(*Knock* *Knock*) Housekeeping!

Instead of the usual Haiku Wednesday, I wanted to take care of 3 housekeeping items today:

#1 Happy birthday to my husband, Cecil!

He who puts up with me.

#2 I recently watched a bizarre and disturbingly jerky version of Alice in Wonderland marinated in Eastern European-ness. This 1988 movie was just called Alice. The Netflix description is as follows: After her stuffed rabbit opens a portal inside her dresser, Alice (Kristýna Kohoutová) crosses over into a world of puppets and dead animals in Czech director Jan Svankmajer’s bizarre adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s children’s book, considered a classic of surreal cinema. Svankmajer gives the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat equally warped makeovers via stop-motion animation and stark cinematography. I, who love dark imagery, was left feeling bored at times, at other times I thought I might’ve been tripping, and at points I felt anxious bordering on motion-sick due to the extreme use of stop-motion effects. Overall it was a creepy film and not one for children, though it had no rating. Do I recommend it? Sure, a little avant garde grim fairy-talety never hurt anyone.

Here is a clip:

#3 I just completed a drawing I call “The Wicked and the Clever”, which is currently for sale.

Here is a closeup of the detail:

Detail of "The Wicked and the Clever" by Sarah McNabb 2011

I invite you to check out the full Monty and read about its rationale at FamousAfterIDie.com. Enjoy!

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Art Collaboration Trifecta

My Facebook friends got this memo (and are surely sick of my self promotion by now), but for everyone else I want to ‘yell’ about how cool this is.  Unable to embed my audio player into this blog post, I’ll provide the direct link to the sound piece I’m referencing in a sec.

I drew the following piece, entitled “Theater of the Mind” (2011)

My friend Tom Curry, a Chicago poet, was inspired to write about it and my other friend, Mike Hayden, a San Diego musician, created music to enhance that spoken poem. Tom is a member of the Waiting 4 The Bus Poetry Collective and Mike is a member of the band Sleep Lady.

This fantastic collaborative project can be heard here. Just scroll down and click play.

Tom has also written a poem on my 2010 drawing “The Springheeled Piper“.

I’m so proud that I am surrounded by talented folk and that in this digital age, this type of collaboration can occur across the country or globe. I’m grateful to live in the age of Web 2.0 – where consumers are publishers. I will consume. I will publish. And I will invite others to get involved in “group art” and communal promotion. There are too many unsung talent heros out there.

Additionally, this slick link was posted to my Facebook wall by a friend and I would highly encourage everyone who has a Facebook account (because login is required) to try this. Even though it is a very egocentric interface (all social media is) it is a cool way to visualize your network.

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Travis Sylvester, Master of Natural Reflectives

Travis Sylvester. What can I say about his work except “WOW”. This man has the uncannily ethereal ability to capture water and beautiful reflective fish in his amazing and dynamic color pencil works. I had the pleasure of encountering his work on the Prismacolor artists forum and I follow his progress on Facebook as well. Anyone who is into nature or who appreciates the beauty and skill of creating reflective surfaces should look at his work.

“Brookie” by Travis Sylvester

Travis was born in the Salt Lake City area and still calls it home. He states “I love what Utah has to offer as far as the mountains, desert, and countless lakes and streams. I can leave my home and be at 10,000 feet in elevation and far away from the crowds within an hours drive.” Loving anything fishing-related it is obvious that Travis channels this love into his art. Among other venues, Travis’s art has been displayed in galleries in the Salt Lake area. He also enters competitions and unsurprisingly works on commissioned pieces. “Since November of 2009, I have completed twelve new drawings, four of which have been commissioned. I entered one of them, “Bonneville Cutthroat” into the Utah State Fair and won two honorable mention ribbons on it.”

“Rainbow Reflections” by Travis Sylvester

Artist, Travis Sylvester

In addition to fishing / nature / outdoor subjects, Travis also creates abstract / surrealism, portraits, and digitally enhances works.

I highly recommend viewing his extensive and masterfully crafted showcase on his website. One can also purchase giclee prints of Mr. Sylvester’s works from his website http://travzart.homestead.com/