The New-ness

The Paintmonkey is expanding the empire! Okay, we just got a dedicated website that combines everything in one place, but it feels like a big step. But one thing that isn't changing is the work!

I have a project I'm working on that requires a tree. I've not focused a lot on trees in the past, so a little research was required. I had to renew my library card so I walked to the local branch and took some sketch supplies with me. Here are the results...

Not a bad start...but not EXACTLY what I'm looking for. It's getting there. I'll find it.

And I hope you enjoy this new platform for Paintmonkey art.

Action Ideas

Sometimes I jot down quick little things that come to me.  This is one of them.

It was just an idea I got since I've been re-reading the Tarzan novels my grandfather bought me a long time ago.  Also inspired (not a little) by the Frazetta sketchbook my wife got me for my birthday.

Snow-cation 2014: The Icening

We're stuck inside for Atlanta's second go-round of wintry bluster this year.  Today's contribution is simple: snow makes me think of Young Harris College and my fantastic friends from there and getting to stay inside means I will inevitably start sketching.  So then I get this:

Easy connection to make!  Stay warm, everybody!

Aaaaah! I Wasn't Sleeping...I Swear!

It's February already!  And I haven't posted ONCE this year!  I swear though, it is because I am swamped with projects.  Work, a couple of family projects, and the infamous book I've been working on for FAR too long (but I am very close to completion).  But I figured I could show a couple of things I'm doing so as to not let my lease on this space expire.

 Sketch-ey goodness for the coming year!

First up, a work-up for a niece requested painting...

Next, the first idea I had for a new series that I will begin work on shortly.  (It probably needs an explanation, but I'm not going to.  It's more fun to leave it as a mystery.)

And finally a new sketch of my best model recently...Jasmine.

I'm gonna try her in watercolor soon.

All in all looking to be a good year!

Texas Goodbyes and Stereotypes

I know I've been gone again.  But I really have been working.  Just too busy to post anything.

So at the day job we lost another cashier.  Sad, because she was a wonderful employee and the only one who talked sports with me!  A true loss for the museum.  But, her husband (a pilot) was transferred to Dallas and her family is from Texas so I can't be TOO bummed out by it.  Good for them!

And as a Texas girl she is a graduate and die-hard supporter of Baylor University.  She even got me rooting for them!  So I came up with a card for her to wish her well.

And this week I have been watching the WNFR (Wrangler National Finals Rodeo).  I figured what a great link.  Even though the finals are held in Las Vegas, most people think "rodeo" when they think Texas so there you go.  Here's my sketches from late at night...

I've got more things in the works right now but I really can't show them until after Christmas.  (Surprises for people, you know!)

Savannah Sketching

The wife and I went down to Savannah this week for a little vacation.  (This is why there was no Tuesday Toonsday this week.  Sorry!)  We ate a lot of seafood and walked around enjoying the town.  And I mean WALKING.  So much walking.  Take our advice.  Don't walk that much.  Jump on one of those trolley tours.  Hijack it if you have to.

We started out by walking down to River street and checking out some shops.  At the end of the street we took a rest and I sketched the waving girl for a few minutes.

We got some tips about stuff to see from my friend Robby.  As the wife and I love old cemeteries, Bonaventure seemed a wonderful place to go.

Tattnall Way running down the length of the cemetery draped on both sides by live oaks and moss...

And here is one of the better carvings on one of the graves...

This week was a big learning experience for me in regards to creating art in the wild.  You might notice that both of these sketches seem a little hurried and unfinished.  This is because...THEY...found me.  "They" are these little insects.  Not the mosquitos.  Those I could tell because they were as big as fruit bats.  No..."they" were these tiny little bugs which took a chunk out of you like a bear trap.  So on both occasions I started working and the little beggars found me and I got up and ran away.

I also learned in Bonaventure that I need to cut down the size of my painting gear when walking around that much.  It gets HEAVY.

And my last sketch is of our hotel, the Thunderbird Inn.

This one got hurried a little, as well.  The sky was a lovely blue when I started but in the course of about 20 minutes started getting more and more grey.  I had to run back into the room before everything got rained on.

We had a fantastic time and absolutely will be going back.  There's just too much down there to see.

