Dave's Fridge

The Last Trip

2011-03-30T12:39:00.003-04:00

Here's another illustration from Steve Paul Barlow's "I'd Rather Get Blisters" (still available at Briar Hill Books). I remember trips like this when I was a kid. Four kids and two parents in an overstuffed station wagon with no air-conditioning. Fun times.

IF - Sweater

2011-02-17T18:44:00.003-05:00

I haven't done an Illustration Friday in a while. This weeks theme is "sweater". I did another sweater oriented IF picture for the theme,"flawed" a couple of years ago. I suppose I could just link to that one again and save some work, but that would be lame. So here's a new one.

Process - part two

2011-02-05T12:37:00.005-05:00

The next thing I do is to trace the image onto a piece of bristol board using my tracing box. My tracing box is actually a box designed to hang on a wall in a doctor's office and used to view x-rays. My wife found it at a garage sale years ago. It's lightweight so I can put it on my drawing table to use and lean it in a corner the rest of the time to save space. I don't pencil directly on the board because I want to avoid any erasing that might roughen the surface and effect my ink washes later.
I trace most of the lines in ink using a crow quill, trying to leave areas that will be completed in wash. The fisherman and the stream are traced in pencil instead of ink. I'm hoping for a sense of depth, so I don't want hard edges in the background.
Next, I go over the lines with ink using a #2 watercolor brush. You get a more expressive line inking with a brush. Some of the pen lines are left as is. I start to fill in darker areas with black and add texture with dry brush.
I then go over the drawing with a wash (ink diluted in water). Textures are added in wash. For example; the creel, Steve's hair and the background. Sometimes the wash is put down directly in one go and other times areas are built up in successive layers. I find that ink wash can result in a smoother finish than watercolor but it is not forgiving. Once it is down, it is down.

Lastly, I go over the drawing again in ink with a crow quill and brush, adding more leaves and textures. Then I only have find a place to hide my signature.

Process - part one

2010-12-11T13:13:00.010-05:00

I have once again been given the opportunity to illustrate a book by Steven Paul Barlow. Steve's latest, "I'd Rather Get Blisters", is now available at Briar Hill Books. I will put a few of the illustrations on the blog in the near future. I thought I would use the first one to show my process for doing a pen and ink wash illustration.

This illustration was for a story where Steve relates his earlier idea for using a mountain bike to get to and from hunting and fishing spots in the wild. Unfortunately, his bicycle skills are a little shaky. I decided to show Steve out of control on his bike. I started with a lot of loose sketches.

At this point I wasn't sure how out of control I wanted him to be. I downloaded some pictures of mountain bike crashes as reference. I decided to have him be out of control but not crashing
(yet). After I came up with a pose I liked (lower right), I drew a tighter sketch. I added a fishing creel and a pole case. I selected the fly fishing equipment because the looser straps would add to the feeling of motion rather than a backpack tight to the body. Actually, I've never asked Steve if he fly fishes and this scene doesn't actually happen in the story. But that's okay, my Artistic License is still valid.

Next I trace the figure and bike in pencil on tracing paper tightening up the lines and adding stuff like the bike rack and boots. I worked on the background which I had only roughly indicated in the pencil sketch. The fisherman in the creek and the squirrel in the foreground are added because of my pet theory that a humorous picture is often funnier if there is someone in the picture reacting to the chaos.

Next: Inking

Bethany and Aaron

2010-09-07T18:58:00.003-04:00

Here's a pair of pictures that I haven't been able to post until now. These are brush and ink drawings of my daughter and her new husband. We used them for place settings and to personalize gift bags at their wedding.

Invitation Art

2010-06-07T11:48:00.002-04:00

Well, I haven't posted in a while. I have been working on pieces that I haven't been able to share. One of them was a pen and ink drawing for my daughter's wedding invitation. The invitations have been mailed and she has given me clearance to post it. So, here it is.

