Ava Thursday: Pap Paw's Birthday Card

My Dad and his wife came to visit us for the first time this past February. We had a blast. During the course of their visit, Dad celebrated his 67th birthday. What would be the perfect gift for a man his age? Well, I wrangled the kids up to make some birthday cards for him, of course! Naturally.

This is what Ava came up with:

The front.


The inside.


On the back, Ava added a little logo down in the lower right-hand corner, "Daddy Cards." I had made a card with that logo on it a while back and she really liked it. So this is her version. Love little details like that.

Oh, and here's Ezra's card:


I think it says his name over and over.


He was real proud of it.

Ava then got all creative and us and made this Crayon wrapper sculpture-thingy:


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I've been meaning to do a follow-up post on Marjane Satrapi's talk from Monday night. I'm working on it. I took some good notes, but most of it's chicken scratch, so whatever I type out will be paraphrased. She had some good things to say. Very inspiring talk. And very funny.

I've also been meaning to update the long-overdue Blogroll over there in the right column. Still have all my Atlanta peeps' links up -- what's up wit that? It's been over a year now! I'll keep the ATL links up for the newer version, but I plan on putting up Portland and NW links as well. Gotta keep it fresh.

And, one other thing: I think it's about time for a new look here for the blog. Feels a bit stale to me. Whaddya think? We'll see.

Ava Thursday: Self Portrait

"Daddy did I do good?"

That sweet, delicate handwriting in the upper right-hand corner speaks volumes to me. While waiting in the car, I handed Ava my sketchbook and a pen for her to draw whatever she wanted. This is what she drew. A wonderful self portrait of a 7 year-old girl, growing up and being fully aware of the details around her. The question in the corner is a loaded one. Upon reading it, I immediately gave her a smile and said, "Oh, yes, sweetie -- you did an amazing job!" But I couldn't help but think about how much that question means to Ava. Obviously, it means that she's trying her best here. And she definitely wants to appease me, since she sees me draw all the time. But I never want her to gauge how well she's doing based off others' comments and opinions -- I want her to judge her own work for herself. But that's a lofty concept for a 7 year-old. At this stage in her development, she wants encouragement from her family. And that's what we try to give her, as much as we possibly can.



After Ava's self portrait, you turn the page and you come upon this. More self portraits. Of a little girl's hands. A sweet, delicate little artist's hands.

Ava Thursday: My Birthday

All I wanted for my birthday this year was some art by my kids and a pair of retro Nikes. So, here's what I got:


This is the cover to the card Ava created. I love it, of course. That's Ava with big ol' gloves and rings on her fingers.

The card has a super-special added bonus: the markers are the scented kind, so Ava's dress smells of strawberries and the sea smells of...something blueberry-ish. I think.


This is the inside, when you open the card. Yup, all the colors here are scented and the card smells so yummy. That's a Nike Daybreak shoe up there on top. She drew this from memory. She had seen the shoe on Nike's site when Andrea was showing it to her before my birthday, and she had remembered all the details: the colors, the swoosh, etc.


Found inside my birthday card was this little sheet of paper, drawn by my girl. Ahh, the fabulous Nike Daybreak, a classic Nike shoe from back in the day. I was an avid runner from '77 to about '84. My dad and I were Nike geeks. He had Daybreaks, I had a pair of Terra TC's. Among others. So, when I found out that Nike was making reproductions of some of their old shoes, it was only natural for me to hook myself up with a pair.

On Saturday, Ava accompanied me to the downtown Niketown and patiently sat through me putting on three different pairs of shoes. They had the Daybreaks, but not my size. Too small. But, man, the Waffle Racers looked sweet. And better yet, they were a perfect fit:




Would you like some waffles with your morning run?

Side note: You would think that since Uncle Phil owns Laika, that we LAIKAians would receive some nice Nike discounts, right?

Nope.

That's all I'm gonna say.


Big, big thanks to the wifey and kids for making my 39th a happy one. Love you guys.

Ava Thursday: Barbie's Museum

Ava's not the biggest fan of Barbie -- she moves from one interest to the next with the faintest of breezes -- but she does have several Barbie branded items. One of these is this large coloring and activity book. In it, Barbie goes to the art museum and here, you'll see, they ask for the child to draw what Barbie sees at the museum.

