Don't Look Back, Look Forward

When a thing is done, it's done. Don't look back. Look forward...

George C. Marshall

Watercolor, oil, ink

Square Jaw, Red Hair, Blue Suit

Here's a broody fellow for you.  What could he be thinking?  I must match my jacket to my eye color?  I have the squarest jaw in the world?  I am a virile vibrancy of masculinity?  Something to ponder...

Car Plant

While I was cleaning out my car last night, I found a plant growing in my car!  Well, not quite.  I ran across this pen and ink drawing of a table top and plant.  I have no idea where I was at when I drew this!  I like it though.  Sometimes I like that simplicity of a sketch over color.  Sometimes. (-;  This poor little ditty is creased and stained, but it still has a charm that appeals, I think.

New York Times - Modern Love

This is susch a beautiful piece from Moth Collective and The New York Times. Please watch.

New York Times - Modern Love from Moth on Vimeo.

From Moth Collective: 'A Kiss, Deferred' is our contribution to the New York Times' Modern Love column, based on a true story written by Nikolina Kulidžan. The full article can be read here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/fashion/a-kiss-deferred-by-bosnia-and-herzegovina-civil-war.html?_r=0 Designed and directed by Moth Collective

Ronnie Was Rethinking His Puppet Master Path

Ronnie was rapidly realizing that being a puppet master was not all it was cracked up to be.

He was constantly under some repugnant, sweltering stage, sweating profusely while contorting into awkward positions to animate his puppets.  He should have taken that summer job at Dairy Queen instead of subjecting himself to this arduous livelihood.  Was anyone even paying attention?  Could he stand one whiff more of stale popcorn, old theater seats--not to mention what was on them--and his own stench?  Was it still possible to convince himself that he was keeping a family vaudeville tradition alive, and his work was a badge of  honor, a cross to bear, no matter how low the attendance?

Suddenly, the thought of a cold, banana split lured him ever closer to putting his aching arms down forever.  Why, at this point, he could even acquiesce to a lowly crunch cone or a dilly bar.

He shook his head violently.  Selling himself out for not even a gelato, but an artificial icy treat?  Oh, the humiliation!  He stilled his feet from running faster towards the exit than the sweat running down his face.  Be strong, Ronnie, be strong!

Cover Your Mouth When You Yawn

Ohhhh, this is got to be one of my recent favorites.  It makes me laugh and I love it's bold and goofy simplicity.

Cover Your Mouth When You Yawn

Master Penman Jake Weidmann | HUMAN

I first saw this on my friend Bryan's FB page. This video of Jake Weidmann, Master Penman, is so extraordinarily inspiring. It's a testament to hard work, incredible artistic achievement, and the importance of remembering the artistry of the past and keeping it alive.  

Here are two of my favorite quotes from the video:

We're abdicating so much of what we're learning and retaining, 

not to our own memories but to the memories of our computers and other devices.

By doing the the different tactile movements of forming the individual letters and linking those letters one to another and then putting those words into a context of a sentence you're actually ingraining the information in your brain.

 

Charles Bukowski

One of my favorite poets, full of grit and free of bullshit...

(Source: Old Pictures Archive)

Knit One, Pearl Two

It's been so hot the past weekend, summer still sending out flares.  But if you take the time and sniff the air, you can smell that sweet, drying out smell that signals August and the beginning of school.  Maybe that is just a Midwest thing, I'm not sure, but the grass and field corn are sending a signal.  The brilliant colors of fall and knitted caps will soon be on their way.

At The Party

I took 3 or 4 more pictures of this as it was developing and as I layered more color, but I took them on my camera rather than my phone.  I blame it on being nearly 1 a.m. when I did so.  You see, I lost all my camera formatting when I had a virus and I can't find my installation disks to set it aright.  Ah well, I really haven't looked everywhere yet.

If I get it together, I will add the developmental stages!  Until then, here's "At the Party" in it's finished, painted form.

Fishing for Words

I ran across this poetic line of Franz Wright Sunday in the July/August issue of Poetry Magazine. I was intrigued that rather than the expected interpretation of "fishing for words" being a bad thing, Wright flipped the action as a positive act. Don't you love the magic of words?

Unexpected Urban Love

Unexpected Urban Love 

I was going to call this Freaky Urban Love, 

but they were looking at each other so gently, 

I felt there was nothing freaky about it.

Corn Dog Seduction - SOLD

While sitting at an art show this weekend, I filled in the traffic slowdown time on Sunday afternoon with this drawing in my sketchbook.  For two days, the aroma of warm caramel corn and corn dogs tantalized my senses!  I thought I would put the sweet torture to good use.  In the end, in two days I ended up eating 4 corn dogs, a watermelon Italian ice, a lemon shake-up, and a big cherry shaved ice.  I'm proud to say the caramel corn never got to me...the line was to long. ha! ha!