Lisa Mertins' Life Illustrated

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Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Cowgirl Weekend
2008-02-11 03:30:00
Boy, am I thankful the weather whisked me away from the box for a few hours - I got a lot of riding in. This is a view of the shed oldjoe built.
More About: Weekend

February Sunset
2008-02-10 06:17:00
By God it’s been gorgeous these past few days. I walked around our local museum and gardens and the photographs took themselves. View to the sea. Resident of the valley.
More About: Sunset , February

Can It Be?
2008-02-09 05:20:00
ANOTHER chicken? I don’t care what Keith says about chickens — that they’re boring. And I don’t care what Lauren says. “Enough with the chickens already” (although she does want some chicken prints for her kitchen). This MY blog and I LIKE drawing chickens. So much so, that I have a story brewing in my brain about an unlikely love story between a crow and a chicken. Remember last week when I talked about the Gocco prints? That I’d do a Gocco day? Well, I’ve decided it’s Gocco Friday. The last image I pulled off the silk screen machine was too busy. This one is too. And so crazy-colored. So? I’m experimenting. We’ll see… Suz and Kate get copies of the other chicken. Thanks for commenting girls!

“One Misty, Moisty Morning…
2008-02-08 05:24:00
when cloudy was the weather, I met a withered old man a-clothed all in leather, He was clothed all in leather with a cap beneath his chin, singin’:   “How d’ you do and how d’ you do and how d’ you do again” The last three days have been clear and glorious. But Monday, fog was rolling up the mountain as I drove Hannah to school.
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New Yorker Style?
2008-02-07 06:53:00
In today’s Register, our reporter Robin Hinch chronicles her attempt to get a shingles vaccine.
More About: Style

What A Day!
2008-02-06 05:52:00
Among the many satisfying things today: Did you?

Chicken Fight
2008-02-05 05:44:00
Here’s an update to the continuing saga of my clutch of unsexed cuckoo marans chickens (even though SOME people call my chicken stories BORING — can ya believe it???). We ended up with three hens and three roosters. Do you know what happens when three roosters are under one roof? Yep, they fight. They ravage the hens and they take a pretty cocky attitude with their benevolent she-human. I apologize for the quasi-cussing but one of those damned roosters came after me this morning. Shades of Boris the turkey. Who ended up at our Thanksgiving table thank you very much. I’d love to give these roosters a good home and I would even like to keep one because they are all three magnificent specimens. But Newjoe won’t hear of that. My friend Monica said she’d take one. Any other victims - er - takers?
More About: Fight , Chicken

More Art S**t
2008-02-04 05:22:00
You might wonder what’s come over me, creating all sorts of art pieces. Prints, encaustic, 3d metal concoctions — it’s as if there’s some sort of energy purge going on here in the valley of the cherries. Today was raining and gloomy, all the house was quiet but for me and the drilling and the sanding and the burning. Pure bliss! I don’t know what this piece is all about. But I couldn’t ignore the purple crown and the question mark and all the bits lying about sort of cobbled themselves together with out much thinking. I got it out of my system and I feel much better now.

Jordy, Not So Nutty
2008-02-03 04:28:00
Ok, I confess, I’m too lazy to blog tonight. Here’s a better picture of Jordan ‘cuz how fair is it to post that cross-eyed one? Taken by her brother Ethan, who thinks photography is “predictable.”
More About: Jordy

Sing This To The Tune Of “It’s Magic”
2008-02-02 02:16:00
“Oh, oh, oh, it’s Gocco!” I’m just BESIDE myself with excitement! But before going further, an explanation: Gocco is a Japanese silk-screening machine. Prints for the model I have are 4×5.5. I was nervous and too swamped to figure out how to use mine so it’s been sitting for awhile. Having watched a youtube clip on how they operate (all my instructions are in Japanese) - by a kid no less, I figured it out today YAY! TA-DA! Here’s my first image. I chose this one because NorCalBF says she liked it (long story about how chickens can change their sex. Question this fact at your own peril). I’m thinking of starting Gocco Friday (or Saturday or Sunday) and offering the images for sale. I did a run of 10 and used only black ink and painted them with watercolor. Because I’m celebrating one year of blogging - counting Sketch Life at the Orange County Register’s site, I have a li’l’ giveaway: Send a comment to this po...
More About: Magic , Sing , Tune

Lost-o-licious!
2008-02-01 05:24:00
I don’t care who knows it, I’m a Lost fan. I watched all three seasons over the course of a month last summer, sometimes waking up at 2:00 a.m. with the promise to myself of just one episode. It took me a month because of how hard it was to get season three when I demanded wanted it. It was a cinch for me to get hooked. Who hasn’t ever fantasized about being stuck on an island with a gaggle o’ hotties? I used to think I’d enjoy me and just one guy. But how goofy is that? I love all the triangles and angst in this show. Pining, secrets, trysts and loads of steam. Monsters, Others, who cares? Is Kate pregnant with Sawyer’s baby or what??? Yummy, yummy where’s my popcorn?

