Riposte Card No. 8: Cardiac cape!

Or, Andrea Gibson by Amy Noseworthy

Amy Noseworthy came to play. Wordplay, specifically in response to my standard query to the illustrators I approach to draw the monthly Riposte Cards I send out to my top-tier subscribers.

“Do you have any great lines you’d like to draw?” I always ask, before sharing a list of my faves.

To which she responded correctly: “I’ve been keeping a commonplace book for years and your email feels like the perfect opportunity to go back through it and mine it for a perfect witty quip…”

Amy offered up these lines:

“We cannot stay home all our lives, we must present ourselves to the world and we must look upon it as an adventure.”
— Beatrix Potter

“We need in every bay and community a group of angelic troublemakers.”
— Bayard Rustin

“All the miles of a hard road are worth a moment of true happiness.” 
—Arnold Lobel

And then these from “one of my favorite poets, Andrea Gibson”

“When your heart is broken you plant seeds in the cracks and you pray for rain.”

“I have never met a heavy heart that wasn’t a phone booth with a red cape inside”

“I know you think this world is too dark to even dream in color, but I’ve seen flowers bloom at midnight”

That sent me to do some enjoyable browsing of Gibson’s work, during which I underlined this gem:

most people try hard
to do good and find out too late
they should have tried softer.

And you can see above where we ended up. Here’s a bit more about Amy:

What's your go-to item in a well-stocked stationery store?
This depends on the season… In the spring I’m all about markers of various types and tips. In the summer I usually resume my search for the perfect purple pen (0.5mm nib, a purple closer to blue than red. Surprisingly difficult to find!). In the fall I find myself putting up a supply of beautiful woodcased pencils, and in the winter it’s whichever beautiful notebooks and sketchbooks catch my eye.

Where do you go for inspiration and/or information?
I mostly draw inspiration from my everyday life, which is surprisingly rich with antics. 

Is there one joke, witticism, or aphorism you live by?
“If you don’t know where you’re going, stay where you are”
… from the movie Boys on the Side (1995)

What's the best thing to put on toast?
Cheese. Any kind will do, but an old cheddar or a creamy havarti ideally.

What work are you most proud of, and how can people support it?
I make webcomics about my life as a parent and about my painfully awkward social interactions, and sometimes the state of the world, available on Instagram or the platform of your choice, via linktr.ee/hiredhandstudio