Time Constraints

Sometimes your life just gets in the way of doing all the stuff you want to do...like making cartoons with substance.  So you end up feeling (and making things) like this...

And just to show you I'm not COMPLETELY falling down on the job, here is the inked phase of a project I am doing for my alma mater...



So I guess technically this is a very successful Tuesday Toonsday.

It's Tuesday...Again!?!?!

Seriously...wasn't it just Tuesday last week?  Anyways, this week's Tuesday Toonsday is another from my "Creatures I Have Seen" line.  I know it's a been a little negative (most stories from the world o' retail are.)  So in an effort to be better, I am working on something new and positive for next week.  That's not to say negative won't slip back in.  Far from it.  I still find horrible things funny so in they will go.  But I will TRY to be more positive.

This week's entry:

Now I am not saying that single dads who go out with their kids are awful.  I know many single dads who are incredible parents and love their children very much.  I am pointing and laughing at the ones who pay NO attention to their offspring and then throw a credit card at them in order to maintain the familial "love".

BONUS!
I am throwing in the mountain lion mascot I've been working with.  I did this sketch a while back.

And then I finished it up as this...

Worked out okay...

Heroes and Friends* Revisited

*Now that Randy Travis is safely out of the hospital, I can use his line without fear of seeming insensitive.

This past week I went down to Saint Simon's Island.  A fellow alumni of Young Harris who lives in the Brunswick area had let me know about a retrospective being put on by the Glynn County Art Association.  The artist: why, none other than St. Simon's resident Mr. Jack Davis!  (Who, as you may recall...I am semi-obsessed with.)

Now unfortunately, my wife couldn't make it down on this trip.  I was forced to doing my secretive "meal drawings" alone.

I thought he was praying over his little continental breakfast for what seemed like a REALLY long time...just head down and not moving.  Then I noticed his phone behind the cup of juice.

Since the wife couldn't go, I had an extra ticket to the art opening and the accompanying panel discussion.  But I knew another of my fellow YHC alumna lives just north of the island in Savannah.  Robby was more than happy to take me up on the offer and Thursday night he headed down.  If you want to read some good stuff, be sure to check out Robby's blog Ramblings From the Tide.  He and his wife are both excellent writers.

Once Robby arrived, we headed over to the panel discussion.  Mr. Davis and his family were in attendance as well as many locals who obviously thought the world of him.

The panel was moderated by Nick Meglin, who used to be a writer and editor of MAD magazine.  Great stories and hugely entertaining, Mr. Meglin was actually interviewed with Robby beforehand by a local television station/internet pornographer/we're not really sure what they were.  If we get our hands on the footage I will be sure to post it.  It was really great.

The other two people on the panel were Mr. Jack Pittman, former president of the southeastern chapter of the National Cartoonists Society...

...and Mr. Tom Richmond, who is a current artist at MAD and is the new caricature hired gun now.  He is also extremely wiggly...

.

...and so he ended up looking like Nicolas Cage in my sketchbook.  (He does NOT look like Nicolas Cage.)

They all talked about Jack's influence and what he meant to each of them personally.  At the end of the discussion, Mr. Pittman presented a beautifully bound art notebook filled with cartoons from many of today's comic artists expressing their appreciation for Jack Davis.  The cover had an image of a self portrait that Jack had done, and they ran it through a 3-D printer to make a plaque for the cover.  Very cool.

We walked back across the street to the Glynn County Art Association.  I highly recommend if you have the chance to go see this exhibit.  Jack Davis drawings are amazing in print.  In person, they defy description.  Just go.  Thank me later.

Robby and I went up to Jack and his grand-daughter was kind of wrangling him and keeping the flow going.  She asked me if I had something I wanted him to sign and I replied "no actually...I have a gift".  I gave him a copy of one of my Bulldog calendars that I had written "thank you" on and signed.  He smiled warmly and seemed genuinely excited as he looked at it.  When everyone refers to him as a "true southern gentleman"...THAT is what they are talking about.  I will carry the image of Jack Davis smiling at my drawing for a VERY long time.

At the end of the evening, Robby got an old Bulldog clipping he had signed and we got our picture made with the man himself.  It was a wonderful evening.