Ava drew an interesting Egyptian themed painting on the wall, and an equally interesting "modern" sculpture over to the left.

Let's take a closer look at the painting, shall we?


Dig the "Walk Like An Egyptian" poses there. Also dig the details on the sarcophagus. (Yes, I said 'sarcophagus'.)


A closer look at Ava's 'modern' sculpture over on the left of the page.


Getting even closer, we see some sort of creature (?) projecting up on the wall "Never Ever Again." Okay. I'll just leave it at that.


Is it a spiderweb? A lens of some sort? I dunno, but I like it. It says: "The Light Begins."

I like how my daughter's mind works when it comes to her version of what a museum is about -- a little bit of history with the Egyptian elements, and a little bit of art with the abstract sculpture. About the other items on the sculpture -- What could they be? Video projection? Talk balloons? Maybe, maybe not. I'm at a loss with that one.

But if there's anything that I've gleaned from looking at Ava's drawings and artwork throughout the years is that it's best not to ask. Just let the art speak for itself.

Ava Thursday: Swimming Pool

Sorry this is a day late. But it's Friday! Let's hear it for Fridays.

Ava drew this obviously on June 29th, right at the onset of summer. Even though summer's winding down here in Portland (it got down to 45 degrees recently in the early morning), I thought I'd post this nice reminder of fun in the sun, at the swimming pool, hanging out with friends, hiding in bushes.... Eh? "Hiding in bushes?" Hmmm, so I'm pretty sure that Ava had a story to tell with this drawing and I was right. But I'm a bit ashamed to post it because, apparently, Ava's still on a "poo poo" and "pooter" kick. It doesn't help when her 3 year-old brother gets in on it, too. Oh well. What's a parent to do? Well... here's her story for this drawing. Don't say I didn't warn you:

There's this bad guy and he likes to poo poo and pooter! (She's laughing as she tells me this....) The other people are looking at him and pointing. He's hiding because he knows he's a bad guy. ("Why is he laughing?" I ask.) He's laughing because he pootered the whole world! ("He pootered the whole world?" I repeat.) "YES!" (She then starts in on a big giggling fit.)

Nice way to start off the weekend, huh? Hope you have a great one. And hopefully I'll get to meet some of you at the Fantagraphics Bookstore in Seattle tomorrow night for that Jim Flora exhibit opening reception. 6 to 8PM. See ya!

Ava Thursday: Birdie & Froggie

I know that this is a little late, but since it's an Ava Thursday post, I can't help it!

Something different for Ava Thursday: little creatures made by Ava during an after school art class she was going to for awhile back in May. On the left, a little bird with a nice red crest. If you look closely, there are a couple of eggs in the nest. On the right, a bright green tree frog. Ava chose the colors herself, thanks to a big chart that the instructor had with all the color glazes marked out so you can see what they would look like when they were fired up in the kiln. If you notice, there's some dark speckles in the blue for the bird here:



Here on the frog, I love the little nose and mouth, along with the red eyes. She chose red because she saw a tree frog in a magazine once:



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It's Labor Day weekend, so that means our anniversary is nigh. Hitting the big 1-3 mark. Thirteen years! I can't believe it. We've been dating since 1990, which would bring us up to 17 years that Andrea and I have been together. She was 19, I was 21. Ah, but we were wee bairns, weren't we? Planning a surprise trip for the family today. I'll be sure to post some pics when we get back.

Have a great Labor Day people!

Ava Thursday: Spider-Man Revealed!

This makes me laugh every time I look at it. These two drawings by Ava are on the same yellow sheet of construction paper; the top one being on the front. Obvious a dig at Ezra's favorite superhero, Ava decided to draw a couple of scenarios exposing Spider-Man as a sham, a charlatan, a fraud!

Here, Ava writes: "Spider-Man isn't really strong, he just puts balls in his sleeves."

You know, when you look at that one sticker there of Spider-Man, it does look like he puts stuff in his sleeves to puff himself out. At least, to a 7 year old.

