She Sure is {Sentimental}

Mika recommended this after reading one of my odes to Brooklyn.

If you are or have ever been a New Yorker, close the door and cuddle up. You're going to need this:

Maybe you can pass it off as winter allergies.

Things I Throw Myself into Thursday

Aka. Why I have not yet found anyone worth marrying.
Many, many moons ago on a fated and muggy evening I fell in love with a curly haired blonde boy as he swayed and jumped in well... synch with a group of obviously lesser men. 

Not many moons later (and I must say much sooner than just about everyone else in the free world) I found room in my heart for another love:

Apparently - and this has been market tested, I have a thing for boys know how to lounge. I spent years trying to figure out what it was these two lingering teenage obsessions had that others lacked. Why these boys? After decades these infatuations still burn brightly while girlish crushes on lesser men (sorry Marky-Mark, my apologizes Keanu) have faded to mere memory. For years I have been sure that it's the quality that they each share, of always having a light in their eye.They're the kind of guys who have a hard time finishing a joke because they are boyishly so excited to have you laugh when they get to the punch line that they can hardly keep it together...I've known that part for a long time. Was that all it was?

Luckily, right place,  right time I was recently reminded of something that gave me deep, deep
joy last Fall: I invite you to grab a spoon and indulge

Then BONUS POINTS I was given this sparkling gem in my current tiara of inner peace. I had previously gone through life totally unaware of its existence. I cringe to think of the hours spent not watching this on loop that I'll never get back. Oh if you're one of my pet peevy people who have trouble wearing your nerd like a badge, make sure you watch this in private. I spontaneously clapped in delight three times.


So here's where this all comes together in a one-two punch. I've just let go of my third 'maybe' boyfriend of the summer. When asked why I felt the need to clean house, I couldn't quite put my finger on it. PHD Jake was handsome, and nice, and he smelled as men should smell -- like they are masking the scent of a recently exercised stallion by rubbing up against the bark of a mossy tree surrounded by wild flowers... but there was something missing. BAM! Thanks to the History of Rap and this perfect storm of sexy boyish cute and important music from my youth, I can now elaborate on what the boys who have names that start with J have that others do not! Hmm... oddly, PHD Jake was not in this club... This History of Rap could have easily sucked. Right? Right?! LBH, It could have blown.

When I watch it I am impressed by two things. First of all I'm floored at how damn fine Jimmy Fallon is looking in a suit these days much time this must have taken in the practice room. These are two men that could have easily been sidelined in the process of pulling this together by their busy schedules, egos or fear of embarrassment. Memorizing this, collaborating, blocking it, getting it perfectly aligned to go Live took WORK. Lots of it. As all worthwhile things do.

Secondly, in the actual execution of the whole thing you can tell how much fun they are having. They are loving this. This is where they want to be and what they want to be doing. Watching it makes you, the viewer feel great. They don't care if it might get bombed, they don't care if youtube doesn't love it with viral violence, or if their friends think they are total nerds. They have charm and charisma because in addition to their boyish grins, they are willing to OWN it.

There is a serious lack of people out there willing to fulfill even one of these two firstly and secondlys. Sometimes even my favorite people peeve me out cloaking themselves in a fear based 'don't get too excited' mask of indifference. For example, a good friend of mine recently rolled her eyes and explained that her friends were MAKING her go to watch a Ghost Busters' marathon in Central Park. Um.. I did that once. It was THE BEST!

Please. Don't act like you're not invested in something when you are. If you're doing something optional you truly don't want to do, stop. If that's not the case, fix your face. Throw yourself in with passion. You'll be happier. The people around you will be happier. If you're acting less than invested in like I dunno... something you love like cough, cough, your ART - your enthusiasm will make it sing louder and help people embrace it readily. Your audience won't need you to tell them you love it, they'll just be able to tell that it has that extra hard work + enthusiasum-y something JT+JF special when they look at it. Try not to make excuses. I really believe if you want to do something badly enough you do it. So, do it. Work hard and work with passion.


I'm naturally drawn to people who have an energy and spirit that resonates. I'm thinking I'm not alone in this. Remember, everything in life is just a white picket fence that needs to be whitewashed. Be Tom Sawyer.

Sidenote: In the five years since I started She Sure is Sketchy I've had a handful of men contact me to ask me out. If that's the reason you read my girly nothings, Hi, there ;). Embrace this blog post, it's giving you a major edge. I am currently accepting Fall 2011 applications.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a video to watch 30x.

Music Saves My Soul: Dancing in the Street

This is the best thing to ever happen to me:

My friend Chery shows and tells her weekly music obsession at Marcea's. It seemed like the thing to do.

