Somethings Never Change

This is the barbershop in McKinney, Texas where I had my hair cut this Saturday. And where I had it cut when I was six years old. The pictures of Ron and Nancy Reagan were additions I had not seen.

Red Saucers

This is probably my favorite of many pictures I took at the Orchid Show today.

House of Cards ATC Series of Four

This was for a local trade. The theme was my place.

Acrophobia ATC series of 6

Our Virus

This is an ATC created for an on-line trade themed Challenges in our Lives.

The HIV virus is rather ominous without any embellishments. Having lived with it for just about 20 years it sometimes feels that a member of the family.

It looks like a medieval mace or wrecking ball.

All Aboard!

This was our conductor on the short ride on the San Diego and Arizona Railroad.

Man and the Machine

50 of us went out to Campo today. We got our own car on the old San Diego and Arizona Railroad. The exhibition train runs from Campo to the Mexican border and back. It really reminded me why I love to travel by train.

Body Image

This is an ATC for an organized swap. The theme is "personal challenges". I think almost everyone who his 40 yo runs into this enigma of not seeing in the mirror that reflection we think we should be seeing. Part of this comes from the media "model" image. I don't know what we call seeing that old man/woman looking back at us.

Saint Sebastian

Privey Reader--Red Hair

This is an ATC with a working door. Once I began work on it I wanted to continue to add little details like the toilet paper and the untied shoe.

a.m. pills

"Good morning, star shine.

The earth says "Hello'"

as thee and I sing

our early morning singing song!

Doo-dy-wah-doo-dy,

doo-dy-wah-doo-dy,

die die die doe do."

p.m. pills

these are my evening pills as of March 4, 2007.

someone picked these colors just so my meds would be more marketable.

Lion and Lamb

This is the ATC I did from the Adobe Illustrator drawing below. The animals are cut paper on a photograph background.

March

In like a lion, out like a lamb.

Untitiled Valentine ATC

This was for my swap with Art of Pride in February.

Proposed logo, Strength for the Journey 2007

I had actually created this last year. I'm a frustrated cartoonist! The sun and the dog are really reminiscent of the old cartoons for me. I like the pallet of colors and the laid back feeling.

Buddha Sketch

This is ATC size on cream colored stock.

We often see religious symbols in fabulous giant settings of churches and temples. But some of the most important are little cards and statuettes in the places where we work and rest.

Canidating Sunday

This is ATC size on cream colored card stock. I drew it during church service today. I know the canidate minister looks a bit like a fly-person. Her face was not as important as her stole and the heart from which she spoke.
Our settled minister looks a little more human. Glasses, nose, necktie make a quick sketch.
The ghost of a lot of things were around them: cave drawings of hunter-soldiers and a buffalo, the Venis of Willendorf, the wheel of many religions, the computer monitor, a phallic like microscope.

Classic Love

Valentine ATC
Six of these went off in trade to a couple of other artists in the Midwest. They are 2.5 x 3.5 inches and made for trading not for selling. I enjoy this "concentrated" format. I hope we get some local swapping done. They truely make for a currency of talent.

Possessiveness

Valentine ATC

Secret Admirer

Valentine ATC

Strange Bedfellows ATC

This is an ATC or Artist Trading Card which I giving in a Valentine exchange with two artists in the Mid-West. ATC's, never sold just traded, are only 2.5 by 3.5 inches in size. The best ones are unique and hand made. It is a fun challenge to make these tiny works of art.

Mandela IF Super Hero

Bottle and Bread 365DD

I'm am trying to keep up with my 365 DD by carrying a "sketch pad" with me whereever I may have time to doodle something. My pad is a 8 x10 piece of drawing paper which I fold into quarters. It provides enough support that I don't need a backing. It is flexible enough to fit into a pocket. So this sketch is on a quarter which is only 4 x 5 inches.

Girl in Museum Passage

Trying to keep my new year's resolution to create something arty every day, I snapped this view of a member of a school group at San Diego's Balboa Park. It highlights a couple of the classic and deco detail in the buildings.

