click on images to enlarge

Monday, March 4, 2024

Dismem-Boar-Ment page 28

I present this page in the spirit of Divine Timing. This particular page, the latest in my "Dismem-boar-ment" series, has stumped me for a year and a half. For whatever reason, I could not get a clear picture on how I wanted this page to look, despite countless pages and thumbnails exploring dozens of possibilities. Then suddenly last night, as I was sitting here just recovering from oral surgery, it all just clicked and this was the result. 

So with the relief and joy that accompanies the flow of the Spring melt and the initial running of the sap in the Vernal quickening of creative juices, please enjoy this page with the anticipation of more to follow. 

To read entire series so far click on the "Dismem-boar-ment" label below, and to see just this latest chapter thus far, click on the "Ancestor Elder" label. And as always, please follow my blog to stay up to date with my latest comics, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!



 

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Meanwhile…

 I received a new sketchbook from Santa Claus this past Christmas, which has shifted my focus away from drawing comics to drawing other things. 


If you don’t know, every week on my Perching Wolf Studios Facebook page I do what I call Totem Tuesday. I post an original drawing of an animal with a paragraph or three about the spiritual significance of that animal and how that animal can aid us in our spiritual growth. Here are a couple recent drawings from those posts… 


Moth

Civet

After posting the entry for Moth, I was drawn (pun intended) to incorporate within an image of Moth, many of the significant changes and focuses right now in the progression of my personal path…


Among the symbols within the whole image are the face of Kali Ma, the pattern from the back of the hood of a cobra - Cobra being significant to Kali as well as Snake’s medicine of shedding old skins, the face of Black Panther, Snowy Owl’s face and wings, hoof print of Reindeer, a pair of Buffalo hoof prints, a pair of paw prints of Wolf, Xenia’s chakram, a pair of Flying Fish, the phases of Grandmother Moon, Wonder Woman’s insignia, the constellation of Cassiopeia, cowrie shells for Goddess and the Divine Feminine, arrowheads for Artemis, Deer antlers for Elen of the Ways, some spirals for Herne, and a couple triquetras for my Irish ancestors. 

I will likely soon write a more in depth post about this particular drawing and all its representations, and how they reflect my path right now, on my other blog “Wind Buffalo Journeys.” 

Speaking of my path right now, I’ve been feeling compelled to draw some of the deities I’m currently working with, including Anubis who is teaching me about my wings…

Ereshkigal, goddess of the Sumerian Underworld, shown both ‘regular’ and with a skull-face as she appeared when I first met her…



…And of course Rick Nelson



Saturday, December 30, 2023

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Smoke and Mirrors page 5 (or 6...)

It's funny what you can accomplish when waiting for eight hours for your car's brakes to be fixed -- This page for example. Other than some last minute touch ups, this whole page was drawn in a West Seattle coffee shop. It's amazing how exhausting waiting can be, and I was fried when I got home afterwards, but it's days like this, when I can really dig into my passion for cartooning without interruption, that reminds me how much I absolutely love what I do. Shamanism and Cartooning -- The double helix of my existence, that both shapes and is shaped by who I am and who I become; My twin divinely destined vocational callings which I can not not answer as easily as I can not not breathe. They truly are not just what I do, but who I am -- A Shaman Cartoonist. 

This particular page is the fifth in my Smoke and Mirrors series, recalling my path to becoming a Sacred Pipe Carrier after being challenged by a couple people who questioned what I was doing online. When I started this page, I failed to reference the previous one and so this may become page six because I am realizing the need for a better segue. I also need to fix the bit about my Lakota teacher. After drawing the page I contacted my teacher and, though she was trained in Lakota ways, she is not herself Lakota. To move forward with even a slight inconsistency like that would undermine the integrity of, and the whole purpose and reason for drawing this particular comic.  

To read the entire series thus far, please click on the "Smoke and Mirrors" label below. If you enjoy what you read here, please follow my blog. I do hope you enjoy my comics as much as I enjoy drawing them, and thank you for reading!




By the way, my aforementioned teacher, Kristina Bloom, is amazing and was one of my greatest teachers. You can check out her website at https://kristinabloom.com/.

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Blanket Statement

There are two comic artists who really influenced and inspired the direction of my own comics, demonstrating for me the joy, growth, and healing of turning my cartoonist's pencil toward myself, drawing my own life as a comic. They are Craig Thompson, author/illustrator of Blankets, and James Kochalka, author/illustrator of American Elf. 

A few weeks ago, Craig was doing a book signing in Portland and, because of his importance to me, a three hour drive seemed a worthwhile investment to meet him. Though my intuition was on overdrive to get me down there, things did not turn out the way I'd hoped.

The following comic is the result of this seeming wild goose chase. Because I didn't get to meet him in person, the plan is to send him the comic to connect with him and to thank him for being such a huge turning point in my personal approach to my comics. Stay tuned for possible updates! 







 

Monday, October 30, 2023

Narwhals and Library Gods

Here's a couple incidents from my daily life. By the way, the narwhal's name is Carl (which, if you pronounce it correctly "Car-ul" it actually rhymes), and the bespectacled unicorn's name is Nicolaus. 










 

Pipe Song

Another episode from my adventure attending my first Sundance this past summer.