Maybe he went to go mod ska dancing . . .

On Saturday night, after having the pleasure of dining at KISS Seafood in Japantown then indulging in an amazing Crepe filled with Nutella, fruit & ice cream, my wife and I went to see Camper Van Beethoven at the Fillmore in San Francisco on the occasion of their 25 years of being a band. It was a really amazing show which began with Pictures of Matchstick men and went on for over two hours! They played most of my favorite songs from Telephone Free Landslide Victory including Club Med Sucks, Wasted, and The Day That Lassie Went To The Moon! It was so much fun.

Introducing M-bot

Today I made a collage after setting up my classroom. It was fun. This is M-bot, he is a character in our new family comic, The Adventures of Pirate Bunny. M-bot is a robot created by Doctor WonderKid. M-bot is a happy go-lucky sort who means well but seems to cause trouble wherever he goes. His current mantra is "Mirth is King!" But that could change after a few more months abroad the good ship Popsicle. Stay tuned for more updates on our Summer comic as we continue this fun project.

An Amazing Monday!

Today has been quite the day. First I found out that my brother John and his wife Danielle are having a girl due on Xander's Birthday ~ November 9th! I can't wait to be an Uncle again... That makes it, Four Garretson girls now in the next generation.
What could be better?

How about a new game to play ...
Indeed ... Today I received my belated birthday gift from John, Mario Kart Wii! After a few short races, I have quickly realized that playing this game with the wii controller is going to take some time to get used to. Thanks John and Congratulations to you & Danielle!

Hello Robots!

This post is for my brother, John. He keeps asking to see photos of the robot puppets I made last month, well here they are! They are currently named Rog-Bot and Fred-Bot after the two puppets that inspired their creation. The puppets are made from recycled materials such as cardboard, foil, and various items I found in the house. My latest puppet show at school was a wild three part adventure featuring Freddy and Roger in a Tardis traveling to the past and future, needless to say the two robots save the day.

Overgrown

Today, I took my first picture with my spankin' new camera! (That's the one with the blackberries above) My new camera is a Canon Powershot SD1000! Its very compact, simple to use and best of all - it takes great photos. In our backyard we have a monster of a blackberry bush, and last year I thought that it had reached its zenith but after checking on it for the first time in several months, I realized that this bush knows no bounds! Take a look at the image below. Soon we will be swimming in blackberries! Did I mention that I also received my CycloDSEvolution today as well? Indeed, it's been a great day for packages. Back to the washing of dishes and other menial labors ...

Fathers Day, pirates and kung fu too

This past weekend was great fun, we went to a pirate festival on Saturday and I had Eggs Benedict with potatoes for breakfast on Fathers Day. Sally made me a beautiful card (see lotus drawing above) with crisp clean writing on the inside. We spent a few hours debating where we could go to find Mario Kart for the Wii and then realized no one even has it in stock after a few quick phone calls. Then on Monday we went to see Kung Fu Panda. I liked the credits and the animation was gorgeous throughout the film,
the story was better than expected. The first week of summer camp is going well - it is wearing me out, with all the drop offs and pick ups but the kids are having a great time.

Sardine in Outer Space

Yesterday, on a whim I picked up this colorful comic / graphic novel at the Library called Sardine in Outer Space 2 by Emmanuel Guibert and Joann Sfar. The characters are really great and the stories are a hoot for myself and for Sally, my 6 year old. She likes the cat that lives on Sardines' head most of the time and I enjoy the great colorful art and wacky stories. After reading this book, I felt immediately inspired to create a new comic this summer, somehow collaborating with Xander and Sally. I could draw and we each could create characters and write the stories togetner ... my brain is already buzzing with ideas ... I am also delighted to discover that there are 5 books in the series! That should keep us going all summer long ... Peachy keen!

Michael's Magic

I occasionally create custom posters for friends and family. I really enjoy designing posters with flat bold colors! This poster began as an idea over a year ago, when I was contracted to design this poster for a former student of mine. Michael loves to collect "treasures" and keep everything in his backpack - everything from dirty bird feathers to the odd pebble or stone to shiny coins and such. Enjoy!

Learning the Eric Carle technique

Once upon a time, I had an idea. I wanted to create some art for the annual auction to raise money for Ducks Nest Preschool. I decided to create paintings of characters that we use in our classroom puppet shows. Then I decided that I would try using Eric Carle's technique of painting tissue paper to create the colors and textures with the help of the children at school. I had no idea how labor intensive this way of working could be! It was fun but very time consuming. Also it took some time to get the hang of painting on tissues with children. It's not very often that I get the time to paint and work on canvas these days. Needless to say I enjoyed myself immensely working on this project. The top characters are Freddy & Roger - two best friends that put on a weekly show & tell puppet show in my classroom. Below are Ringo the rooster and his pal Giddy-Up the horse, popular characters in my friend Miles puppet shows. Enjoy!