IF - Unbalanced

2009-11-17T23:38:00.003-05:00

The topic for this week's Illustration Friday is "Unbalanced"

The Astonishing Bradley's act became somewhat less than astonishing when he became unbalanced.

He was so unbalanced that he dropped his checkbook, which was also.....unbalanced.

IF - Fast

2009-10-29T18:11:00.002-04:00

Illustration Friday's them for this week is "Fast"
This reflects the old adage that you don't have to be faster than the bear, you just have to be faster than the other guy.

It may be that the bear has just completed a fast, so our hikers should strive to be really fast.

IF - Flying

2009-10-15T19:53:00.003-04:00

I haven't done Illustration Friday for quite a while. The theme for this week is "Flying".

The cassowary is a nervous flier. The kiwi is excited. The penguin is unimpressed. The ostrich is having a great time. The emu is looking for Rod Hull. And who knows what the takahē is thinking.

A Pepper

2009-09-24T14:59:00.003-04:00

This is my latest still life. I wasn't really planning on doing one, but I saw this pepper from my wife's garden sitting on the kitchen counter. Painting the transition from red to green was very interesting. I also learned that I should try to complete the painting quickly. I stopped painting before I was finished and came back the next day to a much redder pepper.

Bethany and Reginald

2009-09-13T14:23:00.003-04:00

My daughter has been after me to post something. So here is a picture of her and her pet elephant, Reginald.
We are taking care of Reginald while Bethany is at college. So if you're in my backyard, watch where you step.

I haven't posted since June? I have been slacking!

Gargoyle

2009-06-25T10:17:00.005-04:00

Here's a little still life. I got this gargoyle when I was a kid. It's a souvenir my Aunt Carol brought back from Paris during one of her many trips there. It sits in my studio with my other statues and dolls-um, that is, "Action Figures".

Art by Committee - Trudy L.

2009-06-12T08:32:00.005-04:00

James Gurney at gurneyjourney.blogspot.com has issued another "Art by Committee" challenge. This time, rather than a snippet from an old science fiction manuscript, he has provided a business card he picked up in a restaurant. The challenge is to imagine the person whose card it is.
This is the card:
My first response was the obvious one; a mousy librarian type. But then, it occurred to me that the Harvard Depository must be a huge place. Trudy L's job has to be more exciting than one might think:

That's the way to do it!

2009-04-30T17:22:00.002-04:00

This week's Illustration Friday topic is "theater". Here's a picture of two extremes of theater together.

Four Guys

2009-04-24T12:34:00.002-04:00

Boy, I've been really lax in posting lately. Here's a sketch of four characters for comic story I'm working on. It's another bible story. Can anyone guess the story?

Rockabilly Angels

2009-03-20T19:16:00.005-04:00

Here's my latest painting. Its been some time since I've done a piece on canvas. The image has been in my head for quite a while.

20"X30" Acrylic on canvas.

Art by Committee - Banana Tree

2009-03-11T11:52:00.003-04:00

This is my entry to this month's Art By Committee challenge at James Gurney's blog, Gurney Journey. The text for this challenge is " I lashed out with my left arm. clutched something thin and hard. tore at it; the next second a banana tree fell across my chest. But the pain was...." I think the challenge for this one is that it describes (sort of) a sequence of events so if you're planning on doing a single image you have to pick a point within that sequence. The involvement of a banana tree naturally led me to a giant gorilla. Everyone likes a giant gorilla.

Click image to enlarge.

ABC - Keep an Eye Out

2009-02-12T08:24:00.003-05:00

James Gurney has issued another Art by Committee challenge. He takes a random snippet from a science fiction manuscript and invites you to illustrate it. There is no context provided and the text is usually pretty wacky. He stopped doing these a few months ago but has started again on a monthly basis.

This one month's challenge was to illustrate "I should stay here and keep an eye out". I find that the simpler the quote the harder these challenges are. I was stumped until it occurred to me to make an homage to one of my all time favorite comics.

IF - Time

2009-02-10T14:33:00.002-05:00

This week's Illustration Friday theme is "Time".

