Outside of a Dog

Flying in the Sky

People always ask me where ideas come from, for stories or illustrations. I usually give a variety of answers based in fact or fiction, but the real answer is ideas come from everywhere, and from nowhere. What makes an artist an artist, what gives them vision, is that they have trained themselves to investigate the nowhere to see and hear from all that surrounds them, to absorb it, and translate it back.

Suspense writer Stephen King, in his book “On Writing” says that ideas are constantly flying around in the sky, and it’s the writer’s responsibility to reach up and grab them. To illustrate that point further in terms of sketching characters to life, I had drawn a character called “Sister Cat” for one of my picturebook manuscripts about kid ghouls. Sister Cat is a sister to the main character, Velma the Vampire, although the biological conjuring of that relation is left a mystery. They are ghouls after all, and anything is possible. At first, Sister Cat looked like this…

Cute in pink, but a little too cat-like to be a real sister. So I waited for something to fly by..

Right before Valentines Day, during a break from the drawing board, I scanned a picture of a swan into photoshop, and did a little conjuring myself. The end result shown here is 2 swans forming a heart….and if you look long enough, a cat appears in the middle, a cat with wings. On Stephen King’s advice, I reached up and grabbed it…

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. . . . . . And Sister Cat in action with Velma the Vampire…

Sister Cat came from nowhere, but there she was, staring at me all the while, waiting.

An aMUSEd vision…it doesn’t get better that that!

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Terri Murphy

The objects of my affection...

I feel a tight market coming on. I see prices rising, and a lessening of availability. Auction prices may reach new heights. A mad rush for what few are left will ensue, and many, many will be left out in the cold.

And I guess being left out in the cold is appropriate, since I am talking about SNOW GLOBES, and the little essay in this morning's NY Times. Watch that snowy real estate be snapped up pronto. And look to eBay for a bidding frenzy likely to rival the one I saw develop over chalkware bride and groom cake toppers.

I have always loved snow globes. When I was a kid I was particularly fond of the kind you could get at every Stuckey's south of the Jersey Turnpike. You know that kind: the ones with alligators, palm trees, mermaids, and an ever present abundance of snow. That's a surreal juxtaposition or an extra special kind. The Kitschy kind.

I have been putting them into illustrations since I started illustrating, because for me it is never enough to own junk, you have to draw it, too. Above is the one on the last page of my new book that is due out in the spring (TEX & SUGAR). I put one into my past PB, too.

And it is REALLY weird to see this article in the paper that mentions the company Global Shakeup on the West Coast that is like Snow Globes City. I just yesterday placed an overnight FEDEX order for a few I loved, and a whole bunch of the do-it-yourself-kits.

But I better rush out and get as many as I can BEFORE they are all gone. Apparently, plastic snow domes (the other name for them) are likely to be a thing of the past. Because of plastic and the cost of oil? Not sure.

Unlike the piece in the paper, which advises you to "buy tacky," I happen to love the glass almost as much. My son--who also collects them--told me one day in a in a very serious tone of voice, "Don't buy me those plastic junkie ones; I want the real ones--the glass ones."

Isn't that special? For about $40 a pop and up, I am so glad he approves.

Maybe I should have started him off on the junk.