tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34364433863715862112024-03-13T22:42:07.531-04:00BEEZ in the BelfryWHAT'S THE BUZZ? <br> BEEZ Ink Studio, Bumblebat Books, Sandy Steen BartholomewSandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.comBlogger699125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-40057969078000204222023-03-01T19:06:00.005-05:002023-03-01T19:06:41.303-05:00Good Thing That Happened, Part the ThirdWaaaaaaay back in June 2022, I visited the Western Avenue Studios in Lowell, MA. And then, I applied for one of the live/work spaces called The Lofts. It was quite a process with CVs, artist statement, portfolio, proof that I'm a working artist and showing my work - luckily I had a "museum show" at the time! It was at the same time that I put my name on the waiting list for the puppy! And Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-19383942528870776162023-03-01T17:50:00.000-05:002023-03-01T17:50:06.205-05:00Good Thing That Happened, Part TwoOops, fell behind again. These Anxiety-Depression Attacks are kind of like a neurotypical person getting the flu. They knock me out and leave me so exhausted and then feeling like I have to run to catch up!So I told you about the puppy I'll be getting in April, the second thing that happened was this great show I was a part of at Two Villages Art Society in Contoocook, NH!I was very excited to beSandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-72791697455731583142023-02-26T18:08:00.000-05:002023-02-26T18:08:52.896-05:00Geeky Girl is Getting a New Teddy Bear!There has been SO much happening, I admit I have been really overwhelmed!There's been some really bad stuff with medical and mental issues and words like "cancer testing", "inflammation", "... indicators", and "more extensive testing..." And the Depression and Anxiety have gotten so bad... well, there are a whole bunch of new Inner Demon characters in the works. (Yeah?)Ok, got that out of the waySandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-23646775588739650502023-01-18T17:12:00.001-05:002023-01-18T17:12:48.240-05:00It's Been a Minute... or a Few Years... I'm working on doing a new overhaul - of everything... website, online store, my life - it's all in there. I'd put this blog on hold while I was in school, then again a few years ago while trying out Patreon. I'm not sure that's my place, so I'm returning here, to the Belfry. It's really dusty in here, and I need to do what I do - moving everything around a few times, reorganize all Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-77524610317151606162019-11-14T18:50:00.000-05:002019-11-14T18:50:02.942-05:00GOrillas! on the Move!Today I had the perfect kind of social interaction day!
Sue Matott, the children's librarian at the Pillsbury Free Library - (our local library here in Warner, NH) - chose my book, Ready, Set, GOrilla! for Storytime!
[Book Info: "Ready, Set, GOrilla!" - written by Melissa Stoller,
Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-73295403139485004912019-09-19T22:51:00.000-04:002019-09-19T22:51:07.643-04:00My Birthday WeekIf you haven't read my late-night, pre-Birthday rant, please take a look - it would mean SO much to me!
I did have a party and it was a lot of fun. It was interesting to note that none of the people that would consider themselves to be my closest or oldest friends, made it to the party. As for Family, my Mom and my daughter were there. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised and heartened Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-87422066791439637262019-09-13T02:35:00.000-04:002019-09-13T02:35:57.436-04:00Happy Birthday! Happy Survivor Day?"I'm not DEAD YET!" to quote Monty Python...
This Sunday is my 50th Birthday and I'm making a really big deal about it. A few people have thought it was weird in general that I even still celebrate birthdays. Or that it's strange to celebrate a birthday since we don't actually DO anything to deserve them - our Moms' should have parties, since they did all the work. Fair enough.
I've always Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-60944532441613706822019-09-11T13:54:00.000-04:002019-09-11T13:54:56.938-04:00Gone SolarOne month later...
here's a follow up to the last post about Going Solar.
My solar panels were installed in time for my Birthday (so I'm counting it as Birthday Present #1)! It took about a day and a half of noise and chaos, but they look fabulous. And they blend in really well with my metal roof. It probably wouldn't be so noisy and chaotic for Normal people to have solar panels installed - on Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-74795293406744206372019-08-15T17:51:00.000-04:002019-08-15T17:51:12.391-04:00Going SOLAR!Bill was up at the Flying Goose Pub in New London, NH and texted me this amazing sight!