Here's the back:



"Spider-Man doesn't really have designs on his red suit just draws them."

What I find especially funny in these drawings is the direct poking of fun at a particular figure that her brother is especially fond of. It's her way of getting to Ezra without him picking up on this fact. I can imagine that it's satisfying for Ava to rip on something that her brother loves. Typical sibling ribbing, of course.

Ava gets all giggly when I talk about these drawings. She knows how silly she was being when she drew them. Silly girl.

I love the poses of Spider-Man here: the legs, the arms, how he's trying to draw on his costume, the shoving of the balls into his sleeves. Very expressive. And very funny.

Ava Thursday: Birthday Card for Rachael

Can't believe my little girl is 7 years old today. 7 years! I know it's incredibly cliche for me to say this, but it's amazing how time flies. I remember the day Ava was born, when we had to pack our stuff and head off in the car to the hospital at around 9pm on a Tuesday evening. We were living in a tiny cottage-like house in Decatur, Georgia and I remember how suddenly we went from a 2 to a 3 -- we were a family in one day.

So to honor both her birthday and Ava Thursday, here's a card Ava made for her friend Rachael back in June. Some special sparkly letters and border along with heart shaped kites flying in the wind.



This was the inside of Rachael's card. I like how Ava felt the need to show who's card this was made for by pointing Rachael out. In case you were wondering, Rachael's the one with the glasses.


This is Ava and I at City Museum in St. Louis, MO, 2004. Looking at this photo, I can see just how much Ava has changed. With each passing year I see less baby fat and more long, knobby knees and gangly legs. I find it harder to pick her up and swing her around playfully like a rag doll. She loves that. "Pretend like I'm a rag doll, Daddy!" This past year she really took to reading -- it came natural to her like breathing. It helps to have a mom who reads to her every single night (and she does it really well, too). When we had family in this past weekend, it was so cool to look back and see her read to her cousin Luxie in the back seat of the car. She even added all the dramatic emphases where needed, just like her mom.



Happy Birthday, Ava! Mommy and I love you very much. Here's to a great 7.

Ava Thursday: Ava meets a fan!

At the PLATFORM Animation Festival last week, Ava had the great fortune to meet a fan of her artwork, animator Lee Rubenstein. It was so cool to witness this great exchange. Ava was very timid and shy, as usual, but hey -- that's what we all artists are like, right?

Lee co-directed and co-produced The Secret Life of Robots, which won the Internet Competition at PLATFORM. Congrats to Lee! I'd show you a link, but it's kinda NSFW. You can poke around and find it on YouTube, if you'd like.

Another great moment for Ava during PLATFORM was getting to meet dancer and choreographer Marge Champion. She posed as live action reference for the Snow White character during the making of the 1937 film. She's a youthful 88 and still as sharp as a tack. I took Ava to see a special screening of SNOW WHITE on Friday, June 29th, and right afterwards, animation historian John Canemaker interviewed Ms. Champion. Fascinating stuff. I'll post more photos soon. In the meantime, here's Ava meeting Marge after the interview:



Marge was very sweet and as she learned of Ava's name, she lit up and said to Ava, "I knew another Ava long ago when I was dancing at MGM: Ava Gardner." John emailed me later on and said that Marge in profile looks like "Snow White talking to a little bird."




I finally got some photos from PLATFORM uploaded in my Flickr. Here, check it out: PLATFORM Animation Festival 07. I'm currently working on putting more up, so stay tuned.

Ava Thursday: Letter to Rachel

Ava has a friend in her class, named Rachel. This is a letter she wrote to her, which I find adorable. She got Rachel's look just right, glasses and all.

Rachel lives close by and is very sweet to my daughter but when she was over for a playdate one day at our house I found her throwing some of Ava's little toys out of Ava's bedroom window which is on the second floor of our house. I can't really complain too much because she wasn't doing it out of meanness, but just having fun. She also hid Ava's shoes when I came by to pick up Ava after a playdate at Rachel's house. But I don't mind that part. She just didn't want Ava to go home. She figured that if Ava's Daddy can't find Ava's shoes then Ava can't go home and then Ava will have to stay for a sleepover at her house. But she was forced to hand over the shoes when her Mommy told her to do so. Oh well. Rachel is very sweet to Ava though. And that speaks volumes to me.

