Lisa Mertins' Life IllustratedLisa Mertins' Life Illustratedkinda quirky, sketchbookesque, average people won't get some of it! life as an illustrator, mom, chicken keeper, love-life attendant...i don't think you'll be bored. Articles
NJ’s Angry Knee
2008-03-18 06:25:00 Well, it won’t last long, this wicked recovery and he’s doing well after surgery. Thanks for the kind words from all that inquired after him. More About: Angry
Newspaperabilia
2008-03-17 06:15:00 You saw it here first folks, the term newspaperabilia. Should I trademark it? A quick check on eBay shows metal signs like this one fetch over $50.00! This sign that once graced a news rack came from an employee sale, some time in the mid-80s. I’m sure I didn’t spirit it home as a collectible — but my memory is foggy! This short one about The Register is because the big things I have to say about it in particular and newspapers in general feel like a restless tiger in my belly. So I’ll need some moxie or a shot of whiskey to poke it. Wish me luck?
New Favorite Poet
2008-03-15 06:20:00 Ask Me Some time when the river is ice ask me mistakes I have made. Ask me whether what I have done is my life. Others have come in their slow way into my thought, and some have tried to help or to hurt: ask me what difference their strongest love or hate has made. I will listen to what you say. You and I can turn and look at the silent river and wait. We know the current is there, hidden; and there are comings and goings from miles away that hold the stillness exactly before us. What the river says, that is what I say. William Stafford Discovered him via Suzanne and Chris. Poet ry, sigh… More About: Favorite
Pretty, Shiny!
2008-03-14 05:38:00 Tonight was a milestone for me, 25* years at The Orange County Register (the gift of this charm was part of the ceremony). Boy, do I have loads on my mind about my career there and the celebration tonight. But I’m way too pooped to write. However, let me get this off my chest; Does the person (you know who you are) who found the photo of me to blow up about 100 times for the presentation remember how much I hate that picture? Just saying, OUCH - a cruel blow! More About: Pretty , Shiny
Look, Out In The Yard! It’s A Backhoe, It’s A Crane, No It&rsqu
2008-03-13 06:02:00 While planning this post, I considered drawing a diagram of what happens during total knee replacement surgery. However, just a few image searches left me too queasy. It’s horribly gruesome, with the leg essentially amputated, the squishy stuff move aside and the titanium parts hammered into the bone. Instead, I thought about how much work NJ’s been doing in the yard (sometimes OVER doing because he enjoys it so much) and I figured a flattering superJoe might be more appropriate. He saw the drawing and didn’t mind being depicted as bionic. His only comment, “Hey, my shoulders are wider than that.” I’m not too worried about Monday but he’s anxious. We both know that it’s about 5 days of excruciating pain, then he’ll feel better every day and all squared away soon enough. Everybody’s looking forward to that! More About: Yard
The Sting Of Somnolence
2008-03-12 06:40:00 Illustration Friday’s word this week is garden. I’m comfortable in a garden, never wary, and only stung once or twice! More About: Sting , The Sting
Life Is Short
2008-03-10 05:35:00 It may take years to bear fruit, but I started a pear tree from a cutting today. Hence the Latin which translated means, art is long, life is short. Who wouldn’t call planting a tree an artful act? More About: Life , Short
OC Garden Queen
2008-03-09 04:03:00 One of the things I lovety LOVE about working at The Register are all the wonderful co-workers I’m lucky enough to call friends. Cindy McNatt is our home and garden writer and her mastery of both is evident at her family’s home in Santa Ana. Today, NJ and I met her husband and they so graciously gave us so many cuttings from their gorgeous garden that I felt embarrassed about my paltry offering to her of violets and irises. If I hadn’t cropped in so tight on these spring snowflakes (Leucojum vernum) you’d be able to see our garden has been neglected for about two years and we have loads of work to do before it’s in any shape for visitors. Here, I want to publicly thank Cindy and her husband for a fun morning of coffee, cigars and enough plant cuttings to fill in some woeful bare spots here in the Valley of the Cherries. Check out Cindy’s Homebody blog and the things you’ll learn about gardens and home decorating will inspire you to grab pain... More About: Garden , Queen
“When A Man Loves A Packer…”
2008-03-08 05:31:00 “…can’t keep his mind on nothing else.” It’s been a rough week folks. Newjoe’s lost a best friend, “the greatest quarterback to play the game.” I believe that and I truly respect the joy Favre brought to his job. Plus, his birthday’s the same as mine (which NJ says is one of the reasons he has an unholy man-love for Brett)! But poor guy, all these years, Favre made the game a priority in his life. “I won’t have to watch football live anymore,” were magic tragic words uttered on Black Tuesday, the day Favre announced his resignation. I’m real sad for NJ, yes I mean it, real sad. More About: Packer
Blue Ethan
2008-03-07 04:11:00 The boy’s discovered open aperture here… …and here. Soon, I hope he can teach me how to take the Cannon out of auto-mode… More About: Blue , Ethan
Will She Hit, Or Miss?