It's the poster I designed for Granite State Solar!
I had gone to a Solarize Kearsarge meeting this spring and decided this was the perfect time for me to solarize my house. I had drawn these sketch notes at the meeting:
...and I showed them when I signed my Solar contract. I got a better Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-70845807674453329942019-08-09T22:40:00.000-04:002019-08-09T22:40:30.118-04:00Comics Camp Day Five
The final assignment was to design our cover!?! That does seem weird to do the cover last, but now it makes sense.
I thought designing the last page was really hard, but this was worse. It took me two hours to think what it should look like and what to use as a title! I ended up using the same layout as for the Ostroboglin page and had the shadows of the Demons mimic the shape of the clouds inSandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-32508683435522124332019-08-08T20:40:00.002-04:002019-08-08T20:40:56.659-04:00Comics Camp Day FourToday's in-class exercise was about Dialog. We were paired up and given two characters and commanded to create a comic that used dialog to show the characters interacting and changing in some way. Part of the challenge was brainstorming and working with another person!
This first one is the one I did with Hannah. We were given "Worried Salesman" and "Enraged Astronaut"!
Morose Traveler andSandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-198661287961077382019-08-07T18:23:00.002-04:002019-08-07T18:24:18.658-04:00Comics Camp Day ThreeAs usual - I'm not working on the project I thought I would. I've been working on the Demons, and their new friend(?) and other stuff from inside my head. I am so so so tired! But I don't want to go home and lose this momentum and unlimited possibility. I've been posting some of the group projects here on my blog, but I'm only putting the personal comics on my Patreon site. https://Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-22650831815667818782019-08-07T17:35:00.000-04:002019-08-07T17:35:59.319-04:00Comics Camp Day TwoThis was a fun, exhausting exercise we did in class today! If you'd like to see what I've been drawing for my personal projects, take a look at my Patreon page.
Each student got a large sheet of paper that was divided into twelve sections (we have 10 students and 2 teachers).
Each person had two minutes to draw the beginning of the comic in the first box.
Then each paper was passed to the Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-59213561479389133892019-08-05T21:18:00.000-04:002019-08-05T21:18:47.750-04:00Comics Camp Day One
It feels really good to be back in White River Junction, VT! There's so much inspiration all around the town. Even the alleyways have art!
I'm taking the Young Adult Graphic Novel Workshop with Tillie Walden and Jo Knowles. This is a very sketchy comic done in about 45 minutes that interpreted the first page of SPEAK by Laurie Halse Andersen.
I've been posting this kind of Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-5954579573140628052019-06-19T15:26:00.003-04:002019-06-19T15:26:48.540-04:00Arts Advocacy.. Yeah!This is one of those things that gives me a jolt of happy, like, "Yeah! ME!"
The sketch notes I did for the Beyond the Statehouse Arts Advocacy conference (see Blog post HERE) are now on the Arts4NH website!
Take a look here:
http://arts4nh.org/advocacy-day-page/
Either click on the "Event Sketches", or scroll down the page about halfway.
Go ahead, I'll wait....
.....
COOL! RIGHT!??Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-62039605081773447682019-06-01T00:46:00.000-04:002019-06-01T00:46:21.052-04:00Sketching... Beyond the Statehouse - Arts Advocacy
I was asked to sketch-note at a really interesting summit yesterday at the NH Historical Society in Concord. It was sponsored by Arts4NH. This was a whole new realm for me - so many organizations and projects I'd never heard of!
I'll put small versions of all the notes here, so you can see what you missed. ;-)
If you'd like full-sized ones that you can print out, join my Patreon Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-30584068046802544592019-04-27T23:49:00.000-04:002019-04-27T23:49:27.366-04:00Let's Try This...I've been venturing out of the house, a bit farther afield - first to Massachusetts, now I'm in Maine. When I get back home, I'll be working on the Studio space - electrician ("Let there be light!"), removing the piano, clearing out the toys, and setting up the work space.
