Can-zine was officially, awesome. There’s a pretty good sum-up, run-down here. Too many beautiful things, too many indie kid’s crammed into some tight spaces and not enough deodorant (which was very, very unfortunate). I sold a few zines, traded a bunch more and gave out a few for free too (yep, because I liked their face, honest). Mostly I wandered around dumfounded and overwhelmed.
I rocked the Welland table. Welland has some hard-core, serious and famous ‘zinesters…
Who are apparently some of my good friends. Who knew?
I guess I’m a Wellander by association. I think having friends and family there give’s you a bit of cred when it comes to the Rose City. Not as much as growing up there, but enough to associate with the people without getting beat up.
Oooh, by the way I found out one of my Welland friends (Mr. Mike Pisiak, my predecessor as illustrator and comics god at the Brock Press) has a blog I was unaware of. It is called house of irony and it is everything you could hope for and more…
If you were hoping for irony, sarcasm and boy-related pop-culture that is.

I will be at canzine today – pretty much for the whole thing, as I may have to drive a couple folks home. I will have a small zine, that I may be selling or giving away for free, depending on how I like your face.
You think I’m joking, but I’m not.
I have a friend that has a table, which is awesome. She told me I could have some space there but I don’t really have anything to sell. I wish I had more time and warning for this thing, I totally would have thrown some more substantial stuff together.

naughty kitty, originally uploaded by beth maher.

As requested, more pictures of the kitty in the bathrooom.

Hmmmm… A meme you say? I’m a meme virgin, actually.
Here’s the first 15 songs that, rather embarrassingly pop up on my itunes when set to shuffle. Totally unrepresentative of my actual musical tastes. A lot of this shouldn’t count, because it’s actually the boyfriends.

1. Love Me Do – The Beatles
2. One Big Holiday – My Morning Jacket
3. If Only She Knew – Michelle Branch
4. Little Ghost – The White Stripes
5. Talisman – AIR
6. Mine’s Not A High Horse – The Shins
7. Big Brat – Phantom Planet
8. No Other One – Weezer
9. The Impression That I Get – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
10. Fire Up The Shoesaw (LP Version) – Lionrock
11. Stranger Than Fiction – Bad Religion
12. Wooly Mammoth’s Absence – Mount Eerie
13. Time To Go – Supergrass
14. Green Hornet – Al Hirt
15. !!!!!!! – The Roots

bathtub, originally uploaded by beth maher.

bathtub kitty!

I think I’ve realized something.
So much of our time and energy is devoted to being OK, to being content.
But: it seems every-time I break down and admit that things aren’t OK, and I’m in a miserable mood, things actually start to get better.
It is a little counter-intuitive to do, and so much of the world is set up to punish whining…
But it seems it is better, and nobler to be humble than to pretend to be strong and resilient – when you’re not.
Anybody who tells you to buck up is an idiot.
In vaguely related news, I have finished my zine (now I just need to get to the complex task of copying and stapling). It’s theme ended up being absolutely nothing to do with what I was talking about before, but I am very proud of how it’s turning out.
I have also fielded an invitation to take a two day shopping holiday across the border in Buffalo. Yay.

Weirdly enough, I feel kinda re-charged all of the sudden.
I really shouldn’t.
Because I have to say that things really, really, really suck right now.
But at least I have my creativity back.
The definite upside is, that… well it seems there’s an upside. Things might be going that way. Up. Finally.

John Galliano’s latest runway show for this upcoming spring is absolutely amazing.
Beautiful, haunting, surprising, amazing – this one pulls out all the stops.
It’s like a combination of 1920′s Berlin, and Charles Dickens. Which doesn’t even speak to how fabulous the models are. Finally someone had the gumption to stick normal people (of every single kind and variety) into high fashion. I’m not entirely surprised it took crazy, kooky Galliano to do it. I hope this is a trend that sticks.
It’s all inspiring, to say the least.

I am trying, really hard to come up with a small ‘zine to work on for the next little while. But it’s causing me trouble. I can’t decide what to do with it.
I have two instincts here.
The first is to do something short, sweet, cute, funny and fuzzy-animal-cartoon related. A crowd pleaser I can make in large quantities and hand out, with my web-site address on the back. Something I would enjoy myself, if I were handed that sorta thing.
The second is to do something larger darker and more artistic. More classic personal ‘zine, something fancy and personal I can stick in my portfolio.
I actually have semi-started on the second, only because it’s what came easier. At first anyway.
All this being sick and going to doctors, and tests and MRI’s and stuff is great material. It needs to go somewhere, get recorded and expounded.
But when I look at my outlines and sketches, it’s not the kind of thing I really enjoy or appreciate.
I appreciate fluff.
Hello kitty, pink, sarcasm, irony, wit, silliness, style and preferably little substance.
I’m sorta trying to combine the two, but I don’t know how it’s working.
I have a bit of an hidden inner perfectionist, that is mostly stifled, but occasionally comes out and is stifling instead.

I think I kinda need to go to the broken pencil – canzine. It’s at a hip Toronto boutique hotel on the 30th of the month.
I’ve always had an unfufilled fascination with zines. It would be nice to fufill it.
I’m even thinking of seeing if I can throw together a cute, little zine to hand out there, in the next few days. It would be a million times better than a buisness card.
And it’s a challenge. I think I’ll take it.

california final, originally uploaded by beth maher.

