Raised on sandwiches

farewell blogger

2008-04-18T12:04:00.003-03:00

i'm changing things up... you can find updated posts here raisedonsandwiches.tumblr.com

daily drawing

2008-04-02T01:21:00.002-03:00

I don't care what the calendar says

2008-03-24T00:28:00.005-03:00

it's not spring if its snowing...

Between crossing my fingers for a sunny day and pinning sheets up over my windows to keep out the grey days, i've been working on some little projects.
a) making new winestoppers and magnets, keep your eyes peeled, i'll post photos when the time comes
b) bulking up the promotional material for the new season
c) working on some prelims for a children's book
d) hope to be in a show or two in the upcoming months

here are some links that i check on the daily, some good creative folks:
jesse brown
my flatmates stephen eichhorn and jessica paulson
cody hudson

if you're on flickr, you know, you can see some more photos on my flickr

guh, i'm off to see my family down south this week and when i return lots of things will be starting. the day i get back i start a wheel throwing class and in early april is the beginning of my pastry education (!!!) i got my kit and it weighs upwards of 30 lbs but its chalk full of fun tools. i'm terrified but horribly excited. if there's one thing i know how to do, its take notes. i ordered my third sketchbook from Judy Lee over at five and a half. I got the "Let Them Eat Cake" book that i hope to fill with notes and doodles of lots of yummy things.

thats all for now i guess...

nbd

2008-03-05T11:44:00.002-04:00

oh hi, so i know its been a while. its hard for me to gather all the things that are going on at the moment. but as of late here is what i have on my plate:

a) working on self promotion. i plan on going out to visit some beloveds on the west coast and pepper the LA area with promotional cards, just to see if that helps bring in more biz. i've really been enjoying being a part of the group show circuit and i need to be more proactive about being involved.

b) a friend of mine wrote a childrens book a while ago and i am just putting it all into motion at the moment. planning it takes a lot of time... whole process will be long, but i feel fit to tackle it now. i think thats why i put it off for so long

c) uh i'm starting my baking and pastry program at Kendall College in april... I am so excited and slightly terrified but these people give me hope Eugene and Louise Bakery they are illustrators/bakers based out of Belgium, that i stumbled upon. i see lots of marzipan mishaps in my future.

d) i had pretty much the worst monday of my life this week, but it was balanced out by an interesting request from a friend of a friend who is an art director in chicago. he asked if i could do a rough sketch for a new campaign for a certain McCorporation. since i was distracted by my increasingly bad morning, i pumped this out:

new piece

2008-02-07T12:52:00.000-04:00

here's a new piece that is going to The Lab at Belmar in Colorado for the 'Failure' show

lady love

2008-01-24T00:31:00.001-04:00

i just can't get over this girl. i looked through her site and fell in love with her. she has a way with graphite and a sense of humor to match...i get a sense of the older illustrators that were big in the annuals 30 years ago...there is something slightly retro about her palette and the way she designs with shapes. take a look through her work and you'll get it... you'll feel it... or at least have a general sense of the kind of things i'm drawn to...here she is: jeanne detallante..

And then there's Amy Sedaris... she's a gutbusting comedienne, has a knack for crafts, bakes cupcakes, plus has an affinity for bunnies... I found this article online from BlackBook magazine and it reaffirmed the new goals I'm trying to set for myself... i will divulge those when necessary...

also...i updated my site a little bit today... more to come, i swear...

goodies

2008-01-17T21:30:00.000-04:00

hey, so here are some things that i'm going to start selling at a cool store in Chicago, Renegade Handmade ...
more of these guys:

and some magnets too:

he's my fav

i updated my site with a bunch of detailed pictures of all the new goodies... some of them are flawed, but hey, aren't we all... courtneyreagor.com

hopefully i'll get the guts to draw some more things soon... i've been a real baby about that lately...

'tis the season

2007-12-22T11:52:00.000-04:00

hey y'all...
well i had postponed putting this image up for fear that i would spoil the surprise but this season i haven't been able to keep anything a secret. my dad sort of challenged me to do a piece of artwork for him for the holidays... and i don't really think he expected me to do it. (we both have a classic case of fear of failure and procrastination)... but i did a portrait of my great grandmother (his grandmother), in the technique i learned from Chris Payne this summer at the Illustration Academy
so here it is, poorly photographed, but its all i have at the moment...

also, i've been busy making some more winestoppers for friends to give as gifts. its been a lot of fun and i hope to keep it up.

other than that, my life has been dedicated to building my nest in chicago. it seems to be shaping up nicely.

once i get back i'm going to get busy and start drawing more and planning a theme for a show, possibly. but in the more immediate future i will be in a frenzy producing my first collaborative project with my hetero-life partner Abbe Ertel Jr
We're putting together a zine called "Freckles Without Faces".
Keep your eye out for it in early 2008.

