book cover

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?

Comments

22 Responses to “a cartoon that slays me (by andre jordan)”

  1. Andrew Ritchie on June 25th, 2008 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 on June 25th, 2008 8:34 am

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

  3. margaret on June 25th, 2008 8:56 am

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

  4. Brian G. on June 25th, 2008 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 on June 25th, 2008 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 on June 25th, 2008 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 on June 25th, 2008 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 on June 25th, 2008 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 on June 25th, 2008 3:18 pm

    @Zanthan Gardens: I love your son already.

  10. andy on June 25th, 2008 6:03 pm

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

  11. Deanna on June 25th, 2008 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 on June 25th, 2008 6:33 pm

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

  13. GardenGuyKenn on June 25th, 2008 6:44 pm

    Those who are slightly twisted are oh so appreciated!

  14. Jim on June 25th, 2008 7:39 pm

    Margaret, where can I buy raffia?

  15. Deanna on June 25th, 2008 8:42 pm

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

  16. margaret on June 25th, 2008 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 on June 25th, 2008 8:58 pm

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

  18. Mujokan on June 26th, 2008 7:54 am
  19. margaret on June 26th, 2008 8:33 am

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

  20. Layanee on June 26th, 2008 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 on June 28th, 2008 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 on June 30th, 2008 10:32 pm

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

    xx

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