Setting up new spaces, healing, taking risks and Begin(ning) Again - seem well timed for Springtime!
So, in that spirit, Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-74963228382335065052019-04-12T23:39:00.000-04:002019-04-12T23:39:20.724-04:00Graphic Medicine ComicConI was trying to think of how to sum up the past... month.
"Things went as expected, but not as I'd hoped."
That's the Optimistic-Pessimist in me. Truth is - the hormones, the surgery, the pain, the PTSD, the insomnia... things have not been going very well. I'm not exaggerating or looking for pity - just, it's been really rough.
An example? At the 7 week post-op exam:
Doctor: "Hmmm... that Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-64524089236748705382019-03-08T09:00:00.000-05:002019-03-08T09:00:01.799-05:00Meanwhile, Back in the Studio...Here's another behind-the-scenes for a different project I'm working on.
Starting on January 1st this year, I gave myself the goal of drawing a Toy Every Day!
Then I added a few more parameters.
First, I was aiming for 5 out of 7 days - it's not always possible to spend the time necessary since I always overdo these things. And the week that I was in the hospital - I didn't do any drawings.
Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-79230974495723469852019-03-07T23:39:00.000-05:002019-03-07T23:39:21.525-05:00You know you want THIS!The Kickstarter only has a few days left (it ends at 8:30am (ET) on Monday, March 11! And we still need to raise about $1,000 more. We CAN do this!!
As extra incentive, I've added two super special, limited quantity, Rewards.
Boxes of Books and Goodies!
I have so many Zentangle books and tiles and pens and tangle cards and tangle tattoos... tangled everything!!! Help me untangle...
Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-91325173483684166502019-03-04T00:56:00.000-05:002019-03-04T00:56:12.667-05:00READ! Behind-the-ScenesIn my QUO VADIS Kickstarter Project Rewards, I have an option for Custom Original Artwork. As I was writing the description, and trying to describe what I would actually create for a Backer - I wrote this:
To clarify, here's another example: Let's say you are a librarian and want artwork to hang in your elementary school library... you could ask for the word "READ!" with some Lilah Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-91343316230622886152019-02-28T15:18:00.000-05:002019-02-28T15:18:25.344-05:00Alrighty, Universe...I take the melatonin. I take the Trazodone. I sleep until 11am. And I'm excited and start to think of all the cool things I had been working on and all the new projects I want to do and places to go and people to reconnect with...
And then I have a night like last night where I only sleep three hours then lay awake... thinking. And thinking...
I am incredibly exhausted today.
Yesterday I wore Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-83114439053061850362019-02-24T16:11:00.002-05:002019-02-24T16:11:56.272-05:00A Little Nap'll Do Ya Wonders...It's amazing what can happen in a week, right?
Last week, I was curled into a tight, painful ball of frustration and panic. I reached out to you all on Facebook and here on my blog. (Hys-ter-ic-al) That post got me into a bit of trouble with my ex (someone suggested my kid might be in danger...), but it also got me what I really NEEDED - reassurance. I received a lot of comments and emails Sandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-18560239004759030712019-02-22T22:27:00.000-05:002019-02-22T22:27:16.536-05:00Kick-It! (#6!)OK! I actually DID IT! I've been trying to get this Kickstarter project kicking since.... December!
This is my sixth Kickstarter so it shouldn't be so scary, but I think with all the medical stuff, I just haven't had the energy to spare - until now.
I plan to write more and tell you interesting things - tomorrow - right now, I am incredibly exhausted and need SLEEP! But I just wanted toSandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3436443386371586211.post-23854018409588177742019-02-15T01:00:00.000-05:002019-02-15T01:00:09.825-05:00Hys-ter-ic-alI have spent a lot of time... months? curled up, staring at the backs of my eyelids... thinking. I have sketched out numerous pages for the graphic medicine/autobio comic I want to write about my hysterectomy. In my head. I have written emails and sent cards. In my head. I have designed some online classes and outlined a new Zentangle book. In my head. And I've written many, many blog postsSandy Steen Bartholomewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02979547420298040620noreply@blogger.com2