2007-12-09T19:29:00.001-04:00

lets talk about seperation anxiety shall we?

here is a relic from my deep and sordid past. it was a dark and gloomy mother's day and i was overcome with such a great fear of abandonment that i couldn't even finish spelling words properly. i just thought this might enlighten you as far as knowing me as an adult...

//i'm cold

2007-12-07T01:13:00.000-04:00

the very first thing i did today was stick my finger in louie's poop, when i was picking it up... IT WAS AN ACCIDENT... and i made the mistake of trying to get it off with snow, and i ended up making a pinkie poop popsicle. its almost ok to start your day like that, because it can only go up from there...

really, it was a fine day. i battled traffic and the weather to make it into the city to go to the apple store to find that they no longer make the power cord to my powerbook that isn't even that old... bah! planned obsolescence... on to more important things... i have some current international press in a Canadian magazine called Maisonneuve. I don't know where you can get it in the states, but this is what it looks like in print y'all...

and i also was commissioned to come up with a design for the Sidewalk Arts Festival 2008. i don't know if its been chosen yet, but i was glad i got to submit something. i had to abandon the project because it came up right before i moved, but luckily i got an extension. i'm happy with how it came out, which rarely happens.

i like life here so far. its still strange because i'm trying to shape my days... i'm dedicating a lot of time to making presents and being a diligent housewife to myself. other than that i drink a lot of coffee and watch too much tv with my sister. i try to remind louie that we are so lucky. it would be so much better if i could eat some of cameron's curry while danny tries to poke inappropriate places on people with christian nuzzling opal with his face, with lauren and martha playing music on the couch, in my house...talking about everyone that we love on both coasts and how famous molly is going to be, while we get ready to go see chelsea and hayden and angelina at an unsolved mysteries show... piece that together however you feel. i love you people...

things to be thankful for:

2007-11-21T01:19:00.001-04:00

1. an aching heart, because that means i'm loved by precious people spread out all over the place.
2. the most perfect animal companion any could possibly imagine
3. a roof over my head in a new city that has more to offer than i am capable of comprehending
mcsweeny's/dave eggars store front for his writing workshop one of the many neighborhood churches, but this is the most beautiful one
my bedroom

4. relatively good health (sense of sight, touch, and hearing is all you really need)
5. getting myself to draw being my biggest daily struggle
6. parents...period
7. being able to see my sister everyday

that's all i can think of at the moment.
i've been having total brain malfunctions lately... i need to read more, actually, you know, i need to draw too... less typey more worky...

Sweet Home Chicago

2007-11-12T12:22:00.001-04:00

i'm here i'm here! i've been here for a couple days already and slept in my new apartment twice.

its... well... i don't know what it is yet. i'm in the meta-transition, meaning, i'm in the thick of not having a routine, not having showered in a couple days because i haven't bought shower curtain rings... so many tiny details i never considered.
so the drive up went really smoothly. i drove behind my dad up until spartenberg, NC where we met his BFF Bill, who put my car on his trailer. we had to eat at cracker barrel which was a huge blow to my ego. but after that it was smooth sailing. and the most beautiful changing trees i have ever seen... louie slept the entire way.

once we finally made it, things seemed to be going great. the next morning my sister and her husband helped my dad and i unpack our cars and it took like 30 minutes. i was expecting much more of a nightmare. we ran a million errands and bought a bed and all that...so to celebrate, my sister and i went to pick up delicious carne asada burritos from La Pasadita that is right by my house (they have 3 locations on the same block). So we parked and ran in, came out 5 minutes later to find a boot on my car

what a racket, we had to pay $115 cash for them to take it off. (guh!)

but after that i went to get a tv and some other things with my dad and sis. then we went back to my place to start setting things up... I took one of my Joe Sorren prints and placed it on an exsisting nail on the wall and it looked perfect! Right up until i turned around and it went crashing to the ground... glass everywhere...I was so sad, however it will be repaired.

later, out of nowhere i heard a car alarm go off, so i ran to the window to see if it was my car, but it wasn't... there was some kid scurrying away after smashing my dads car window...

