Tara Seibel : Fine Art and Cartoons

2011-10-14T00:43:00.001-04:00

Latest illustrated (love quote #8) by Zelda Fitzgerald /American Writer. If you haven't seen the other quotes that I have illustrated on the subject, check out : http://taraseibel.blogspot.com/2011/02/love-quotes-book-project.html
Now I only have 142 more quotes to illustrate. I'm enjoying this process. It's somewhat soothing to
do. I'm inspired by artists in general and also by nature. So it's been self indulgent to marry both subjects. My husband Aaron, while on business in Colorado, took some nature photos of sunflowers. He said that "they grow like weeds along the highway." How fun is that? Geez, I wished we had something cool like that here in Cleveland. Although our topography is extremely under-rated and practically unknown. This is off the subject, but I had this philosophical thought that comics are actually more powerful of a communication medium than film, because in film you can't show what people are thinking. Back to the drawing board for more illustrations.. peace, Tara

"Oscar The Amazing Baby" written by Harvey Pekar & illustrated by Tara Seibel

2011-06-07T14:52:00.012-04:00

About a month before Harvey passed he told me that he felt bad sometimes because he

seemed to favor baby Oscar more than the other two kids. I said to him,"Harvey, they don't notice. Besides you favored Paddy when he was a baby. You're just a baby person that's all."

As Patrick became a toddler they developed a bond. It was like they were buddies. This sort of made me nervous, because you worry about your kids, and there was something about Harvey that I couldn't quite pin down that made me nervous about him being around. The fact that his home life was unstable could have been it and he was always walking on eggshells with his wife about working with me. Also, he was seventy and I didn't know if he was going to be around for five years or five weeks. These things made me nervous. But you can't stop human beings from enjoying each other while on earth.

Just lately I finally had to explain to Patrick that Harvey had died. This is where I start to pay my dues for getting to work with a legend. I would have taken a bullet in the arm rather than explain to my four year old son that his buddy passed away. But I figured it was part of life and he needed to learn about it. I felt he was ready to understand. In the car he heard Harvey's voice talking about jazz on the radio. So he asked me, "Mommy, why is Harvey talking on the radio but not with me at home? Where is Harvey's house? Can we go see him? I miss him Mommy." I explained to Patrick that Harvey didn't live at home anymore that he got sick and he went to heaven. He started to cry and not the kind of cry when he doesn't get an ice cream cone. This was a different kind of cry. A cry I had never heard before. This is when I was reminded that nothing in life is free. I started to wonder if it was worth it. Patrick asked me, "Why is Harvey in the sky?" I told him, that people have different "heavens" depending on what they believe. But they get released from pain on earth and get released as spirits into happy places. I also reminded him of all the books Harvey gave him and all of his comics he'll be able to read when he gets older. I gave him a big hug and kiss and told him I loved him more than anything in the world. That seemed to put a smile back on his face.

Harvey also made a genuine attempt to talk with Lauren, my oldest. What I appreciated was that he somehow could put himself on her level and ask her what kind of books she was reading. One time Lauren read one of Harvey's scripts he wrote for a comic we did called "Gut Shabbos" http://www.jewishreviewofbooks.com/publications/detail/gut-shabbes for the Jewish Review of books. The editor asked Harvey to take a section out, which happened to be the funny part. When Harvey brought over the published comic in the magazine, we were all sitting around eating bagels in the kitchen and Lauren asked him if she could read the comic. Harvey was so excited, he put his bagel down and with butter on his fingers flipped to the page. She was reading it with a puzzled expression on her face. Harvey said, What's a matter don't you like it? Lauren said, It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I like the original script you wrote with the panel that had the group huddled around whispering about you." Harvey was impressed she remembered the original script and agreed with her. I remember him saying to her, "Boy, you are really sharp."

I picked up the comic and gazed at the glossy colors and smelled the fresh ink.

I started writing this blog about "Oscar the Amazing Baby" but now got onto another comic. Oh well, I'll leave a link for one and post the other. Enjoy. -Tara

Another Blue Collar Icon "Bites The Dust"

2011-05-25T14:26:00.006-04:00

Did the Boss go bourgeois on us? He was recently at the (Royal Windsor Horse Show)
Berkshire, England to watch his nineteen year old daughter Jessica ride. Good thing she took first place, otherwise I would of been pissed. Bruce Springsteen sitting in the Queen's backyard at Windsor Castle? I know it's a free country, but come on? I heard he's also taking classes at Princeton these days. Well good for him. You're never to old to learn and I'm glad to see he's supporting his daughter's endeavors. I'm glad to hear the daughter of a rock and roll legend isn't self-destroying.
Bottom line, no matter where Bruce decides to go, the Boss will always be the Boss!

