Lady

It has taken seven years for me to work enough through my grief to be able to finally draw this comic. Not only that, it took two full weeks to actually post after drawing it. In fact, I don't think Emmie has appeared in any of my comics since her death way back then. 

By contrast, when Mr. Timmons, my precious, ginger "Cougar Boy" passed, I drew a whole slough of comics about him, and I think he's appeared, off and on, every once in awhile since then. Emmie is different - Different from any other pet or animal companion I've ever shared my life with. She truly was my soulmate. And thus, breaching the subject of her death and our connection for the first time on the comic page had to be treated with the deepest honor and the height of sacredness. That is why this page has danced and morphed in the back of my mind for the better part of a decade.

Those who have never experienced this depth of connection with an animal companion may scoff, and there are not enough words to convince them of a reality they cannot imagine. For those who've experienced this, there are no words necessary. So I simply and humbly submit to you this expression of my heart, and tribute to the Love of my Life...

...My Lady.

Ultimately Final

In an earlier post I mentioned how I have been working on putting together another graphic novel book called Home Gerb Companion for self publication from a blank book full of a series of comics I'd drawn long ago. Before I started drawing my Drawing Breath comic, directly portraying my life, I drew a comic where my three characters - Gerb, Longleg, and Wormy - would have a running dialogue about my life from the sidelines, kinda like Mystery Science Theater 3000 style.  

The thing is, I never actually finished the original comic. I got up to the penultimate (second to the last) page...

...And then I paused because I had ambitious plans for the final page! I would make the last page like a pop-up book with the Phoenix, from whom Longleg had gotten the quill pen, unexpectedly flying straight out of the book at the reader in 3-D! The thing is that at the time the internet was relatively new, and it didn't have the wealth of information that it does now, plus I didn't have regular access to it. Not that I didn't have access to other information and instructions. It's just that my life was different back then and I didn't have the same resources or reservoirs of energy to draw on, so the project got set on the back burner where it has languished for almost twenty years. 

Then recently, when the arrow of inspiration hit to publish this volume, I realized that one way or t'other, I had to finish that last page. Not being sure how I would self publish a book with a pop-up component, I went ahead and drew the page, reserving the right to, at some future date, make that page an actual pop-up. Until that time, here is the final page of the Home Gerb Companion graphic novel drawn 18 years, 9 months, and 12 days after the previous page... 

I am really excited to get this work into book form! Stay tuned to my website, Facebook, Instagram, and this blog for updates to when it will be available for purchase. Meanwhile, if you'd like to see what other of my comics I've already published check out my Perching Wolf Studios bookstore on Blurb.

 

The List

As per usual on the Shamanic Path, I am undergoing yet another initiation/rite of passage. This feels like a big one. If such things have beginnings, I can pretty much trace the start of this one back to last summer when I experienced my first Sundance. I had made a skin offering as a dedication to my path, no matter what it looks like or where it leads, and things have been building ever since then. 

But this is the blog for my comics so I don't want to go into too much detail here, however Blogging is definitely on my list that this comic represents. Stay tuned!

My dear friend Rev. Judith Laxer cameos in this comic and had asked me to tweak the wording a bit, some of which was successful. But she pointed out that it is the Wise Woman Tradition, not Way. Try as I might I couldn't squeeze the word tradition into the allocated space.  

Check out Judith's website for Tarot, Hypnotherapy, and Ministerial Services at Judithlaxer.com, and join her congregation celebrating the Divine Feminine at Gaia's Temple, in person or online!

And in case you're curious, here is my actual original list as it appears in my journal...

 

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!

 

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…

4:15

 

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/.