Fun at Free Comic Book Day

I had a great time this weekend appearing with Steve Lavigne and Eric Talbot on Saturday -- "Free Comic Book Day" -- at Steve's "Shellback Artworks" store in Wells, Maine. JIm Lawson was sick and couldn't make it, which was a bummer (hope you get well soon, man!), but otherwise it went really well -- lots of people, lots of signing, and free pizza (courtesy of Steve and Denise).

Two things stood out as quite memorable, the first of which was the sixteen-year-old girl who showed up with her parents, all the way from Florida. This trip to Maine to see us (and later Kevin Eastman, who was signing over at Jetpack Comics in Rochester, NH -- one town away from Somersworth, NH, where the first TMNT comics were printed) on "Free Comic Book Day" was her "sweet sixteen" birthday wish, and her parents (cool people, obviously) granted it. Here's Steve signing the back of her t-shirt, as he dad and mom look on:

I wish I could remember her name -- I think it might be Stephanie or Melanie, but given how bad I am with names, I'm probably wrong. (Maybe she'll see this and write in to correct me -- that would be nice.) We were all very touched by how happy she seemed to be in meeting us and getting her Turtle stuff autographed.

The second thing was the unexpected appearance of someone from our two years in the early 1980's in Dover, NH, someone that I thought I'd probably never see again… but, in one of those strange and wonderful "small world"-type of phenomena, she happens to be a friend of Steve's wife Denise. Here's a photo of the two of us which Steve took:

The woman in the photo is Carol Salava, who was a Justice of the Peace in Dover when we lived there, and in the summer of 1983, officiated at our wedding in the back yard of our house on Union Street. I was quite frankly flabbergasted that she showed up at the signing, but very, very pleased to see her again. As you can see from the following photo of Carol marrying me and Jeannine back in 1983, we've both changed a little bit:

… but I have to say that Carol still has the warm, friendly personality I remember from our dealings with her in those early days. What an unexpected treat! -- PL

May 4, 2013: Free Comic Book Day at Shellback Artworks!

I'm late with this post (sorry, Steve!), but better late than never, right? This Saturday, May 4, I will be appearing at Steve Lavigne's "Shellback Artworks" comic book/art supplies store at 1509 Post Road in Wells, Maine, for the annual "Free Comic Book Day" event. I'll be signing stuff along with Steve and Jim Lawson this Saturday from noon until 4PM. See you there! -- PL

P.S. And if you want to see the other TMNT co-creator, Kevin Eastman, he'll be signing at Jetpack Comics in Rochester, NH, on the same day. I think it's about half an hour's drive from one place to the other.

Not exactly springing into Spring...

It may be a completely subjective and inaccurate assessment, but it seems to this observer of the seasons that this past Winter was very reluctant to loosen its grip upon our area, and Spring has been slow to follow... almost hesitant, as if fearing that blooming flowers might inspire the gods of snow to let loose with one last blast of the freezing cold white fluff.

But today I saw some signs which encouraged me.

I was on a bicycle ride through the lovely campus of Smith College, and stopped to admire -- and take photos of -- several colorful bits of flora. This beautiful flowering bush resides behind John M. Greene Hall...

... and this lovely tree bedecked in white blossoms stands next to the Smith greenhouses.

While searching for a bench upon which to sit and drink my decaf coffee, I noticed this tree in full bloom, surrounded by a field of yellow flowers, on a slope below one of the dormitories, and took a series of photos from which I could make this panoramic view.

After I'd put the bicycle away and headed home on my motorcycle, I decided to take the long way back, and stopped by the beaver pond in Conway, to take a few shots of this lone duck -- or is it a goose? -- and its reflection on the gently rippling water.

Yes, it's taking its own sweet time, but I do believe Spring is finally coming. -- PL

Turtles in the library, part 2

Here's another view of the visit my brother Bruce and I paid to the new installation of the TMNT bronzes I donated to UMass.

 I used Panorama Maker 5 to stitch together several shots to make this panoramic image of Bruce getting serious with his photography.

You can see more clearly in this shot the beautiful display case UMass commissioned for the sculpture group on its granite pedestal. -- PL

Turtles in the library

Here's a link to a recent post on my brother Bruce's "blARTblog":

http://www.ecurbart.blogspot.com/2013/04/check-it-out.html

This past week he and I took a trip over to our alma mater, the University of Massachusetts in Amherst,  to check out the recent installation of some small bronze TMNT sculptures (all four Turtles, plus Splinter) I donated to the university. They made a beautiful display case for the sculpture group (and its granite base), which is currently situated on the twenty-first floor of the library, between the children's books and Asian studies sections.

I have a few more photos that I might post later, but I thought you might get a kick out of seeing what Bruce posted. -- PL

Von Engman's Shirt Vault... now open!

My long-time good friend and fellow graphic designer (and to be honest, when I say I am a fellow graphic designer, I mean he has probably forgotten more about Adobe Illustrator than I have ever known) Rob Engman has started a new venture -- he's designed a whole line of quirky, whimsical illustrations using his own fresh new take on the "heart" (❤) symbol (as in "I ❤ Whatever") to express his fondness (and, hopefully, yours as well) for a variety of fantastic critters, including Vampires, Zombies, Robots, and Werewolves, to name a few.

These unique designs are printed on a range of various types of shirts, and you can see them all at what Rob is calling "Von Engman's Shirt Vault", found at this link:

http://www.vonengmans-shirtvault.com/

I think I may have to break my self-imposed rule of not wearing t-shirts with designs on them... these things are pretty cool! (I especially like the robot one.) -- PL

Sean Wang's new "Runners" Kickstarter project

My friend, talented writer/artist Sean Wang, has a Kickstarter thing going right now to raise money for a new "Runners" project. "Runners" is Sean's great science fiction comic book series which began a few years back, and really impressed me with its wonderful art and story.

Find out more at this link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/621975803/runners-the-big-snow-job-graphic-novel

-- PL