HOLIDAY!

There just aren't enough holidays for SocMo, so he has created his own HOLIDAY. It is called SOCMOS.

The rules and regulations governing SOCMOS rival the U.S. tax code in sheer volume. However, it basically works like this. Pick any day AFTER Christmas but BEFORE New Years and declare it SOCMOS.

On that day, when you get up (sleeping in is highly encouraged) the first thing you do is eat a banana and yell, "Merry Socmos!" From that point on, you are to do ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING YOU WANT FOR THE REST OF THE DAY!

If you want to go to the mall and shop the after Christmas sales... so be it! If you want to lay on the couch, watch TV, and eat leftovers till you puke... so be it! If you want to vacuum the house.... STOP! That is NOT allowed! Nothing resembling work is tolerated on this day. However, if you want to vacuum nekkid, wearing only a big red nose and antlers, this IS permitted. This is one of the loopholes covered in the SOCMOS rules and regulations volume 17 section 42.

Merrrry SOCMOS!.... enjoy!

IMAGINE

click to enlarge

After watching King Kong, SocMo could only IMAGINE what it would be like to be 25 feet tall. I IMAGINE you will understand SocMo's gesture better after you have seen the movie... which is incredible.

hello SocMo

6x8 oil on panel

I was inspired recently by the small paintings on Leif Peng's website. Thanks to Leif, I now know that this style is known as kawaii. I think of it as the HELLO KITTY style. Big heads... and OH so cute! I tried some plein air landscape painting this summer (I haven't got the hang of it yet... but that's another story) and had some small canvas panels and water soluble oil paint setting around. I thought I would have a go at painting SocMo in this style. I am still not very adept at using oils. I could have done something quicker with less mess using Adobe Illustrator... but It IS fun to use an actual brush now and then. What I miss the most is not being able to hit the redo button. I can make endless changes and try out color after color with digits. I have one shot at choosing the correct color when I paint... I CAN'T HANDLE THE PRESSURE! Choosing the background color was a HUGE decision... and I'm still not sure about it. Oh, well....

SURPRISE

In a SURPRISE move, SocMo gave Rudolph the night off and led Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve!

BEHIND THE SCENES
Didn't know SocMo could fly? ...SURPRISE! SocMo's uncle was a flying monkey in the Wizard of Oz. He gave SocMo his flying jacket. I was always both fascinated and frightened by the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. They may have been scary, but those monkeys sure had some snappy jackets!

whipped cream!

This was one of my favorite albums from 1965. SocMo did a great job on the vocals and an excellent job playing the maracas.

SocMo had just finished eating a crate of Readi Whip he had found when this picture was taken.

BLUE

What is under SocMo's cap? It's BLUE hair! Good Golly Bum!
... SocMo is a Simpson!


BEHIND THE SCENES
I never would have guessed that you could make a hit show with yellow people. I never would have guessed that you could sell people water in a bottle. I never would have guessed that I would be drawing a sock monkey. My crystal ball has been out of commission for a long time!

Here are some preliminary doodles I did on this week's idea. I had been thinking of doing SocMo in various cartoon styles. I was wondering how he would look as a Simpson. When I saw the word for this week, I was playing around with the idea and BINGO... that iconic BLUE hair came to mind. Then I was trying to find something else to add to the scene. I like the little side kick. I think they make a good team... Mutt and Jeff. Anyway, it was fun to do.

SMALL

SocMo and his SMALL friend, MiniMo, like to get together and sing "It's a SMALL world" ...until people start throwing bricks at them.

BEHIND THE SCENES
This week I thought I would add another ingredient into the soup. Along with the WORD of the week and SOCMO, I added the classic comic strip KRAZY KAT and stirred it all up. This is what came out... it was great fun!

FREE

Suddenly during FREE fall, SocMo discovered he had packed his lunch... and not his chute!

Did I mention it was a FREE skydiving lesson :o)
Please feel FREE to leave me a comment!

THE REST OF THE STORY
I found myself with some time to kill this weekend while I was in a university photography studio. I found a Bic mechanical pencil laying around... and then some paper... so I doodled up some ideas for this weeks word. I thought you might like a look behind the scenes on this one.

STRENGTH

Sometimes it takes more STRENGTH than SocMo has to open a bag of chips. And when it does open... they go everywhere!

NIGHT

At NIGHT when the moon is full... SocMo turns into a legendary weremonkey. Be afraid... be VERY afraid!

Hey... I have posted some other things besides my Illustration Friday things on the blog now... take a look!

BROKEN

SocMo bought some TROUSERS on eBay... but when he got them, they were BROKEN!

By popular demand, SocMo products are now available! Just click on the link on the sidebar.

enjoy!

REMOTE

SocMo posed by this sign while on vacation this summer. It was a very peaceful place. He enjoyed playing count the vultures and prairie dog toss. When you are thinking of a place to get away from it all... think Remote!

Note: I went to a choral concert this afternoon and took along my sketchbook. It was nice to listen to good music and do a little drawing at the same time. I layed this out with a blue pencil and then inked it in with a Pilot Razor Point. At home I scanned it and put some color on it with Photoshop. I am using this as a way of doing some expeirmenting with Photoshop.

COLD

Here is a little Star Wars trivia. In episode 5 when Hans Solo was frozen in carbonite, SocMo jumped in after him and was quick frozen also. This is the coldest SocMo has ever been.

LOST

What do the numbers mean?
I don't know.... I'm totally LOST!

FLOAT

I stumbled across Illustration Friday this week. It looks like something that could be fun. SO..... I went over to Blogger and made myself a free blog to put pictures on. I am still trying to figure out how Blogger works. I did a quick little doodle for this weeks topic "FLOAT" just to see if I can make this all work.

If this DOES acutally work... this will be my first entry into Illustration Friday... Woo Woo!