IF - Flawed

2009-02-02T15:55:00.002-05:00

Great-Aunt Millie's handmade birthday present was ......flawed.

IF - Pale

2009-01-22T18:34:00.002-05:00

Urd is a Tunneler, a member of a society that has for generations lived and worked in the vast underground tunnels and sewers under the Great City. On the extremely rare occasion that a tunneler visits the surface they are identified by their pale skin and unique odor. Here he is working with his Grandfather maintaining the subterranean structures so necessary to the City.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

Here's our family Christmas card for this year. Merry Christmas!

Jolly Old Santa Claus

2008-12-23T15:02:00.003-05:00

This is my Christmas time wallpaper scanned from one of my cherished books, "Jolly Old Santa Claus". The book was published by Ideals in the early sixties. My grandparents gave it to my sister, my brother and me. My youngest sister isn't mentioned in the inscription, so it was given to us sometime before 1966. As the oldest I laid claim to it years ago. The story is credited to "Sparkie" and the illustrations are by George Hinke. The book is laid out with the art filling double page spreads alternating with two pages of text. I may have read the text once or twice but I spent many hours staring at the pictures. Every spread shows a scene of Santa and his "Brownies" getting ready for Christmas. There is an abundance of detail and all the characters are truly individuals. There is an aspect of early "Where's Waldo" in that there are re-occuring characters on each spread. Look for the cat.
I haven't been able to find out much about Mr. Hinke other than that he immigrated from Germany. His only work beyond this book that I'm aware of are two paintings of Christ. The book was republished a few years ago, but the layouts were changed to integrate the text and pictures. It reads better as a book but the pictures were obscured and cut up. So, I'll stick with looking at my old, beat-up book every Christmas season.

Barlow's Banter

2008-12-08T23:16:00.005-05:00

My friend, Steven Paul Barlow, has just started his own blog, Barlow's Banter. He is the author of "My Brushes With Death And Other Outdoor Blunders", a book that I illustrated a couple of years ago. I shared some illustrations from the book here, here and here. Steve (no one calls him "Steven Paul", that's his writin' name) will be sharing his thoughts on all things outdoorsy in his usual humorous style. He is considering doing another compilation of his columns from Game & Fish Publications. If he does, I hope to illustrate that one too.

This is the cover art from the first book. I know I said that I wouldn't show anymore art from the book, but hey, it's the cover. And he's got a new blog. I had to show something. You can still get a copy of the first book at Briar Hill Books or through Amazon.

IF - Balloon

2008-12-04T00:17:00.002-05:00

Illustration Fridays topic this week is "balloon". I wasn't going to do a picture. But then I learned that a friend had passed away on Monday after fighting lung cancer and this came into my head. Betty was a good friend of my wife's family. My kids grew up calling her "Grandma Betty". We will miss her, but like the balloon, I know she was going up.

IF -Opinion

2008-11-22T16:05:00.003-05:00

This week's Illustration Friday topic is opinion. This reminds me of when I was much younger and would get into huge arguments about the stupidest things. There are few things more insipid than two 19 year old guys arguing about who's better; Elvis Costello or Lynyrd Skynyrd. I would never indulge in such an argument now. Even though I was right.

A scary story

2008-11-19T23:37:00.005-05:00

Lately I've had a desire to do some comic pages. I haven't done any in a long time. The comic pages I've posted here were all done several years ago. So I did this little two pager. Watch out for the terrifying climax. Remind yourself "It's only a comic, it's only a comic".
Click on the images to enlarge.

JimmyJoe

2008-11-06T23:50:00.005-05:00

JimmyJoe loved to go out to the open plains to sing his songs. Under that beautiful big sky with no one to hear but the prairie dogs, JimmyJoe would strum his guitar and sing and yodel, sharing his music with all of nature. JimmyJoe liked singing here better than singing in the city. No one threw things at him on the plains.

Prairie dogs don't have opposable thumbs.

