Final submission for Drawergeeks: the GRRRR face. This one I am happy with. Ben Grimm has always been a favorite character, physically, emotionally, he is a great one. I hope that I have done him a bit of justice.

just another bad wake up. Actually, couldn't sleep, so I tried another self-portrait GRRRRRR face. Eh. Win some, lose some.

Just back from Santa Fe. First time ever. Sheesh, it is an Artist's Disneyland. More galleries than I could enter. Got to go to the Andreeva Portrait Gallery and to Klaudia Marr. Two of my favorites. Breathtaking work. Everyone was really nice, and the chilies... shoosh! Watch those lil' varments. I did some sketching in the thin air. The light is worth the trip alone.

For the next Drawergeeks... maybe. Right now I am just trying to come up with something passable. May go an entirely different route tomorrow. -creatively confused.

early drawing for "the GRRRRR face" for Drawergeeks. I tanked on Shazam last time so big, I have got to turn in around. So I am working on self portraits, and maybe an animal or two to redeem myself.

Drawergeeks submission 2: Dr. Sivana Teeth and all.

Drawergeeks submission: SHAZAM!! My take on one of his villians, Black Atom.

I just loved the name Jack Sparrow. It goes so well with Jenny Wren. I had the idea for an animal interpritation for Jack for a couple of days. This is the sketch for possibly a final somewhere down the line. He just looks so... SASSY!!!

Wednesday, 6am, far from home... no coffee. This could be... bad.

our trip back home. We got stopped by the ever astute overland protection agency due to some travel sized toothpaste being not in a stapled plastic 1 quart sized bag. It was only in a Pint sized plastic bag. The fellow on the upper left was allowed with no checks to his person. (in truth, there was nobody with a hook for a hand and a bleeding bowling bag trying to enter security. But the drawing was fun, so I had to concoct a story to fit it in.)
The individuals sitting across the aisle from me on the flights back home. Very nice people. The whole trip, everyone we met was genuinely nice, and friendly. It is good to be stay in the mid west. It is good for me.

My trip mates, Reuben and Chuck. They made the time away from home easy. We laughed, worked, and I learned. What more can I ask?

I hadn't submitted anything from my sketchbook for quite a while. No reason other than I have been preoccupied. I got a beautiful gift from my lovely wife. A book of Burt Silverman's figure drawings. It is just stunning. As stunning as my wife is. So I have been playing with sketching around when I can.

DrawerGeeks: Snow White.
It is done. The first DrawerGeek submission for the new year. I set out to do this digitally, but fear set in. So I got some colored card stock, put on my fuzzy bunny slippers, and put a whoopin' on the evil Queen.

Joker:

Don't know why I have this thing for smiley men with pointy teeth and pancake make-up right now. Must be a phase I'm going through... and I never forget a phase.

Don't know where or why, just glad it came out and onto the paper. Now it no longer lurks in the imagination. It has a face. It has been dealt with... I don't know why I write that stuff. I had a bad lunch (no good cookies) and just started scribbling. Sheesh. Got a cool start a the sketch for Mr. Sunshine here.

just fooling around on a rainy Saturday. I tried to work on some painting but my heart just wasn't into it. It is one of those blah days where I want everything done for me, even inhaling. The holidays are over, the packages are opened, the friends and family that came to visit have all gone back to their own tasks and checklists. It is time to slip the harness back on and get back to work.

But it sure was fun to run around freely for a while... hmmmm, when is vacation scheduled? Let's see....

Chicken for Christmas Dinner? Oh, chicken with Christmas Dinner. An escapee from some local coop created quite a coup (get it?) by showing up at the back door of a Mr. Milton Winterbottom of Proveit, Missouri Christmas morning. When asked whether the suprise guest was going to be welcomed to dinner or welcomed as dinner, Mr. Winterbottom could only reply, "Well, I was taught to love all animals... especially those that make a fine gravy."

The Bell Christmas Card 2006 (the first in 9 years) is complete. The story comes from Great Grandma George. The tale was used to keep overly energetic or misbehaving children in line. But when the kids were starting to get out of line, the reminder was brought up that cardinals carried Santa’s Helper Elves on official business. So if a cardinal was near, that Santa’s elves must be close by watching and keeping a list of good deeds and bad deeds to report back to “Mr. C.” I torqued the verbiage to make it a bit more fanciful.

Then Grandma said, “Do you know why the Cardinal chose red for its color?
They are red so as match Santa’s coat. It is a sign of high respect and honor, almost like a Royal Guard. The cardinals carry the helper elves, the ones that keep notes on boys and girls all over everywhere. That is how Santa knows who is good and who has not been good. So whenever you see a cardinal, you know that one of the helper elves must be somewhere near by.”

From this week's Drawergeeks: Raggedy Ann and Andy. Having no history with the original books, I decided to take a route of making a Gothity Ann.

This is a section of the piece that I am really trying to finish for Christmas. So much to do, so much to learn. This is a big dice roll. I haven't worked to this level of detail with this technique on a deadline. Can you say "bit off more that I can chew?" I thought you could. I would... but my mouth is full.

Page from the sketchbook. The first of the Capistrano mission sketches. There are parts that I like, but over all, it looks like a first sketch, tentative and a bit cautious. Eh, they'll get better. Their prelims afterall. Once the Holidays are over I can get back to pushing to get a series of final drawings done and look for a show. Goal for 2007.