I know I haven’t put up a blog post in a very, very long time, but this news is IMPORTANT! I have three pieces in a show in August at Portland’s beloved Curb Gallery, and the good folks at Curb liked them so much they’re carrying them over into next month’s show!

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My world got smaller when artist and art teacher Gary Faigin died this past September. Gary was not just a colleague that I knew for over 40 years, but he was also a personal friend. He and his wife Pamela knew me and Eve in New York, and we kept in touch after Gary and Pam moved to Seattle and Eve and I moved to Portland.
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Some of you have already seen my mother’s gorgeous landscape, pond, flower and still life paintings – maybe on your very own walls! At an age when most people would be content to say their best work is behind them, Lolita Marie Celsi continues to explore the nuances of color, water and sky, producing better and better paintings, literally all the time!
Nothing brings life, color and purpose to a room like a Lolita Celsi painting! Her next gallery show opens Thursday, July 3rd and runs through July at Curb Gallery, 424 NW 12th Avenue.

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I don’t know if a lot of you know, but Matthew Courtney recently passed away due to an accidental drug overdose in New York. Matthew straddles the line between celebrity and friend. As the host of the long running open mike at ABC No Rio, (where I honed my deservedly forgotten performance art act), a published poet, and also an announcer on Comedy Central, Matthew was eminent enough to get his picture in the papers – the Village Voice, at least. But he was also enough of a friend that I occasionally hired him as a model for illustration reference. This image comes from a Voice review of a play Matthew appeared in.

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Mark your calendar! I’m having an exhibit of early posters and comics pages, mostly vintage prints but some originals, drawn in the 1970s and 1980s in Portland, when I was still signing my work David Celsi. Many of these have been posted on Patreon over the years, but this will be a golden opportunity to see them In Real Life, and possibly take one home!
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I’ve been lax in posting new comics to Patreon over the past few weeks, but I have been absorbed in my new project, the Vortex graphic novel, trying to keep to my self-imposed quota of two pages a week (I’m now at page 40). I will be posting work in progress presently when I get more comfortable with where I am on my schedule.

Something else comics-related is looming on the horizon. 24 Hour Comic Day is traditionally the first Saturday in October. To draw a 24 Hour Comic, the cartoonist stays awake for an entire day, drawing one page an hour, until the following morning. If I draw one this year, it would be my 24th (did I mention that I appear to be the record holder for most 24 Hour Comics drawn?)

It’s been two years since my last 24 Hour Comic, which was a benefit for Hipbone Studio. I am considering whether to do another one this year as a benefit for Democratic candidates, chiefly Kamala Harris, but also those crucial down-ballot races which will determine control of the House and Senate. Once again, this election is the most crucial in our lifetime, democracy is on the ballot, etc. etc. Supporters typically pledge a dollar a page, but some pledge more.
One factor inclining me to climb this particular mountain again is some interesting numerology. Since this 24 hour comic would be my 24th, it leads me to the concept of a plan for what I might draw.

I’m thinking to title the next story This Fabulous Century, and make it a history of the past 24 years, devoting one page to each year in the 21st century (actually, that would make for 25 pages because if you start with 2000 there are 25 years up to and including 2024, but I’ll figure out something). It would be a challenge to fit this into my busy schedule, but this occasion with its convergence of 24s- year, page count, and number in the sequence- will never happen again, and of course, this IS the most significant election in our lifetime.

To tip the scales, I’m taking the numerology one step further. If I can reach the level of 24 supporters willing to pledge at the level of at least one dollar per page, I’ll go ahead. This would raise the grand total of $576, enough to tip the vote in a close race! I’ll also take it on if I can get fewer than 24 contributors, but raise at least $576. 24 hour comic day is Saturday October 5th 2024. I’ll give it until September 28th, one week from the date, to decide. Send an email through this site if you want to be a part of comics history. Supporters get a signed hard copy of the finished comic, or a file if you don’t have room on your shelves.

I have had a crush on Shelley Duvall since I was a teenager, so I have an abundance of renderings to choose from. Below are some decorated envelopes sent to friends over the years:

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I have been dropping hints on social media for over a year on this, but now it’s official: my next comics project is going to be a graphic novel about Vortex I, the 1970 rock festival sponsored by the State of Oregon. I had been doing preliminary work on the project- scripting, character designs, sample pages- but what has tipped this over from hobby to vocation is an early birthday gift from Uncle Sam, in the form of a $4000 grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Now I HAVE to draw the thing or I’ll be cheating the taxpayers!

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When I say my first tattoo, I don’t mean on my personal skin, you understand- I don’t want to foreclose the possibility of one day being buried in a Jewish cemetery- but Brandon Smith of Tellico Plains, Tennessee was so taken with this 1977 gag cartoon I drew for Chic Magazine that he has chosen to carry it around with him always.

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