ABOUT | TOPICS |
Search  Hint
| Newsletter Signup
| rssrssfacebooktwitter

a cartoon that slays me (by andre jordan)

June 25, 2008

OK, SO I HAVE A TWISTED SIDE. No big surprise to most of you, probably. And that being the case, I have some off-color favorites in various realms…including illustration. My all-time love is Andre Jordan from the UK (don’t know him personally, but he replied to my cold-call email saying it’s OK I post this).

Jordan is a great talent, and since I had just left the city to live in the woods when I first came across this piece of his, I have adopted it as my motto. His doodles tackle life’s challenges, like love done in (or never achieved), depression, and other things that pull at my heart strings, including a popular if quite startling series for the BBC on disabilities. But caveat emptor: He can get a little wild, and is not PG. You are all grown-ups, no? So go see his A Beautiful Revolution site (or don’t, up to you), and especially his “Postcards I May Send” section, oh my.

Anyhow, he’s a hero for me, someone who hurts but smiles anyhow. :-) And I felt like taking a day off from horticulture today to just have a little smile. Hope that’s OK. Don’t girls living in the woods get to have some fun every now and again?

Related posts:

  1. doodle by andre: everything in its time
  2. doodle by andre, wild bird of a feather
  3. doodle by andre: father xmas or an elf?
  4. doodle by andre: hiccup! (excuse me.)
  5. doodle by andre: oh yeah, sure. right.

{ 22 Comments }

Comments

  1. Andrew Ritchie says:
    June 25, 2008 at 8:28 am

    One of my favourites is Edward Gorey. His little book called “The Gashlycrumb Tinies” is one of the most hilarious illustrated books I’ve come across: an ABC rhyming book for the morbidly inclined.

    I’ll have to check out Mr. Jordan.

  2. boodely says:
    June 25, 2008 at 8:34 am

    Followed the link and found “I am artistic. Please help me.” Now I’m done in.

  3. margaret says:
    June 25, 2008 at 8:56 am

    Yes, heaven help all of us who are so afflicted! ;-)

  4. Brian G. says:
    June 25, 2008 at 12:17 pm

    I like “The matchstick’s luck had finally run out.” That was me when I was called for jury duty and when my septic system failed last month and……..

  5. mss @ Zanthan Gardens says:
    June 25, 2008 at 2:47 pm

    @ Andrew Ritchie My son learned his ABCs from the Gashlycrumb Tinies. A couple of years later, when he was four, our car caught fire and we barely escaped before it went up in a fireball. He asked me, were we like Rhoda, consumed by a fire?” “Yes. Almost.” Then he frowned, thought a moment and demanded. “Are all those children dead?!”

  6. margaret says:
    June 25, 2008 at 2:51 pm

    @mss connecting back to Brian G’s comment: Maybe it was “the CAR’s luck had finally run out,” huh?

  7. dawndoll says:
    June 25, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    omg – all my friends are astronauts, too!

    p.s. I love you so much more in this “real” life – I never suspected from the lovely but very proper letters in Living that you were so witty and slightly wicked! Thank you for sharing this side of you!

  8. margaret says:
    June 25, 2008 at 3:15 pm

    Welcome, Dawndoll, to the Garden of Surprises. Glad you are here. I guess I behaved so long that the lid finally popped off. Oops. No screwing it back on now…

  9. Andrew Ritchie says:
    June 25, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    @Zanthan Gardens: I love your son already.

  10. andy says:
    June 25, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    Boodley, I am Artistic – Please help me was the one that got to me as well. Thanks Margaret!

  11. Deanna says:
    June 25, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    So this is where you’ve been hiding! I’ve missed you in the magazine but love your new life already! Those hands at the top could be mine, love it! And now you’re bookmarked so you can’t get away!

  12. margaret says:
    June 25, 2008 at 6:33 pm

    Welcome, Deanna…and yes, I was lost but now I’m found. Happy to be so.

  13. GardenGuyKenn says:
    June 25, 2008 at 6:44 pm

    Those who are slightly twisted are oh so appreciated!

  14. Jim says:
    June 25, 2008 at 7:39 pm

    Margaret, where can I buy raffia?

  15. Deanna says:
    June 25, 2008 at 8:42 pm

    Wow, then I must be very appreciated because I am eversoslightly twisted! Just ask my sister!

  16. margaret says:
    June 25, 2008 at 8:47 pm

    @Kenn: You always make me feel so at home.
    @Jim: Now I am confused (doesn’t take much, trust me)…I mean, you can buy raffia at places like this, but I think there is a reference perhaps to doodler Andre here and I don’t know that one and uh-oh, I am embarrassed and not sure what to say next…help, help!

