the Walking Fred

A new zombie in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood… #inktober day 27

vampire beaver

Vampire Beaver for #inktober day 26

Ben Franklinstein

Famous Monsters from history… #inktober day 25

Flat Can Paintings!

If you live in the Nashville area you can see some of my flat can paintings at the Art and Invention Gallery in East Nashville. This is a friendly gallery that is fun to visit. I learned that some of the artwork and furniture that you see on the ABC TV series Nashville is from this gallery. Check it out!

Dr. Frankenstein

#Inktober day 24

Igor

"hump… what hump?" #inktober day 23

Frankenstein

#Frankenstein for day 22 of #inktober and #sketch_dailies

werewolf

Halloween is a coming! #inktober day 21

Doctor Who

Probably my favorite Doctor Who for #Inktober day 20

fancy cat

A fancy cat for #inktober day 19. I bought a new tip for my Copic brush pen and took it on a test drive...

zebra

just a zebra for #inktober day 18

fat cat

just a big fat cat for #inktober day 17

flying monkey

I added a bit of photoshop color to my #inktober drawing today.

You just can't have too many flying monkeys, can you? 

national grouch day

it's the day you have been looking forward to all year!  #inktober  day15

the Batman

I had some fun with the Batman… #inktober 14

Speeder Carrot

a Speeder Carrot.  #inktober day 13

Henzilla

Henzilla… #inktober 12

Border Collie

Border Collie - Micron on Post-it note for #inktober 11

Wednesday Addams

Wednesday Addams for #sketch_dailies and #inktober

fast cat

Picked up my Bic pen and whipped this out in seconds. #INKtober 9

Creature from the Black Lagoon

The Creature from the Black Lagoon taking his pet for a walk.

#inktober 8

pesky elephant

I dreamed there was an elephant in my bathroom and I could not get it to leave #inktober 7

Dalai Lama

#INKtober 6 …fun with words

What is #INKtober you ask? It was created by Jake Parker to encourage folks to work on their inking skills by making an ink drawing each day of October. I got behind on posting my drawings here, but now I am all caught up. Woo hoo!

thinking boy

#INKtober 5 …Think about it.

Catnip

#INKtober 4 ...Catnip with her bow and arrow

Panda

#INKtober 3 ...a happy little panda

Good Grief

#INKtober 2 …Peanuts first appeared on Oct 2, 1950 

Giraffosaurus

Pug

I thought it would be fun to draw a pug!

How to make a Frappuccino… or iced coffee

Several weeks ago I was eating my breakfast of scrambled eggs and having my morning coffee when I noticed I was breaking out in a sweat. It is against my policy to sweat before I even begin work, so I decided it was time to switch to my summertime coffee mode. Iced coffee… or rather my Faux Frappuccino.

Now, for the first time I am sharing my top secret formula and techniques with you. Hang on… here goes.

First, I use Cafe Bustelo coffee. It seems to be available everywhere and is about the least expensive coffee on the shelf. If you use some wimpy coffee, you will fail. This is espresso coffee and here is the deal. When you cold brew coffee you get a nice, smooth, non-bitter brew with minimal acidity. Cafe Bustelo works great for this.

Add 4 oz of coffee to 2 quarts of water. If you don't have a good scale, one and one half cups of coffee will get you really close to 4 oz. Stir this up and get rid of all lumps. It takes a little attention here to get all the grounds in contact with the water. 

Now, put the lid on your container and set it out for 10-12 hours at room temperature. That's it. Go live your life while it brews. I mix it up in the morning and finish the process before bed. 

OK… 10-12 hours later grab a big spoon and scoop out the floating coffee grounds. Then pour the coffee through a fine mesh strainer. I found my coffee filter strainer at the grocery store. Just hanging there. I strain the coffee into my nifty Rubbermaid carafe and set it in the refrigerator overnight. 

The next morning I have 2 quarts of chilled coffee concentrate which will last me about a week... depending on how much I drink. I have to use self control to avoid guzzling down the whole thing in a day it is so good!

So… now you are on your own. Making a coffee drink that you like is a personal taste kind of thing, so you better get busy figuring out what proportions work for you. 

You might try my version of a Frappuccino. I have found that if I pour 1/3 mug (my 16 oz mug) of coffee concentrate and 2/3 mug of milk and add two teaspoons of sugar and stir like mad (to dissolve the sugar) I will come up with something close to the milky Frappuccio that you buy at the store. You can use half and half to make it really good. Of course you can add some chocolate for a Mocha Frappuccino or whatever flavorings you like.

For iced coffee you might try first filling up your glass with ice, then fill it about half way with coffee concentrate and the other half with milk or half and half. Add sugar to your taste. If you like your coffee black just use water instead of milk. This is concentrate so don't try to drink it straight. 

With a little experimentation you will come up with your perfect summertime coffee drink.

enjoy!

Lobby Boy

the lobby boy from the Grand Budapest Hotel... just for fun

lunch time

tastes like chicken!

ukulele player

It's a bird... it's a plane... no, it's a ukulele playing dude in a bird suit. Go figure.

hipster