talking cows

I finished up illos for another book last week. There is an island with talking cows, but get this... the cows don't know how to use colons or semi-colons! Can you just imagine the horror? Luckily, Calvin flys in and teaches the clueless cows about the punctuation. Whew! Here are a few sample illos.
the cover illo with Calvin flying in

a safe landing for Calvin, but he does not say, "take me to your leader" ...(sigh)

If you noticed there is no colon on the digital clock... give yourself 50 points!

RED

Q. What is black and white and RED all over?
A. an embarrassed zebra... hyuk hyuk hyuk...

This is one of the first jokes I can ever remember hearing. Of course the answer is "a newspaper." It took a bit for my little mind to realize that the word that sounded like RED was actually READ. Later came the variations on the original joke, one of them being the embarrassed zebra punchline. It seems like there was another one invloving a nun... but I don't remember it.

For a bigger view... just click on the image... and see ALL the embarrassed zebra goodness.

SUPER HERO

click to enlarge... if you dare
Faster than a speeding tricycle... more powerful than a two speed blender... able to leap tall lattes in a single bound. It's Super SocMo!

...well, wasn't this what you were expecting? :o)

Alas, just when there is a word I could get my teeth into, I have NO time to do anything more than this doodle. I slapped on some color and a halftone filter and this is how it turned out. Maybe things will settle down next week... and maybe they won't. Stay tuned, same BAT time... same BAT channel.

pigs, pigs, pigs...

Well, I spent all week working on a little book (16 pages) for first grade teachers. The pig has fallen out of his book and is searching the library to find the book he fell out of. He ends up in many scenes from various fairy tales. Finally he finds his book, but the Big Bad Wolf also finds him. Can you stand the excitement?

Anyway... after a week of drawing pigs, here are a few of the pages.

80s

(click to enlarge)
SocMo McFly checks his watch and hopes he can hit the magic speed of 88 mph in his DeLorean time machine to get Back to the Future.

The 80s produced some of my favorite movies. Let's see, there was the Empire Strikes Back, the Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., the Princess Bride, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Back to the Future, to name a few. Back to the Future is full of what the 80s was like with the skateboarding Marty McFly in his vest and the music of Huey Lewis and the News. This was one "heavy" movie. Things weren't "cool" in the 80s... they were "heavy" ... a running gag between Marty and Doc Brown in the movie.

Mr. Obvious sharpens a pencil (BUZZ)

What Ho! Mr. Obvious here. Have you ever been drawing and had your pencil point become unsharp? I used to say dull... but the pencil-Americans took offense at that. They aren't dull... not that there is anything WRONG with being a dull-American. Some of Mr. Obvious' best friends are dull... but I digress. Here is what we professional drawers (artist-Americans) do when this happens to us.

I searched the internets and found this automatic, electric pencil resharpening device. It only cost $129.95 and of course I bought the extended warranty for an additional $129.95. If anything goes wrong with it, I get a new one absolutely FREE! Is this a great country or what? Anyhoo... all you have to do is firmly, but steadily push the pencil into the resharpening hole, and it has a new point applied to it... while you wait!

Ha!... I just remembered the episode of Andy Griffith I watched last night. Aunt Bee made these horrible kerosene cucumbers... what a hoot! I laughed so much...

...and that Barney... he is SO funny! I remember the time he locked himself in the jail. You know, that show was best in black and whilte... when it changed to color it was never the same...

Ah, yes... the pencil... here we are all nice and pointy again. I was going to tell you another tip I have learned about this electric resharpening device... something about not getting distracted while using it. Now how did that go? I don't seem to remember... anyhoo, now I can draw fine details again.

There we go... I am drawing those fine lines again! Yippee! I do believe the quality of these pencils has been going down recently. They just don't seem to last like they did in the old days. I must fire off a letter to my congressman concerning this issue. Well, thanks for stopping by... and come back soon for more exciting professional art tips from Mr. Obvious.

Remember... if you don't think too good... don't think too much!

_________________________________________
earlier episodes of Mr. Obvious can be seen here and here.

New for 2007!

Welcome to the new and improved JONESAPALOOZA! For the new year I have been tweaking the old blog. You may notice some fancy new colors... a bit of change in the header... and the addition of some cool blog links. I hope to be adding more links soon. I also plan to post a lot more fun things on JONESAPALOOZA in 2007. Stop by and check things out.

Happy New Year!

Rumors were running wild about the possibilty of SocMo attending New Year’s Eve festivities with Britney Spears. She has been hanging around the “Mo” a lot since her recent dumping of that Federline guy. The rumors proved unfounded. In the end, SocMo chose to attend festivities with a different swine. (snort, snort)

PHOENIX

As the Phoenix bird rose from the flames, it had the horrible feeling that this time something had gone wrong...

a fun read!