2008-03-06 04:42:00 Poor Sally’s sister. Looking even worse for wear today! Illustration Friday’s word is leap… More About: Miss
Super Flat Spart
2008-03-04 05:08:00 I saw a short docu about Takashi Murakami on Sunday. Friend Amy had just been to the MOCA show of his work and I’m sure sorry I missed that. Like I said the other day, interesting spam subjects lately. “Quiet barbarous undercurrent” is a pretty cool combination of words, no? Naturally, this blogger’s mind spins with the possibilities… More About: Super , Flat
Rocks And Peace
2008-03-03 03:42:00 may come home with a smooth round stone as small as a world and as large as alone. e.e. cummings I can’t explain my affinity to stones. From enormous boulders to tiny pebbles, just looking at them soothes me as surely as watching a rolling sea. A neighbor erected these totems in his yard as a form of meditation. As a gesture of Mertins tradition, Newjoe and I spent the weekend in the yard, constructing a rock border for a fledgling flower garden. Hard, contemplative work it was, but worth it. Oh, and here’s a more decent picture of the bleeding heart I planted. Whew! Finally I can sleep, righting the photo wrong from earlier this week… More About: Peace , Rocks
Kiki Dee
2008-03-02 04:13:00 This adopted kitten came to us via Pet Smart named Luna. Short for Lunatic. Luna’s too hard a name to say sharply. As in “Luna! Quit stealing my stuff! Luna! Out of my studio!” Kiki can be said fast and menacing 500 times a day. The woman who was fostering her said she spoiled her in the kitchen, giving her treats every time she went in there. Isn’t that cute? No, that isn’t cute. So, when Kiki attempts to climb into the refrigerator every time I open it, I try to remember how happy this cat makes the kids… Ok, she makes me happy too after a day of rock wall building when I’ve moaning on the couch and she’s sleeping under the blanket with me. Does that make me a crazy cat lady?
Mythology Spart
2008-03-01 05:41:00 I’ve received loads of beguiling spam subject lines lately, this one suited today’s mood. When imagining something rosy, naturally, cherubs came to mind. Here’s my take on Venus spoiling Cupid’s shenanigans. Happy weekend! I won’t mention the weather… More About: Mythology
What A Way To Go!
2008-02-29 06:32:00 Here’s another concept for the White Party that I kiboshed once we decided on a different direction. But I was reminded of the Oasis song that starts with the line “How many special people change?” at UK illustrator Rebecca Horwood’s blog. I’ve always loved this song titled Champagne Supernova. It gets me all starry-eyed inside…
Multiple Equals Many
2008-02-28 02:58:00 Illustration Friday’s word for the week is multiple. I fudged it a bit with multitude. For mysterious reasons, it was important for me to quote the Bible today. And how interesting that in different translations, love replaces charity. A good thing to ponder… More About: Equals
“Oh Bleeding Heart Graffiti…
2008-02-27 06:41:00 …I don’t need it” says the Cure. Aw, hell, I searched for a decent poem to accompany this lousy photo of a lovely subject. But “bleeding heart” only conjures maudlin pap. So, a decent line from a kick-ass band and visual proof that I’m not such a good shooter will have to suffice as the cherry on top of this day. It was an 80 degree anomaly here in SoCal and remember my proclamation about the roller coaster weather just making everybody sick? Argh, but how true that is. My closest friends seem plagued these days. This bloom off of the Dicentra spectabilis I recently planted is hopefully a sentry of a successful flower garden we recently started. Just give me a few months, I promise to pull off something righteous and beautiful… More About: Graffiti , Heart
The Thing About Wild Weather
2008-02-25 22:01:00 When February temperatures go from 80 to 20 to 60, I believe it makes people sick. And though I fought a cold, the cold finally won on Friday. The good news is, I have perfected how to get the most out of a root beer popsicle. First, you need THREE boxes to get the appropriate amount of root beers. The box pairs them with lemon-lime and banana. Lemon-lime is only for when all the rbs and bs are gone (banana a close second favorite. l-l only for when I’m desperate). I will choose the first root beer/banana combo and take a 3rd root beer. By the time the banana is eaten and the first rb is almost done, the remaining rb has melted only slightly so it’s soft. That’s the perfect texture. Repeat every 3 hours. Any questions? More About: Weather , Wild , Thing
Watercolors ‘n’ Wine
2008-02-22 04:11:00 All ding-dong day I’ve been distracted PLUS working on my next screen print which left me no time for an original illo (and look! 12 minutes past 9, time for Lost!!!). Here’s one from the archives about buying fine wine online (which rhymes!) More About: Wine , Watercolors
It’s All Theory