Meeting Robert Crumb

2011-05-15T19:40:00.008-04:00

What a sweet man. So compassionate, so knowledgable, so hip. I got to hang out with him for a day in San Francisco. We got to pow-wow over our mutual friend the late great Harvey Pekar. So many laughs a few tears. I couldn't believe that he did not know that Harvey credited him for his career taking off. I said to Robert, didn't you at least see the movie American Splendor? Didn't you see the scene where the character of you and Harvey are sitting at the restaurant eating french fries and the Harvey character shows you his script and the R. Crumb character chuckles to himself about it while he pulls out his rapidograph? Then asks if he can take the script home to illustrate? He said, "Yeah, but I just thought they made up that scene so they could fit me somewhere in the timeline." WHAT????? I couldn't believe my ears. I said, I can't believe this? I guess it doesn't matter how famous the artist got, he still remains

somewhat insecure. I told him that Harvey constantly referenced him as "his big break" in the business. Crumb said, "ahh man, I think I'm gonna cry." I felt like some kind of weird underground comix fairy that was floating back and forth passing verbal notes to underground comix legends. One on earth and one in the afterlife. That's just one tiny little story. I'll tell you one more, and then I gotta change a diaper. I said to him while walking across Valencia street, well, nobody can say that you and Harvey didn't deserve your recognition. You guys were some of the hardest working guys in the business. He said to me. "Nobody deserves anything in life." Whoah.. I was blown away by that statement for a minute. Harvey used to say something similar.. "It's a total crock of shit the whole fucking thing." Crumb said to me, "There's billions of artists who put their billions of hours in, and they never got recognized. " Amen brother, nobody deserves anything... more Crumb stories later...

In response to article "The Premature Immortalization of Harvey Pekar"

2011-05-05T16:03:00.005-04:00

http://blogcritics.org/books/article/the-premature-immortalization-of-harvey-pekar/page-1/

I'm no scholar, but I was smart enough to become Harvey Pekar's understudy. As an editorial cartoonist with a fine arts background with minors in political science and sociology, street smarts and chutzpah, I secured the position because he recognized I was trying to diversify comics. This ended up becoming an accidental keyhole into observing America's so-called everyman. Why did I do this? Because I could. He lived down the street from me and he liked my art style well enough that he started to hand me comic stories. We worked over the span of 2.5 years and secured seven clients. In an attempt to get our collaborative comics published online, we got roped into an editorial hassle called the Pekar Project. Which ended up being a very cool gig on many levels. Harvey was a very simple guy and tried to avoid complication at all costs. He had no debts, including no house payment. Any kind of payment would drive him crazy. He often let me borrow books that he took out from the library for projects that we were working on and I got many reminders to return them before they were ever close to being late. IT seems to me that Harvey was a jewish immigrant who happened to get mixed in the modern world. Most of his recognition came out of sheer timing. He was lucky in that aspect. In order to get noticed with the assistance of timing you need to have the work. This is where he could rise above most in my opinion because he actually sat down and did the writing. Some may critique it and call it "meat and potatoes" writing, because it was so incredibly straight forward and doric. However, the fact of the matter is, It was observant and progressive. He set out to accomplish what he meant to do. It was no accident and his fame came out of sheer persistence and dedication. Also, he was a scholar, he used his day job to study (when he didn't have filing to do). How many writers are actually reading all day long for 30+ years? And listening to his subjects (people at the hospital) he had a gifted ear for dialogue. Everything lined up perfectly for him. Those jazz articles were meant to be informative and he tried to use his extensive jazz knowledge, but also wrote in a way that the layman could understand. Pekar wasn't a hot dog, he was a stickler. He was a collaborator and let all of his artists take his scripts and create their own vision. Robert Crumb was just telling me about the genius of Harvey's scripts. We both agreed that one of the reasons it was nice to illustrate his script was he let the artist have their own vision. It's nothing to sneeze at, that's how he got all those artists to engage in his work. He didn't even read the script for the movie that was made about him. He said, "why, it wasn't my art." Harvey an opportunist? Maybe, he once told me that all artists want and need recognition and if they deny it they are not being truthful. That Letterman deal was all about him getting an opportunity to at least get something out of a funky situation. He got roped up in a show that he thought could possibly help his comic book sales and did all kinds of goofy things to keep it going, when he found out it wasn't doing anything for him (and he wasn't getting paid very much) he started to "twist his mustache" and come up with a way to gain something out of the situation. He might as well try and make a mark right? As far as his fame was concerned, his big break was with Robert Crumb. He had Roberts "seal of approval" all the way up until Random House put out an anthology of his work because of the movie. The only publication he ever made a dime on. And he talked about Robert's work up until hours before his death. He actually carried around a copy of "The Sweeter Side Of Crumb" it was one of his favorite works.

