The Irish Pub

by Drew Martin
Last week I watched a really nice documentary, The Irish Pub, about the traditional pubs of Ireland. While these public houses are known for drink, the film emphasizes their place in the community for intermingling, and most of all good conversations and the feeling of belonging.

The latent linguist in me loved the hour + of Irish brogue, while the junk artist that I am loved the eclectic nick nacks that cover the walls and ceilings of these establishments and are part of the tales of each place: "nice tongs" from Canada, a mole trap from America, a blood-stained jersey from 1963 of someone who was hit by a car nearby, a camogie, an odd wellington pegged to a rafter, a samurai sword from a pub owner who was a prisoner of war for three years in Nagasaki where he survived the atomic bomb blast, an iron deadlock bar bent by the Black and Tans, and the painting here of a scene from John B. Keane's play Sive.

Doodling Dreams

by Drew Martin
I took the day off for my little kid's 9th birthday but then I ended up taking too long of a nap so now I can't sleep and it's past midnight. My 17-year-old daughter is up working on her portfolio so I am hanging out in her room doodling dreams I recently had while her affectionate cat makes it difficult to do anything.

A couple days ago I dreamt that I was stranded on a deserted island which had two humps of land masses. The water rose so much that the section I was on got cut off from the higher area, then became submerged. I needed to get to the other side but the rising water was shark infested. Apparently there was a headless whale carcass at hand because the plan I devised was to swim with the big body to the remaining part of the island, and shield myself with/hide under the dead whale.

Today, during my long nap, I dreamt that I was on a bus going to a Philip Morris Museum in some suburban part of Virginia (I think). I had wanted to go to take a picture of something on the museum grounds but forgot what it was during the bus ride. The sun was setting so by the time I arrived not only had I completely forgotten my reason for going but it was too dark to take pictures of what I did find there. On the way to the museum the bus passed a house, which had Pop Art versions of its own facade that were coming out of the front of the house, like in an exploded view, which continued to where the car was parked out front. I wanted to get off the bus to take a picture of it but figured I would first see where the museum was and then walk back but it was too late, too dark and too far.

That got me thinking, it would be cool to actually design this kind of house, or maybe one where the front of the house looked like a cross section of itself and then a garage out front would look like the front corner of the house, so elements of the yard/garage in front of the house would look like an exploded view of its interiors. I think I need to illustrate that too.