{{Sigh}} it could have been worse... just material things...

so now i'm in the process of accumulating seating. i have lots of tables but no where to sit. my sister decided to improvise... (she's sleeping soundly, for real)

so, i'm just organzing and daydreaming about my new routine. it won't be sturdy until after the holidays i'm afraid. my mom comes in on wednesday and thats when the real decorating will begin. but they don't leave until after thanksgiving... which is actually really nice and comforting.

ok sweety babies. i will post more once things start to take shape. i love and miss you all. its so nice that we are sprinkled all over the place. if we can't be together at least we are all broadening our geographical spectrum...

and i swear i will post new drawings and things soon...

so...

2007-11-03T02:43:00.000-03:00

i just thought i'd share what my last few days have been like, in the midst of all this packing that i'm struggling to make progress with...
yesterday, i packed, and napped a lot but we went to the Coastal Empire County Fair last night. it was so magnificent and i couldn't believe i had never gone. well, it was magnificent for like an hour, then i stopped going on rides. but nevertheless, i was thoroughly entertained.

it looks like i'll be heading out next friday folks. so...

p.s. i just updated my site again...

2007-10-20T02:19:00.000-03:00

So, my week back in Savannah was actually really good. For once I had a lot of things to take care of, which diluted the overwhelming anxiety I had concocted about going back after my NY getaway... I did a piece for a magazine in Montreal called Maisonneuve that will be in their food issue. I had to illustrate the beginning of a story about a feast, and the few characters that it involved...

It felt so good to work. The pace was good and the art director was great to work with. I hope to start a good relationship with these folks...Now i just have to finish Cam's illustration of his ma for his first manly tattoo...

There's good momentum... Now I wait til I embark on my journey to Chicago on Sunday... the weather will be unseasonably warm, as it is everywhere it seems, so an apartment hunt will hopefully be an adventure and not a miserable disaster...

I'm so sick of crying wolf. That's been my motto lately, "crying wolf". I told too many people that i was moving a long time ago, without really investing anything in that lofty decision. But its real now. I swear. God, i hope so. There's a lot weighing on this trip and I'm trying not to buckle under the pressure. I don't even know if I'm going to be around to celebrate the Halloween festivities. I so badly want my costume idea to materialize, and it would be especially grand to debut it at the M.I.A. concert in Atlanta. (Think, skin tone body suit, gem belly, and a color weave that stands up on end)...

2007-10-13T20:23:00.001-03:00

i'm a little impatient and have lots of time on my hands, seeing i'm back in the nest for the night (my parents house). we just went to see michael clayton. i'm an optimist, and i liked it. i go into theaters hoping to emerge a more inspired person...most of the time i do, the amount of time it lasts, varies...
i got back from brooklyn yesterday and i only have the photos from my phone. got some good ones from my little digital but will have to show them when i have the proper cords and things to upload them... here's what i have so far...
when i first got there, i was a bit miffed because i was under the illusion that i was going to get to escape the heat and be able to actually experience a season other than HOT. but it was shorts and tank top weather. it eventually rained A LOT, and art and i got stuck in it one night, so it eventually cooled off... (photos to come).

i stayed with luke the first couple nights and spent some time in williamsburg... the rest of the time i was with artemis in greenpoint, with she, howard the cat, and the polish bakery directly below her...we walked a lot, to the point where my feet began their rebellion... pounding the pavement did not agree with them... but i dealt with it. we only went out a couple nights. once to and "unce unce" kind of place for the Ruff Club party... then the next time to Union Pool in brookyln...much more low key, SCAD alumi central, but the guy with an afro and glasses from TV on the Radio was there too, so it wasn't so bad... we also saw Darjeeling Limited, one of those i emerged from feeling happier than i had going in. good color palette same wes anderson goodness as always...

artemis and i also went to chelsea and saw a ton of galleries. we went to gagosian and about 10 others all on one street. Some noteworthy names were: Paul Noble Max Toth Curtis Mann Jules de Balincourt Friedrich Kunath

you wouldn't be able to tell from the picture above... but it smelled like delicious fresh baked cookies and things wafted through the air. i was tortured by delicious pastries for a majority of this trip. and now i'm hooked on pinkberry... and reaffirmed my love for bagels and thai food...

overall the trip was great. i got to be with people i hadn't seen in a while, spend time with newly transplanted julia, but as far as being on the hunt for my new home, i reached some clarity that i hadn't expected. by no means am i disappointed to have felt like that wasn't the place for me to move. i'm just excited to have gotten the chance to check it out. next week on my vision quest...chicago...