Inspiration Where I Am: West Village: Music, Man

Sam has a new gig in the West Village and I'm finding myself there a lot these days. I come for the live music he's playing and then wander between sets. Like the days I used to spend there in my first days in NYC these wanderings find me frequenting Bleecker Street Records. This almost too clean, but in an 80s hospital way record shop is one of my favorite places to look through vinyl. While it isn't the best record shop in NYC, it's close enough, and they maintain the perfect ratio of eclectic, kitsch and modern. It's a rare shop that finds you singing along to Sublime while leafing through vintage musical titles. That place is of course exactly where I want to be. Recently I returned to the scene of my virginal NYC existence. I've found that nothing much has changed, but that I'm a lot more in tune (hehe) to my art and I'm better able to find things that inspire me as an artist visually, instead of using the place for pure musical delight.

Case. In. Point.

I pride myself on being pretty dang knowledgeable of film must-sees, but A GLOVE STORY!??! Staring Barbara Streisand?! Who knew? Netflix is about to get all topsy turvey.

What?

Inappropriate.

If only, crazy drugged out record. If only.

I would have loved to be art directed on this baby. Gee, that photo's really intense. Let's add some buoyant font to distract from the situation we're depicting here. There. That's much better. Now try it lower cased. We have a winnnnnnnner!

Add more stars! No more. More. Um. More. OK... almost.
Make it plaid. No. More plaid. More. No more plaid. OK... Almost.

I am obsessed with this era. Most of the art books in my personal collection are nods to this bygone time when girls were best depicted as sex pots with a lot of skirt.
Adorable but smart. I live for vintage logo.
Sidenote: "An Adult Love Story"? Sign me up.

Keep it bold and do something heavy concept. The weirder the better. We don't need to use all the space. Seriously. This is always my mantra. LEAVE SOME SPACE! Sheesh. I love how free we used to be with it. Interestingly or uninterestingly(I've decided that's a word, deal with it.) enough, I feel this way about film too. For the most part I hate television with equal fervor to the passion I have for film. Why? NO SPACE!

Currently I adore the Simpsons, Parenthood and Modern Family. I leave all other TV alone. Why? These shows give the freaking audience SPACE. They let moments breathe. They don't force things into tight spaces. I have certain um.. opinions on the matter. Anyway. Leave some visual space, k?

Awesome crazy heavy handed patriotism font! Woot.

The thing that's most exciting to me on these late night excursions is recognizing the confidence between an artist's hand and a concept in these vintage covers. The almost toxic colors, ranging from ultra saturated primary to neon are completely unapologetic. The goofy illustrations are exquisitely executed. Concepts are bold but sentimental. The silly is embraced full frontal (i just like using that term where ever I can.)
I would never trade my experience as a child of the eighties. My friends joke that I would have been best suited to the 60s, where I could have done drugs, championed my causes with sit-ins and drawn the hell out of a lot of doe-eyed sailor girls, all whilst clad in baby blue tailored skirts. I'm glad for the life I lead now (where I can find contacts that can handle my prescription, etc.) I however am thankful that I have these kind of archives at my fingertips. So that's Thursday at She Sure is Sketchy. Be inspired.

Musically Thinking

Far Away - by Ingrid Michealson
"I will live my life as a lobsterman's wife on an island in the blue bay
He will take care of me, he will smell like the sea, And close to my heart he'll always stay
I will bear three girls all with strawberry curls, little Ella and Nelly and Faye
While I'm combing their hair, I will catch his warm stare On our island in the blue bay"

Music always runs through my art. In the first grade I illustrated a collective of drawings inspired by Disney's Cruella DeVille song. In retrospect, I think it was mostly just page after page of black crayoned space with big scary eyes stabbing you with harsh white contrast, indicating that you were being watched from underneath a rock.

The Cruella pictures are the first memory I have in what must be at least a 21 year run of drawings inspired by music.

Some of my favorite artistic musical highlights have been playing 45s of Cole Porter to kindergarten classes while they roll around on gigantic butcher paper with Pastels. I always explain that they should just go where the music takes them. I've done weird scientific space drawings based on guitar strings and music notes. I've storyboarded music videos, but my favorite thing to do is a Sketch-ercise I invented in really boring art class in high school with the help of my ultra hip 'Discman'. This is something I call 'Skip Listen Draw!" It's kind of like Tic-Tac-Toe in that it is awesome and that it's mega-lame if you can't see someplace to go.

Here are the rules:

1. You HAVE to draw something from each song your ipod randomly plays in Shuffle mode.
2. You have to have a theme - this one is kid's illustrations because I was three ideas short on PbIdMo. Sometimes I do "Things animals do" or one of my favorites is "This Only Happens in the Kitchen".
3. You can listen to the song twice
4. You can't give yourself space or any time to think between the plays.
5. You have to throw your pencil down the instant the music stops playing the second time.

Here are some PbIdMo thoughts based on Pod's selections this morning.

All I Want is You - as covered by Tristen Prettyman
"If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float."

The Ninjas - by Barenaked Ladies
"I looked all around my bedroom -Underneath the dresser
Behind the curtain -But nothing could be found
There was nothing left behind them -No way that I could find them
No finger prints or crumbs on the ground"

Matters of the Heart - by Tracy Chapman
"Here I sit
I'm feeling sorry for myself
It's quite a sight
But I have you to thank
For reminding me
We're all alone in this world
And in matters of the heart"