...and it wasn't quite over yet.  More on that tomorrow.

Plein Air Practice

I've been working more on my plein air painting/sketching. For those that don't know that term, it means "paintin' outside". Which is usually what I call it. Anyhoo...

So I had today off as a co-worker is having her wisdom teeth out this week and I'm working the weekend for her. I thought I would take advantage of being off on a day I normally am not and try to go outside on one of the (semi) drier days we've had in a while. (As I type this the thunder is rolling in followed by what I presume to be another 8-10 inches of dampness.)

So I have seen this section of shops every day as I go to work and one day a few months ago, I thought to myself "you should paint those". So today I did.

As I sat there ALMOST done, A Clarkston police officer pulled a woman over for running a red light. Naturally she pulled over right in front of me so the police car was directly in front of what I was working on.

This next one is from last week. We took my Dad to dinner (belatedly) for his birthday. As we waited I got out the kit and the wife waited in the car, every now and then telling me I was going to get sun poisoning because I forgot a hat. (I didn't.) Here's what I got out of that one.

I'm still getting used to painting on my lap and the general hotness of it. I can't just confine my painting to those four days a year where the weather is perfect. But it's getting there.

Life and Loss

I'm going chronologically with this week's entry.

I have been lucky enough to have two women in my life who know WAY more about computers than I ever will and are both nice enough not to yell at me TOO much about my computer related catastrophes.  One is my beautiful wife and the other is our IT wizard at work.  A month or two back, my co-worker came to me and asked if I would do a cartoon portrait of her and her newly grown family.  I said sure and got all the needed pictures and reference materials.  A couple of weeks after that she announced that she would be leaving in July for San Francisco where her husband had gotten a job in software or something (seriously, I truly don't get computers).  And she wanted the drawing done for his first Father's day as a father.

I liked it and she did, too.  So happy (late) father's day!  All of us at work will miss you guys!

Secondly, my grandmother passed away last week.  I won't dwell on it except to say that it actually led to a nice day overall (all things considered).  My wife and I got to hang out with my family and I forget how much I like seeing them.  We went back to my aunt and uncle's house afterwards and while the kids ran around, and the adults talked about old times and new, and we all ate our fill of fine Southern grief-food, I sat out back and drew my uncle's dog Luger.  Luger was a hyperactive pointer who was just SO happy to see everyone.  And sniff them.  And point his large squarish head between your legs, genital comfort be damned!

I managed (quickly) to sketch this one while he momentarily took a break from running around and checking out everything.  There's about five other beginning sketches underneath this one.  He was a sweet dog though and actually pointed at a rabbit in the yard!

Appreciate the things you care about while you can!

Plein Air Coincidences

I went to see my parents yesterday, mostly so I could see my mother for her birthday today (happy birthday again, Mom!) but also to support their fire department's fund raising barbeque.  While on my way I was going over in my mind what I wanted to try and paint.  There's a great giant old tree by their house that I want to document as one enormous limb after another keep falling off.  I thought I might paint the firefighters sitting around the barbeque pit.  Finally though I decided to paint the old chicken house that I grew up working in.

I got to the house and spent an hour or so talking to my mother and brother.  At one point my mom asked me if I "knew what I was doing 35 years ago today?"  I did not.  I was 7.  I barely know what I was doing last week.  "We were waiting on our first batch of chickens."  Weird...did I subconsciously remember what the date was and THAT was why I had decided to paint the chicken house?

No, it's probably just a coincidence.

Also...I got some pencils I ordered in the mail.

So, I sketched one of our dogs while we watched a movie. A good day for art practice.

Life In A Waiting Area

They had come to get their dependable old car serviced.  They sat in the waiting area much the way they sat around the house...each engrossed in their own pursuits and thoughts.  He, reading the daily paper and for her, a comically oversized (for her, anyways) book.  The only interaction was when something caught his interest in the paper and he would lean over and point it out to her.  She would lean to him, making the appropriate comment, and then go back to her book.

They never looked up, so they never noticed me standing at the edge of the waiting area sketching the minimal beauty that was their relationship built by a lifetime together.

