He Was...

He was a Southern boy. He liked unsweet tea and pecan pies baked by Southern girls.

He loved football. Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket fan through and through (and I never held that against him). He cussed the Falcons constantly (although he ALWAYS knew the score and the highlights of exactly how they "had blown the damn game").

He was a highly decorated Vietnam veteran who still had nightmares of it nearly 40 years on. Some things aren't that easily forgotten.

He loved his family. He loved his kids and his grandkids and they loved him. He loved my dog and my dog loved him and my dog has never been wrong about people.



Nearly 3 years ago he walked down the aisle of a small country church and gave to me that which was most precious and important to him. For that I will always be indebted and grateful.



My father in law lost his battle with leukemia Saturday morning with my wife and her brother at his side. We would have done anything for his pain to end but we would do just as much to still have him here with us. And we will all miss him terribly every day.

Goodbye Papa Greer.

Olifant Sunday! (And a contest!)

Years ago, when I was fortunate enough to take a trip to Africa, we went to Kruger National Park. One of our stops inside the park was Olifants Rest Camp. It had lodging and a gift shop, but most importantly a stunningly broad overlook of the Olifants River. It was here we learned that "olifant" is just the Afrikaan word for "elephant". Ever since I have loved that word. Anyways...

Last summer, my wife and I made a visit to Zoo Atlanta for a day of fun and a day of reference photo taking. I made posts from that trip last year here and here.

Here's the latest offering...



This is one of the zoo's big girl elephants. I cannot for the life of me remember their names right now, but I highly recommend visiting them. They are so much fun to watch. (As well as everything else down there.)

And here is the second and most important part of my post today. The contest portion! I've been hinting and promising something for a few weeks now and here it is. The first view of the (potential) cover of the children's book I've been working on!



Let me know what you think! Would you pick up a book with that cover on it? It will NOT have the Paintmonkey Studios watermark on the bottom right corner but for legal reasons I need to protect this one a little more.

So here is the contest: The first person to answer CORRECTLY in the comments below wins. I want the name of the artist AND the name of the artwork that inspired this cover art of mine and you will receive a piece of Paintmonkey art! (A 6"x8" pen & ink/watercolor. Your choice of subjects.) The contest will run until NEXT Sunday, February 19th at noon Eastern Standard time. Unfortunately I cannot ship anything outside of the U.S. as that is just too expensive for this little contest.

Good luck, everybody!