Category: sketchbook blue 2012-14

Fungal growths, lace medallions, and a mountain engraved with an ode to The Master. Black ultrafine Sharpie, various coloured markers, white gel pen.

The verso page is drawn over the bleed-through from page 33.

“The Master” is my name for a drink I used to like, which was originally introduced to us as a shot at a Mexican restaurant in Atlanta that our friends Bob and Sandy used to take us to. The bartender claimed to have invented it and called it “Dub-Dub”. I’ve never been interested in chugging alcohol just to get drunk so I sipped it instead and it was GOOD. The name sucked though so I renamed it when I started making it at home, The Master because it’s two parts tequila and one part Grand Marnier, basically a margarita without the lime. A little bit of literary humour. Anyway we rarely drink anymore despite having a daunting collection of good alcohol displayed in our dining room, on that old gutted player piano we made into a bar cabinet. When you try this drink use the best tequila you can afford and serve it on the rocks. Oh, The Master!

Eyes, circles, and fungal growths. Ballpoint pen, Sharpie marker, various coloured markers, bingo dabber, white gel pen. The recto is a tipped-in newsprint bingo card, saved from our payouts while working the volunteer sessions at the bingo.

Lots of layers on the verso with spirograph, fungal growth, folding spacetime, and a bird. The recto is a tipped in newsprint bingo card (this is the back) with some stuff Profesora was saying in Spanish class. That little antler wiener character is giving a bit of side eye to Tito wishing his girlfriend would drink some beers.

Ballpoint pen, Sharpie marker, coloured markers, white gel pen, opaque white paint marker.

Clouds, flying arches, bingo, and a black bird still keeping it beautiful (although my Spanish friend says “lo guarda hermoso” isn’t exactly a correct translation).

Ballpoint pen, Sharpie marker, white gel pen, various cheap dollar store markers, and used Bingo card.

Two-headed snake and an eyeplant with rhizome. Red, black, and blue ballpoint pen and black Micron pen.

Red winged blackbirds, male and female, and a giant bird head. This was the first sketch I made while thinking about a design for my chest tattoo. KEEP IT BEAUTIFUL was the slogan on Ontario license plates produced between 1976 and 1982 and I guess it’s about littering on the highways but I’ve always thought it was a good philosophy to live by and I don’t know how many people know where it comes from when they see it on my clavicle.

Ballpoint pen and gesso over top of an older drawing of ballpoint pen and coloured markers.

Lace and a portrait of a man in front of floral wallpaper. Red and blue ballpoint pen, yellow marker.

Ballpoint pen, blue highlighter marker, and crusty ancient Letraset letters. Everything else is bleed through from the preceding and following pages.

I drew this little cartoon of José Mourinho after one of his whiny press conferences where he accused the match officials of bias against his team, muttering “por qué, por qué” while shaking his head and rolling his eyes around. It may have been after the 5-0 defeat to FC Barcelona on Matchday 13 of the 2010/11 season, or after some other time Barça beat them. At one of those matches around that time, a Barça fan in the crowd help up a sign that said MOURINHO, HOY, MAÑANA, Y SIEMPRE: TRADUCTOR and I’m still laughing about it.