Kustom Kokeshi
2008-01-31 05:01:00
Here’s the page Kyle Sackowski designed for the story in The Orange County Register about the rising numbers of Asian American youth with obesity. This one ran inside. And here’s one Ethan did. Do you know the feeling, when you see bare wooden spheres and the urge to make something out of them is irresistible?

Mountains On My Mind
2008-01-30 03:35:00
I live in an area between two beautiful mountains. San Gorgonio and San Jacinto. Their heads have been in the clouds and I keep forgetting to bring my camera when I’m out. So here’s a weird, random illustration of one of them…
More About: Mountains , Mind , On My Mind

Jordan’s Here!
2008-01-29 05:37:00
Our beautiful oldest daughter, silly and complicated, fun and willful. Hard working, artistic, beloved!
More About: Jordan

Listen!
2008-01-28 04:46:00
Oooo but I’ve been mighty swamped lately. Today, though cold and raining, was a good day to work. How lucky I feel to be able to work in my studio and listen to tasty music as I paint. With a great play-list going including the duet by MJBlige and Bono, everything is as it should be and I feel fine.
More About: Listen

Chicken Pitcher Picture
2008-01-27 05:40:00
The little yellow one in the middle, I’ve had for quite awhile, marked on the bottom Japan. A couple of weeks ago, I had an insatiable urge to find another since the beak is cracked and that little pitcher just brightens me up whenever I look at it. Too lazy to hunt the local antique shops, I went to eBay instead — (almost) instant gratification for cheep! I couldn’t resist either, both marked Japan on the bottom. All three have a fine crazing so I’m thinking they’re mid-century. Three’s my limit for anything ceramic, to keep me from appearing to be that nutty chicken pitcher lady or the wacky LuRay gal etc. The only exception is Russel Wright “White Clover.” I’ll take gobs and gobs of that, thanks.
More About: Picture , Chicken , Pitcher

Spart-y, Spart-y Frid-y
2008-01-26 05:42:00
I missed posting the spam-art so here’s a second one this week to make up for it. A while back, I happened to copy the text of a spam email. I think the robots cobble together random lines from literature and splice them to make disjointed, eerie, and sometimes beautiful paragraphs. I won’t bore anyone with the whole ‘graf but I pulled out the line “for the matter was settled on the lake at noonday in a few blunt words.” Isn’t that line striking? It’s lucid and evocative and I sure wish I knew where it originated. It set my imagination a-whirl and I put this illustration together with the “few blunt words.” What fun!

Happy When It Rains?
2008-01-25 05:58:00
Nuh-uh. A perfect day for a Bukowski poem says me. Charlie still wows me. How is it that a crusty, drunken, sloppy “Poet Laureate of Skid Row” can have such an achingly accurate insight into the core of women? As for his haunting and wry tombstone that reads “Don’t Try,” well, doesn’t that just prove him to be the half-assed patron to the lost and broken-hearted?
More About: Happy

The Asian Job
2008-01-24 03:47:00
I have a Register assignment that I’m putting together in 3d. These Kokeshi dolls were my inspiration, they’re so cool! Some of my favorite contemporary illustrators including Orange County’s Brandi Milne participated in the project. But messing with a traditional Japanese form made my friend and co-worker Amy a little peeved yesterday and we debated a bit. “Why is it the Japanese can take something like a car and improve on it but when something Japanese is tweaked, you don’t like it?” What I love about Amy is she’s honorable, a faithful and respectful friend. I once told her she was one of the few people I really, truly trusted. She can keep a secret (sometimes!) and when we disagree, she’ll consider my point of view. That’s so much more reasonable than always having to “win” a debate. Well, she didn’t argue my point (AHA!) and we cooed over the neat-o art pieces. I’ve included a photo of my work space w...
More About: Asian

Spartilicious!
2008-01-23 06:44:00
Oh, how I wish I could illustrate some of the super-funny spam subject lines I get! Those about penis enlargement opportunities or how to please a woman. I love this hilarious line: “Well, now I shriek at them, because I took M_E_G. ADI. K for 3 months and now my peter is greatly weightier than average.” Can you picture that? I can, but I’m not quite gutsy enough to draw it. Hannah and her friends read this blog, maybe when they get older. Now I’ll have to stick to those that talk about how to “be a real man.” And what is a real man exactly? Can anyone out there give me a hint? A guy that acts tough, or one that seems sensitive? How about the “Lady Killer?” I guess I’m asking an age old question. If you have any thoughts on this, lemme know!

