The Kindness Of Strangers

This January came with it some special deliveries to my mailbox; special in content and special in that all arrived from people I have yet to – or perhaps never – meet.

Hot on the heels of a surprise anniversary brownie shipment from Rob and Melissa, this Christmas ornament (above, top right) showed itself early in January, compliments of distant e-friend Jenn Bowman (whose rock-star husband Keith I met in Vegas a couple years ago). Noticing from Flickr and elsewhere my penchant for all things owlular, she picked this adorable fellow up at a Philadelphia market and popped it in the mail. Yes, just like that.

Mid-month, a general call-out for all people interested in my GDC button swap submission netted an email from Adam Koford, originator of online comic strip The Laugh-Out-Loud Cats and perhaps the most prolific illustrator I've discovered in all my internet ramblings. I sent him a trio of buttons from my years in the swap and unknowingly, I received an envelope a few weeks later containing an original panel sketch (above, bottom right). Do yourself a favour and peruse his Flickr vault – but be warned, it may take you a few weeks.

Lastly, a seemingly innocuous post of some newly-minted promo stickers by Flickr contact, sketching wizard and fellow SFG Blank Book Project contributor Tommy Kane caught my eye. I asked for one, and lo! My mailbox produced a three-pack of stickers a short time later, all the way from Brooklyn. One now graces the cover of my sketchbook (above left). And yes, that is a squirrel with a pistol. I've yet to decide the fate of the other two. One will definitely make it out into the city someplace.