Sharon's health (Stan's Facebook updates)

[Steve Hubbell]

5 hours ago



Inking Usagi, and snacking on koshi-an (sweet red beans). I usually don't eat the an straight, but we have an open bag that needs to be used up.

[Steve Hubbell]

Yesterday



Design from Usagi Yojimbo: Senso mini-series.

[Steve Hubbell]

about an hour ago
We received a wonderful gift basket from Zabar's, the New York deli, courtesy of One Big Happy cartoonist Rick Detorie. Thanks, Rick. It's been awhile since I've had a real NY bagel. Grandson Leo especially enjoyed the cinnamon rugelach and smelling my coffee.

I did a phone interview this afternoon for The Prism, the newsletter for the University of Hawaii, my old alma mater.

Big news tomorrow.

[Steve Hubbell]

14 hours ago
Here are a few meals I had in Portland.



I had lunch with Dark Horse publisher, Mike Richardson. I had the razor clams. I had heard of, and seen razor clams, but never on a menu. It was quite good, very strong clam flavor. It was pounded, breaded, and pan fried. The clam chowder (not shown) was also good.

13 hours ago
I remember having razor clams with black bean sauce in Chinatown in NYC a few times. Was a great dish. This looks good too!

13 hours ago
That sounds good, Scott. Maybe I'll buy some razors the next time I see them in the market. I've got some black bean sauce.

I had dinner with editor Diana Schutz, assistant editor Brendan Brendan H. Wright, and designer Cary Grazzini, basically the entire Usagi team, except for Tom Luth. We went to a Mediterranean restaurant, and I had the lamb shank.



Crab cakes for breakfast at the hotel. They did not have it on their breakfast menu but I know they have it at dinner, so had it with eggs over easy. I'm always disappointed when I order crab cakes. I don't know why I keep ordering it. The bread was really good, though. As good as any I've had in Europe.

13 hours ago
I should have had the dungeness crab omlette.

[Steve Hubbell]

13 hours ago
If you are a parent, or even if not, you probably know the name Eric Carle, or have one of his many children's books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Grouchy Ladybug, or Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? I received this Eric Carle original collage yesterday. Thank you, Peter Laird for commissioning it. What a great surprise!

I have not posted an update for Sharon in awhile. She has three doctor appointments this week. Yesterday's audiology test shows that, though she is still completely deaf in her left ear, her right ear has gotten slightly better since her August test. We take her to her ENT specialist today for another steroid injection into her eardrum, and she sees her General Practitioner tomorrow. It is always quite a production whenever we take her somewhere--dressing her, packing her trach care equipment, oxygen tanks, wheelchair, etc--but it is so nice to have her back home. One great blessing is that she has continued to gain weight. She is now up to 85 pounds.



this will definitely hang in my studio



Sharon taking a hearing test at the audiologist. Taken with my cell phone.

[Steve Hubbell]

about an hour ago
It was a rough night for Sharon, which means a rough night for us as well. Just when I was going to take her to emergency, she got better--more alert, breathing easier, and her temperature went down. She's gone through these a few times before and we're always in a panic, but doctors say we're doing the right things. Her numbers are fine now though her blood pressure is a little low, so she is lying with her head lowered.

[Steve Hubbell]

9 hours ago
Sharon's blood sugar spiked pretty high. We had to give her some insulin for the first time. All her other numbers are good, though. We are keeping a watch on her.

[Steve Hubbell]

4 hours ago
Beautiful LA sunrise. 11-12-13. I used to go hiking up the Mt Wilson Trail in Sierra Madre 3 to 5 times a week, and these sunrises were always so inspiring. I haven't been hiking since August, and I miss it a bit. This was taken from my upstairs bedroom.



It was another rough night for Sharon, but not nearly as bad as a few nights ago. She kept saying she felt fine, but I was concerned with her blood pressure and heart rate. Both of these have been way outside the normal range for the past year, but last night's numbers were extreme even for her. She was calm and responsive throughout the entire time, though, and her numbers have evened out. She's asleep, and I'm still awake. Chemo therapy today.

[Steve Hubbell]

8 hours ago
I was having second thoughts about taking Sharon to chemo therapy because she seemed considerably weaker the past couple of days. Today, her blood pressure was down, and her blood sugar had spiked causing us to administer insulin just for the second time since her homecoming. However, she really wanted to go, and she did great. It did tire her out as usual, but not to the extent that I feared it would. She is such a trooper.

[Steve Hubbell]

6 hours ago
Working on the wrap-around cover for Usagi Yojimbo: Senso #2. 10.5x21 inch image area on 17x22 2-ply Strathmore cold press bristol. Here is a step-by-step detail.



Pencilled with a .3 HB lead. Rough shapes first (wish I had a scan of this), then refined.



Inked with a Koh-i-noor Art Pen (discontinued) and Badger Black Opaque ink (old formula).



Erased, then blacks and details added in. I dislike drawing horses, but this story requires a lot of them.

The Koh-i-noor Art Pen is a flexible nib fountain pen that was discontinued in the 90's. I use two for this drawing--an old broken in nib that has a lot of flex to it, and a newer nib for the details. The blacks were spotted in with a brush.

[plasticplayhouse]

that cover looks great!

[Steve Hubbell]

21 minutes ago.
Here is the completed wrap-around cover for UY Senso #2. The 6-issue mini-series will be out some time in 2014. It is taking me a lot longer to get work done because I don't spent as much time at the drawing board. We won't solicit these books until I'm well into issue 4, then the series can come out monthly.

The premise is HG Well's War of the Worlds. What if the martians had sent a few scout ships to Earth two centuries before they invaded Victorian England?

[Ghost9]

I LOVE seeing the process, from pencils to inks, to blacks & erased guidelines. Such great insight to a master artist like Stan. I could go for another Art of.... type book, Usagi or Stan's work in general.

[Steve Hubbell]

4 hours ago
I sent in the entire story for UY:Senso #2. Yes, I still send in original art. Here are a few pages.

[Steve Hubbell]

20 minutes ago
Here are a couple of pages from my watercolor sketchbook. We were considering publishing some of these in a book, but we could not fully eliminate the texture of the paper.



These are usually done on the road when I have nothing better to do. The first book was started in France, at one of the Angouleme festivals. A lot of the artists would sign books with beautiful watercolor paintings, so I bought a set of watercolors and a sketchbook.