pork chop

Rumors that I have dropped off the face of the Earth are NOT true! I tripped just as I got to the edge, and didn't go over.

I have been distracted by various things lately such as working on TAXES, ugh... and getting my mower in shape for spring. I sharpened the blade and then proceeded to cut my finger REALLY good while putting it back on the mower. Anyhoo... this is a little job I did recently. It's for a bad joke about a pig doing karate... a pork chop. I don't write these things... I just draw 'em. :0)

GARDEN

SocMo is hoping for a bumper crop from his GARDEN this year...


I am barely making the Illustration Friday again this week. I found a bit of time that I could dash something out. I have planted donuts in my garden before, but they never seem to grow. I must be planting them the wrong time of the year...

LEAP

After his LEAP, SocMo realized his bungee cord was too long!

DUCK!

Some people throw things when they are mad. Can you believe it? The challenge on this little spot illo was to put something that fits a horizontal format into a vertical one. The idea here was that the guy is mad and chucked the football at the other guy's head. As I look at it now... I''m not sure this reads like that. Looks more like the other guy is not ducking, but just surprised by the football. I hope it works better in context. Oh, well...

come and get it!

Here is something fresh off the drawing board... all digitized and with extra cheese. I think it turned out pretty decent so I am slapping up here for fun. I think this illustrates a parable. Can you guess which one?

THEORY

SocMo tests his THEORY that toast always lands jelly side down.


Well, I squeezed a bit of time out to do another Illustration Friday word. Or in my case it is Illustration Monday night. Good thing TV is a vast wasteland tonight. But then it is pretty much always a vast wasteland these days. I tried using Painter again on this one. Still don't have a clue what I'm doing. I used one brush to color several items and then discovered that the opacity was set on 5%. After changing it to 100% it was really different. I tried a watercolor brush for a while then a pastel brush on the floor, then an oil brush on the wall. Then just smeared the oil brush around here and there. I can see that if I really worked at this I could maybe come up with some intersting painterly textures. Maybe someday I'll do that... but right now it is off to bed I go... :0)

Choose SocMo!

If you want change... I'm talking BIG CHANGE... choose SocMo as the next president. Nothing would be a bigger change than putting a sock monkey in the White House! (we could do worse)

What's that you say? You haven't seen SocMo in any of the primaries? Well, SocMo has been traveling from primary to primary in his SocMo for President hot air balloon. Unfortunately, this has been a huge tactical error. He arrives in each state about 2 weeks late for the voting. He only has a few minutes to shake two or three hands, kiss a dog, and restock his supply of Fritos and Dr. Pepper for the next flight.

Keep your eyes peeled... he may be fllying over your state right now!

LEGEND

I recently got the complete DVD movie collection of Indiana Jones. Last night I was watching the bonus disc and thought... now there's a LEGEND. So I did a quick drawing for the Illustration Friday LEGEND theme.

I decided if I am ever going to learn anything about Painter, I need to start SOMEtime... so I picked a hard pastel brush and scribbled on some color. There are just so many brushes I don't know where to begin. It's overwhelming. Might as well pick something and try it out this week. I hope to use Painter more this year and try to figure it out some.

One thing I learned from the bonus disc was that George Lucas originally named his movie Indiana Smith. When he pitched the movie, they liked the whole thing... except the name. He said, OK... how about Jones? Jones was fine... of COURSE! :0)

I'm looking forward to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull coming out this year.... woo hoo!

hug

Help dry the dishes and you may get a hug!

PLAIN

Well, it finally got kinda cold here in Tennessee... but nothing like it was in Green Bay last night. My face hurt just watching the game on TV! If you want to get a feel for being cold... just add a scoop of ice cream to your head like SocMo. Of course... you would have to be PLAIN nuts to do that!

Stitch

Each year during the holidays, SocMo manages to pop a STITCH!
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I would NEVER be guilty of overeating... nope not me.... I have tons of self control!
(pass the chocolate cake and ladle a little gravy over it, please) ...and I won't even mention that box of Moon Pies I got for my birthday that I have been munching on....

I never seem to have much time to devote to these Illustration Friday things, but I like to participate if I can. So once again, I drew up something in my sketchbook and added a bit of colored pencil to it. Seems like the quickest way to get an image going. Well, now it is time to get back to those relentless deadlines...

spontaneous doodling

There was this page in my sketchbook that I really didn't like. There were some really bad drawings on it that I didn't want to keep. So I ripped it out... and then stared drawing on the back. Just random doodling ... whatever came out kind of stuff. No pressure to make a good drawing, cuz I'm tossing this stinkin' page in the trash any minute now.

But a funny thing happened... since I didn't care what happened, I relaxed and "let it fly" ...I loosened up. I liked what was coming out. After several loose drawings, I saw a British Bobby on TV. I drew a tall hat and a guy wearing it... I liked it so here it is...

I need to find that "what the heck, who cares" button again when I draw. It's like the Staples EASY button. Now where did I put it? ....

