ebony and ivory

30 06 2007

Do you remember that song by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder from the 1980’s? It has inspired a sequence of cartoons. Here are the first 4. Hopefully there will be others. 

ebony and ivory1 No. 1 (REMEMBER TO CLICK ON THE IMAGES AGAIN when you’ve opened them to make them bigger and more legible)

 ebony and ivory2bNo. 2

 ebony and ivory3 No. 3 – this one refers to a time when I taught English to adults, and how upset I’d get during discussions about social issues. There is a cartoon that describes this directly, “the hell of speaking practice”, in the section on this blog that lists my historical cartoons about teaching. Click here to see the cartoon directly:  http://1000sensations.wordpress.com/cartoons-about-teaching-english/the-hell-of-speaking-practice/

ebony and ivory4bsmall No. 4





our family mealtimes

20 06 2007

I found this cartoon, which I did in the 90’s, about mealtimes in our family.

family mealtimes





My cartoons from the 1990’s

19 06 2007

I came to Milan at the beginning of the 1990’s and taught English as a foreign language. My early teaching years correspond with my period of greatest cartoon productivity. Check out my cartoons from this period of my life from the list under the “cartoons about teaching English” page.

Below is an example. This is one of the first ones I did. A lot of these cartoons are about what being a teacher is like: the saintly behaviour you have to display towards your students, the frustration and boredom seething below the surface, and the endless opportunities for embarassment. I actually enjoyed teaching a lot, although you’d never know it from these cartoons.

what’s the time





So grateful

17 06 2007

In these last three cartoons I did the lettering with an old-fashioned ink-pen: a scratchy nib attached to a holder that it is constantly falling off. This forces me to write slowly and legibly. I hope you notice an improvement.

so-grateful-small.jpg





The ultimate mood enhancer

17 06 2007

ultimate-mood-enhancer-small.jpg





My sister’s friend Olive

17 06 2007

Tina’s friend Olive





Something humbling

9 06 2007

This cartoon is my second cartoon, inspired by spending a weekend with my friend Tony. Some day I hope to cartoon his life story.

something humbling





Feeling guilty/ Mi sento in colpa

9 06 2007

This cartoon was inspired by a 48-hour attack of catatonia: very low energy levels, too lethargic to talk and all I feel like doing is watching an entire TV series on DVD, every episode back-to-back. I am self-employed and live with boyfriend, and I’ve read in lots of books that this kind of behaviour will lead to destitution. I have a secret fear of ending up a bag-lady.

  Feeling guiltyEnglish versionMi sento in colpaItalian version