2008-02-21 05:43:00 The topic this week for Illustration Friday is theory. When I was young, I read — a lot. Bookworm a lot. And I had a period where I devoured romance novels. That, coupled with teen hormones, made for some steamy imaginings if you know what I’m sayin’. Of course, all those silly romance novels aren’t even theory. They’re rubbish I say, RUBBISH! But it’s fun to think of what a silly girl I was back then. Last week, when I posted an entry that I linked to IF, I got loads of visitors. It’s super cool to see hits from other countries especially so, if you’re looking at this via IF, welcome! And thanks for visiting. More About: Theory
White Party Concepts
2008-02-20 04:56:00 Norcal BF is having me design an invitation for her company’s White Party in May. I sent her these three roughs but I have to go back to the drawing board. I wonder if anyone can guess which one I like best… More About: Concepts
Crow Love
2008-02-19 05:11:00 There are loads of wonderful facts about crows from leading researcher Dr. Kevin J. McGowen of Cornell University. My favorites are that crow teens help raise crow babies and crows are known to play, even with other animal species. Can you guess that I would go on and on about crows if it weren’t getting late? This image is another in my Cluck and Crow series that I’m turning into Gocco prints. I don’t feel so hot about the last one I did. Not as busy as my first Gocco but too many skinny lines. This piece is simpler with more solid color. I’m hoping it turns out a better Gocco… More About: Love
Too Pooped To Post
2008-02-18 04:02:00 Hi! To Kate in Canada. Because of her inspiring blog entries lately about gardening in a cold climate, I’ve felt an embarrassment of riches here in Southern California for our easy gardening weather. Newjoe talked me into a trip to the nursery and that was all I needed to get back into the gardening swing of things. Even though there was snow on the ground Friday, I got sunburned yesterday and today trying to whip in our very neglected yard into shape. I ache all over from the digging and the rock moving and the pulling of the weeds. So I’m throwing up this random photo Ethan took recently. Till tomorrow… More About: Post
Cuckoo For Choco-Eggs!
2008-02-17 06:51:00 My three Cuckoo Marans hens are laying. The mystery hen (I’ve no idea her breed) that lays a brown egg shows how dark brown the new birds eggs are. Sweet and pretty in the Russel Wright bowl. Also sweet? My vow to keep the chicken info to a minimum… More About: Eggs , Choco
Introducing:
2008-02-16 05:19:00 This is the sketchiest sketch I could do of Barbie the Wonder Horse. A photo would break the internets with her glory. Even I can’t look too long at her for fear of blindness. She and I have two dates in a row this weekend. Am I not the luckiest girl in the whole USA? Does anybody notice I didn’t do a Gocco Friday? Good, ’cause I’ve decided to make it Gocco Monday…
God Kyboshes The Zeal
2008-02-15 04:53:00 Remember me crowing about the weather last week? Here’s what Valentine’s Day ‘08 looked like. (Oooo lookie, photoillo!) More About: Zeal
Valentine’s Day Whoo Hoo!
2008-02-14 05:42:00 The smell of 24 long stem roses fill the house today. Sweet Newjoe sent them to the office yesterday. They’re gorgeous, and he was very thoughtful to send them. The reaction from my co-workers was interesting. But the most hilarious was a friend that asked if he could bring home some for his wife. I’m still laughing, hahaha. Really, I’m a GOOD sharer but not that good (wink). So here’s my sketched-y nod to the day and a public thank you to Newjoe…Thanks! P.S. I’m killing two birds today by using Illustration Friday’s topic of “choose” so that’s what it says on the arrow…oh! And the choose topic reminds me of the supergreat Fink song, “You gotta choose.” Damn, I wish I knew how to embed a music clip… More About: Valentine
Hands, Legs, Hearts, Bottoms, Pink!
2008-02-13 05:31:00 This illo runs Wednesday in The Orange County Register. It accompanies tips on how to give one’s lover a sensual massage. I came up with the concept last week after some considerable inspiration More About: Pink , Legs , Hands , Hearts
Medea Inspired Spart
More articles from this author:2008-02-12 05:05:00 This is a beautiful line of spam in my opinion: In the night I’ll put another. It brought to mind tears as stars and mythology. I did a little googling and found this essay by one of my favorite authors Margaret Atwood about the goddess betrayed by Jason of Golden Fleece fame. If anyone was capable of setting her tears in the sky as stars, certainly the sorceress Medea had the power? There’s no record of what happened to her after she was banished from Corinth due to the fiery wedding dress fake-out. The legend is, she disappeared in a chariot drawn by dragons. More About: Inspired 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
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