2007-10-13T20:22:00.000-03:00

"be a good animal and move freely, unencumbered with thoughts about where you should be and how you should be acting..."

I'm up and now I just have to wait until my aunt comes to pick me up to take me to the airport 2.5 hours before my flight. It will only take us 0.5 hours to get there. So, my day is already dedicated to waiting. This is fine for me today. I've been stewing in Savannah waiting for this trip and today has come and I feel calm now. I need to shake things up. I have no expectations other than to have a good time and become a sponge. I need to find peace in being an observer...and just let things be what they are and not be judgemental.

I want to be a good animal.

Afternoon Buzz..

2007-09-24T18:58:00.001-03:00

I usually limit my coffee intake to a morning cup to get the day going... but I had more today. So i feel compelled to update and expose my new things. I've been working on some drawings for my friend Jon who wrote a feature film and is using an illustrated book to summarize his script, for his package he's sending out to producers. We'll see what happens...here are a couple:

Also, in the midst of trying to get a grip on my life overall, I realized i needed to change things up with my work. My process, my drawing, my lack of painting. I need all of that to be pushed up to the top of my priorities. Its just so hard to know where to start. I have been needing to just do SOMETHING. I think about drawing and painting a lot. Maybe too much. So i decided to use what I had and just paint. It was/is still a mess. But it felt great. And as I was going I went through a range of emotions. Feeling frustrated that it wasn't beautiful just by putting paint to paper. Ha, i have to laugh at myself for that. Being stuck in a digital world has spoiled me with instant gratification. I think learning to be patient may do me some good overall. It is what it is, that's all i can say:

And to my delight, I got the three little paintings i bought in Jackson, WY at the Lyndsay McCandless Gallery by Jenny Kostecki. visit her blog
There were a series of 9 and I would've liked to have had them all, but come on...

3 seemed like the right number... They came at the right time. When i was needing a little boost and inspiration...Now I have to find the right spot for them.

so long summer

2007-08-30T19:12:00.000-03:00

well, finally... i'm a bit of a noodle and i had totally forgotten my password to this blog. so i avoided it. plus i've been on the road and finally have time to dedicate to blogging. so here goes. this summer has been pretty epic. this illustration academy kicked it off and put me on a good roll for the rest of the season. since then i've gotten work from Time Out Chicago and have a good list of new projects piling up. I'm going to work on some illustrations for a friends feature film... and i've been making some new things... magnets actually:

but i took some time off and i hit the road with my boo. he picked me up in chicago and we headed west. he moved to los angeles, you see... and its left me in a pickle. but our trip was epic. we made it in good time and had a good last week together.

now i just have to figure out how much longer to stay in savannah and where to go from there. i'm thinking san francisco or possibly LA, but it scares me.

jeeeez

2007-07-27T08:24:00.000-03:00

its been way too long i know. it seems like i've neglected this here forum, but really i was just having password trouble. its a whirlwind these past few months, if your curious you can catch up here: http://courtiesue.livejournal.com/
but here's a brief synopsis...
debated my life events. fell in love with a boy... had to leave him behind briefly to pursue my illustration fantasy...was ripped straight out of my comfort zone...had the best work ethic of my life. met amazing artists and actually made friends...came home to continue my life's debate. where do i go next...

2007-05-02T19:42:00.000-03:00

eureka, my education hasn't gone to waste. i learned how to do simple animations like three years ago and never really put it to use... and lately i have had the urge to experiment... here are a couple i've done lately...
this is my dad's pal flip... doing a flop in the amazon if i'm not mistaken:

this was taken at chik-fil-a, it was the biggest cone i've ever experienced

omg its been a while

2007-04-24T13:52:00.000-03:00

since this thing, this blog, is an attempt to abbreviate what happens in my life, i figure its ok to use things like "omg" in the title.
so right, the last time we met i had just gotten back from LA. a lot has happened since then and i kind of don't know where to begin. how about backwards?
as of this very moment, i am heading to american apparel where i have worked for 7 months. in my book, thats kind of the longest job i've ever held down. nevertheless, i'm going into work today a little more relieved that usual because i know my time is limited. as much fun as working retail with a bunch of friends has been, its time to move forward. i've been thinking a lot about how i've been worrying about missing out on life as i know it, in savannah. god forbid i make a life for myself somewhere else. an oppurtunity came up which i was apprehensive to address... my dad suggested that I apply to the illustration academy. it's an elite gathering of some of the most talented illustrators in the world that formed a 2 month school for people who like to draw pictures. I really just didn't think it would be possible for me to uproot my life in the amount of time because it starts at the end of May. How could I possibly leave everything so quickly!

