New True Loves 3 is up! True Loves 3 the sample proof of the book is sitting on my desk! Colourful. Exciting. If all goes according to plan, I will have them in hand for TCAF May 11 – 12. Or if you are in Vancouver, two weeks later at VanCAF.

I have been puttering away at some single page comics that will likely be printed up as an issue of Vinegar titled Finishing True Loves. Here is one about dimes.

On the Sunday morning Manien and I got up and went to the bird sanctuary for a walk. It was a lovely morning, and we had a lovely walk. Before we even got into the park we saw some deer by this art installation. The art is a recreation of some squatters shacks from back in the 1940s-1960s. They had hippies, former lumber workers, and Malcolm Lowry. The piece was originally downtown at that installation space by the Shangri La, but now it is in the area where the squatters were. North Shore News article here. If you look closely the deer are at the far left here.

Walking the paths, we were greatly enjoying all the stuff growing on other stuff. Look at this go-getter on a post.

Sometimes I need to stop and appreciate how crazy the vista out my front door is. Just ridiculous.

You can read the latest installment of True Loves 3 here. In the meanwhile this happened.

Yes, I finished True Loves. It was hard to believe it was done. There was still all the scanning and so on to do, and that ended up taking quite a while. When THAT was all done, I was in a daze, feeling strange and a bit lost for several days. It still feels strange. We started the first book way back in late 2000, so that is quite a long project to be concluding!

Did I mention I finally got a cell phone recently? So now I take photos when I’m ambling around my little section of North Van. Things like this, so I can torment my friends and relatives in the rest of Canada the past couple of weeks.

Things like this art installation.

Or if I’m out walking at night, I get fascinated by pockets of light.

And look, a rainbow.

I had a sudden urge to draw another of these tonight. Mega-j, about to enter the bright light.

And finally I watched this great video of Nick Cave at the Coachella Festival. It does a pretty good job of capturing how incredible he is in concert. It gave me goosebumps, and made me kick myself for not making an effort to see his most recent show here.

New True Loves 3. Now its all out in the open having to be discussed. Meanwhile, I started pencilling page 116.

Last week I was puttering around and Manien was working a night shift, and I had inked as much as I was going to. I couldn’t find anything on youtube or netflix that called to me. So instead I found a random photo on flickr to draw, while I listened to a podcast. Quite relaxing. I don’t just draw enough these days.

Manien bought a juicer recently, so we’ve been drinking a lot of juice. Get some beets and ginger in there and they’re all good. I was curious what some would look like on paper.

I’ve been trying to focus on finishing True Loves, but have been feeling like doing some more bird comics. Here is a quickie from this morning.

New True Loves 3 is up! I finished drawing page 100 the other day. Slowly inching towards the finish line. I have a paper by my drawing area to mark off each page as I finish.

And meanwhile Farm School is getting in people’s hands, which is exciting. But I haven’t actually held the final object myself! Well I hope you all enjoy it. If you don’t have it yet, why not buy it?

Here are some drawings I did on the weekend. Random stuff off the internet.

I was listening to Iggy Pop’s “The Idiot” and got thinking about Berlin. Through the magic of Google Street View, I went and wandered around there a bit. Did this quick sketch.

A drawing I did as I hung out with Josue on the weekend. I have forest matters on my brain.

I was talking to Manien about how tricky drawing moss is. She went like this.

New True Loves 3. We are now in an unusual state where I have drawn well ahead of where the online comic is at. I am really trying to motor on this. For a moment when I checked the post this morning I was confused as to whether that was the right comic up or not. Wait have coming events happened yet?

My comic Farm School from Retrofit is still up for pre-order. I was thinking how this band A Silver Mount Zion was somehow integral to the initial mood that informed the story.

Here is a drawing my cousin found in an old scrapbook. I did it around 1981 when I was deep in my obsession with the Robert Altman Popeye movie. Then I did a quick drawing to see if I remembered how to draw Olive Oyl.

Last weekend in the night someone took the caps off two drains beside our house. Manien and I pondered why someone would do this. I had my suspicions…

As Farm School is about to be released, and I close in on the end of True Loves 3, I try not to get ahead of myself, but I do start thinking about other stories I want to get to eventually.

Hey look at that, a new True Loves 3 up, at long last. I am really going to push to get get this book done.

It was a beautiful sunny day in Vancouver today, but my mood was shakey. This song came on in my headphones on the way up the hill and it was about right. Hey Guy Maddin directed it!

Here is another of those drawings I of Mega-j with the Tiny Astronaut.

Where has the time gone? I was so busy through December, visiting Ontario, getting my comic Farm School together for Retrofit Comics, and then you know, holiday loafing.

I was feeling all jazzed to do a Best of 2012 list of music for a while there, but I sort of realized it would just be collecting videos I have posted here over the year. And I suspect most of the things I’ve been enjoying this year are not from this year! So I lost enthusiasm.

My next big project is getting back on a little thing called TRUE LOVES 3! Meanwhile, here are some drawings and things.

A drawing I did, on my flight to Ontario, of my one time adbusters boss Kalle Lasn from an article in the Walrus.

Here are some comics I did about my trip. I have a whole other section I would like to add, but I’m not sure when I’ll have the time.

I have been drawing. Been having a birthday and celebrating. This is from Farm School, which will be out in January.

On my birthday last week, Manien made duck with thyme, which became Time Duck.

While Manien made the Time Duck, I drew this

On the weekend I was mostly drawing. But Friday night at a certain point I felt more like dancing.

I have continued to poke away at the Twin Peaks pilot. Here is the principal making an announcent. Also Brian drew him.

Speaking of tumblr, I really liked this comic by MARÉ ODOMO about being a kid in the 90s.

And a couple more Mega-j and the Tiny Astronaut drawings.

I haven’t been updating here much, busy drawing! I had a long weekend, and Manien worked all weekend, and I barely left my desk except for the occasional booze run. Here is what it looks like.

Okay I did take time out occasionally to draw other things. Like more Bad Seeds and Friends from those talking about Nick Cave videos. I’m finished Murder Ballads, and there were somewhat ominous statements from Mick and Blixa.

Manien has been knitting me a sweater lately, and when she gets knitting while we watch TV, I feel like I should be doing something too, so I started doing these drawings of Mega-j drifting asleep, accompanied by an astronaut. Unfortunately it wasn’t until after the second one that I thought he should really be a tiny astronaut.

I went for a walk this morning to figure out some writing. My 15 minute walk to work is not sufficient to really get the ideas going. Anyhow, I wandered up an alley that had paintings hung on fences and garage doors.

And for good measure, here are a couple of videos that I enjoyed, both featuring dudes in deserts.