IF - Repair

2008-10-30T11:47:00.006-04:00

This week's topic at Illustration Friday is "repair". I thought of all those character shaped holes in Tex Avery Cartoons. Someone had to fix them. I'm experimenting with my new fluid acrylic paints. I was trying to use them with a watercolor technique. They don't quite work that way. They are good for building up glazes, but they're hard to fix if you mess up.

IF - Late

2008-10-22T22:31:00.005-04:00

This weeks Illustration Friday's topic is "Late". I went back to inking with a brush for this one. The gray is ink wash rather than watercolor. It has a smoother look (except where I drybrushed) but is very unforgiving.

Lab Partner

2008-10-04T20:33:00.003-04:00

Here's a piece I did for the latest SCBWI contest. The challenge was to illustrate the following. "When your book's main character gets to the first day of Biology something worse than mold in a petri dish is waiting". You can see the winners here.

IF - Packed

2008-09-30T22:44:00.003-04:00

My piece for this week's Illustration Friday.
I'm trying to loosen up my pen work. There's a lot of scribbling going on in the dark areas.

John

2008-09-29T15:17:00.004-04:00

Last year I started doing little still-life paintings inspired by the "painting-a-day" trend. One time on a visit to my in-laws in Pennsylvania, my wife brought all the paintings I had done to that point to show off to her family. My father-in-law, Rev. John Denicola, was really taken with them. He would examine them and tell me how good they were and that he would like to watch me paint one. I assured him that that would be only slightly less boring then watching the paint dry afterward. I'm a slow painter.
Because he was so encouraging to me I decided to do a still life for him. One of my pieces that really caught his eye was the bottle and button. He liked the depiction of glass. Because of that, his Italian heritage and skill in the kitchen, I arrived at a picture of some cherry tomatoes, bread and a cruet of olive oil. We gave it to him for his 75th birthday. My mother-in-law told me that he would often sit and look at the painting. He intended to hang it but left it on the fireplace next to his recliner where he could look at it.
In March of this year, John fell in his garage and hit his head. He died a day later in the hospital. At his viewing my mother-in-law brought my painting to display it.
It meant a lot to me that John liked his painting. I consider it the greatest piece I've yet done for that reason. He was a great and godly man who we miss.

Pappy Land 3 - This time it's personal

2008-09-25T07:39:00.004-04:00

Here are the last 3 pages that I did of the Pappy comic.
Commodore Crayon was my own creation. I remember being told that when the show was being developed they considered a character similar to the Commodore. I think the conning tower shrank in the last panel.
The Mackerel? I guess all the good submarine names were taken.

Where did Mr. Kelp go after he opened the hatch? I must have been making this up as I went along.

And that's as far as it got. I didn't get to drawing any fish through the window Pappy is staring at. If the show and the newsletter had continued I would have finished this page and continued on. I have no idea where the story was going from here.
I just realized I left Elmer sleeping in the boat. I hope he's all right.

Pappyland 2

2008-09-23T22:05:00.004-04:00

Here's two more pages from the Pappy strip. These were never published in the newsletter. Too bad, the story was just beginning to get interesting. I was still struggling to get a decent likeness of Pappy.
I'm not sure how a submarine got into Pappy's fishing hole. But then again, I'm not sure why a turtle would have a mustache either.

Stay tuned.

Pappyland

2008-09-22T13:25:00.004-04:00

A few years ago the Pappyland TV show was being produced in Syracuse. It was a great kid's show that encouraged kids to draw along with Pappy Drew-it, a Gabby Hayes/49er type character. I knew one of the guys who created the show with Mike Cariglio, who played Pappy Drew-it. Mike, who I only met a few times, is a nice guy and a very accomplished artist. He was very encouraging to me. I started a comics story on spec featuring Pappy and his pals. The president of the company accepted the story and offered to publish it in the Pappyland Fan Club Newsletter. Even though I wrote it as a 7 page chapter of a larger story, they elected to print one page per newsletter.
These are the only pages that were published before the company had financial problems and the show ceased production.

