Michael’s siblings Fran and Hugo were in town for a bit, visiting from England, so it was a great excuse to host our first real dinner party (aside from a Thanksgiving feast we had with Brandon’s parents last year). I love hosting (I mean, I am the daughter of Pam McCaskill — the hostess extraordinaire!) because, as an adult, it feels like such a cool privilege. To invite a select few individuals to come into your home — your sanctuary; your intimate, emotional, artistic manifestation — and to feed them and cater to them and insist that the people you love do nothing but enjoy and experience and imbibe…how cool is that?
So I wanted to seal this memory in painting, which I gave to Michael and Amanda.
I made this collage as an ode to my brother and his girlfriend/my friend. 16 x 20” collage framed. 2018.
I made this collage as an ode to my baby sister and her friend/roommate, Ellen. 16 x 20” collage framed. 2018.
I've always documented news stories in my sketchbook, mostly just news about the environment. But as I've worked in newspaper design the past few years I've become ardent about my documentation. I love the news. I love understanding political timelines, contexts, and spotting hypocrisies. It's become a creative obsession for me, so this year I started a news book wholly dedicated to my interpretation of the political, environmental, and social happenings of 2018 and 2019. I cut up newspapers I get from all over the country, TIME, magazines, and any other relevant publication that I feel is necessary to nail the context. I still trip out that newsrooms literally publish entire books every single day of the year, jam packed with all sorts of perfectly edited content.
Maybe the craziness of 2018 isn't unique in it's anxiety — maybe every year from now until humans self-destruct will be disorientingly divided. I've been watching the Handmaid's Tale lately and my psyche is unnerved and disturbed: I see the show everywhere, in every crevice of modern society. This book helps me make sense of the discomfort and answer my screaming WHY?!?s.
Title page to my news sketchbook
Trumpy tweety
Gatefold cover to a climate change section
Unfolded climate change section
Detail shot of 2 additional flaps for climate change
Inside pages
My pile of newspapers and publications that I still need to read through (left) and my stack of stories clipped together, organized by topic (right). I've never appreciated paperclips as much as I do with this project.
My holy workspace as I lay out the Parkland shooting spread
I've been hyped on noseblunts and tailblunts lately and the way the skateboard trucks align perfectly with the coping. This project was a gratifying way to fit edges and corners together perfectly and also a means to practice painting straight lines.
Collage on gouache background. Collage is mounted on layered cardstock to give it dimension. 12 x 18"
Gettin Paper & Hittin Blunts: Reimagined by Whitney McCaskill
detail 1
detail 2
detail 3
I've been painting some skaters from the latest mags because we've all been locked indoors too much this winter. Gouache on watercolor paper
I started this piece the day after Beyoncé dropped Lemonade ("My grandma said, 'Nothing real can be threatened'")—inspired by true love and genuine friendship. And although this still feels very unfinished (art would never be shared if we all waited until it felt "done"), I'm sharing it now as I'm inspired by the inevitability of progress, equality, and righteousness for all.
As the polls close for the controversial Senate seat in Alabama, and with the strong likelihood that it'll go to a(nother) man that I believe to be scary, gross, and 3 steps backwards in time [*EDIT: Roy Moore lost to Doug Jones by 20,000 votes!]...we have to sustain faith in the universe and in the people. It's said that a wildfire acts as a phenomenally progressive force in nature because it creates a rich bed for new growth; it feels like we're consumed by wildfire (metaphorically with politics and also IRL) but bullshit is always self-destructive! ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
10x14" collage with hand-lettering and scalloped edges. I found the floral corners from the 1940s at the Austin Photo, Book, & Paper Festival for 50¢
My little, tiny baby sister is graduating high school this week, so we threw a graduation party for her at our boatdock on Lake Austin this weekend. My mom asked me to make a poster for her with old pictures, and because no creative project can ever be simple and quick with me, I spent what may be a new world record amount of time on this poster. Mainly because I was determined to use Neutraface typeface and to seize the opportunity to try out my new Prismacolor blending marker, which worked MAGIC! The markers blended like pencil!
Me, my momma, and a photobombing Jacob. Photo by Uncle Greg
Gal pals! Christina, me, and Amanda dodging the rainstorm
Our sweet little teenage graduate
