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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Moby Dick Art and Submissions


83º ~ reaching for 98º today, then a bit of a drop off into the low 90s for the rest of the week, whew, lots and lots of feeding activity going on in the robin's nest, no rain in the forecast for the next four days at least

Today, with great delight, I received the four pieces of art that I purchased from Matt Kish, who created one piece of art (often pen and marker drawings on found paper) for every page of Moby Dick.  Matt's website contains all of the art from this project and several others.  This fall, Tin House will release all of the drawings in a book, and I cannot wait to buy that book.  As I've said before, I've never been able to finish the novel, but perhaps, with Matt's book in hand, I'll give it another go.

Here's one of the four pieces that arrived on my doorstep today.

Page 428 : In 1778, a fine ship, the Amelia, fitted out for the express purpose, and at the sole charge of the vigorous Enderbys, boldly rounded Cape Horn, and was the first among the nations to lower a whale-boat of any sort in the great South Sea.

Before the mail arrived, I spent my desk time today working on submissions.  I've had June 1st on my radar because that's when Barn Owl Review opens their reading period. In the past, journals with summer reading periods have been difficult for me because I haven't been able to keep up with writing new poems during the school year.  I am so happy to say that I had five poems ready to send out, poems that haven't been sent out before this, or were only sent out a few weeks ago.  Thanks to yesterday's big time revision work, submitting today was a piece of cake!

With the one journal firmly in mind, I did glance through the lists of journals reading this summer to see if anything else clicked.  Sure enough, I found three others that opened on June 1st as well, or were reading year round and enough time had passed since my last attempt for me to try again.

After submitting, I went to check the mail, where I found the above mentioned art.  For anyone who thinks the acceptances just keep piling up, alas, there was a rejection envelope as well.  And so it goes....  I must admit that the art helped soften the blow.  Thanks, Matt!




10 comments:

Nancy Devine said...

i've seen matt kish's blog. i'm delighted to learn his drawings will be available in a book.
i've read a great deal of moby dick but not the entire thing. the only way i was able to do that was because it was part of an undergraduate class with an amazing teacher.

Sandy Longhorn said...

ah, yes, thanks be to those amazing teachers out there!

Kathleen said...

What a great project!

Sandy Longhorn said...

Yes, Kathleen, it blows me away!

Kristin Berkey-Abbott said...

I'm fascinated by the Moby Dick project. Matt did this and he worked and he commuted 3 hours a day? I suddenly feel inadequate! Woefully so.

How did you find out about the project? How have I missed it?

Sandy Longhorn said...

Kristin, tell me about it!

I no longer remember how I first learned of the project, but somehow I found the link to the blog where Matt posted each page's work. That's the fun of the internet, I guess! It looks like I linked to it last year on July 4th, but other than that, no history available. Sometimes I think I should write these things down, but life is too short.

Kristin Berkey-Abbott said...

Your post inspired my post this morning:

http://kristinberkey-abbott.blogspot.com/2011/06/yoking-our-words-to-images.html

I wish I had time to play with markers or collage cards--alas, it's a day of many meetings--the life of an administrator!

Sandy Longhorn said...

Kristin, I hope you get a day for creativity projects soon!

John Guzlowski said...

Hi, Sandy, Tim Taylor pointed me in your direction. He mentioned the Moby Dick art and I sent him some info about one of my favorite MD painters, Gilbert Wilson, who painted a couple hundred paintings based on the novel. Here's a link to a piece on art about MB with a work by Wilson (as well as Pollock and Turner!)

http://artblogbybob.blogspot.com/2007/08/to-delineate-chaos-bewitched.html

Sandy Longhorn said...

Hi, John! Nice to meet you here. Thanks for the links and for stopping by.