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!

New Contest...

...and NO voting on this one!  Hooray!  It's a contest sponsored by deviantArt and The Truth...that group that makes the commercials about what happens when you smoke, what the companies put in cigarettes, etc. etc.  The rules were a bit odd and I was sort of confused by them but I think I got what they wanted.  It's called the "Make Ugly" contest and you were supposed to use one of four factoids as inspiration for your monster.  You can read the rules and the factoids here.  Perhaps it will make a little more sense then...

Looking through the entries I assume it is filled entirely with people who sort of understood the concept or (and I think this more likely) stupid children who saw the term "monster" and went nuts.

So I came up with an idea with an overall theme and concept.  I went with the "mutant" factoid.

I decided to use a 50's horror movie poster as the basis for my idea.  Many big thanks to my lovely wife for helping with (okay...DOING) the digital wording on the poster.  I really don't expect to win as according to many there is a large "digital art" preference on the deviantArt site.  I'm not sure but we will see in a day or two.  That's the other great part.  I waited until the last day so I won't have months and months of waiting on this one!

Doodlin'...

This is what happens when I get bored. Either while at work, home, or "other"...I usually try to have a sketchbook or barring that...

...work papers that I may or may not need again.

Sometimes I get lucky and find a whole piece of paper (or the back of something to be thrown out). Let the doodling begin!

I recommend mindless doodling. It helps my thinking processes immensely. Just blank out, doodle, and let whatever answers you are looking for wash over you. It's like graffiti zen.

Poe Quotations (Poe-tations?)

A few weeks ago, a co-worker asked if I would donate something for a yearly fund raiser at work. I said sure, if I have time. I thought about what I wanted to do and I found an Edgar Allan Poe quote that I liked and thought was fit for a funny illustration. This is what I came up with...

They seemed happy with it so we'll see how much money it brings in. It funds educational programs for the museum so if you want to be involved here is the event that I donated this piece to. Get involved and make some kids smarter!

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.

New Beginnings and Farewells...

All of today's offerings are toon-based. It's been a toon-tastic kind of week.

First off, I did a"thank you" piece for an old college buddy.  He and his friends do a weekly podcast called Dinner 4 Geeks.  It is a fantastic little podcast going over all aspects of geekly pursuits.  Comic books, tv shows, movies...everything.  However, I noticed that they don't really have photos of themselves so you can't get a mental picture of them while they're talking.  So I did this for them:

I liked it.

And second we come to the "farewell" portion of the title.  This week I am losing two of my cashiers from the day job.  So I thought I would do each of them an individual card.

(The second card is for the "Walking Dead" fan who is moving to California.)

I wish them both well but I'm gonna miss them.  Such is the world of not paying good help enough money.