I'm still finding various small toys of Ava's in the backyard, right below Ava's window.

Ava Thursday: Ava on Sprout!

Sprout is PBS Kids' answer to Noggin. When it was launched in 2005, it was the first 24 hour preschool network. Why any 2 or 3 year-old would be up at 3 in the morning to watch a TV show was beyond me, but hey, they came to Primal Screen to create their identity and branding, so why question it? The look was inspired by classic children's book art, which art director Ben Prisk took to with great fervor, even going so far as to using real ink, pencil and paint for most of the textures and elements. I didn't do much on the job (hardly anything, really), but I thought that Ben, along with Justin Winslow, Jo Davidovitch and many others did a great job on the overall look of the campaign. It was fun, whimsical and witty. It won several design awards, too.

There was a reoccurring theme to the branding: stalks. Each and every single element produced had stalks that sprouted whatever items that were necessary for that particular spot. One of the ID's was called "Arts & Crafts," with the stalks sprouting many different art supplies like paint brushes, paint cans, pencils, paper, etc. During the spot you see various pieces of artwork flying by the viewer, all ending up on a clothes line to dry.

If you look closely, you'll be able to see some artwork by your favorite 6 year old. Since you aren't sitting in front of your TV right now, I took the time to make some still frames of the ID. (Click on each image to view larger.) Check it:


We see in the beginning the growing stalks and a little girl painting at an easel. To the right, one stalk is sprouting a sketchbook. That girl isn't Ava, in case you're wondering.


As the sketchbook opens, some papers come flying out. What's this? Now who's artwork could that be? Yup, you guessed it. That's Ava's Mommy in Color on the left and her first rainbow on the right.


As the camera pans quickly from left to right, we catch a glimpse of another drawing by Ava. I couldn't find out which one, though. I have it somewheres, I'm sure.


As the camera slows down, we see all the artwork up on a clothes line and a little boy painting in the Sprout logo (my, aren't we talented?). On your left, that's Ava's Baking Cookies.


Last frame of the ID.

Very cool, eh? Ava gets all excited when she sees this come on air, as you might've guessed. I get all excited for her! It was a lot of fun for me to know that her work would be on TV for all to see. Proud papa, that's me. Thanks for indulging me.

Ava Thursday: My Desk at Primal

Before I left Primal Screen, I made sure I took some photos of my work surroundings. That is, what was left of 'em. And since I couldn't take my animation desk with me, I definitely wanted a shot of what Ava drew on my desk oh so long ago.

Judging from the look of the character here on the left, I'm guessing that she was probably 4 when she drew this. Cute little character with hearts and in a dress.

The post-it note you see taped up has a simple drawing by Ava originally drawn in March of '05, of a pencil and piece of paper. Modified (or plussed) six months later by adding arms and hands.

Ava Thursday: Cross Country

It's been a long time coming, but here it is: Ava Thursday! And this is the one that I've been wanting to post ever since we got settled here in Portland. During our trip across the country from Georgia to Oregon, Ava colored in each and every state that we were in on this map, supplied to Ava thanks to her Nani, my mom. She had a lot of fun asking me which state is which and then deciding on her own which color to use. And she was very adamant about not coloring a state until we definitely crossed the state line. "Daddy, are we in Colorado yet?" she would ask, orange Crayola in hand. "No, not yet." I'd look back and find her staring out the window at the vast prairie land, not in the least bit bored. She loved the entire trip.

We went through Idaho, but Ava used a white crayon for that particular state, making it kinda hard to see it in this scan. And the rainbow for Oregon was Ava's idea.

I love that.

Ava Thursday: Hmm!

As you might've guessed, Ava Thursday has evolved from a weekly thing to a when-I-can-find-the-time thing. But I'm sure you all understand, right? I mean, you know that it's just a tad crazy for me right now.