He didn't write about himself because he was indulgent, He was truly interested in the craft. He studied many midwestern writers interested in the same format. There was a science to his writing, it had to be jotted down immediately so that nothing would get lost in the exactness of the moment he was re-creating with words. He was an innovator. He did not consider himself an intellectual, rather an autodidact. He considered intellectuals to be from academia depending on what you taught or wrote. You could very well be a "technician in disguise" even if you had a doctorate.

I happened to be working with Harvey hours before his a death (there's a ny times article to prove it). We talked about Lebron James leaving Cleveland. I was interested on how he felt about it. He said to me, "I don't blame the guy. He's young and he wants to win a championship. He know's he's not going to get that here." Harvey was not a team player. He loved sports and he really did love Cleveland, but he never held a loyalty to anything. He was an individualist. The only thing he was loyal to was his marriage, he didn't even like comics. He was disappointed that artists weren't pushing the art form. He was impatient. He was a critic to his own religion. At the end of his life he enjoyed his work, friendship, good health, children, good food, a bit of financial security, his books and love of art, his wife, recognition and coupon books for the neighborhood grocery store. I'm so happy that he died content with his life, didn't have to suffer and didn't have to read this article!

The Graphic Canon, Volume 3 "Great Gatsby" edited by Russ Kick

2011-04-25T12:52:00.003-04:00

"Tara Seibel, the only female artist involved with the Harvey Pekar Project, turns in an exquisite series of illustrations for The Great Gatsby." —Seven Stories Press

'Anne Hathaway' water color and ball point pen

2011-03-04T20:20:00.003-05:00

I must of had her in my brain because i sketched and painted this a day after the Oscar's... BTW, she's wearing Ralph Lauren here..

A small monument to my guru Harvey Pekar

2011-02-28T15:10:00.010-05:00

I did this painting for his 70th birthday party art gallery opening. He would come to my studio in Little Italy and watch me progress on it. I was lucky enough to be able to have the old man sit down and eat a pastry (from the bakery right below the studio) while I painted him from life.

It was nice when he was relaxed and not worried about anything. Sometimes he could be flipping through the yellow pages trying to contact an insurance agent, over a fender-bender he had just got into, while trying to parallel park his car in the street. Those times could be a bit of a drag. Most of the time, he was pretty laid-back, thumbing through art history books and laughing enjoying his life...

I will pay homage to him for the rest of my life. He helped me in my journey of becoming an artist. I'm still on that journey learning more and more as the days go by... If you are not familiar with his work (American Splendor) I hope you will fetch-out some of his comics. They may inspire you as well!
I pray that his soul rests

in a spiritual hammock

that sways in

comfortable energy

back and forth

this painting

is not for sale

"The Vestibule" {new ending} for autobiographical comic book coming out!

2011-02-26T15:41:00.006-05:00

Samples for "Love Quotes" Book Project

2011-02-15T11:45:00.005-05:00

"Splendor in a Garden Cafe" Last Collaboration

2011-02-10T14:41:00.009-05:00

Harvey Pekar and I were asked to write a comic-essay for the Graphic Details Show in San Francisco about Confessional Comics by Jewish Women. {I'm catholic but Harvey said it was ok for me to participate because I'm "Jewish by Association"} This was the last comic that Harvey and I worked on the day before he past away. It's close to my heart. Thanks Harv!