  17. Deanna says:
    June 25, 2008 at 8:58 pm

    You can buy raffia at most craft stores and sometimes fabric shops.

  18. Mujokan says:
    June 26, 2008 at 7:54 am

    Margaret, you might like Australian artist, cartoonist and poet Michael Leunig.

  19. margaret says:
    June 26, 2008 at 8:33 am

    Welcome, Mujokan, and thank you for the tip. I will go exploring!

  20. Layanee says:
    June 26, 2008 at 8:56 am

    I am laughing at this! I have told my family that if I feel the ‘big one’ coming on I am going to the woods to die! Sitting propped against a tree with the sky over my head! Some would say that is morbid but I think it glorious! Live and die in the woods!

    Love the postcards!

  21. Dee/reddirtramblings says:
    June 28, 2008 at 2:20 pm

    I think, perhaps, many of us were “proper” at one time. Something happens either natural pressure (age) or simply seeing that proper isn’t always as fun.

    I’m done in by the above postcard too. I also live in the woods. Have for 20 years, and yes, it is best for everyone.

    Thanks for the introduction.~~Dee

  22. Paige says:
    June 30, 2008 at 10:32 pm

    And have you seen these? http://www.moo.com/readymade/pack/338

    xx

Comment:

The Sister Project

The Confessional

Some stuff really gets A Way to Garden-ers going. Weigh in, or just lurk while everyone else shares about these hot buttons:

Compost, Compost, Compost

I am as proud of my compost heap as I am of any part of my garden. It is the archaeological record of my garden past; it is the stuff from which future gardens will arise. I read a lot about, from sources like these: Garden Organic, a 50-year-old British charity; Journey to Forever (don’t worry, not some into-the-bunker survivalist cult); and the vast Cornell Composting archive. Dig in.

Juicy Bits

375 VISITORS, 1 BIG RHODIE: spring garden open day, in a virtual visit. How it looked, and also what they all asked about

keeping deer out DEER FENCE: I tried every potion and anti-deer trick till I finally got real and fenced. Strategies for every garden situation.

secrets to great tomatoes TOMATO TIPS, seed to harvest: Dozens of tricks for a better crop.

yes, even in dry shade MY 4 TOUGHEST GROUNDCOVERS perform even in the worst spots, like dry shade. Maybe these tough perennials will serve you as well?

5 great small trees GARDEN-SIZED TREES can’t just be the right scale; they need to have multi-season interest, too, to earn a spot here. Maybe you have room for one of my 5 favorites?

10 underplanting do’s and don’ts MAKING MOSAICS—that’s what I call good underplanting of trees and shrubs with a tapestry of plants for many months of enjoyment. Here’s how I do it.

a ribbeting bullfrog whodunit LET BULLFROGS BE BYGONES? No way. Where have all my biggest frogboys gone? The latest frog mystery explained.

stars of the spring shrubbery BEYOND LILACS (and forget forsythia!), a slideshow of some of the finest spring shrubs you may not grow (yet).

speeding up the compost DRIVE BY, HIT-AND-RUN composting is my latest craze, and speeds up the decomposition process while making good mulch quickly. Here’s how.

making a 365-day garden THINK FALL (YES, FALL): Don’t get sucked in by spring-bloomers only when nursery shopping. A great garden happens 365 days a year: Shop smart to make it so.

the facts about bulbs SOMETHING UP with a flower bulb? Paltry bloom, or wondering when to feed or cut off the foliage? It’s all here.

must-read garden poem MY FAVORITE GARDEN POEM celebrates loss, one of gardening (and life’s) realities. It does it with humor: "Why Did My Plant Die?” is a must-read.

12 steps to sanity? HELP FOR GARDENERS: Hi, my name is Margaret, and yes, we operate a 12-Step program here. Welcome.

orchid rebloom made easy I REBLOOMED MY FIRST ORCHID last year (finally!) and it turns out to be pretty easy going. Here’s how.

my seed-starting 101 WHAT ABOUT SEED-STARTING in general? The A Way to Garden method.

crispy refrigerator pickles WHAT IS IT ABOUT refrigerator pickles that makes everybody so happy? Get those cukes growing now. And then some.

hail the stewartia I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP. By that I mean they do more than a week or two of showing off; they look good in more than a single moment, or season. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if that’s the kind of multi-season interest you are looking for. Sound good?

can-do pruning REPEAT AFTER ME: I can prune. I can prune. If you follow this simple method for starters, your woody plants will thank you.

the ‘other’ peonies JUNE IS PEONY TIME, the big raucous kind of peony time, but just before that another kind of peony you might want to consider adopting does its subtler, wonderful thing.

which lilac to plant? SO MANY LILACS, so little space. Browse a glossary of some of my favorites before you shop—maybe you’ll like them, too.