Duncan The Magnificent!
2008-01-22 05:39:00
Who, me? His good side Secure in the knowledge that he’s Duncan The World’s Handsomest Dog

We Knew How To Dress Back Then
2008-01-21 05:02:00
While the Packers battled for a Superbowl chance today, Hannah and I wisely ducked out to catch a flick. She had me talked into Atonement despite my reluctance. It looked melodramatic and syrupy to me, AND it’s rated R. But my level-headed friend Amy S. took her 12-year-old Kristen and covered her eyes during the steamy sex scene. If it passed the Amy test, I was willing to indulge Hannah. No lie, It sure was tough to enjoy a good, racy, throw-all-sense-out-the-window-we-just-go tta-f***-scene while covering the ears and eyes of an innocent. And ooo, did I cringe at the “word” that sets the plot on it’s course. However, I was impressed by the costumes and Keira Knightley looked fierce in a smashing white swimsuit (for those out there wondering why I put her head on backward, well, ok, sometimes I DO need photo reference). Hannah and I share a wistfulness for the days when women wore girly, fancy dresses so this was a terrific mother daughter bonding day. Now, ...
More About: Dress , Back

Another Of Ethan’s
2008-01-20 05:25:00
We tried encaustic with this one. Layering his melancholy guy on top of a watercolor. He’s not so keen on how it turned out though. One more and I’ll give him his own category. Thanks to everyone that’s commented on his work. I’d say it’s giving him confidence because he’s saying things like “pretty soon, I’ll be making more money than you mom.” (I hope so!)
More About: Ethan

Truly Gorgeous…
2008-01-19 04:49:00
While Stumbling one day, I came across these brilliant underwater photographs by UK artist Zena Holloway. I can’t hardly put into words how heart-stopping her art is so just go look — I insist! Best of all, she’s illustrating one of my favorite children’s story this coming year - The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley. Below is a copy of my grandmother’s 1923 edition. As a child, this was in our library along with the Mary Poppins and Wizard of Oz books and I have shiny memories of this story of a poor, dirty chimney sweep and how he came to discover an underwater wonderland. I just cannot wait to get my hands on this book with Zena’s enchanting art come October!
More About: Gorgeous

There’s The Soul Patch…
2008-01-18 03:12:00
…and there’s the growing in of the soul patch. Or, there’s what I’ve dubbed this long swath under Newjoe’s lip as an Understache. Now, I promised I wouldn’t tease him (*this post approved by Newjoe) so to cushion the sting, in this illo, I’ve taken a few years off, trimmed up the moustache, added color to a winter pallor and voila! a handsome guy with a trend-setting Understache. I’ve known Newjoe since he was old Joe and that means I was there when his upper lip was bare, about 26 years ago. That upper moustache took almost a year to get thick and Joe’s co-workers ribbed him mercilessly. Maybe that’s why he’s never shaved it off. In 25 years! But hey, some people are averse to change, no? Maybe the Understache will grow all the way across the bottom of his lip and make a circle instead of down into a soul patch. I’ll stay abreast of the progress for y’all.
More About: Soul , Patch

Ethan’s Art
2008-01-17 05:05:00
He’s been doing a lot of drawing these days. A very good thing that’s making his ma happy…
More About: Ethan

Hillary Took Michigan?
2008-01-16 06:18:00
Can socialized medicine be far behind?!?!?
More About: Michigan , Hillary

Bad Manners
2008-01-15 05:19:00
This is in today’s Register, I’m loving the simplicity of the page. Designed by Jillian Welsh with a headline by Melissa Bauman. It’s all about the lack of good manners in the workplace. Oooo, was I tempted to do a sly portrait of someone deserving. But when I thought more about it, in my book a lack of integrity is a worse crime than bad manners. Then I got hung up and started daydreaming about making a monkey out of someone that lacked integrity in my workpla…*POP* (holy cow that could get me in trouble!). My head started swimming so I just made the dude generic…
More About: Manners

Sometimes, I Can Be Stupid
2008-01-14 06:13:00
Can I say that without people worrying that my self-esteem is low? What if I said I just sit on my a** all day and I’m a “raging screamer?” Well, I don’t believe any of those things about myself but last week, I was accused of those things! By two of my dearest friends! I KNOW! Crazy but true… I adore my friends, and I know they only want the best for me. And yes, I can be polarized in my thinking which can be stupid sometimes. And when I get whipped up over something, my voice gets LOUD (I used to be a cheerleader, embarrassing, but also true). Also, my typing gets furious. Why am I bringing this up? It’s because I did something pretty stupid last week, involving that adorable Diana Fayt vase above on the right and the very charming drawing below. I got the vase for under $5.00 on eBay! And I payed for it on December 27th. When it didn’t arrive by Tuesday of last week, I wrote to the seller, saying in essence, “where the heck’s...
More About: Stupid

Cheater Post
2008-01-13 05:47:00
Hey, it’s Saturday! Nobody’s looking and I don’t want someone to think I sit on my (fat?) a** all day. Here’s another of my favorite photos, taken in London. I think this little girl was sassing me…
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