Chi Birmingham
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New piece in the OP-ED
posted: October 29, 2010
I had a chance to do some work for the New York Times' OP-ED section yesterday. I am on vacation in Florida at the moment, and I converted a corner of the hotel's breakfast room into a rather comfortable workspace. (My studio back in New York doesn't have free coffee refills.) I had a good time with this one so I thought I would detail my process.
On Wednesday, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform released 50 page proposal for deficit reduction. In an OP-ED published on Thursday, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson gave a critique of the proposed cuts, and offered a few ideas of their own. My illustration would accompany a set of letters that readers had made in response to the OP-ED. So I had some reading to do.  What interested me more than any of the issues being discussed, was the idea that all of this mental energy could be expended without effecting any actual change in policy. The image that first came to mind was that of two firemen arguing over methods while the house burns down around them.


Or maybe just one guy...
After a few sketches I went back to the text to see if I could scare up an alternative. Something the fire image hadn't quite addressed was the idea that everyone involved has something to gain, and that in the end, a dollar for this project means a dollar less somewhere else. This was an idea that called for a pie. I took a few different approaches on my "pie fight," but eventually settled on the sketch below. Which is the one that was approved.
And now, back to my piña colada.


NYT Book Review
posted: October 4, 2010
"Hyperlinked" | New York Times Book Review | Chi Birmingham
I will have an illustration in this Sunday's Book Review. The image accompanies a review by Tim Mohr of Daniel Kehlman's 'Fame: A novel in nine episodes.' In the book, social media and coincidence weave together the stories of otherwise unconnected characters. My challenge for the illustration was to represent the underlying idea of interconnectedness, and also give a nod to the specific plot points mentioned in the review. The solution that was agreed upon was to represent the 'episodes' as pop-up windows on a computer screen. Read the article here.
"Life in these Old Bones Yet" available September 28th
posted: September 12, 2010
Over the last few months I have been working on a book as part of my MFA program. After a final round of tweaking, I am happy to say that the finished book will be ready in time for our September 28th Book Show. 


"Life in these Old Bones Yet" is based on the history my home state, California. It follows the adventure of an old prospector and his mule, "Flapjack," as they cross the wilderness in search of their fortune. I grew up in Big Sur, and regular visitors will recognize many of the vistas that I used as reference material. I didn't rely to heavily on any actual geography, however. Instead, I drew an impression of the old west as it is represented in books and movies and combined that with my memories of growing up there. The story itself is purely imaginary, but draws inspiration from the movie "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and Henry Miller's "Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch."

The book won't be ready until the 28th of September. But once it is ready to roll, I am planning to offer it in a limited edition pressing. Let me know if you are interested in reserving a copy.

And while you wait . . .
Here are a few sample pages! 
AARP Spots
posted: September 1, 2010
I had a full week of assignments from the AARP. These spots can be found scattered through their latest issue. I am excited to see how they look once they are incorporated into the page.
1. A set of images to accompany financial statistics:




2. A spot cluster to illustrate various winter activities:
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