stonesoup

Now, Thailand...

I've returned from Thailand, where I joined 2000 Habitat For Humanity International volunteers from all over the world. We converged on Chiang Mai to build 82 houses. 82 houses in honor of the Thai King's 82nd birthday.

It was truly an adventure. 105 degrees the first two days, lush jungle, exciting city life, tuk tuks for transportation, domesticated elephants and tigers, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, fireworks... I loved it.

My characters Joan and Val, as well as the rest of the crew, have been used to promote Habitat for Humanity International. I saw several women with my Women Build t-shirts, and at least 3 people with the Katrina rebuild shirts I created. I signed shirts, met fans, and built a house. We sweated, stacked brick, mortared, for 5 days. 

One of the biggest honors was meeting Rosalynn Carter at a Women Build luncheon. That's the Stone Soup Women Build shirt I'm wearing...

 

 

Above, a reception for the Carters. (Amazing, again... I'm not using a telephoto here. I was THERE.)

Here's a link to the Habitat multi-media show they produced from the builds in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and China. I'm lucking enough to be included, right at the end.

The 2009 Carter Work Project Comes to a Close

We built a village. Habitat is adding a school to the village to serve the 82 new families and more.

Thanks to Lisa Marie Nickerson, Assoc. Director of Women Build, HFHI, for faciliting this great experience. It was amazing.

 
   

Pics from the build...

 

Above... Habitat of Thailand welcomes the international volunteers, adjacent to the temple near the build site. 

Below, houses going up.

 

 

The family my house was built for... baby boy doesn't appreciate all our efforts at the moment. This family runs a noodle stand.

 

Small World Award:

In a previous post, written from Algeria, I mentioned a fan who emailed me from a train, travelling between NJ and NY. She'd read that Gramma was going to Thailand, and wondered if that meant I'd be there. I received her email on my iPhone while in Algiers. 

I marvelled at the connections technology has made possible. It was a huge treat to meet Anne in person...here we are, at the Women Build luncheon put on by Rosalynn Carter.

 

And now... some random pics of the wonders of Chiang Mai...

Below... the real food is in front of the restaurant.

 

The temple Doi Suthep...

 

 

 

Below...I loved these collections, they were everywhere, and cheap! but... should they be doing this? I wasn't sure I should support it. That green bug is as big as my hand...
 

 

Hill tribes...

 

Hill tribe kids, oblivious to tourists, as they should be.

 

Grandmother and kids...and a shady spot.

 

Below, a Tuk Tuk... my favorite form of transportation ever. Actually, I thought as we wove in and out of traffic... wouldn't this make a great obituary?

"Died in a Tuk Tuk in Thailand, while on humanitarian mission".

 

From the bus, Chiang Mai streets. Motorcycles were everywhere.

 

Now that I've returned...

I'm going to incorporate my experiences in Stone Soup. I've already sent Gramma to Chiang Mai and now that I've been there, I can write about it.

By the way, when you see a picture of Gramma riding an elephant on December 7th, know that I wrote that strip before I left. In a mysterious coincidence, Jeanne Schulz sent me a letter with news from the last year, which included a picture of her on an elephant— in Chiang Mai! What are the chances? So before I left for Thailand, I had a great image to use as a model for Gramma's adventure.

Dear readers, that's it for now...

Gecko says goodnight!

 

 
 
  
 
 
  
 

 
 

Gramma's Apparent Time Travel

Well, you may have noticed that Gramma left for Thailand last week. But today, Sunday, she's back in the strip. Well... you see... hmmmmmm...

Add my frantic crush to work ahead in order to take time off for Thailand to the fact that Sundays have different deadlines than dailies... and you get an embarrassing, um, continuity error.

I suppose if that's the worst that's happened this fall, with all my travel, I'm lucky. 

Thailand!

Today Val and Joan and I are leaving for Chiang Mai Thailand, to participate in the Jimmy Carter Work Project. We're planning on hunting down Gramma and making sure she's not getting into any trouble. Remember Arnold? From her adventure to Africa? Hmmmmmm

We will be joining her and Habitat for Humanity International in building 82 homes in Chiang Mai. Val and Joan and I will be serving on a Women Build crew. I'll report back in a few weeks with tales and pictures. Wish me luck keeping Val and Joan in line... they get a little carried away when they travel. 