"Pink Lady Apples in White Bowl" watercolor on watercolor paper

2011-02-10T13:05:00.002-05:00

Limonia Osbeck (Lemon Citrus)

2011-01-31T10:48:00.002-05:00

From the book project and fine art collection "Organica : Botanicals We Eat And Wear "

"gypsy bride"

2011-01-25T16:20:00.001-05:00

"Peace of Flora" mixed media on paper

2011-01-25T12:59:00.003-05:00

"Girl at the Park" watercolor on watercolor paper

2011-01-22T14:58:00.003-05:00

Seibel kidz (watercolor & ink on watercolor paper)

2010-12-26T14:47:00.001-05:00

Young Natalie Wood by Tara Seibel

2010-12-20T12:10:00.001-05:00

The Graphic Canon: The Definitive Anthology of the World's Great Literature as Comics and Visuals

2010-11-19T09:58:00.003-05:00

::Some of the Beats::
Diane Di Prima, Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, William Burroughs
Compiled & Illustrated by Tara Seibel
Edited by Russ Kick

"pot of flowers" watercolor

2010-10-28T13:03:00.002-04:00

"Landscape" watercolor

2010-10-28T13:01:00.002-04:00

"Lady with orange beads" pen and watercolor on watercolor paper

2010-10-28T12:58:00.002-04:00

"Little Monkey" pen and watercolor on watercolor paper

2010-10-28T12:54:00.003-04:00

Pink Lady Apples

2010-09-20T23:54:00.002-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkwD02yvUo

WKSU 89.7 NPR Arts & Entertainment story on Tara Seibel Harvey Pekar Collaboration

2010-09-11T20:51:00.012-04:00

"Seibel's home is filled with mementos of her friendship with Harvey Pekar, including a portrait she did for him on his 70th birthday.
It was also used in a comic they did together". ——Vivian Goodman

http://www.wksu.org/news/story/26196

NPR "Around Noon" with Dee Perry

2010-08-09T23:24:00.002-04:00

http://www.wcpn.org/WCPN/an/31516

HELEN MIRREN spotted @ Comic-Con honoring Harvey Pekar

2010-07-24T16:12:00.004-04:00

New York Times Artsbeat/Bits of Splendor

2010-07-22T22:56:00.005-04:00

Tara Seibel, a Cleveland cartoonist and graphic designer, has a particularly vivid memory of the last time she saw Harvey Pekar.

It was July 11, and she and Mr. Pekar, the writer and “American Splendor” creator, whom she describes as “the godfather of auto-bio comics,” had finished one of their regular afternoon meetings at a neighborhood cafe where they had been working on their latest collaboration. She dropped him off at the public library where he parked his car, then drove herself home. She waited for him to phone her later that night so they could continue their discussion, but Mr. Pekar never called; he was found dead early the next morning by his wife, Joyce Brabner.

Tara Seibel A portion of an essay, presented in comics form, created by Harvey Pekar and Tara Seibel for the “Graphic Details” catalog.

Their collaboration, an illustrated essay that Mr. Pekar and Ms. Seibel wrote together and Ms. Seibel drew, will appear in the catalog for the exhibition “Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women,” which opens at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco on Oct. 1. (A larger version of the essay panel at right can be found here.)

It may be the last comic Mr. Pekar helped write before he died, but it is just one of several works that will be released in the months to come. Stories that he wrote for the Pekar Project — a Web comic that is illustrated in rotating installments by Ms. Seibel, Joseph Remnant, Rick Parker and Sean Pryor — are still to come, as is a 2011 graphic novel, “Cleveland,” that is being illustrated by Mr. Remnant. The Pekar Project, which is hosted by Smith Magazine, is also continuing to accept submissions for its Harvey Heads gallery, for which various artists have drawn Mr. Pekar to celebrate his 70th birthday.

Though Mr. Pekar is often portrayed, even in his own comics, as an endearingly cantankerous and occasionally neurotic person, Ms. Seibel described him in a telephone interview as being cheerful in his final days.

“He just seemed so happy and so upbeat,” said Ms. Seibel, who worked with Mr. Pekar on comics that appeared in Chicago Newcity, The Cleveland Free Times, The Austin Chronicle and The Jewish Review of Books. “I’m not kidding.”

Tara Seibel

Ms. Seibel recalled Mr. Pekar as a fellow workaholic who accompanied her to used-book sales, became friendly with her husband and read stories to her children. (A larger version of the panel at left, depicting Ms. Seibel’s first meeting with Mr. Pekar, can be found here.)

Before Mr. Pekar’s death, she said, she spoke with him about Cleveland’s loss of another local celebrity, LeBron James, who announced on July 8 that he was signing with the Miami Heat. She said she told him that Mr. Remnant wrote on his Facebook page, “It’s O.K., Cleveland, you still have Harvey Pekar.”

“He just lit up,” Ms. Seibel said. “He was so excited about that. I think it really put him in a really good mood right away. He loved praise. He just ate it up. And it was no skin off my back to always pass compliments along to him. I’m sure that’s one of the reasons he liked to work with me.”

