There are two art events this month: I'm in Together Gallery's "Family Quilt II" show, which opens this weekend, and Awesome But True Sean Christensen organized an art sale at Cosmic Monkey Comics which takes place on December 19 and 20.

And in January I'll have a never-before-shown painting in Pony Club's "Self Psyche" show. What an exciting blog post.

Happy holidays.

We're about to leave for the reading at the Central Library tonight! We have to get downtown in time for a couple whiskey shots before we go on. Wish us luck!

So far this month I've been featured in two of my favorite art/sex blogs: Sex in Art and Filthy Gorgeous Things.

Rob Clough of sequart.com reviewed my comic book(s), Ariadne auf Naxos, on his blog High-Low, and had some really insightful things to say. I especially liked this part (spelling errors aside):

There's an obsession with nomenclature and language that pervades this comic, especially the ways in which focusing in on picayune details obscures real meaning. Grforer expresses this idea with deadpan wackiness, with dialogue a bit reminiscent of Mat Brinkman's MULTI-FORCE: slang and curses spoken by supernatural characters....This comic is as much about the creation of the comic as it is a narrative, as Grforer never lets the reader forget that the comic is being drawn and that she is drawing it, even as strange things happen to her. The drawings have the crackling energy of sketchbook spontaneity but with a wit that provides a solid support structure.

Ariadne auf Naxos was written mostly during TBA last year, when I volunteered as a gallery sitter. (When you are reading it, try to imagine that you can hear Tamy Ben-Tor's Gewalt, faint but distinct, played every eleven minutes for many hours at a time.) Though I wasn't able to volunteer this year, I have started working on a third book. Brodie and I will be performing my comics at the Portland Public Library in October, about which more soon.

This evening I dropped off my work for this months' show at Zhu Lin Gallery. I'm especially excited about several brand-new large drawings on Japanese Masa paper that I did over the last couple of weeks.



The show opens this Friday, August 7, from 6 to 9 PM. There's a writeup at The Hungry Eyeball.

We spent all weekend at the Portland Zine Symposium, pushing copies of my brand-new comic book, Ariadne auf Naxos, which was published by Teenage Dinosaur last week. A couple of people said the comic was "gross" and "too freaky," and one guy asked me whether I was aware that the carrots in my comic were "erotic."

If you didn't make it to the Symposium, you can still get your copies of the comics at my Etsy store.

This week I'll be pouring my energy into preparing for a show at Zhu Lin Gallery in August. The show is called "Three Muses", and will feature figure drawings and paintings by Lindsay de Armond, Elena Cronin and me. It opens on Friday, August 7.

Today we're hanging a show curated by Sean Christensen ABT, titled "Beastmasters of the Universe," at Guapo Comics and Coffee in Portland. It opens on Saturday, May 30.

Each artist was supposed to draw their favorite beast or creature. I made two pieces for this show, an incubus and a banshee, but I'm most excited to see the Vortex Jam Comics collaborative drawing of several Wolverines we did a couple of weeks ago, which Sean promised to color. My Wolverine is weeping as blood oozes from his freshly-snikted claws. Of course.

I was interviewed by two rad art blogs this week.

The Tools Artists Use explored the technical end of my work, including what kind of paper and pens I use, and what sort of lead I put in my mechanical pencils.

Privelidge House wanted to know about my creative process. With Caitlin, I discussed my influences, why I make art, and the things in my work I'm most insecure about.

My Etsy site has been updated with three new drawings for sale, and a new banner at the top.

I'll be at Floating World Comics today signing and selling books alongside Theo Ellsworth between 12PM and 3PM in honor of Free Comics Day. Come by and get your free copy of Bird Hurdler, in which our work appears.

Three of my comic books ("Venus in Blue Jeans/Venus in Furs", "All the Ancient Kings", and "How Life Became Unbearable") are now available through Ms. Valerie Park Distro. Right now this is the only place you can get "All the Ancient Kings", my comic about music legends of the 60s and 70s acting like assholes together, since Sparkplug and I both sold out at Stumptown last week. I'm not planning to print more anytime soon, so if you want to find out why Warren Zevon doesn't want to get Bob Dylan a harmonica for his birthday, this is your best bet.