For Titane

While I was in Algiers at FIBDA, I met a very funny cartoonist named Titane Laurent. She is truly a world citizen... born in Morocco, grew up in Belgium, is now a citizen of New Zealand but also a permanent resident of Australia, and currently lives in Mauritius with her husband and two children.

Titane was interested in my work process, but it was difficult to explain to her without being in the studio and with a mild language barrier. (She speaks multiple languages, of course, but English is not her first language. Nonetheless, I was again put to shame for my lack of language beyond English...)

Anyway, I promised her pictures, and in creating them I thought that readers might be interested too. I am always fascinated by how others work, so, here —

We begin with the usual messy, cluttered studio.

 

The work begins with the ruled pad, where I write little dialogues or scripts. I write more than I need so that I can throw away weaker ideas. I spend much of one day writing, trying to write a week or two at a time.

For drawing, I work on a light table. This wonderful table was built for me in the 80s when I worked for a computer software company (Perfect Software) as art director. Note coffee. Or maybe Soy Chai.

 

On my Mac I created a grid for ruling the boxes of the strip and for lettering. The multi-colored vertical lines are for the different formats I might choose... 4 frames, 3, 5... whatever. The horizontal rules not only define consistent letter height, but the spacing between the lines as well (leading).

You can see my pencils just above the ruled paper. After writing and editing ideas, I spend a chunk of time sketching them all up. Since I tend to write stories that continue for a bit, it helps to write and sketch the entire week or two at a time.

Some cartoonists literally do one a day. Brian Crane of Pickles does this. But I seem to need to work in batches. It's helpful when wanting time off...

The paper I ink on is unusual for cartoonists... I use printer papers like 80-100# cover Productolith 0r Vintage Velvet... acid-free papers with a light clay coat that leaves a slick, clean line and allows me to shave off small inking errors with a sharp exacto. It's an acquired taste, I think, but what I'm used to. Again, back to those graphic design days...

 

After the lettering is done, I slip out the grid and slip in the pencil sketch I've done for this particular strip. The sketch is fairly complete, so that I don't have to make a lot of decisions while inking. However, I don't worry the sketch too much, because I want the inking to be more spontaneous than tracing.

 

I use a Gillott 303 pen nib, dipped in an ink that is half Higgins and half FW. FW has gotten kind of plasticky over the years, too sticky, but I love how BLACK it is. Higgins is easier to work with, but thinner. So, I mix.

You have to learn to work top left to bottom right on your drawing, so that you don't smear. The nib is very flexible, so that I get a lively, thick thin line. I would have loved to master the brush, but the pen came easier to me. Zits and Calvin & Hobbes are done with a brush... such beautiful control.

Finally, studio muses... everyone needs them. You can see in the window a little statue. This is a pit-fired "goddess" who has been with me since her creator, Marya, showed up on my doorstep with a "Vince my stepdad said you'd put me up" introduction. I'd been in school with her stepdad, she was coming to Eugene for graduate work in ceramics at UO. She stayed with me until she found a place... and later I bought this inspiring creation at one of her student shows.

 

And then there are the cartoon muses... my walls are littered with the work of cartoonists and artists I love. Lynn Johnston, Charles Schulz, Mike Peters, Garry Trudeau, Jules Feiffer, Michael Gilbert, Dale Messick, Paul Ollswang, Sergio Aragones, Eldon Dedini, Claire Bretecher, Edwina Dumm, Janosch... plus a smattering of other things I've collected. 

The large piece is from Delphi, Greece. It's Marilyn Monroe looking toward a classic Greek figure of the Minoan era. I suppose the Minoan woman is contemplating Marilyn... the future woman? (Minoan society, based on Crete, was matrilineal and they worshipped female dieties. One might assume that the women were in charge.)

 

Well, there it is, studio life. Back to the drawing board!