The art looks kind of plain. I think my reason for not using a lot of black was that either it would be colored by the publisher to reflect the colorful appearance of the show or it would be open enough for kids to color their own pages.

Pappy, Chucky, Turtle Lou and Elmer are copyright Craftsman & Scribes Creative Workshop

Timmy Trout is my fault.

IF Island

2008-09-16T22:27:00.003-04:00

I haven't done any color pieces lately. I decided to use this weeks IF topic to take another stab at watercolor over pen and ink.

IF - Clutter

2008-09-10T23:45:00.003-04:00

The Illustration Friday topic this week is "clutter". There are times when I have difficulty arriving at an image to draw. There's a lot of imagery cluttering up my head and I sometimes have a hard time finding a subject to commit to for a finished piece.

More Happy Fat Man

2008-09-09T22:48:00.010-04:00

Here is another Happy Fat Man designed as a fireman. This one never went into production.

I also dabbled in animated GIFs for the website. Click on this one.

Happy Fat Man

2008-09-08T20:34:00.012-04:00

A few years ago a friend of mine, Jeff, came up with an idea "The Happy Fat Man". Jeff hoped to market shirts and other items with the HFM image emblazoned on it. Unfortunately, he couldn't draw so he asked me to design it. The original image was a jolly fellow based on Jeff himself.
We depicted him golfing....
playing softball....
and enjoying St. Patrick's Day.
As often happens in business, momentum was lost due to seperate events and the line died. It was an interesting experience designing for multiple sizes. I had to avoid all my usual feathering and shading and stick to a strong line. There was a website, www.happyfatman.com, that is no longer operational. There is still a Happy Fat Man page at cafepress.com with these images available on various items. I have no idea if the Fat Man is coming back.

IF - memories

2008-09-04T17:43:00.004-04:00

This week's theme for Illustration Friday is memories. This picture is based on my great grandmother who lived to be 102. She lost a great deal of of her memories by the end of her life but she is still in mine. This is her second appearance in one of my pictures.

Thomas

2008-08-26T22:29:00.004-04:00

I didn't do this painting. It was painted by my son, Thomas, for the Assemblies of God National Youth Fine Art Festival. He received the Award of Merit for 2 dimensional art - Kappa Tau Division (college age). So now as the proud father, I have to boast about it. His mother (my wife) is proud, too.
24"X20" Acrylic on canvas.

IF - Detach

2008-08-21T20:28:00.002-04:00

My first drawing for illustrationfriday.com. The theme this week is "detach". Pen and Ink with lamp black watercolor wash and drybrush.

Baseball cap

2008-08-14T23:04:00.001-04:00

A still life of my Yankee cap. It was a present for my son. 5" X 7" acrylic on hardboard.

The Withers

2008-08-13T22:35:00.003-04:00

A few years ago my mother showed me an old photograph of my great-grandparents and my grandmother taken sometime around 1919 , the year they immigrated from England. The year is a guess based on the apparent age of my grandma in the picture. I took the picture home, scanned it and cleaned up all the scratches and stains. I was able to give a cleaned up copy in a frame to my mother along with the original. While I was cleaning up the image I became fascinated with my great-grandparents' apparent discomfort with getting their picture taken. We are used to getting our pictures taken all the time, but this was probably quite an event for them. The picture appears to be taken in front of a backdrop. They are wearing overcoats which leads me to guess that it was taken by a street photographer. My great-grandparents are leaning into each other awkwardly and staring at the camera. Grandma is standing between them with a hand on her hip calmly looking into the lens. She seems much more comfortable. Just like the young lead the way with new technology now.
After working on the photo I decided to do a painting of the picture. The colors are, of course, a guess. Great-grandpa was wearing a pin in the photo which I decided should be an American flag pin. And I changed the background to a ocean pier, symbolic of their immigrating.
I was very close to my grandma and great-grandma, but I never knew my great grandfather. This painting was a way to connect to the part of my family no longer with us.
I continue to be fascinated with the photograph. A copy is pinned on the memo board over my drawing table.

