Seals, SEALS and more SEEEAAAALLLSSS!!!!!

As promised in a previous entry, I've created a painted version of "Sad Seal" which is now titled "Indiferent, but slightly happy seal". I also painted three more seals, a "seal series" of sorts. Here they are, those slippery, fat, fuc...I mean suckers...

Indiferent, but slightly happy seal".

"Crazy Eyes, the Seal"

"Ticked Off Seal"

"Playful Fool"

Sketch for "Playful Fool"

I hope you enjoy them...

By the way, I have work posted on two more sites:

Coroflot.com:

www.coroflot.com/nancymichaud

Creative Hotlist:

www.creativehotlist.com/nmichaud

And, of course links to my other two sites:

Portfolio: www.portfolios.com/nancymichaud

Tee shirts, mugs, and other fun stuff (Updated with new products today!!): www.cafepress.com/nancymichaud

I did it!

Finally, I finished the illustrations for my first illustration job: Heart of Stone, written by Ana Monnar. The book will be released soon, I will formally announce it as soon as I know when. Until then, enjoy this illustration I made, one of 12 for the book:



By the way, I've been getting some emails from more than one person telling me they can't post comments on my blog, because they don't have blogger accounts. I have changed the settings. Just click on the "comments" link. Under the comment box, click on the bubble that says "other" or "anonymous", and post away! Yippee! I am looking forward to your comments.



I got more work online!
www.portfolios.com/nancymichaud

Tee Shirts, Coffee Mugs, and other fun stuff:
www.cafepress.com/nancymichaud


Ana Monnar's website:
http://www.readersareleadersusa.net

Tall buildings surrounding a not-so-tall girl...

Last weekend, my older sister and I went to New York City to look at art and wander around. I had never been to the New York without a clear purpose. I've only been to New York for school field trips, checking out the tourist areas with my parents, etc...

I think I've only been to New York six times, including this visit. One of the times I went, I was on a chorus trip. We were dropped off at the theatre we were to sing in, we sang two numbers, and got back on the bus (what a let down!). But, I digress...

It was nice to walk the streets, especially since my sister knew where we were going, and it was nice not to have too many plans (except going to the Brooklyn Museum at 5:00 to meet a friend). I especially liked avoiding the tourist spots, where people walk sluggishly, constantly taking pictures.

I, myself, took a lot of pictures, whenever I saw something intriguing...Except on the subway. There were a lot of interesting-looking people on the subway, but I didn't think they'd appreciate me taking pictures of them...So I didn't.

Here are the pictures I took last weekend, starting in New Haven, and ending somewhere in New York...In no particular order...

My sister's tiny cat, Miggs. Isn't she cute?

The remains of the New Haven Coliseum (just recently knocked down).

The remains (from another angle).

Some damned kid wrote graffiti on this building. What a disgrace!

I like the copper fire escape.

A splash of paint on a New York street, how "avant garde"...

The natives used to call the colonists "the people who lived in squares and rectangles".

My feet...Shortly after I was struck in the head by a rogue pigeon poop. This was the second time in two years that I have been pooped on by a bird. Apparently being pooped on by a bird is good luck. Seriously, I don't understand why.

White is not quite white.

This is one of the "nice" buildings I saw. A lot of the buildings seemed "boxy" with almost no architectural interest. This building not only has architectural interest,but also lots of graffiti, which I love.

I love to see a tree slowly win.

Concrete cobblestone. Neat.

What a beautiful blue sky!

So that's it for my trip to New York...I know, maybe not the most exciting stuff in the world, but I had fun. I had nice drinks, really good eggs benedict, I saw beautiful art for free, saw a friend I hadn't seen in months, and I got crapped on by a pigeon. Who could ask for a better New York experience! Oh, and my sister bought me a hat...

Does this scare you???

Gosh, I'm glad that I was too busy working and running to an evening class yesterday to see this on the news. I heard a someone mention the so-called "bomb scare" in Boston during my work day, but I disregarded it. In this "post 9-11" world, the media jumps on the slightest threat of terrorism, whether it be real or not, and blows it up to 9-11 proportions. I have decided to not care about "threats" anymore, the media has cried wolf far too many times.

When I saw an image of a Mooninite flicking me off on the evening news tonight, and heard that a publicity stunt for Aqua Teen Hunger Force was responsible for this scare, I couldn't help but laugh a little. I guess some battery powered signs that depicted different characters from the show were viewed as "sinister", and some people got scared. I can't help but wonder who's to blame for shutting down the city of Boston for a day; was it the ad agency that was so insensitive to put up "suspicious" objects all over a major metropolitan area, the Cartoon Network, the media, the police?

This is what the police had to say:

Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis called it "unconscionable" that the marketing campaign was executed in a post 9/11 era. "It's a foolish prank on the part of Turner Broadcasting," he said. "In the environment nowadays ... We really have to look at the motivation of the company here and why this happened." (a link to the source:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/31/boston.bombscare/index.html )

And the people who were arrested for this incident:

Berdovsky, an artist, told The Boston Globe he was hired by Interference and said he was "a little kind of freaked out," by the furor.

"I find it kind of ridiculous that they're making these statements on TV that we must not be safe from terrorism, because they were up there for three weeks and no one noticed. It's pretty commonsensical to look at them and say this is a piece of art and installation," he told The Globe. (a link to the source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-01-31-boston_x.htm ).

Everyone is pretty ticked off (and rightfully so) about this whole situation. I can't help wondering, however, why people go so scared of some little lighted signs. When, if ever, are we going to stop being a frightened society? Isn't life hard enough to deal with without factoring in the possibility of terrorism? Where is there room for happiness in a society that terrorizes itself? How many more open-ended questions can I come up with in one night?

I try very hard to remain objective when things like this occur. I certainly don't want to point my finger at anyone and blame them for what happened. I will say this, however: there are people in this world, both in our country and abroad, who benefit from Americans being scared all of the time. We have the right to think for ourselves, we have the right to protect ourselves, we have the right to feel secure in our own homes. I believe, the only we can guarantee that for ourselves is to turn off the TV every time we hear the word "Terrorism". I think it's what our founding fathers would have wanted us to do.

By the way, I do have a slight bias, Aqua Teen Hunger Force is one of my favorite shows on TV. It is not only funny, it also is 15 minutes long, with no commercials. Adult swim is great about keeping commercial breaks to a minimum.

Take that, corporate America!

#1 in Da HooD G!

By the way, if it's not obvious, the images I use for this blog are not mine. These are images from the series "Aqua Teen Hunger Force".