On to Morocco

Refreshed by all the kind posts to my last entry, I'm putting up the stories and pics from Morocco. Having left Algiers via 5 or 6 checkpoints in the airport (witnessing one man being led away by a security agent who was saying "you will not be flying today"... never a good thing) I was relieved to land in the more relaxed, security-wise, country of Morocco. Met in baggage claim by an embassy driver, delivered to a really nice hotel, life was pretty good.

While in Morocco, I had the tremendous honor of meeting with our the US Ambassador to Morocco, Ambassador Samuel Kaplan and his wife Sylvia. But no photos were allowed inside the Embassy, so you'll have to believe me. I gave them a copy of my book "Desperate Households". They are originally from Minneapolis, and therefore knew Stone Soup from the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Casablanca has an extremely romantic association for Americans, thanks to Hollywood... and it is a great place, but not necessarily what you think. While "Rick's Bar" does exist...

 

... and it is on the waterfront, the Atlantic Ocean is off to the right... Rick's located at the far end of the line of buildings, center.

But Casablanca itself is a economic center and not much of a tourist destination.  There is a beach...

 

And there are modern neighborhoods and downtown...although you still see donkey carts hauling trash and landscaping waste. And Morocco, for all it's progress, still has a 50% illiteracy rate.

 

Throughout Morocco, I had a great time with the consulate staff who set and kept my itinerary. Below... our driver and Cultural Affairs Specialist Raddadi in Casablanca taking me for coffee by the seaside.

 

The Cultural Affairs office at the US Embassy had arranged for me to visit art schools and meet journalists and cartoonists in Casablanca, Rabat, Tangiers and Tetouan. I was extremely impressed with the schools, which ranged from Fine Arts (Beaux Arts) to Graphic Design to Advertising Design and PR. 

The Fine Arts school in Tetouan also featured an American Fullbright scholar, Eric, who teaches printmaking and paper making and paper sculpture. I met 3 other Fullbright scholars who were working in the vicinity... Tetouan made me want to go back to art school and live the life of a student!

Here is a collection of photos from those visits...

 

Above, a meeting with the editor of Canal Libere, a satirical weekly in Casablanca, and the editorial cartoonist. Editor Abdellah Chenkou on right, cartoonist Naji Bennaji on left. I started my career at a newspaper similar to this, so it was a real treat to meet with them. 

Note: A local cartoonist was, that day, in trouble for an offensive (subjective) cartoon he did about the Prince's marriage to a German woman. "Trouble" in the rest of the world can mean jail time. A lively discussion of censorship ensued.

Below, celebrated Moroccan political cartoonist Belaid Bouimid met me at my hotel, and flattered me with two cartoons...

 

 

Above, the monkey represents a local voter who does not understand politics outside his region.

Below... well, the three guys represent a Muslim, a Jew and a Christian... and the extent of their willingness to compromise and co-exist.

 

Below, students from L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Casablanca...

The school grounds... complete with resident sculptures...

from the Com Sup School (Graphic Design). These were some of my favorite students to visit, very lively and appreciative. Very down to earth.

 

 

I included the following cartoon (from Veterans Day a couple of years ago) in my presentation, and these great students not only GOT it, but applauded. I was very touched. 

From IHB Art Media...

From the Artcom School...

I didn't make a presentation here :-), but I had to capture the cartoon influence on a daycare center in Rabat...

 

And capture what the consulate staff referred to as "satellite farming"...

 

Scenes from outside the palace walls in Rabat...

And the old city market, called the Medina...

 

 

Above... lanterns. I would have brought home a trunkload if I could have!

Then, the whirlwind continues. On to Tangier.

Below... I spoke at an amazing place called the "American Legation" (TALIM)...

 

This was a fascinating place, and truthfully deserves its own post. 

BUT, life is short and deadlines are shorter and more demanding. So I have clipped a bit of info from their site for you... but visit their site yourself. You'll be dreaming up ways to visit in person by the time you are done.

From Wikipedia:

The American Legation, located in the old city of Tangier, Kingdom of Morocco, commemorates the historic cultural and diplomatic relations between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Morocco.