Jacob and Esau

2008-07-30T23:44:00.003-04:00

I have recently been reading Andy Wales blog "Panel Discussions". He has some interesting stuff on his blog regarding using comics in the classroom and some neat bible comics. It inspired me to get this out of my pile. I did this in 1996 as a series of one page chapters. It was printed in the monthly Sunday School newsletter at my church. Previous to this I did an adaptation of Jonah that will never again see the light of day. I'm too embarrassed by it. Jacob and Esau, on the other hand, isn't too bad. I was still learning how to ink with a brush so it's rough in spots and the lettering is shaky. But, I don't cringe (much) when I look at it, so here it is.

The Man Looked Bored

2008-07-23T12:07:00.002-04:00

This is a colored sketch for the Art By Committee challenge on James Gurney's blog. The challenge was to illustrate the phrase "the man looked bored". I drew the image in sepia ink. I colored the man with watercolors, using a limited palette of burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and mars black to give him a dull look. All the creatures and activity outside are in acrylic. It looks rushed because it was. Of course, the challenge is supposed to be a sketch. I have to force myself to be loose and not worry about the details I would normally fret over.

Wild Thing

2008-07-17T15:59:00.003-04:00

I have long been a Maurice Sendak fan. I love "Where The Wild Things Are" and his other works. My favorite when I was a kid was one he didn't write but illustrated; "Mr.Rabbit and the Lovely Present" by Charlotte Zolotow. I still have my copy. It's held together with yellowing scotch tape (Mom's not an archivist). It's a very peaceful book as opposed to "Where The Wild Things Are", which I learned to love later in life, probably because it was fun to read to my kids.

Today I was looking at all my Wild Things stuff in my studio (including the t-shirt I was wearing) and decided to draw my own Wild Thing. He doesn't compare to Bernard or Moishe, but I like him okay. I call him Knute.

Red pear

2008-07-14T19:09:00.003-04:00

The last of the pear paintings. 5" X 7" acrylic on board.

D'Anjou Pear

2008-07-13T15:51:00.003-04:00

Yet another pear painting.

Bartlett Pear

2008-07-10T23:34:00.003-04:00

Another pear painting. Same dimensions as the last.

Bosc Pear

2008-07-09T16:27:00.003-04:00

A small still life of a bosc pear - acrylic 5" X 7". Part of a series of pears.

Entering the cave

2008-06-11T14:12:00.002-04:00

Another sci-fi picture in ink wash. This one is not from a particular story. It was inspired by a closeup of a condor's face in Smithsonian Magazine. I'm not sure what they are finding in the cave.

The Dark Light Girl

2008-06-04T18:19:00.002-04:00

An illustration inspired by "the Dark Light Girl", a short story by Alan Dean Foster. I did it as an exercise in ink wash. The subject is a girl that glows in the dark. It was a challenge to depict the subject as the source of light.

Soccer

2008-05-30T12:15:00.003-04:00

An ink and watercolor piece of kids playing the "Beautiful Game".

Alligator wrench

2008-05-28T17:08:00.004-04:00

A still life of an "alligator wrench". It is an early style of adjustable wrench. The mouth has a smooth side and a toothed side that conform to the sides of the nut you're turning. It is also neat looking and a good subject for a painting.
Acrylic on board 5" X 7"

Cutbelly

2008-05-23T15:01:00.002-04:00

Here's a picture of Cutbelly the werefox from Michael Chabon's Summerland. A fantasy book he wrote a few years ago that involves elves, indian legends and baseball. It's no Narnia, but it has a lot of cool imagery that makes for a good illustration exercise.

ABC Castle

2008-05-14T15:22:00.003-04:00

Another pen and ink drawing. This one was done for the Art By Committee challenge on James Gurney's blog. They are a lot of fun. This week you had to work from the line ;

"It may have been a castle, but it was unlike anything you'd see in history books. An alien hand had drawn the blueprints; I was willing to bet on that."
I'm still working on my pen technique, so I did a more finished drawing. I hope it gets a laugh.