Well, now its more of a matter of how to get all my shit in boxes fast enough. I applied and got accepted which feels like a great accomplishment already because they only accept 65 people. I don't know what its going to be like, who is going to be there, but I know I will be drawing for a majority of everyday. Something inside of me just snapped out of the haze and realized its ok to leave something great behind.
Now to back track a little... I had a piece published in Time Out Chicago recently:

It was for an article about people who worry too much. I got to work with a friend in the art department and I cranked out the work overnight right before I hopped on a plane to go to Costa Rica with my dad. We had a ridiculously great time catching sailfish and soaking up the sun. I caught my very first sailfish on a fly:

This experience, i wouldn't say was the cause of a very impulsive act i performed after I returned, but it more so, solidified my commitment to the action. I got a tattoo of an illustration my dad had done in 1991 which I later and happily discovered my mom had collaborated on.

i apologize for the photobooth pic... i sometimes find them overly indulgent. but its useful for this purpose....
I kept having dreams or nightmares more or less about what my parents were going to say when they saw it... Luckily, it went over well... I think the initial shock has warn off and they have gathered themselves and settled with the idea that i'm THAT daughter... with the tattoo...
More soon...

Left Coast Adventures

2007-03-04T18:28:00.000-04:00

MMMMk... I'm firmly planting myself back in Savannah, for the next few weeks at least. I've had enough of this traveling bidness for a while. My jetsetting tour ended officially today. I had the longest shortest trip out to California for the "Fully Blown" group illustration show.

It turned out to be worth it though. I had some predictable anxiety about traveling with my parents and had a few embarassing "Mom! Stop!" moments... but the show itself went smashingly. It was a good feeling to go somewhere foreign and feel connected to people through the work on the walls. I was really impressed with most of it. Forgive me, i don't know who did what... but here are a few snaps I got:

one of my favorites

Not only did it feel good to have my parents there, but Abbe, my hetero-life partner took the trek to Riverside, CA. We've been seperated against our will for the past 7 months, but it was as if no time had passed.

I met a few choice people who I hope to communicate more with on future projects. Rusty put the whole show together and had some stellar work right next to mine. Breanne was a sweet bird that has a printing company out in Portland that I will hopefully team up with in the future. It was good motivation and I've got some ideas in the vault that will hopefully materialize sooner than later.

here's me in my corner:

someone else in my corner:

i barely have the energy to explain the bullshit we went through to get back east. but know that my ass is dragging.

no-tox

2007-01-25T21:41:00.000-04:00

if you haven't heard already... i lasted about 4 full days on the detox. it was certainly a good experience but didn't know what i was doing to my body. i started to feel strange and malnourished. I think the cleansing part of it was really helpful but it was hard to stick to basically an all vegan diet without having any knowledge about it. i might start back up again after doing some more research. i dropped a couple pounds which felt great, but just like beyonce, i packed most of it back on in a matter of days. it's ok, i feel good. i don't feel like i quit or anything... josh lasted a little longer than i did, BUT he retoxed way faster than i did with a healthy portion of bike race/day long trip from homemade absinthe.
more importantly, i've been doing some artwork for my dear graphic designer friend Devin. It's for a poster that we are going to print for a band coming to town called the Dark Romantics. They are playing at the Sentient Bean sometime in Feb. Look for signs with this on them:

til next time y'all...

Day 1

2007-01-09T17:12:00.000-04:00

So, day one wasn't that bad. I woke up and had my first big challenge of going out to eat without actually eating all of the delicious food around me. Luke was headed back to Brooklyn so I couldn't pass it up. I had tea, he had eggs, bacon, pancakes, all that good stuff. When we got home, Josh had already taken the plunge into to our morning drink combo. Its one cup of this tea that Josh had brewed overnight consisting of:

Some red clover, cascara sagrada (bark), dandelion root (more bark), uva ursi leaf, burdock root, licorice root, yellowdock root, senna leaf, and pau d'arco bark.
But once it's all brewed together it looks something similar to gutter water. I imagine it doesn't taste much different.