Rarely will I ask Ava to draw something for me specifically for Ava Thursday. Most of what I post here has been something that she's done on her own, for school, or just for funsies. Last night I walked by Ava in her room and I feigned worry and concern, "Omigosh Ava! It's Ava Thursday tomorrow! What am I going to post?" She knew that I was joking around (we have tons of artwork that we've yet to scan of course) but she smiled at me and said "I'll draw sumfin!" I told her that there was no need to, but she wouldn't hear of it. Fifteen minutes later she came up to me with all smiles and handed me this drawing you see here. "Here ya go, Daddy!"

The story is that the Main Girl in the middle is having a party and that she just handed out the party invitations to all her friends in the picture, except the one who has a red face. Ava tells me that she's the Mean Girl and that she wasn't invited to the party. She's red because she's mad and jealous that she's not going and everyone else is. The Main Girl is giving Mean Girl a "Hmm!" ("Humph!") as in: "That's what you get for being so mean!" Notice that there's smoke coming from the Mean Girl's ears, too. Nice cartoonish touch. I really dig all the action going on in the background, especially the girls jumping rope on the right.

Parties and party invitations are high on Ava's list right now because she just gave some out for her Going Away/Early Birthday Party coming up a week from Saturday. Just some ice cream and fun times at a children's bookstore and ice cream parlor down the road from us. Ava's so excited she can hardly stand it. And she's very excited about moving out to Portland. She's looking at it like a Big Adventure. Andrea and I are trying to do the same, but it's hard when you have boxes covering every single square foot of your home right now and it seems like nothing has changed for the past several weeks.

Ava Thursday: Colors that Rhyme

If you like colors that rhyme and bubbles that pop, be sure to check out Ava Thursday over at hula seventy this week.

Lovely stuff.

Ava Thursday: The Map

Ava drew up a cute little story about pirates a couple of months ago in this small notebook that came with her Happy Meal. McDonald's was promoting the Pirates of the Caribbean movie and one of the "toys" was a notebook with a pencil, I guess to make your own treasure map. (It came with a plastic compass.)

Instead of drawing a map, Ava drew a story called "The Map," complete with pirates and a treasure chest and x marking the spot on a deserted island -- you name it. Even mermaids. It's a beautiful little story drawn in a simple pencil style that only my daughter can muster. I scanned some of the story for you to enjoy here. (Click each image to view larger.)


Here's our little pirate girl, on her way to search for the treasure. I love the pose here, as well as the "x" on the island.


Close up of a mermaid deep in the sea. Ava crossed out whatever it was above this character, so I don't really know what was going on. Love the details here.


I love how Ava drew the eye in the telescope larger. Obviously she watches a nice healthy share of cartoons.


Looks like she found the treasure! A key, a sparkly coin and a jewel: sounds like the perfect treasure to me. And there she goes, sailing away....


Little Pirate Girl with her shiny sword.


Great pirates here, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Ava. Arrrr!

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Things have been pretty busy for me lately. That's why I've fallen in my Ava Thursday duties. Very sorry for that. Yeah, isn't this nice? Ava Thursday on a Saturday. Go figure. Oh well. Hope you all don't mind so much. I mean, it's not like this is a binding contract or anything.

Ava Thursday: Small BarBie.

You can't tell from this shot, but this drawing by Ava of a big hand grabbing for a small Barbie doll is pretty large -- poster-size, actually. She drew it last Friday at school for "Fun Fridays," where the kids get to do whatever they want at the end of the day, as long as it's fun!

Things I like about this drawing:

The period at the end of "BarBie." So serious.
The expressive grasping of the huge hand. Struck me as very Tim Biskup-like.
The wide-eyed look on Barbie.
Other little things like: the "BarBie" written on the bracelet, the hand's fingernails, Barbie's shoes and purse.

That odd shape out in left field is a tree. One of Ava's classmates told her to draw it there. She was all "whatever" about the tree when I asked her about it. Like she knows it doesn't really go there, but can't do anything about it, so please don't ask me again, dad. It did seem a little strange to me. Just some tree out in the middle of nowhere.

Can you tell what she's thinking about for Christmas? Yes, it's going to be a Barbie Christmas, people. Can't wait.

Oh, speaking of which, I scanned her Christmas list that she gave to Santa earlier this week. Expect to see that hopefully later on today (okay, tonight).