100%

SocMo is feeling a bit under the weather today. He is hoping to get back to 100% soon. I hope his supply of tissues holds out...

talking animals

I am readin’ through the Bible in 2008 with my One Year Bible. Genesis always gets me off to a good start. Lots of fun stuff happens there. Each time I have done this in the past, I have always ended up with lots of questions.

This time I was reading about the serpent talking Eve into eating that yummy fruit thing… whatever it was. Then it occurred to me that Eve did not find it unusual to be talking to a snake. She never said, “Hey… snakes can’t talk… shut yo' mouth and get outta here!” So I was thinking that maybe ALL the animals talked. That would explain why a talking snake was not unusual. So if all the animals were talking to each other, it was like the first Disneyland! Maybe this is where old Walt got his inspiration.

MONK

I don't have cable TV... but a while back I discovered that my local library has DVDs of some of the earlier seasons of MONK. I checked out a DVD, watched a few episodes, and became a fan! All of the characters on the show are so good. Last night as I was watching a show from season four I had my pencil and paper with me, so decided to try to draw my version of Mr. Monk. Annnnnnnd... here he is. Anybody else a MONK fan? Does this look like MR. MONK?

SOAR

What is this? Well... THIS is an original piece of art created by me and inspired by the Illustration Friday word SOAR. Other than that... I don't have a clue. I doodled something soaring and then deciced to render it the old fashioned way... with watercolor. It has been years since I actually colored something with my watercolors. I discovered that one of my greens is growing mold in my palette. I do believe that the green in my Photoshop palette has NEVER grown mold. Chalk one up for traditional media!

I like the texture that comes with using watercolor. That is something I miss when using Photoshop. On the other hand, when I scanned this piece of art, the blues didn't come up well. Probably need some new scanning skills. I tried to beef up the blue in PS but it didn't accomplish much. Oh well... Digital color is just like it appears on my screen... no surprises there. Chalk that one up for Photoshop.

If you are scoring at home, the score is now tied at one to one. Let's see now... Photoshop has NO clean up involved when I'm finished. uh...... WE HAVE A WINNER! :0)

It looks like this will be my final post for 2007. Thanks to all who stop by my little chunk of the intenets here. I appreciate your time and comments. Have a Happy New Year!

(Oh, if your eyesight is deteriorating... or you just want a cheap thrill... you can click on the image for a JUMBO view.
Don't worry... I won't tell anyone...)

Railroad song

Christmas was a bright, sunny day so my family and I took a walk. My son was riding his Rip Stick and my daughter was playing her Flea ukulele. I think we amused many people who were out doing the same thing as we walked and skated along to ukulele Christmas tunes. We passed through a tunnel that went under the railroad tracks and when I saw the sign posted there I said, "play I Been Working on the Railroad!"

This is what happened... it makes me laugh everytime I watch it. :0)

I hope it makes you laugh too.

Have a Merry One!

This is the Christmas card I made this year. I was laying in bed with my mind wandering when I thought of Rudolph's RED nose. Then, somehow, I thought of BLUEtooth... which is like a red nose... sort of... isn't it? I didn't know what to do with this weird idea for several days. I kept thinking about it and finally came up with an idea that worked... I think. Most of the time when I have an idea in the middle of the night, it is hilariously funny at the time. However, in the morning when I remember the idea, it is always REALLY bad. or dumb. or both.

Have a great Christmas!

Tuba Christmas Jingle Bells!

Each year I try to go listen to Tuba Christmas when it happens in Nashville. Tuba Christmas takes place in about 200 cities around the country. Nashville has over 100 tubas that show up and after a quick rehearsal, put on a concert. It's not only a cool concert... but a great massage too! Your chest actually vibrates the whole time the tubas are playing. The youngest player this year was 11 and the oldest was 92.

Tuba Christmas has taken place all over Nashville over the years. They performed in a couple of malls for a few years. One mall didn't welcome them back because people stopped to listen for about an hour and didn't go into stores to shop. Some Christmas spirit, eh? They played in the downtown library a time or two but it was hard to fit in all the spectators. Then they moved to a downtown Presbyterian church which was cool, but again packed the place out and the fire marshal freaked out. The last two years they found a home in the downtown First Baptist Church. This year they added a second performance which helped out a lot with parking and seating. We were not packed in like sardines this year.

I took along my camera and put it in the movie mode to record my favorite song... Jingle Bells. If you have 2 minutes to spare and want some Christmas spirit, give this a listen. For the full effect, you should apply a little vibrator to your chest.

Have a Merry Christmas!

BACKWARDS

Santa learned a BIG lesson about joining in Rudolph's "reindeer games." Now Santa is the biggest loser! :0)

Well, my opressive deadlines are gone! ...just in time to do some Christmas shopping and knock out an Illo Friday idea. I want to thank all who have stopped by here this year and taken a look or posted a comment. I do appreciate it. May you all have a joyful Holiday Season!

PEACE.