Happy Happy 2010

Click to see the annual HAPPY NEW YEAR BLOG!!!

illustration Friday - pioneer

How can I be a pioneer if I'm not sure where I am?

Ho Ho Ho! Riverdancing in outer space.

Don't ask me, I haven't the slightest idea. :-) Merry Christmas!

dear john,

illustration Friday - undone

My cloudy brain is always undoing me. ;-)

illustration Friday - Hatch

I just hatched an idea that involves tearing out the pages of many old books. Hmmm. :-) Happy Friday!!

illustration Friday - Crunchy

The spider roll was the best sushi of the night (and it was crunchy). Yum!

illustration Friday - Entangled

I had a very disturbing dream that involved 2 suicides and my friend Josh pushing a drunk prostitute around in a bathtub.

If that's not entangled I don't know what is. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! :-)

Buy this poster! :-)

This is a limited signed/numbered poster (edition of 300) that commemorates the show HOME? which opened on November 11, 2009. To order one email me at willie at williebaronet dot com. Size is 24" x 30". Blessings and thanks!

I apologize in advance

Imagine peace coming out of your nose. Someone actually said this at dinner and this is what popped into my head.

illustration Friday - music

Drawing is music to my ears. And eyes. And heart. ;-)

illustration Friday - unbalanced

Mazebrain - a peek inside my head. Need I say more? :-)

HOME?

This is a slightly modified version of the video piece that was featured in HOME?, the show that opened on 11-11-09 at the Hal Samples Gallery in Dallas, TX. Below is the statement I wrote for the show. Thanks for watching. :-)

I am fascinated by the notion of home. Is it a physical place, a building, a structure, a house? Is it a state of being, a sense of safety, of being provided for, of identity? And what does it mean to be homeless: practically, spiritually, emotionally?

Since 1993 Ive been buying and collecting homeless signs from people on the streets, in subways, under bridges, in cities near and far. It began from an awkwardness I felt when Id pull up to an intersection and encounter a person holding a sign, asking for help. Like many people I wrestled with whether or not I was doing good by giving them money, wondered if they would spend the money on food or alcohol or drugs. Mostly I struggled with my moral obligations, and how my own choices contributed in conscious or unconscious ways to the poverty I was witnessing. I struggled with the unfairness of the lives people are born into, the physical, mental and psychological handicaps. And in my struggle I often avoided eye contact with those on the street, unwilling to really see them, and in doing so avoided seeing parts of myself.

All of that changed once I began asking them if they were willing to sell their signs. Immediately the dynamic changed between us, as we both had something the other wanted. I became very comfortable with the negotiations, and ultimately very comfortable in conversation with the homeless. I began to see them and hear them, and realized how vastly different they (and their stories) were. Some of my encounters were quite touching, and years later I can still remember many of them: the woman who cried telling me that the sign Id bought had been made by her late husband, the many who asked me why I wanted the signs and were fascinated and inquisitive about using them in artwork, the very intoxicated man who wanted to autograph the sign before turning it over. My relationship to the homeless has been powerfully altered.

As a graphic designer for much of my professional career, I also marveled at the typography of the signs themselves, and the messages that were written. Wondering about the choices made by each person in the way they wrote, the size and legibility of the letters, the words they decided mattered enough to be on the signs. And occasionally the drawings, the humor, the typos.

I see the signs now as signposts of my own journey, inward and outward, of reconciling my life and my judgments with the plight of the homeless, and even with the notions of home, goodness, and compassion. Part of the passion that drives me to share this work with others is so that they too might examine their own.

of keys and lies and why and headlights and a hippo named frank. oh, and play-doh.

illustration Friday - blur

Sometimes my cats move so fast, they're a blur!

This one's for the Tart! ;-)

HOME? - selected works by Willie Baronet

Show opening 11.11.09

Hal Samples Gallery

2814 Main Street

Dallas, TX

6-10 pm

A portion of the proceeds from this show will be donated to The Stewpot.

illustration Friday - skinny

skinny chick at starbucks.

happy halloween everybody!

michelle intimidates me

jocelyn dreams of tempura rolls, paint colors, bunnies, and bigger boobs

hope is in the song of the rain

the glory of the nap

illustration Friday: fast

I have no idea how this relates to fast, but I wanted to post it anyway. I'll take suggestions!

Going nowhere fast?

She's not very fast, but she's cheap?

:-)

illustration Friday: frozen

why am i so afraid to draw in public?

here i am, sitting in a starbux as i post this, and already feeling the anxiety of getting out my sketchbook to draw here. it's like i'm frozen. what is all that about?

working on becoming more fearless, thanks to all of you for the constant support! :-)

art is just a crock of shit isn't it?

what the heck is a crock?

illustration Friday: flying

flying fish?

my friend Ben

tanya x3

tanya reads the menu

tanya ponders

tanya eats soup

(and tanya is always patient with me when I want to draw her) :-)

Illustration Friday: germs

Things I notice in the ICU waiting room (definitely a place full of germs. And tears. And hard truths.)

illustration Friday: pattern

How far down can I go?

Asking myself unanswerable questions is just one of my many patterns.

Illustration Friday: infinite

Sometimes it seems as if there are an infinite number of questions that kids (and I) can dream up. :-)

i love hairballs

yak.

Illustration Friday: welcome

Welcome to my nightmare.

Illustration Friday: strong

Now this is a strong woman. :-)

confounded again

illustration friday: magnify

Objects in water (like our problems) often appear larger than they are.

"the last straw"

hint: salvation is always around the corner

Mom, still thinking about you

August 21, 2003 is the day my mom passed away. Life has never been the same.

Illustration Friday - Caution

Caution: one day things are all bright and cheery and the next thing you know, kaboom.

(So enjoy each moment!)

Willie's moleskine - The Movie!

Click me!

A different kind of list

For all you facebook folks. Click here!

Illustration Friday: Impatience

Not worthy. The worst kind of impatience is when I'm impatient with me. Which is often. (I'm working on it!) :-)

illustration friday: modify

Home sweet home.

Ok, I know this is a bit morbid (and existential). Or at least it seems that way. But consider that when we die, our bodies are modified in a new way, and if we are able to accept the reality of our own dying, living becomes more meaningful. And (as some Buddhists say) if we become comfortable with the notion of the impermanence of everything, it is easier to let go of attachments, and attachment is what causes suffering.

How's that for a cheery way to start a Friday!!! :-)))))

why can't my head and body get together?

illustration friday: IDLE

Another day, another starbux...

3 x 2

Sandy and Tricia, Berry and Jim, Elahe and Mike.

"Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke."
--Lynda Barry

Illustration Friday - tango

So, this was drawn in a tiny cafe called Pan Y Arte in the Boedo district of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the birthplace of the TANGO! :-)

Illustration Friday - hollow

Is it just me, or does life seem hollow sometimes?

a drawing of a painting by joaquin torres-garcia