Recently, Ms. Seibel said of Mr. Pekar: “He was starting to complain about certain things aching here and there. It was getting harder for him to walk, I noticed. He had said that there was cancer that was back. But he didn’t know what type it was yet, he was waiting to find out.”

“But he was optimistic about it,” she said, adding that she was amazed at how well Mr. Pekar took the news, given how much milder difficulties could sometimes upset him.

“He could be sitting there worried, all rumpled up over $500 and has it come in yet,” Ms. Seibel said, “versus having cancer. I was really surprised at how optimistic he was.”

Still, Ms. Seibel said, she did not expect to lose Mr. Pekar so quickly.

“We thought he was going to be around forever,” she said. “I was expecting to have him around for a lot longer.”

“He didn’t seem, like, real old,” Ms. Seibel added. “He was kind of like a hipster.”

Lake View Cemetery (Ironically, where Harvey Pekar will be buried and the first comic I wrote.)

2010-07-21T21:43:00.005-04:00

From Thecomicsbeat.com "Word has reached us that while a formal memorial service will be announced at a future date, Harvey Pekar will be buried at Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, in a place of honor next to the grave of Eliot Ness, the famed FBI agent, and another proud son of Cleveland. When Harvey’s future wife, Joyce Brabner, was introduced as a character in the book, she was seen in Lakeview Cemetery.

Also, if fans of Harvey would like to donate needed funds to help defray the costs of everything from groceries to granite, they can PAYPAL a donation to Harvey’s wife Joyce Brabner, and donate to HPEKAR@aol.com at PAYPAL."

Jewish Review of Books "Upmanship & Downmanship" Written by Harvey Pekar Illustrated by Tara Seibel

2010-07-04T14:48:00.002-04:00

http://www.jewishreviewofbooks.com/publications/detail/gut-shabbes

Maggie Gyllenhaal

2010-06-25T17:53:00.002-04:00

madonna

2010-06-25T16:18:00.002-04:00

Gypsy Rose Lee

2010-06-25T08:23:00.002-04:00

Crumb's Genesis

2010-06-25T06:57:00.005-04:00

Jewish Review of Books
http://www.jewishreviewofbooks.com/authors/detail/harvey-pekar-tara-seibel

New York City Graphic Novelists

2009-12-06T21:59:00.003-05:00

Photograph taken by Seth Kushner http://www.sethkushner.com/
http://www.nycgraphicnovelists.com/2009/11/pekar-project-gettin-band-together.html

Duke Ellington

2009-08-31T20:54:00.003-04:00

http://wwwhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif.smithmag.net/pekarproject/category/blog/

Tribute to Joni Mitchell

2009-08-13T10:03:00.003-04:00

Woodstock 40th anniversary

2009-08-13T10:01:00.001-04:00

LA Times mention for "The Vestibule" for Next Door Neighboor Series on SmithMag.net

2009-06-19T09:04:00.004-04:00

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/comics/

To See The Entire Comic Visit http://www.smithmag.net/nextdoorneighbor/2009/05/20/story-29/

Are God's Children Too Stupid? Written By Harvey Pekar/ Illustrated by Tara Seibel

2008-10-26T12:00:00.001-04:00

http://www.heebmagazine.com/files/uploaded_photos/hijinx18_975.jpg

Winter Issue @ BARNES&NOBLE BOOKS

"Validation" Words by Harvey Pekar / Pictures by Tara Seibel

2008-08-21T10:09:00.001-04:00

The Austin Chronicle / Words by Harvey Pekar / Pictures by Tara Seibel

2008-08-01T19:49:00.001-04:00

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=658097
Harvey Pekar and Tara Seibel take on the Economy!

NewCity Magazine / Agonized / Words by Harvey Pekar / Pictures by Tara Seibel

2008-07-29T02:32:00.000-04:00

Chicago NewCity Magazine / Written & Illustrated by Tara Seibel

2008-07-29T01:06:00.000-04:00

Published in NewCity Magazine/Chicago

2008-07-29T00:59:00.000-04:00

Published in The FunnyTimes

2008-07-29T00:57:00.000-04:00

Featured (in color) The Cleveland Freetimes

2008-07-29T00:55:00.000-04:00

Going in MineShaft Magazine!!! LakeView Cemetery by Tara Seibel

2008-07-29T00:53:00.000-04:00

http://www.mineshaftmagazine.com/issue23.html