For Auld Lang Syne
In no particular order, here is a non-comprehensive and surely forgetful list of things I liked in 2022:
Television:
Magpie Murders was an absolute delight, a meta-murder mystery with colliding plotlines and timelines. One of the most refreshingly different mysteries I’ve seen in a month of Sundays.
Professor T (Belgian, with subtitles). This ended up being one of my favorite television series of all time. Ever. The series explores human suffering, pain and ultimately redemption in ways that I’ve never seen a whodunnit manage. And there’s plenty of humor to lighten the mood when needed (Goele Derick is a genius in her role as a passive aggressive university secretary). Caveat: two episodes deal with assault, so be aware if you’d prefer to avoid.
Books:
Beowulf (Seamus Heaney translation).
Farenheit 451 is absolutely chilling and you may as well give up on sticking to your bedtime, should you attempt to read before sleep. That hound — shudder…
Beauty for Truth’s Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education, by Stratford Caldecott. Math has always left me cold, but reading this challenged my understanding of beauty, order and the structure of the universe. While written from a religious perspective, there’s plenty of science-y bits that would appeal to anyone, regardless of creed.
Podcasts
In Our Time covers a multitude of subjects ranging from literature to philosophy to history. I love to queue this up before long car drives.
I’ve burnt out on true crime podcasts, but did enjoy Atlantic.
Other things I loved? A visit to the Museum of Russian Icons this past March and a side trip to Nashoba Valley Winery made for a fun excursion. Keeping a garden provided plenty of joy and occasional madness (read: cabbage moth caterpillars). I did some part-time work and balanced that with studying, as well as finishing art for a new installment of the Anne of Green Gables series. I also wrote two truly terrible first drafts for books and barely resisted the urge to light them on fire. So while 2022 felt at times like a massive real-time version of Whack-a-Mole, it had its good points all the same.
So upwards and onwards, into the new year. But first I plan to polish off the remainder of the cookies…
Navigations
I should probably tattoo this on my forearm and refer hourly to said inscription.
And…
Songs that are fueling my deadlines. I’d recommend hitting shuffle, as I didn’t arrange these in any kind of coherent fashion. And sorry if you aren’t as enthusiastic about 90’s Swedish power pop as I am, but it will do wonders for whatever ails you. Promise.
FAIRE magazine is a splendid read.
I’ll be in The Great State of Illustration in Maine show next month (scroll for details).
Still Summer
Last bits of Summer and the view from here. I’ve been holed up finishing work for a deadline and am finally coming up for air. But in between, there’s been some collage making (above), pumpkin harvesting (middle) and picking the last of the flowers (below) and a fortuitous used book discovery at Book and Bar (also below). Please tell me I’m not the only person that buys duplicates of their favorite books because they can’t see them sit unloved?
Aside from all that, there’s been lots of swimming and ice cream this summer. There’s been watching of Miss Scarlet and the Duke. I made apple hand pies from this recipe. And this Tiny Desk Concert is all kinds of wonderful (full disclosure, Left Handed Kisses is probably in my top 50 songs ever ever ever).
So back to the drafting table. Then out of doors. Because there’s a handful of days before Autumn is here, proper, and I intend to squeeze every last ounce out of Summer.
Plink, Plink, Plonk
I was working on some sketches for a new linocut this past week. I got a mini block printing press for my birthday and now want to print anything and everything. This fellow didn’t make the cut this go around, but I couldn’t resist turning the sketch into something a little more finalized.