My minimal sense of taste comes in handy for that one. The second drink is a combination of psyllium seed husk, which basically exfoliates your intestines

combined with Bentonite clay, which takes care of the rest of whats in there, thats where the term flush comes in handy... And the word is that its super important to be drinking water all day or else these flushing drinks can have the opposite effect... Nah'mean?

Speaking of flushing, I've started to spend more time here...Josh had prepared me for that and it didn't really hit me until later in the day.

So throughout the day, i had both drinks, some tea, banana, rice crackers, cashews, an orange, and rice with kimchi... surprisingly, i didn't feel starving. I did however give the challah sitting on my kitchen counter a good stare before i walked out of the kitchen.

Starting tomorrow...

2007-01-08T01:36:00.000-04:00

Everything is going to be turned upside down starting tomorrow morning. My lovely, 31 year old, tea drinking, bike riding roommate, Joshua, and I are doing a 3 week body clense/fast/organic tonic regimen. No, this ain't no Beyonce fad diet. I'd like to consider it a favor I'm doing for my body.
For the first week were are going to be getting used to our new eating routine. It will consist mostly of different roots, barks, and things you would find in a bag of mulch. This is going to take some getting used to because I've become comfortable with my carb addiction(i.e. cereal, toast, fried anything, fruits, etc). We'll be able to enjoy some things like unsalted nuts and rice but for the most part we will be nourished my an infinte amount of tea and tonic consisting of maple syrup, lemon juice, more bark and roots. In the middle of the second week there might be a day or two of fasting. Never in my life would I consider doing this if I didn't have someone else to experience it with. Josh has done it before and said that there is a point where the toilet is more of a safe place and to expect some adult onset acne. Why am i doing this you ask? I guess for the most part, I want to have a healthier relationship with food. I've gone so long without really being able to taste much (due to my allergy condition) that I just rely on texture and don't really know how to enjoy food anymore. Even if I eat something delicious I don't know how to know when I'm satisfied. I just want to keep putting food into my mouth because I've become more soothed by the action than the actual fare I consume. So as of this moment I am saying farewell to some of my dearest friends: dairy, meat, sugar, refined wheat, gluten, partially hydrogenated oil, & alcohol. We've had a lot of good times. Here are a few of them in this past week:
Our feast of buffalo wings, that we traveled all the way to the most tourist infested part of town to pay a mere $.30 per wing...

Then there was Christian's delicious birthday brunch that we cooked at the house, great fruit, eggs, pancakes, the works... and Luke, my favorite boy roommate of all time was there with us all the way from Brooklyn...

Later that same night, we ate at my preferred establishment, Juarez...mmm queso... (highly unnatural pose in this picture)

After seeing our friend's folk show, we got a little antsy
Then we indulged in my hard day's work of baked goods...

And finally tonight, I got to eat my last good meal with new friends Skip and Christy. She cooked her own birthday dinner for us all. Great salad and curry tofu (aka pizza soup)... and birthday cake, again...

Looking back it seems that I do in fact know how to enjoy food. I will not, however miss having to make the decision as to what or where to eat every day. But I do spend most of my time with my closest friends over meals, that I will surely not cut out of my life. I will just be the asshole at the table that orders hot water and lemon...

It's a whole new year

2007-01-05T14:32:00.000-04:00

Wow, I'm not quite sure what has kept me from updating but I have a lot in store. This was my new year's celebration on the whole:

eating an early dinner at Sakura where Martha works, enjoying some fried icecream

Christian enjoys reading a little cat fancy at Jon's house

on the couch there is the couple i did the illustration for in my previous post

Danny doing one of four obnoxious "bro" mannerisms

The beginning of the end

At the party downtown

Lovely Lola and Miss Martha having a good ol' time

Wreaking havoc on the streets after the ball dropped...

there is more in store soon, i promise.

oh no!

