Somerville Switchbox Mural ā€¢Ā Supported by the Somerville Art Council

Thank you Somerville for letting me paint this electrical box on your beautiful corner of Summer and Willow St! The work on this began on June 3rd, 2022 and finished on June 15th, 2022.

I met many kind people while working here. I will never forget the words of gratitude from the neighborhood folks that saw me out there during the day and at night. I love you, Somerville!

When I started, I was worried about being harassed by strangers since I was alone, but from the start, people I didnā€™t even know encouraged me and shared kind words. On the final night of painting, I worked by the phone lights of several supportive new friends.

I hope that this is inspirational for other artists reading this. No matter what your medium or preferred subject is, there is always a place for you. Let art be a bridge between you and your community. Itā€™s scary at first, but itā€™s worth it.

This design is inspired by the renegade identity of tomatoes in 1700s Europe. This era saw tomatoes misjudged as a deadly poison by aristocrats. The fruits were dubbed ā€œpoison applesā€ because aristocrats would get sick and die after eating them. But the truth of the matter was that wealthy Europeans were eating them off of pewter plates and giving themselves lead poisoning. The tomato was cast as the villain of the story, however, until 1880, when pizza was invented in Naples, and the tomatoā€™s use became widespread in Europeā€¦

I painted tomatoes in Somerville as a sign of solidarity with the members of our city who face present-day persecution: communities of color, disabled communities, and queer communities. Each of us is connected by a common strand that roots itself deep underground, and commercial success whitewashes our collective stained histories. Thatā€™s what tomatoes are: a poison apple turned around in the hand of power, and a symbol of the unfinished march to freedom.

This artwork is supported in part by a grant from the Somerville Arts Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council! Thank you for opening doors for artists like me, SAC!

Debuting on SubStar & Patreon ā€¢Ā Little Death Chapter 2: Precious Things

Panel capture with my home-brewed censoring over the speech text from Page 12

Synopsis: Ellery Firth isnā€™t sure whatā€™s real anymore, but he does know this- when the shadowy man from his nightmares stalks him in real life with whispered threats and skating touches, he fears that this grim secret will ruin his reputation among his classmates. Elleryā€™s bizarre suitor cloaks his days in darkness, and threatens to eclipse what precious public regard Ellery has left.

Precious Things, the sequel comic to Death and the Boy, focuses on deep exploration into Elleryā€™s life and the progression of his fraught relationship with the perverse lich, Callisto. Itā€™s currently debuting for readers supporting me with $3 per month on SubscribeStar or Patreon! This summer I will be devoting my time to giving you 2 page updates every week. I plan to wait until September to make Precious Things free to read with one page out every four days. Recently, page 12+13 was posted and I plan to publish 14+15 this Sunday! If you are interested in continuing to read about Ellery and Callisto, do consider joining! <3 https://subscribestar.adult/pompoison Become a Patron!

See you at MassMICE!!!

Iā€™m excited to announce that Iā€™ll have a small table at MICE this October 22-23!

Admittedly, I have never done a con or anything like this because I was always a bit shy of them (Ellery and I have imposter syndrome in common). If you have any advice for displaying artwork at a small table, let me know! I requested a small because I honestly didnā€™t think Iā€™d get in (imposter syndrome at work!) but I have loads of work to show including, but not limited to: traditional prints, digital prints, and the Little Death Issue 1 physical comic.

If you see me there please come and say hi! I am a friendly tomato~

I will be tabling at MassMICE on October 22-23!

Little Death Issue 1 – Physical Comic Order Sent to KENESS!

Dear readers, Iā€™ve finally sent the print-friendly version of Little Death Issue 1 to KENESS, my printer in the US!

Retrofitting each individual page for the 8ā€x10ā€ format with bleed has taken a few weeks, but it is now all done. The last step is for KENESS to send me a proof copy and for me to add any adjustments that it might need. Then 100 copies will be made and sent out.

This is so exciting! I hope that you preorder a copy for yourself if you havenā€™t already- the order form is here: https://forms.gle/cJs8coiepbUksdzq9

Little Death Issue 1 Digital ā€¢ Gumroad

Little Death Issue 1 is available on Gumroad! Itā€™s $5 and you get all 87 full color hi-resolution pages as a downloadable PDF. Please heed the content warnings in the description: As always, this comic is for adults only.

Buy on Gumroad

This entire Issue will be available on littledeathcomic.com by August 2022, as I release one page on my site very four days, but this is a cool option for if you want to read the whole comic right now but donā€™t feel like using Patreon