it's beginning to look a lot like christmas..

The theme for IllustrationFriday this week is "Excess," which is, of course, all too appropriate for this time of year.
For the holiday season, the average American will spend, on average:
-$607.01 on gifts
-$47.14 on decorations
-$30.77 on Christmas cards (not including postage)
-$19.11 on flowers (83% will be poinsettias)
-$91.83 on food

In addition, 31 million Christmas trees will be bought, and 1.8 billion candy canes will be made.

And then, as par for the course, we'll probably throw away 90% of it.

Skip the stores, support human-level economy and buy handmade. I, of course, am biased toward etsy.

info from Forbes.com

oh yeah..

look who's on the front page of Juxtapoz.com!

I'd completely forgotten that I'd sent a handful of images over to Juxtapoz a few months ago. As such, I was completely surprised to see some familiar papercuts tacked up on their website.

Thanks, jux!

Boo to that.

It's almost Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!

More importantly, it's almost the day after Halloween, when all the candy and decorations go on sale to make room for other more celebrated holidays.

OPEN ____

It's been a while since I've posted any papercut pieces. So, in honor of this week's Illustration Friday topic, "open," I decided to pony up to the x-acto knife once again. While brainstorming for the topic, I was amused that open eyes/mind/heart/ears/hands are somewhat connected to definitions of acceptance. Now, if there are any linguists in the house, I'd be curious to find out how these all came to mean nearly the same thing.

vacation, and then some..

Dang! One minute you're trying to stay on top of posting new missed connections for Who What Where When Why (I Think I Love You), and the next minute it's a month and a half later! The plus side, though, is that issue two AND the reprint for issue one will be ready in the next few days.
Also, I went to Mexico City for a week, then camped on a beach in Guerrero for a few days more. The trip looked something like this:

colorful doorways on the streets of El D.F.

pilfer-proof altars on the streets of El D.F.

street art on the streets of El D.F.

something resembling a street in Guerrero

something resembling an arcade on the streets of Guerrero

our oceanside camp on the shores of Guerrero

heaps of trash on the beach...

...just a few dozen yards from recycling on the beach

sea turtle egg, left by poachers on the beach

storm clouds and lonely roads away from the beach

emergency

I used this as a self promo a couple months ago. Although I first worried that it may have been a bit abstract, it generated enough attention to reassure me that people are, in fact, paying attention.
Any excuse to use the pure forms of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow is OK by my book.

Who What Where When Why Utne Reader loves it

Utne Reader has featured one of my zines once again! The last time was for Crumbs on the Cutting Board, way back in October of 2006. This time around, it's Who What Where When Why (I Think I Love You), of which they say:
In [her] admirably nonjudgmental zine, Who What When Where Why (I Think I Love You), Lex McQuilkin shares [her] favorite desperate-yet-entertaining "Missed Connections" ads culled from two months of surfing the Bay Area's Craigslist site. Each post's unique grammatical style is preserved ("Your older, balding and sexy!!"), and McQuilkin's illustrations dream up visages of the would-be lovers in question. Some ads seem particularly ripe for romance, like "Love on the Muni," in which a San Francisco bus driver seeks "Oh baby blue babe with your baby blue rain boots and baby blue bike... Next time I see you I am going to swerve that damn bus into the median and confess my loveee." Other, less suave writers aren't quite as endearing: "I am looking for the drunk chick that was at the Dragon Lounge last Wednesday night. I really felt a connection while you were rolling around on the pool table naked." -- Danielle Maestretti

It might compel me to actually reprint, as I'm down to the last dozen or so copies, though I'm considering just letting it rest and moving on to volume 2. Perhaps, perhaps.

Saw you at a party house behind Caltrain a while ago.

Date: 2007-08-02, 3:45PM

I saw you once at a party i went to by the caltrain station. Didnt know whos house it was because it was pretty random.

But you caught my eye.
You were kind of weird, but in an amazing way.

Tall, maybe five foot nine and half. Half Asian have Caucasian mix, dark hair, slender yet strong physique.

Those big buggy green brown eyes you had were enough to rev my engine. (or maybe i had had a couple of really good drinks)

I think we had a moment there in the kitchen when everyone was taking the round of shots. Hope you saw me too.
I was petite, vietnamese, crescent moon eyes with long curly hair. (maybe you thought i was cute? :p)

[this is a page from volume 2 of Who What Where When Why (I Think I Love You), an illustrated collection of missed connections ads]

Pirate/Ninja scavenger hunt

Date: 2007-07-11, 2:38AM

Alright, you were a pirate on a scavenger hunt and I was just walking along and you asked me to join. I became a pirate and we were against the ninjas, and something else. Cant remeber what. We ended up having some kind of a connection I thought. But then at the good bye I was too chicken shit to ask for your number. I'll be kicking myself for a long time, send me a line?

[this is a page from volume 2 of Who What Where When Why (I Think I Love You), an illustrated collection of missed connections ads]

beautiful man in buena vista park this afternoon

Date: 2007-07-11, 5:10PM

My boyfriend and I saw you near the entrance to BV park by Duboce. We were walking our golden retriever. You remarked on what a beautiful day it was and I gave you a corny (but true) line about how it was all the more so when you were around.

I tried to get my bf interested, 'cause he thought you were hot too, but he's a bit of a wet blanket. I bet if we met outside of the park he'd be on board. Or maybe you and I should just meet up on our own. What do you think?

[this is a page from volume 2 of Who What Where When Why (I Think I Love You), an illustrated collection of missed connections ads]

Ride the 5 Fulton or 31 Balboa every day but am never missed

Date: 2007-07-11, 4:53PM

I always like to check out the missed connections to see if there is the possibility I have been missed by someone. I just moved here and ride the 5 Fulton and the 31 Balboa every day to and from work. Unfortunately, I havent been missed. Is there a chance that someone has missed me and just not posted it on here?? Id love to meet some new people in the city.....Email me if you would like to make a new friend or maybe more.... Sorry guys, this is only for the ladies....

[this is a page from volume 2 of Who What Where When Why (I Think I Love You), an illustrated collection of missed connections ads]

Green

It ain't easy bein' green, right?

This is one of my newer cut paper pieces.

Communication

Or ill-communication?

Verbal/aural conversation is soooooooo 2006.