2006-12-12T11:13:00.000-04:00

i'm trapped. i'm having my entire hvac (thats jargon for heating, venilation, and air conditioning) unit revamped because I live in two different climates. Arctic downstairs, tropical upstairs. So i've had an exorbitant amount of time to be on the computer. I spent most of my day doing work yesterday. My friend Lisa asked me to do an illustration for her boyfriend that lives in the Netherlands. (talk about long distance). here is what I came up with:
Lisa hearts Koen
(copyright Courtney Reagor 2006)
So today I've decided to dedicate my time to the drawing of fish for something my dad has in store. But first, I need to get rid of the tape worm Calhoun the dog has. So unappetizing.
Also, to my dismay I found out my favorite publication is being discontinued.
Their departure is certainly premature but understood. You can read it here:
RIP The Drama
I plan to hoard all past issues. So! If you have any that you are getting rid of, send em over.
Farewell friends... or no one, whoever is in this abyss.

::sigh::

2006-12-06T14:49:00.000-04:00

this is a power post; i've got t-minus 21 minutes until i have to stand around for the rest of my day and mid evening pining for customers to come in and do an extreme amount of xmas shopping. all fantasy really considering no one with money is in this town. everyone is vacationing somewhere nice. before i bitch too much i have to say the weather is extradinary at the moment. chilly tshirt weather.
if you haven't already seen this magazine i urge you to purchase it... its more of an edition than an issue, beautiful innards
i'm currently at a loss. i need to get so many projects started but i feel so drained by the time i get home all i want to do is curl up in a ball and hibernate. this rut has begun and hopefully the end is near. i'm having a hard time seeing the bigger picture, and every day the idea of becoming a baker seems more appealing. the idea of making cupcakes, muffins, pies, and cakes for people to consume makes me want to burst with excitement. my contemporary inspirations are:
Stranger than Fiction
Amy Sedaris
and my sister...
i have to go now, but i REALLY wish i could stay home and just DO. if you are free right now, indulge in the ability to do whatever you wish.
times up...
i'll leave you with this silly drawing from my sketchbook...that means nothing:

goldmine

2006-12-04T15:48:00.000-04:00

i don't know if it's just me, and i don't mean to give a way a secret girl-gem, but i am addicted to magazines. i just bought the most recent issue of Jalouse...

its a french fashion mag... and i don't know a lick of french. the clothes and the photos are really what get me... and another secret i probably shouldn't tell (but lets be real, the only one that really reads this is my mom, Hi Mama)... I use a lot of fashion spreads as reference for my sketches. I just like to use certain faces as a general idea. But I've started to get nervous lately because I think there is something really important about creating your own reference. Using someone elses image is fine, as long as it morphs into something else completely.
I never really TRY to make anything look photorealistic, obviously... every person i draw sort of looks like they are missing a gene or something. For a while I held off the magazine binge because i realized that most of the models looked vapid and exuded no personality. I figured I'd find a new inspiration, and that's when I found my parents old stack of yearbooks... or GOLDMINE, rather... There is something authentically unique and more personal for me looking through those than a $9 magazine. My next step to get off the magazines is to buy a library card. we could all benefit from this...
I am currently reading a great Dave Eggers book called You Shall Know Our Velocity

Ok, here is so not so new but most recent sketchbook stuff...

My friend Lisa asked me to do an illustration for her boyfriend for the holidays, he lives aross the globe, so soon I'll be international. One step at a time...
Also, I started a little series of these 3x5 watercolor postcards... I fell into a zen like place with the brush... More to come...

Tis the season

2006-12-03T20:28:00.000-04:00

wow, i can't believe i've neglected this for so long... the past month has been pretty packed with new things. my day job has begun to interfere with my energy I would rather devote to drawing. I come home from folding and greeting "Hi, let me know if I can help you find anything"... and all I want to do is zone out. I did however get to take some time off for thanksgiving. i rode up to Chicago with my mom and dad. In an eerie yet pleasant way, I experienced a jacket-less holiday. Usually its a biting cold where I dread leaving the saftey of my warm abode. Thanksgiving was obvious, filling of the gullit... We went to my aunt's place in the city:

me in the background, my mom, and grandmother

the newly weds

anyway, i have quite a few things to scan and post... I have the day off tomorrow so hopefully I will get back on track... Hope all your holidays have been festive...
Later...

