Friday, June 10, 2011

I am not Clark

Ink and watercolor in moleskine
I am Dan KENT - The Dan Kent. Do not confuse me with Clark.  Sometimes I step into my closet and I re-emerge - as, you guessed it .. Dan Kent! I live in South Florida, and the humidity gives my hair the ability to fly! Or to puff, er, up. I have T-Ray vision, thanks to my trusty trifocals. I, little people, am a superhuman being. Or a super, human being. Or at least I like to think so.

So imagine my joy when, eager for folks to draw, I discovered a crowd of fellow super heroes and nerds weaving in and out of the Florida Super Comics store in Davie.

Discretely I parked my Kentmobile.  Wielding my trusty Moleskine, with my faithful sidekick Pigma Micron-cron-cron-cron (that is an echo in case you haven't figured it out) at hand, I captured those characters on paper and instantly transformed them into the comics they craved! Wham! Bop! Zowie! I colored them later - take that! And that!

Excuse me.  No.  Pigma Micron-cron-cron was home that day, I think, and it was my SKB SB-1000! Zap!! Kerplooie!

Okay, so my memory's not so good.

But I have never felt so powerful.

Ink and watercolor in moleskine can turn a boring speech into an event!







You, mere mortal, imagine if you can the power to turn boring speeches into events, and still hear not a single word being said! Kapowie!

It is, my friend, the POWER OF THE PEN. With the pen, I can explore and never leave the room, I can learn and never crack a book, and I can create and never be bored again! And if I do it right, and if I do it enough, it will be like when Gandolf the Grey became Gandolf the White! Yeah!!!  Well, no, not yeah, excuse me.  Shazaam!!!








And being as super as I can't help being, I have Super Friends as well -  Friends from All Over The World.  And one of the Superist of the Super Friends is Mari of Colour Blob Design in Ontario, Canada.  I won a prize at her blog, thanks to her trusted sidekick Charlie:  two beautifully hand-made travel tags that you can see here.

But what really blew my mind was the hand-painted envelope that it came in!  It was a blast of color and shape that only a super person could create, for sure.But that wasn't enough for Mari.  She gave me tea fashioned by the Inuit people (formerly known as "the Eskimos") - how cool is that?! - and a beautiful handwritten postcard with a picture by a member of the Group of Seven, a cadre' of artists that I hadn't even heard of, that you can read about here.  Thank you, Mari!  I was blown away!  Shazowie!!  (Note:  Lest you think that Supers needn't thank other Supers, manners are necessary even when the world is saved, thank you very much.)

Acrylic, by Mari Brown, on an 8-1/4" x 10-3/4" brown envelope

Now I must go.  I have images to catch and stray lines to save.  UP, UP, AND AWAY!!!

[What was that?!  Was it surreal?  Was it abstract?  Representational even?!

Who was that masked artist?
I dunno but I'm sure glad he's around!]

24 comments:

  1. You made me laugh out loud, literally! I love to see you having so much fun with your talents, your life, and superheroes! Go save those stray lines...but wait...what's your superhero name? Inkman? Able to sketch boring life into colorful paintings in a single stroke? Inquiring minds want to know.

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  2. Dan, Dan, SUPERMAN. . . you are truly in rare form this evening! What a delightful post, uplifting and inspiring!! Your sketches are fabulous . . .you "captured" those super folks with dash and flair! And oh, such fun to read your words!!

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  3. rofl so funny Dan!!!! Fabulous sketches.

    "imagine if you can the power to turn boring speeches into events, and still hear not a single word being said!" I love this super power - my Staedtlar 0.05 gives me the same ability (although I am NOT a superhero like you).

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  4. the bit about making anything into an event with your pen is EXACTLY how I have always felt about my pen...lol....you explained it so well. I love your sketches ...and the envelope from your friend. (I am big fan of Tom Thomson)

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  5. You must have a super-mailman in your neighborhood because I think it's totally amazing that he was able to deliver that beautiful envelope with the addresses all blurry like that!