The A Dees

I was a boy scout at their Jamboree in Valley Forge, PA. One night we waited in a meadow amphitheater for President Lyndon Johnson's helicopter to land. There were 50,000 boys on that hillside.
I remember when I would hear years later that 50,000 young men had died in Viet Nam that they could have been the very ones on that hillside in Pennsylvania.
Years after that I heard that the 50,000th American had died of AIDS. They could have been the same ones.
The US named AIDS in the 80s. It was already killing and had been killing for years. Rock Hudson died. And Ronald Reagan could not say the word. In the 80s.

UUMF Surf Logo

I added the flaming chalice (symbol of the UU faith) to this final copy. And some fingernails and shawdow/highlight effects.

Surf Heart Logo

Men's Renewal Weekend Logo Draft

Panels of Love

This is a 4 ft. by 4 ft. fabric piece done for a show called "A Patchwork of Life" at a gallery in San Diego in 1995. The colored panels are flat. Each heart is "stuffed" to make it 3 dimentional.

Idaho Street House

I was stuck by the crisp cut hedge complimenting the house.

These stucco bugelows are really common in San Diego neighborhoods.

I'm trying to carry around a piece of paper and pencil to keep to my 365 Daily devotions. I made a sketch of the house while waiting for some friends to arrive home. I only used the light of the street lamp. It was enough to capture the idea of the house. 365 DD 2007 Jan 6.

Buzz---Illustration Friday

Lady's Slipper

I was really taken by the bud of this orchid as much as the bloom. It is like a little flower ball ready to burst forth. 2007 Jan 04 365DD.

Don't Ask

I got my ire up this evening about gays in the military. The way so many people in our country behave toward gays and lesbian, I can't fathom who would think that they should serve in its militiary. Particularly when that military devotes so much effort to destroying the lives of gays and lesbians in uniform.

This too will pass. Ti' then it get my goat!

2007 Jan 03 365 DD

Meerkat Revealed!

I live a mile from "the World Famous" San Diego Zoo. One of my favorite critters there is the meerkat. They have this human, man-in-the-crowd way of standing on their hind legs and looking around. In San Diego they are probably looking for our local owls or maybe a zoo raised condor.
This is Jan 2, 007 for Daily Devotions 365.

070101 Cat Contemplating the New Year

I was reminded that there was only one day to do something for the first day of the year. This is a quick doodle sitting in the easy chair and watching the cats sleep and prowl the house.
I was just so pleased that I actually squeezed it in before the stroke of midnight. While I've been working drawing on the computer, it does not compete with the portability of a pencil and piece of papel.
Happy 007, everyone!

Peace---Illustration Friday

This is my IF entry for Peace.

Phoenix IF

This is a phoenix I did some time ago. I used it in IF for Ghost also.

My favorite part of the Phoenix mythos is that it's tears can heal all wounds.

Men's Fellowship Logo in Colors

I enjoyed adding colors to this. I thought the chalice looked more distictive in wood tones than in metal. The oak leaves jock strap is from the oak trees at the two camps where we have our weekends. Also, oak is a symbol of strength.

For anyone who does not know the flaming chalice is the symbol of the Unitarian Universalist faith.

Leave your comments and let me know what you think of this or any other of my postings.

jk

Men's Fellowship Logo

I'm trying to work up a logo for my Men's Fellowship. This is the black and white version for printed stuff.

Shooting

This is just back in East Texas. I am taking target practice at the bank of a "tank".

There is something disturbing about this picture for me. It is the curly hair, the pistol and the dismal foliage.

Vicenza, Italy

This is me after being out of the Army for a few months. I had just returned to Italy after traveling around Europe.

War Pictures

On December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day, I was interviewed for the Smithsonian Veterans Project. The Project seeks to preserve the memories of U.S. Veterans from all eras.

The interviewers were two college seniors not much older than my truck. At one point I caught myself worrying that I was telling my wicked war tales to kids so young.

As I followup, I have promised to send Kate Lynn and Mellisa of San Diego State pictures of myself from that time and after. While looking them up I decided to post them to this blog as well.

This one to the right is from about 1970.

Mask for Illustration Friday (IF)

I love masks. People behave differently when they have something disguising their faces.

Even masks by themselves have their own life. Like some disembodied persona.

I had created this face for another drawing.

Hugging

Guys Kissing

Might IF

I was not excited about this subject matter but I think I got some "shock and awe" out of my system.