let's share

2006-10-25T11:28:00.000-03:00

there is something really strange about watching people leave. i've had a pretty solid recent couple months being here in savannah, knowing that my time left here is brief, although my departure is unknown. but so far i've been here to see my closest compadres go off into the great unknown to start the rest of their lives. and i'm here still... i know that when i look back on my early twenties spending 5 years here will seem like a blip on the map. (that's been my metaphor of choice). but i haven't mustered the energy to plan my next endeavor. moving when you're 18 to go to college is a big transition, but i think the first big-adult-move is even bigger because you're conscious of how weird the transition will be. but that's just me. i've been a little preoccupied lately, and haven't been doing as much complete work, just bits and pieces. working at my own pace i suppose. but my dear friend artemis (moved to brooklyn a few months ago) is whipping up a few ideas for a show that her aunt is involved in out in San Fran.
I'm hoping to get together some prints of my work and maybe some 3-D work too so i can contribute to the show. I'll provide more info when I can, so if you're in the area... you know...

2006-10-18T11:08:00.000-03:00

i don't really know what it is that these sketches mean, if anything. i mean, not like they are doused in conceptual detail but what they mean for the future of my work. i've relied heavily on my pencil line for so long and this black line is a much different approach for me. i'm due to put out a new mailer and i'm stuck wondering how to make this new stuff cohesive with the old stuff. here's some more, for what its worth...

keep your distance

2006-10-10T19:16:00.000-03:00

well, i found out that i don't need a cast which is fantastic. yet, when i got in my car to go to the doctor i realized all my valubles were missing. i was f-ing robbed while i was licking my wounds... its friday the 13th this week, i'm hoping that my string of bad luck will run out by then...

down & out

2006-10-09T15:16:00.000-03:00

i'm doing my best to recover from my clumsy injury. its been a pain in the ass but i'm finding ways to pass the time. I watched a good movie called "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" saturday night, (i snuck a drawing of him in there). also i'm trying to plot a flea annihilation and doing a little drawing:

i've been using this little travel watercolor brush that you are supposed to fill the body of it with water, but i just fill it with ink. good constant flow and i'm able to make all sorts of mistakes that are usually more interesting than my well planned ideas.
they're nothing special, but i'm just trying to do a little bit everyday. i've been having a hard time getting my ideas translated from my brain to the paper... Conveniently i just finished my most recent moleskin journal. So i grabbed one in a different format. Slightly bigger, graph paper instead of the traditional version (which I still love)

its a nice change of pace. starting from scratch with a new material. i usually just stick with a regular pencil or a red one... but there is less room for error with a brush. no erasing. no excuses. make the best of the line you put down kind of thing...

just call me grace

2006-10-08T15:07:00.000-03:00

i'm going to blame the full moon

friday:
stuck my hand in a dog fight

saturday:
i fell down the stairs

sunday:
got xrays, fractured my foot
got a tetnus shot so i don't get rabies...

so, i'll be layed up for a few days, feel free to send gifts... food, candy, flowers, what have you...

Bum Drinking Starbucks

2006-09-30T13:13:00.000-03:00

These are my fellow illustrators. View their sites and don't look back:

benji williams

britt spencer

matty fitzgerald

that will have to do for now...

spreading like wildfire

2006-09-27T21:51:00.000-03:00

I sold a bunch of these:
and hopefully will be making a bunch more for a show in San Francisco with Artemis!

these are my daily readings:
oh joy
lena corwin
keri smith
five and a half
love made visible

and a great music blog
gorilla vs bear

dear sister

2006-09-27T18:09:00.000-03:00

this is a shout out to my big sis... happy birfday

graham crackers and milk

2006-09-27T17:33:00.000-03:00

My time in Savannah is limited to one more year. Although it will probably be less. During school I always wished I had the energy to experiment with new techniques and be more deliberate with my approach to my work. So now, I'm making up for lost time I suppose.

this is more or less what my days consist of:

a) first and foremost, I walk Louie,(brown) and Calhoun (black/short)

dog park

b) always and forever

c) my nook, i hardly leave this room, unless its to go to the kitchen

It's about that time...

2006-09-25T21:09:00.000-03:00

in the more recent days, i've been back to the drawing board. I let myself have the summer off... and although its still 90 degrees here with no signs of leaves changing, the honeymoon is over...

fall begins without the smell of pencil shavings and sandwiches...

i've finally gotten over complaining about my work and actually started experimenting again. it hasn't been pretty but it's a start. Someone told me that these shapeless days are crucial to this transition from school/life to life/life. I believe it. I've finally stopped waiting for my friends to get off from their nine-to-fives and indulge in happy hour which i never deserved.