This site is evolving.  In 2010 I wrote the following when I launched the website (The links still work and I’m not changing them.  Think of it as a time capsule):

Laying Fallow is a comics blog started by me, Byron Johnson.  The impetus for this site was my family’s decision to spend a year living abroad.  Having completed two years of foundation art classes, I was ready to start doing projects generated by myself and not my instructors.  Creating a graphic interpretation of the year, and all it joys and misfortunes, appeals to me greatly, even though I have been a better consumer of graphic novels and comics than a producer.  Our year in Turkey will change that.

My intention is to present our story in two ways on this site.  The biggest undertaking is The Sabbatical Year.  I will post a new comic weekly and it will detail the story of our time abroad.  At the time of writing this I have no idea how the year will play out so I look forward to seeing how I choose to present our experiences.  My goal is to provide a narrative of our experience but also to highlight the emotions and silliness that we experience along the way.  And I will learn what works and what does not in a graphic narrative presented on the web.

On a smaller scale I plan to post a weekly drawing of something we have encountered during the week.  These will be done on Artist’s Trading Cards and are intended to be more of a snapshot rather than a part of a storyline.  To learn more about the process please click here.

Other side projects, or observations, may appear as our year progresses.  One never knows what might happen.  I have a year to learn, experiment, and explore.

For a very reflective and enlightening update on how this project is unfolding click on this sentence to see a related post.

Well…it kind of hurts me to read all of the above.  So much thought and agony went into the planning, writing and presenting of myself.  Since I’ve been back from Turkey I have been doing what I want to do.  Draw.  No blogging.  No introspection.  Just pen and pencil to paper, wandering wherever my mind desired.  Most of it has been good (definition: I like it) and some of it has been bad.  It is now time to emerge from my chilly basement studio and get some of what I have produced out in the world.  There won’t be many words explaining what I do.  Just look and enjoy.

Byron

November 2012