And A Happy New Year...(Finally)

I know, I know...I'm a terrible poster but I have been very busy. I'm several finished pages into the book I'm working on and I have my new submission for Prehistoric Times magazine. I've discovered I really enjoy putting these prehistoric animals into more realistic and less dramatic poses. (More on that in a later post...)

First the sketch...

And now the final version...

Now to be fair, I like both. But I feel like the sketch gets across the itching on the tree better. The head is further down and gives it a more active look. But again, I'm pretty happy with both.

I do have a favor to ask of my blog readers new and old. If you have a moment, how about you go over to this website and vote for my entry "Dawg Sports"? It only takes a second and you don't have to register for anything. I really would like to win mostly for the possibility of meeting my hero Jack Davis on a more personal level than the book signing I got to go to a few months ago. Really, the thought of him seeing my work is overwhelming and makes me a little giddy. Thanks in advance for your support!

Vacation Via Sketchbook: Part II

NASHVILLE! After a lovely drive through Virginia and eastern Tennessee we came to Music City. Highly recommended if you are a fan of music and or/history.

One of our first travels was downtown to visit the Parthenon.

Originally built over a hundred years ago for their centennial exposition of 1897, it was rebuilt with more permanent materials in the 20's and 30's.

During our stay our hotel they served a free breakfast every morning. There was a lady named (I kid you not) Sunshine, who brought you mints every day and gave you a hug. She had MUCH too much energy for me to try and draw. She was flitting around like a joy spreading hummingbird. Our fellow hotel guests...not so much...

Speaking of eating, we had dinner at a place called Caney Forks restaurant. Inside were all sorts of taxidermied animals like fish, bear, feral hogs, and of course deer. This was the one next to our booth.

We did all the stuff downtown, like the country music hall of fame and the historic Ryman theater but we were moving pretty good so I never had the chance to sit and work out some sketches down there. Next time.

However, on our last full day we drove out to the Hermitage, former home of President Andrew Jackson. Here is a gouache and watercolor sketch I did of the front of the mansion.

It's not as complete as I would have liked but the ant hill I was sitting in decided it was time for me to go.

And here is the tomb of President Jackson and his wife Rachel.

This was the only way I could capture the tomb. We had forgotten the camera back in the hotel room. I would have liked to compare some photos with the sketches and maybe worked out something a little more finished. Ah well.

Thus ends our Nashville trip. The better I get at this the more I can hopefully document on our next trip. Thanks for reading!

Sketchbook: Euro 2012

So most of my vacation week has been taken up with working on art projects, some light housecleaning (no, really honey...I am), but a lot of it has also been spent watching the Euro 2012 first round matches. Here are a couple of impressions I've taken away from them.

First is a sketch of Rivery, a player for the French National team.

He seems to be a very unhappy fellow. He is usually yelling at the opponents...or his teammates...or the referees...or really anyone who dares make eye contact.

And this is a sketch done of Blaszczkowski (geez...Poland just LOVES that alphabet, don't they?). This was just after he scored a blistering equalizer against a powerful Russian squad.

It's been a lovely week to not be at work.

Sketchbook: Tony Awards Edition

I watched the Tony awards this year for the second time in my life. The first time was last year when I stumbled across them being hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. I thought "eh, sure...he's funny. I'll give them a shot". Best decision. Not only was he brilliant, they made me want to go see some live theater. I still haven't but the desire is there.

So fast forward to this year. The other day, I got a new ink brush/pen thingie and have been playing with it to try it out. So while I was sitting there watching the Tony's I was doodling away in my sketchbook. These are the best results.


This one was the first one I did. They were doing a song from "Ghost: the Musical". Yep. THAT "Ghost". The Patrick Swayze one. Don't know if Whoopi is involved or not.


This was a performance from "Jesus Christ Superstar". Seeing this song made me realize I have no idea what that thing is about.


This is Ricky Martin in "Evita". That's about all there is to that. It's Ricky Martin in "Evita".

And this final one is my favorite...


"Nice Work If You Can Get It". I just liked the way this one worked out.

Dusty

Watching a concert film of ZZ Top this morning I felt the need to grab the old sketchbook and whip out a quick sketch of Dusty Hill. And here it is...

Lawd, I do love that "Little Ol' Band from Texas"!