"And the young Fisherman said to himself: 'How strange a thing this is! The Priest telleth me that the soul is worth all the gold in the world, and the merchants say that it is not worth a clipped piece of silver.' And he passed out of the market-place, and went down to the shore of the sea, and began to ponder on what he should do.

And at noon he remembered how one of his companions, who was a gatherer of samphire, had told him of a certain young Witch who dwelt in a cave at the head of the bay and was very cunning in her witcheries. And he set to and ran, so eager was he to get rid of his soul, and a cloud of dust followed him as he sped round the sand of the shore. By the itching of her palm the young Witch knew his coming, and she laughed and let down her red hair. With her red hair falling around her, she stood at the opening of the cave, and in her hand she had a spray of wild hemlock that was blossoming.

'What d'ye lack? What d'ye lack?' she cried, as he came panting up the steep, and bent down before her. 'Fish for thy net, when the wind is foul? I have a little reed-pipe, and when I blow on it the mullet come sailing into the bay. But it has a price, pretty boy, it has a price. What d'ye lack? What d'ye lack? A storm to wreck the ships, and wash the chests of rich treasure ashore? I have more storms than the wind has, for I serve one who is stronger than the wind, and with a sieve and a pail of water I can send the great galleys to the bottom of the sea. But I have a price, pretty boy, I have a price. What d'ye lack? What d'ye lack? I know a flower that grows in the valley, none knows it but I. It has purple leaves, and a star in its heart, and its juice is as white as milk. Shouldst thou touch with this flower the hard lips of the Queen, she would follow thee all over the world. Out of the bed of the King she would rise, and over the whole world she would follow thee. And it has a price, pretty boy, it has a price. What d'ye lack? What d'ye lack? I can pound a toad in a mortar, and make broth of it, and stir the broth with a dead man's hand. Sprinkle it on thine enemy while he sleeps, and he will turn into a black viper, and his own mother will slay him. With a wheel I can draw the Moon from heaven, and in a crystal I can show thee Death. What d'ye lack? What d'ye lack? Tell me thy desire, and I will give it thee, and thou shalt pay me a price, pretty boy, thou shalt pay me a price.'

'My desire is but for a little thing,' said the young Fisherman, 'yet hath the Priest been wroth with me, and driven me forth. It is but for a little thing, and the merchants have mocked at me, and denied me. Therefore am I come to thee, though men call thee evil, and whatever be thy price I shall pay it.'

'What wouldst thou?' asked the Witch, coming near to him.

'I would send my soul away from me,' answered the young Fisherman.

The Witch grew pale, and shuddered, and hid her face in her blue mantle. 'Pretty boy, pretty boy,' she muttered, 'that is a terrible thing to do.' "

"The Fisherman and His Soul" by Oscar Wilde

A six-page comic of mine appears in Bird Hurdler, the annual free anthology (last year's was called Nerd Burglar) from local comics publishers Sparkplug Comic Books, Tugboat Press, and Teenage Dinosaur. This year's book also features work from Andrice Arp, Zack Soto, Lisa Eisenberg, Farel Dalrymple and Theo Ellsworth. You can get a copy at the release party at Guapo Comics and Coffee on April 17th, where Brodie and I will be performing my contribution to the book, or at this year's Stumptown Comics Fest.

I added a few more pieces from "The Salt Mines" to the "work" section of the site.

I added eight images to the work section of the site. They're not new drawings (there's three from 2008's "As Befits a Man" show, two from "The Salt Mines" and one from "He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead" in 2007, and two miscellaneous) but they are new larger versions. I'll try to get more stuff on the site soon, so let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like to see here.

I was selected to be part of Yen Magazine's CURVY 09 book, which features 120 female artists from all over the world. A few of my drawings will be in a show at Mori Gallery in Sydney to celebrate its release as part of the Semi-Permanent art festival. The opening is on April 2, and the show runs until the 17th.

Last night Dylan, Emily and Tim stopped by my apartment and picked up some work to display at their store, the Bad Apple. I gave them a big stack of framed drawings, and they already sell a few of my linocut/letterpress prints, as well as some blank books and Fimo teeth I made. Visit them at 6340 Foster Road in Portland.