a gigantic liquor store about the size of a WalMart. I have never worked so hard in my life. Standing for eight hours every day, lifting heavy boxes of bottles, interacting with hundreds of people a day–a large portion of them drunk, or alcoholics… from the physical stamina to the delicate dance of interacting with a misogynist hostile boss, it sucked all of the life out of me.(But my coworkers were awesome! Shout-out!)

But guess what?! I quit! I quit I quit I quit I quit! After giving that place a year of my life, I finally found a job where I will be making real money. A job in a female-friendly environment. A job where I don’t have to worry about the guy that I accidentally made eye-contact with following me home.

So, in honor of Binny’s Beverage Depot, here is a post of drawings that I did at my register, on company time:

I’ve made a playlist of music that I find inspirational on Imeem. Give it a listen! What inspires you?