Hey... I read a book! "The Ride of Our Lives" by Mike Leonard. Mike does fun little feature stories for the Today Show. He loaded his family and parents into two RVs and took them on a trip around the country ending up in Chicago for the birth of the first great grandchild for his mom and dad. There are adventures along the way. This is your average American family getting along on a road trip. It will make you laugh out loud... it may make you cry. You might just learn something about pursuing your dream. It is a very easy book to read... it just zips right along.

Included in the book is a DVD which has the segments that aired on the Today Show and more behind the scenes footage. The whole family seems to be comfortable with video cameras.

For a good time... read this book!

PEACE

...and grilled cheese toward men

Guess what? One week after I complained about people using old images for Illo Friday, I am doing it myself! Yep, I dusted off this old Christmas card from a few years ago and am posting it. HA! See... I am just like you guys! Anyhoo... this is the only way to post this week and wish everyone a happy new year!

Peace to all.

HELP

Santa's HELPer needs some HELP understanding the game plan.


Often when I click on an Illustration Friday link, I am taken to an image from someone's archives. And sometimes I need HELP understanding how the image relates to the word of the week... and I think THEY need HELP understanding the concept. The idea is for the word to inspire you to create something new. Oh, well... I will now climb down from my soapbox. :o)

I added a copyright symbol on this one to hopefully deter anyone from HELPing themselves to a free Christmas card.

Thanks to everyone for stopping by JONESAPALOOZA this year. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Tagged!

I have been tagged by MrsB for the Christmas Song game. I am to list 5 of my favorite Christmas songs and then tag 5 others to do the same. I have a little box full of Christmas tapes (cassette... not 8 track) and CDs. I pull them out each year and listen to them. My list will be nostalgic and... BONUS! come with little stories!

1. "There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays"- Perry Como
When I was a kid we had a record (vinyl... woo!) of Perry Como singing Christmas songs. This is about the only Christmas music I remember from that time. I found a CD of that record and when I play it, it's like stepping in the Wayback Machine when the world was a more simple place. Now if I could just find my Red Ryder BB gun...

2. "Christmas Island"- Leon Redbone
Nobody sings this song like Leon. When I was helping with a Cub Scout den, we had to do a skit for the December pack meeting. I had my guys in grass skirts made out of wrapping paper (with slits) paddling their canoe to Christmas Island. I thought it was the most creative skit of the night... but that's just me...

3. "A Christmas Together"- John Denver & the Muppets
Here is where I cheat. When my kids were small, we were big fans of the Muppet Show. This album has so many good songs that I couldn't pick just one. Listening to John Denver tell the story about little Alfie each year makes me think maybe there is hope for the world... maybe...

4. "Mele Kalikimaka"- Bing Crosby
Accept no substitutes! This is the only version to listen to. Play this one while decorating your Christmas tree.

5. "Gabriel's Oboe"- from "A Christmas to Remember" by Amy Grant
Hang onto your hat! We have moved up to 1999! This is one of my favorite Christmas CDs. The orchestration on it is wonderful. The cut of Gabriel's Oboe is just amazingly beautiful. It is on my short list of favorite songs... EVER. Speaking of Amy Grant... I also gotta add that since I live in Tennessee... her song Tender Tennessee Christmas is also one of my favorites. Amy lives in the same county I do... so we are practically realated... right?

So, that's my list... I could go on and on, but these are songs I listen to every year.

Now I get to tag 5 people...

MASK

Sometimes Santa puts on a MASK just to shake things up in the workshop.

spyboy

Here is a sketch and finished art for a little spot I did recently for a youth magazine.

MIGHT

INVENTION

SocMo's newest INVENTION is meat loafers. Shoes that you can wear around and when you get hungry... you can eat them!

CLEAR

SocMo knew he had goofed up when the hot chocolate he made turned out CLEAR.

SMOKE

SocMo always enjoys SMOKING a fine cigar...

WIND

"Zebra in a high wind" ...10x8 acrylic on panel


Here is something different for you. I have done some little acrylic paintings of animals in the past, and this is an idea that has been bouncing around in my head for a year or so. The Illo Friday word for this week (WIND) gave me the incentive I needed to go ahead and paint it. I made endless sketches of zebras trying to get the stylized look I wanted. I finally landed on one that was close enough. I don't think the final painting has quite the graphic impact I was hoping for. The real thing never quite matches the vision I have in my head. It seemed a lot funnier in my mind than it looks painted. Oh, well... that's about par for me. Does this happen to you?

So... what do you think? I welcome any comments or helpful suggestions.