The museum serves as a cultural center for the study of Morocco and a museum on Moroccan-American relations and artists of Tangier. It includes a room devoted to the expatriate writer and composer Paul Bowles. The museum also features a library and conference center. Thor Kuniholm is the current museum director. 

Kenneth Lisenbee recently emailed me with some corrections to this post, and let me know that the Paul Bowles official site has even better information than Wikipedia, I recommend it. There is also information about many other writers, contemporaries of Bowles, including his wife Jane.

I genuinely hope to get back here some day...

From the American Legation Site:

 http://www.legation.org/

The Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM) is the only historic landmark of the United States located abroad, designated as such by the U.S. Department of the Interior. From 1821 until 1956, the U.S. diplomatic mission to Morocco was located here in the old walled Medina of Tangier. With the end of the French and Spanish Protectorates in 1956, all diplomatic missions moved from Tangier to the capital, Rabat. The American Legation building continued as the Consulate General for another five years until a new Consulate General was built outside the old Medina...The Society has since operated a museum and cultural center at the Legation with one American employee, the Director/Curator. The Tangier American Legation Museum Society (TALMS) changed its name in 2008 to Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM). 

http://www.legation.org/

Signing the guestbook... what an honor.

Below... 

A gin and tonic on the rooftop of the American Legation, provided by Thor Kuniholm, Resident Director of TALIM... Tangier and the port were behind me but not visible in this snapshot. Trust me, it was extremely memorable. Thanks Thor! (And Matthew Long, right, Cultural Affairs Officer, who made it happen).

With regret for not having more time in Tangier, and vowing to return, I travelled to Tetouan and was greeted at the School of Fine Arts by this amazing banner.

 

 

Above... the director of the school, me, Eric the printmaking Fullbright, and a school professor. By this time in the trip the edges of my brain were getting fuzzy and my record-keeping lax, so my apologies for not having names. This school was in a wonderful bright, airy building, filled with amazing sculpture (some of it by the accomplished director) and a lot of lucky students.

The director gave me a print of one of his pieces, and I left my remaining travel copy of "This Might Not Be Pretty", book 7, with him for the school library.

Reviewing student work... these students were all extremely talented with amazing drawing skills.

 

I have since received more student work to review from members of this class, including the young women who were a bit shy and did not want to wrestle the men for table space. Women Artists of the World Unite and elbow your way in!

Below... hearts getting broken in art school? Losing your heart to art?

The work of two women ...Sarah el Ghouan:

And Batoul Badr Essaf...

 

And from Batoule Alimam...

There is really no equivalent for what I do, the newspaper comic strip on a daily funny page, in Morocco. I believe these artists will pursue fine art, advertising art, comic books they self publish or maybe find a publisher for in France... but by the same token their work can then be very free and inventive. Rather than the "hard line" common to comics in the US, they use a "soft line" also common in European cartoons. 

Our "hard line" makes our work more suitable for licensing... you know, toys and lunch boxes and such. But the soft line is fun to look at ... I hope to see more.

Finally, after too short a visit...scenes from Tetouan. The view from the art school, and downtown...

 

 

 

Well, that's all. My amazing adventure to North Africa ends.

After this, a long ride back to Rabat and Casablanca during which I learned a lot more about the workings of our state department abroad, and the upcoming visit of Madam Secretary (Hillary Clinton) to Marakkesh (a frantic time for all staff and some cancelled Halloween parties)... 

...and a VERY long trip home from Casablanca to Frankfurt to San Francisco to Eugene, and back to work.

Thanks to all who made this trip possible. I hope I've made some lifelong contacts, and will be sending creative wishes to all the artists I met. And creative freedom.

-----------------------------------------

Since I've returned, I've received work from artists I met. This, from the Institut National des Beaux Arts  in Tetouan, courtesy of Said Nali. It references me saying I can't work without coffee... here thestudents are on coffee, drawing coffee, affected by coffee:

Now... 10 days to work and catch up before we head to Thailand and the Women Build for Habitat for Humanity.

Who planned this??? 

Secretly? I love it.