You can see what other people did at www.gurneyjourney.blogspot.com

Birdbeard

2008-05-08T23:32:00.002-04:00

I haven't done any straight pen and ink in a while. So I did this. I felt rusty with a pen, but I hope to get better with practice.

Nectarine and Plum

2008-05-06T20:56:00.000-04:00

Another still life I did a while ago.

Groundhog

2008-04-29T14:54:00.001-04:00

Here's a groundhog. He is annoyed that I'm not posting more.

I'll try to do better.

Jazz

2008-04-25T13:48:00.002-04:00

I entered this in a contest to illustrate the poster campaign for the Syracuse Jazzfest. It's an attempt to show a connection between the early forms and modern forms of jazz. There's a classic double bass player representing the Ellington/Basie era playing with a "modern" looking fusion type playing a 5 string electric bass guitar. I also tried to capture the sense of joy musicians can have when playing well together. I depicted bass players because they're the coolest musicians, of course.

I didn't win. The woman who did win did a great job. I would have picked hers, too.

A Questionable Fishing Technique

2008-04-22T11:28:00.002-04:00

Here is another illustration from "My Brushes with Death and Other Outdoor Blunders" by Steven Paul Barlow. It's a depiction of Steve's ancestor and his ineptness at fishing.

I won't be posting anymore illustrations from the book. If you want to see the rest, you'll have to buy a copy. It is available here. It's a very funny book.

More art by committee

2008-04-18T12:55:00.002-04:00

I haven't posted in a week. I've been out of town. But I did get another picture onto James Gurney's blog.

The manuscript excerpt to illustrate is "...sandals where they were mired. His sword he kept, although the scabbard went the way of the rest of his armor. Left naked except for his linen tunic, he was thankful that it was late June and the waters had lost the bite in their chill.
Turning his head, he saw that someone was looming up out...."

So, of course, Conan gets pantsed.

Dwight!!

2008-04-10T23:39:00.002-04:00

A double caricature from my son's favorite show. I had less trouble with the faces than I did with getting the background where I liked it.

Penguin

2008-04-07T19:43:00.003-04:00

A couple of kids meeting a new friend. I think the boy has a more realistic view of the implications of meeting a large waterfowl in your neighborhood.
Acrylic on paper.

The Great Race

2008-04-04T23:14:00.004-04:00

This was done for an illustration contest sponsored by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Entries had to illustrate the phrase; "Contestants in the great race are barreling towards the finish line...and the most unlikely contestant wins!"

I conceived of a story wherein a young girl, let's call her "Alex", has to compete in a race in gym class. She doesn't like competition and is intimidated by the over-competitive boys. However, Alex is a dancer and decides to don her ballet slippers before the race. Confident in her slippers she outruns the boys and wins, crossing the line with a grand jeté.

My picture didn't win, but it was a good exercise.

Art by committee

2008-04-02T22:54:00.007-04:00

I have a picture on James Gurney's blog! James Gurney is an incredibly gifted artist and the creator of Dinotopia.

Periodically, he posts a random sentence from a manuscript and challenges his readers to illustrate it in a sketch. He and some artist friends do this when they get together. I took the challenge and sketched a scene after the phrase, "A wind—not moving air but currents of force—rose up and tore at her," . It can be seen here. Of course, I had to do a fart joke.

When I e-mailed Mr. Gurney my sketch, I introduced myself and thanked him for his blog. He sent me a very gracious reply. He is a class act.

gurneyjourney.blogspot.com is a great resource for artists. James teaches art history, color theory and art technique on the blog. He shows how he creates fantastic scenes from his imagination using models, both human and constructed, and the knowledge he's gained from what appears to be nonstop figure and landscape painting. He seems to do this for no renumeration. Just because he wants to share something he loves doing. His blog has been a godsend for a cartoonist like me who is still trying to figure out this painting thing.