    Your sketches are SUPER, and the laughs you provided were sincerely appreciated. Keep up the wonderful work and if I ever see that masked artist I'll be sure to let you know...

    -Don

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  6. You always have so many adventures and great sketches to show for it. (Must be your faithful sidekick pen)
    I agree it's difficult to be bored when you've got a sketchbook around.

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  7. Great post, Dan, and I envy your super powers! I can twist steel with my bare hands but can't draw it for the life of me! Well, I can, but it is a different kind of drawing!

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  8. Dan, you forgot one of your super powers. The power of making me giggle in front of the screen like mad. Love your sketches, they're super as always (comics FTW!!)!

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  9. What a fun story to start the day with! Thanks for your wonderful tales. Wonderful sketches too. You don't try to just get one person on paper, you get whole groups! Super Dan!

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  10. That was hysterical! Thanks for brighting up my morning. Keep up the good work my super pen waving friend.

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  11. Does that boring speaker know about your blog? I'm with Don about the super mailman--so funny.

    Somehow, I missed your previous post--I agree that the sketch looks like Matisse.

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  12. Dan- Somehow, I just KNEW you hung out around Comic Book stores! :-) And I always knew you were Super Dan... how could we, your fans, not know?!

    Your comic book store sketch pulls me in- the colors, the abstracted quality, the goofy guy staring at us (so familiar)- wonderful!

    And the art mail Mari sent you is fabulous. What a super item to receive. Yet another super, fantastic Super Dan post!

    PAMO

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  13. Funny Dan =) Teeheeheee. The sketches are awesome as always.

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  14. Amusing post Dan, we all need a little jocularity these days. Thanks.

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  15. Your stories just are too funny Dan, had to share it with my husband and he also got a great laugh out of the story. The top sketch is great fun, I noticed spider man in the left corner looking for mags : )

    Glad you liked the little pakage Dan, and I was happy to hear that you like tea : ) Your comments made me blush, but thank you so much!!!

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  16. Dan... you are SUPERDAN... yes you are... and what a wit... I'm at a loss for words... I'm laughing too hard.

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  17. Love this post. Very creative and fun to read. Congrats on the prize, and I can see why you are so blown away by the envelope...a work of art in itself.

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  18. Okay, this is Ellen (she's an artist she don't look back) I still can't post here under my own name. I can at some blogs and not others...not even at one of which I am a contributing member. Odd. Anyway, this is yet another great post...charming, fun and great to read. Keep up the good work Dan!!!
    .
    I'm going to try posting this a new way and see if it works!!!

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  19. Super drawings! Very cool style, and subjects :)!
    The enveloppe looks awesome, too. Great post, and fun, as usual!

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  20. Thank you all so much! Glad you all enjoyed it. When I fly off the roof like that, I sometimes wonder if folks will enjoy it or just roll their eyes - I'm glad you did. Hallie - The answer is - Never! Pamo - It is thanks to you that I even looked in that direction. Melinda - Wish I'd thought of that! Celeste - As always you get to the heart of it - glad you can relate, that means there is hope for me yet! Thanks all!

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  21. Love your sketches! And your super post. Lucky you winning Mari's work - that is a cool envelope.

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  22. Dan, I read this post last week and really enjoyed the sketches and the story. Leapdog ahead to a few days ago and I wrote a post in response to Cathy Johnson's question about why we journal. I ended with a comment about having superdog powers. It wasn't until I came back here yesterday that I realized I must have subconsciously borrowed (stolen, copied?) your superhero reference. I humbly apologize and roll over onto my back and expose by belly in submission to you. You are excellent and one of a kind.

    Tchao-wow!

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  23. Thank you Ann! Ruca, I must say this is the first time anyone has ever exposed their belly to me in submission. I kinda like it. Yeah. I could get used to this. Woof to you too.

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