Doggies on the beach. :3

That’s Tynemouth, where the Tyne flows into the North Sea.

In the background are the ruins of Tynemouth Priory. The site was already occupied by Romans, and the priory was founded in the 7th century. It was fortified to protect it from Viking raids, and still in WWII it was used as a coastal defence installation. The ruins and graveyard surrounded by fortifications and guns look a bit eerie.

Bordering to Tynemouth to the north are the seaside towns of Cullercoats and Whitley Bay. Whitley Bay was once famous for its permanent fairground, the Spanish City, which that Dire Straits song is about :3 …

Oh, and the railing on the Tynemouth pier has now been painted black. It took me immense research efforts to figure out whether it was still rusty white in December 1998. V°(oo)°;V
I found photos with the old rusty white railing from 1991, then 1997, then early 1998 …  And finally, when I was almost despairing and considering a frame that didn’t show the railing, one from 2001, where it was still white and rusty!

Psychologist Alice Miller is pretty relevant in this installment, and I guess Bob has read her books. :o/ There are some good articles available on her website.

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Anyway, keep an eye on the tumblr. :3 I just started a 30 day sketch challenge, and I also post other stupid random stuff there that’s more or less related to Driftwood.

I’m posting this page one day early, because I’ll be spending tomorrow building a new fence in the back of my garden. I haven’t been there since December, and maybe the old dilapidated fence fell apart by now … The new fence will be some kind of cheap wire fence, but I plan to eventually reinforce it with blackberry brambles on the inside. V^(oo)^V

As we speak I’m making a print PDF file of the interior of the Swedish book, and then it’s going to the printers. V*(oo)*V

I’m almost finished with the book. I only need to proofread it a few dozen times …

I asked my publisher a long time ago when the exact deadline for file delivery to the printers is. He hasn’t replied yet, and since they usually require four weeks until delivery date, I’m assuming that I’m still on schedule. (I would think that he’d tell me if the date was approaching, unless he’s being really exceptionally passive-aggressive right now … V`(oo)´;V)

Anyway, here is the whole cover as it looks now:

I had no idea what else to put on the back cover except this Karen Blixen quote (or paraphrase, if one is to nitpick) that rather nicely sums up Driftwood: “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.”

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In other news, Swedish Comic Sin 3 went to the printer and will be out at the end of April. :3 There are some previews of my contribution on my blog …
Now it will be exciting to see if I can somehow get some copies of it in time for SPX in Stockholm.