Checkers

2008-03-31T12:02:00.003-04:00

This is a still life of my stuffed dog, "Checkers". It was a gift to me when I was a baby and my mother kept it intact over the years. You can see some of the repair stitching near his eye. Checkers lost the bell that was stitched in his ear and he's no longer white and red (more like light gray/brown and red). But he's still with me.

Acrylic on panel 5"x7"

Gone fishing

2008-03-28T09:11:00.005-04:00

Another illustration from My Brushes with Death and Other Outdoor Blunders. Steve is devoted to his fishing.

It was exciting when the book came out. I have had drawings published in small newsletters before, but this was a real hardbound book! Just like in the bookstores! It really inspired me to get serious about illustration. Hopefully there are more books to come.

Peppers

2008-03-26T09:32:00.004-04:00

A couple of still lifes of peppers.

Both are 5"x7" acrylic on panel.

Peppers on black velvet.

Ripping off Jack Kirby

2008-03-22T18:06:00.003-04:00

Here's a painting taken from the cover of Fantastic Four #3.

It was done for a good friend of mine who was moving away. We have both outgrown superhero comics but still love the imagery. He likes the Fantastic Four in particular so I decided to be a "destitute man's Alex Ross" and paint this for him as a going away gift. That's Mike and his family on the roof in the lower right. It is currently hanging in their gallery/family room/basement. And I am honored.

Our Last Campout

2008-03-20T17:46:00.006-04:00

This is an ink and wash illustration from "My Brushes with Death and Other Outdoor Blunders, a Family Man's Guide to Hunting and Fishing Woe" written by my friend, Steven Paul Barlow. It is a collection of humorous columns he wrote for an outdoor magazine. Most of the stories are about Steve's ineptness at hunting and fishing. Knowing him, I suspect he exaggerates his incompetence.
This drawing was for a story written as if he was sharing pictures from his family's last camping trip. The pictures tell a tale of disaster.
This structure made it fun to draw all the little scenes in the pictures. It ended up looking almost like an avant-garde comic strip.

Another still life. A very small medicine bottle and a button. 4" x 6" acrylic on panel.

Football

2008-03-19T12:23:00.003-04:00

It was football season and I wanted to do a sports picture. My nephews weren't available to pose for the picture I wanted to do, kids playing football. An image came to me of a Paul Bunyan type legendary football player and did this in watercolor and gouache.

The Lion lays down with the Lamb

2008-03-18T09:53:00.005-04:00

This is a humorous illustration based on a bible verse that doesn't exist. The actual verse is :

"The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them."

I think we put the Lion and the Lamb together because they are both used biblically as descriptions of Christ. If I painted the leopard and the goat, most people wouldn't get it. I wouldn't get it. If I painted all the animals listed it becomes "Peaceable Kingdom" and the gag is diffused. Maybe I'll try it sometime.

Here's another still life. Pine cones from in front of my old office. Acrylic on panel 5"x7".

First post

2008-03-16T22:48:00.003-04:00

Hello! This is the first post on my new blog. I am starting this as a way to post my art and talk about it. I anticipate producing a professional website eventually, but until then I will be putting up pieces old and new.

I have just retired from my previous job and am pursuing my long held aspirations to doodle full time. Over the years I have done some illustration work on the side while working a steady job. Now I am learning what it takes to make a go of it full time. I am finding it's very complicated. Hopefully my work and I will hold up.

This is a piece I did for my portfolio in 2002. It was inspired by a friend's mishaps while dog sitting. My friend is not a little girl and I'm pretty sure she didn't fly through the air. But otherwise I think it's a pretty accurate depiction. I enjoy working in a "cartoony" style like this.

I also enjoy working realistically. This is a small still life (5" x 7") that I did recently. I was inspired by the "painting a day" movement. A painting a day is a pretty rigorous standard that I have no illusions about maintaining, but I will keep doing the small pieces from time to time.