mission accomplished
After my last post, cold and home alone, I did indeed get in the bed and read the rest of Alison Bechdel's new book. Finding Fat Tony at the Pub was definitely alluring, especially after our outing a couple of weeks ago wherein I beat him at tons of games all starting with the letter "P" and got drunk and laughed a lot, but I knew he'd be out with a bunch of his friends, post-bike-polo, perhaps nursing a broken clavicle, and I didn't have the energy to jump on the social-train so late in the game. One has to be in exactly the right mood to enjoy a night out drinking with strange boys and this one was not in that mood.
So, Bechdel's book. It was incredible and so compelling I was up till nearly 2am reading it. Who knew she was so heady and literate! The "tragicomic" tale brims with references to Greek mythology and literature, Proust, Fitzgerald, Wallace Stevens, more Proust and a tiny bit more Proust after that. Lots of big words, too. She said, at Powell's, "I love words, maybe too much. I used a lot of big words in this book... my editor made me tone it down, believe it or not. It was much worse." Which was sweet and made me want to run up and hug her because I love words too and her love of words plus my love of words makes a special feeling start to burn in my chest... I wonder if she was planning to stick around for the dyke march which is happening today...
Anywhooooo... where was I? Right. Reading her book. I won't say much more because everyone should read it. It's lovely and tragic and my experience of it was certianly enhanced by the reading I saw. Perhaps the most interesting thing I learned at that reading, and something I feel compelled to share, because everyone who knows her work should know this: she works unbelievely hard on each and every panel she draws. First of all, she seems to have no confidence in her innate ability to draw -- so she begins each panel (each one, even for her Dykes to Watch Out For strip) by doing extensive GoogleImage searches for the things she wants to draw -- buildings, clothing, hairstyles, whatever. *THEN*, get this, she uses a digital camera and tripod to take photos of herself in the position of every single character she's going to drawn in every single panel. Think about it. Each figure you see in each panel of each Dykes to Watch Out For strip, no matter how tiny and inconsequential and in the background it might be, you can bet that Alison Bechdel posed for herself to have a picture of what a body looks like in that position. Amazing. I mean, it took her seven years to finish this book, for Christ's sake! That's dedication to one's art.
I'm deeply impressed and feel disgusted with my own lack of motivation to do anything that even begins to feel tedious around my own "art" -- I started working on a long story this summer (maybe something that could someday be a novel...?) about the place where I work, I got about 30 pages in and just abandoned it. Why?? Where is my drive and my stamina and my love of my "art"?? Why is it so easy to sit here and blog, but so difficult to open the word processing program with my story in it? The instant gratification of instant publication, for a start. Hmm. But nevermind, that question was meant to be facetious. Dammit all.
Read Alison Bechdel's book, it's great.
So, Bechdel's book. It was incredible and so compelling I was up till nearly 2am reading it. Who knew she was so heady and literate! The "tragicomic" tale brims with references to Greek mythology and literature, Proust, Fitzgerald, Wallace Stevens, more Proust and a tiny bit more Proust after that. Lots of big words, too. She said, at Powell's, "I love words, maybe too much. I used a lot of big words in this book... my editor made me tone it down, believe it or not. It was much worse." Which was sweet and made me want to run up and hug her because I love words too and her love of words plus my love of words makes a special feeling start to burn in my chest... I wonder if she was planning to stick around for the dyke march which is happening today...
Anywhooooo... where was I? Right. Reading her book. I won't say much more because everyone should read it. It's lovely and tragic and my experience of it was certianly enhanced by the reading I saw. Perhaps the most interesting thing I learned at that reading, and something I feel compelled to share, because everyone who knows her work should know this: she works unbelievely hard on each and every panel she draws. First of all, she seems to have no confidence in her innate ability to draw -- so she begins each panel (each one, even for her Dykes to Watch Out For strip) by doing extensive GoogleImage searches for the things she wants to draw -- buildings, clothing, hairstyles, whatever. *THEN*, get this, she uses a digital camera and tripod to take photos of herself in the position of every single character she's going to drawn in every single panel. Think about it. Each figure you see in each panel of each Dykes to Watch Out For strip, no matter how tiny and inconsequential and in the background it might be, you can bet that Alison Bechdel posed for herself to have a picture of what a body looks like in that position. Amazing. I mean, it took her seven years to finish this book, for Christ's sake! That's dedication to one's art.
I'm deeply impressed and feel disgusted with my own lack of motivation to do anything that even begins to feel tedious around my own "art" -- I started working on a long story this summer (maybe something that could someday be a novel...?) about the place where I work, I got about 30 pages in and just abandoned it. Why?? Where is my drive and my stamina and my love of my "art"?? Why is it so easy to sit here and blog, but so difficult to open the word processing program with my story in it? The instant gratification of instant publication, for a start. Hmm. But nevermind, that question was meant to be facetious. Dammit all.
Read Alison Bechdel's book, it's great.
posted by reasonably prudent poet at 10:30 AM
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