A few years ago (shortly before I met Liam) me and my family took a trip to California, and drove down the coast from San Francisco, all the way to San Diego. There are signs posted all along the highway that say “panoramic vista.” Every-time my dad saw one, he made us stop the mini-van and get out to see it. It became (one of many) family jokes.
“Oooh! Look! A panoramic vista!”
I painted this for him (acrylic paint on a small canvas), based on a picture I took at one our many stops.
I have uploaded to flickr pictures I took of the progressive stages of this painting, as it was being painted. Starting at the under-painting and working my way up to this final work.

Guess who got her hands on the new series of unfortunate events novel, a few days before it hits stores!
It rocks to have a boyfriend in publishing.
I also know the title, and have seen the cover art (both of which are being hidden from the public until the very last minute). I unfortunately cannot share them with you, as there are certain legalities concerning these things (just like with the Harry Potter novels). I can’t even give you a review when I’m finished reading, but I can tell you whether or not I liked it.
But I will like it. So there’s not really going to be any mysteries spilled there.
Perhaps if you’re truly desperate to know, you can e-mail me for the details.

By now, you’ve probably heard of this “me you and everyone we know” movie that’s been plowing through the festivals for months now. I mostly ignored the hype until I landed on the Miranda July (the auteur of the movie – and by auteur I mean writer/actress/directer) website.
This girl is everything I look for in a role model. She’s smart, pretty and talented, and most very importantly, has one of the most awesome senses of style, ever. Just check out her blog for examples of her ingenius fashions.
Plus she has cute hair. There’s little I respect more in this world than a girl who can work a bob.
All this, and she’s an artist too.
The only bad thing I could possibly come up to say about her is that she’s a little bit overly thin, which isn’t overly attractive, even if it is overly fashionable. But being someone who was naturally overly thin growing up, I can deal with it.
So, she will be my role model in everything but eating habits.
I await the opportunity to screen this movie of hers.

studies, originally uploaded by beth maher.

This is what I should be doing. Sketches and studies. Realistic ones even. But instead I think I’m coming down with something. Something possibly flu-like. Or I might just be exhausted. I haven’t decided yet. Either way I’m taking a nap.

love, love, love, originally uploaded by beth maher.

I love lettering. As I steadily plow through work for my portfolio, I decided some lettering practice was in order. So here are the results. I wrote the same short, simple word over and over again in as many hand forged faces as I could come up with. It’s a pretty handy exercise for anyone intrested in brushing up on their letterforms, or just a way to kill a few hours.

I’m hitting a bit of creative block. I wish getting out of ruts were as simple as finding something inspiring, but I’m pretty sure my blocks are caused by a greater, more impenetrable problem. That of my brain, and it’s current condition.
Every now and then I descend into a fuzzy fog. I feel removed and disconnected from things. It’s hard to plan, or think, or create. It’s not as simple as being sad, it’s more like a few wires have jiggled loose, and I have to work harder to… well, work hard.
This is often accompanied by a headache or two. Thankfully, those have yet to hit me.
I’m hoping this is just a bit of exhaustion left over from a busy Thanksgiving spent with my family this weekend. Or it might be an on-coming flu.
I need to work on my portfolio, so I’m forcing myself to draw.
Which I hate to do, because the results are sloppy, uneven, and simply not as good as when my brain is not feeling like this.
But I know that practice (even when it seems pointless) is important. Even my sad, brain addled scrawls make me better in the long-run.

haircut, originally uploaded by beth maher.

I just got myself a long-needed haircut.

cork board, originally uploaded by beth maher.

In a bout of “out with the old” I re-jiggered my inspiration/cork board. It was getting a bit cluttered and dusty.
The phrase “inspiration board” sounds so silly, but in reality it does indeed function as such. When I get bored of typing and clicking away, I look up and get rather mezmorized by pretty colours, and happy memories, and eventually inspired.
If you know, or have met me, you may indeed find little bit’s and peices of things you yourself have contributed to me have found their way up there.

space age workspace, originally uploaded by beth maher.

I myself tend to be fascinated by pictures of creative peoples workspaces. So, here is mine, caught in a rare (and possibly/hopefully final) ray of fall sunlight.
I am quite pleased with it, even if it is a little ramshackle and untidy. Everything has a place, even if that place is in quite close quarters to another place.
The colours also make me happy. Especially my shiny ibook, my baby blue sewing machine, and the bright orange on button on my mod white Micheal Graves lamp (12 dollars at Target! I love being close to the American border – close enough to shop there without having to get a green card).
More pictures of my home and work enviroment are on flickr.

fall is late, originally uploaded by beth maher.

They say today should be the last day of this unseasonably hot weather. They say fall should kick in tomorrow. They say that the cool weather has hit Thunder Bay, and (meteorologically speaking) that means it is only days away from sweeping down and lending us some of it’s chill.
I’m holding them to it.
I don’t think I’ve ever had trouble sleeping at night due to sweating in October.
I think this is ridiculous enough to merit me ranting about it, despite the fact that I usually find the weather a pretty inane thing to devote space to.
It’s not like I want a huge change. Just a wee little one. Just some pretty red and yellow leaves on the trees, and sleeping in pyjamas under a nice fluffy duvet (without resorting to turning the air-conditioner back on – because that would be giving in).
After all, fall is my favouritist season, and I would be a bit disapointed if the weather managed to skip right over it, just like it did with the spring this year.
Either global warming does, in fact, exist, or the Earth’s rotation is swinging wildly out of whack. Neither of which, are especially comforting concepts.