This expression has always cracked me up:

“Loose Lips,” 4 x 6 inches, pen and ink, available in my shop

It’s just so threatening, yet indirect and poetic! Can’t you imagine being in some dark smoky bar in the 1940s wearing a trench coat, when a man in another trench coat comes by and whispers this in your ear, in a quiet yet threatening manner? Nowadays we would just say “shut your mouth.” I think the original phrase was “loose ships might sink ships,” but that silly little middle word kind of messes with the rhyme.

This is the third drawing in my series of body related idiomatic expressions. Click the link above to see all three in a flickr set.

In other news: I will be selling at Music Fest tomorrow, Saturday June 27 from 3-9 pm in Cesar Chavez Plaza, Sacramento. Should be fun, although hot hot hot—it’s supposed to get up to 104 degrees, and I’m trying to will it not to get that hot by complaining to everyone I know.

Here’s another body-related idiomatic expression drawing for you today:

“Give Me a Hand,” 4 x 6 inches, pen and ink, available in my shop

This is going to be a fun series because the drawings are just so silly and ridiculous. As you can see, I’m having more fun with borders here—I think I’m in love with borders—they really feel like they finish off the pieces.

In other news:

I will be selling at the new McClatchy Urban Farm Stand in Sacramento from 10-2 this Saturday, so come on out for some fresh vegetables and art, if you’re in the area.

Also, an advisory: Do NOT wear flip flops into your garden this season because a bee might just fly under your foot on the flip, and sting the bottom of your foot on the flop. Then, the next day, you might develop a foot too swollen to fit into anything but Crocs and be forced to hobble around the house like an invalid (like me), blaming your ailment on an animal the size of your pinky nail. Hmmp. I might have to revise my opinion of bees.

4.5 x 5.5 inches, pen and ink, available in my shop

I was riding my bike the other day, and I saw a poster for a play called “Private Eyes,” and this drawing popped into my head. It was just pure fun.

A while after I drew it, I got to thinking that the expression is probably actually “private I” as in Investigator, and my mess up made it seem even funnier. But a consultation with my dictionary taught me that the expression is in fact as I wrote it. Well, either way, it gives me a good laugh.

I love idiomatic expressions, and since I drew this one, I’ve thought of a whole bunch relating to the human body—do I hear another series coming together? Anyone got a good one?

A couple others I thought of: “She’s all elbows and knees” and “he has a nose for business”

I first learned technically about these expressions when I was studying Italian, and my teacher often talked about how knowing idiomatic expressions or idioms (an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up) is what makes the difference between a native-level speaker and everyone else. I think it’s very true. Also, I think these expressions have a lot of poetry in them, and information about history and culture.