The Boredom

What would happen if you achieved all of your goals? Then what?

What would you think about?

The best way to avoid this problem is to shoot higher than you could ever reach. I would imagine, anyway. But, then that comes with a whole new set of problems. Once you had everything, where would you put it?

I went a little crazy with the lines here. It makes the scene a bit busy when you get up close.

Patti

I get a lot of requests for pet portraits. I like drawing them more than I do humans. People tend to get very critical of their features when portrayed by an artist. Dogs and cats can’t voice their opinion. This little lady had missing teeth and her tongue sticks out of the side of her mouth.

Imagine drawing a human with the same problem.

When I was in college – a hundred years ago – I would frequent Gwen’s Irish Pub after class. Since I had little to no money, I would draw portraits on bar napkins for beers. Keep in mind, a hundred years ago, ten ounce beers were eighty five cents each. Mere pocket change to most people.

I had it really good back then.

One night, this big hairy biker comes up to me and asks me to draw his old lady.

“No problem”, I said. That’s what I do.

Now, I have a theory about humility and God. I am confident, he wants to see me succeed in life, but not as a pompous self-promoter. Whenever I start to get full of myself, God has a way of helping me see the errors of my ways. Usually, in real time.

When his woman turned around, I literally looked past her, thinking she was a dude. No kidding. Talk about a buzzkill.

So, I faked drawing motions for a couple of minutes so I could figure out what the hell I was going to do. There was no way I could make this woman look feminine. To make matters worse, she knew I was sketching her, so she was striking sexy poses for me.

She turned around to join the conversation at the bar and then it hit me. Her hair was long and pretty and she had an okay butt. The dudeness factor is greatly minimized. So, I drew her backside. I even drew her draped on her big hairy boyfriend. They liked it, the end.

True story

A Horse Driven II

When I was younger, I didn’t like drawing horses or any other four-legged animals. I have a difficult time with the way the legs bend and move. I still have to use reference pics when drawing them. I’ve had this sketch in my pile-of-the-unfinished for a while now.

Not any more.

Art of Beer

I have been racking my brains about what I will enter in the Art of Beer show for about three weeks, until I came up with this idea.

I made a canvas that’s about four feet by four feet and drew it out. See below.

As usual, I probably miscalculated how long it will take to complete, and will take me countless late nights to do so.

Hehe. What will I do?

Clearing the Rocks

No, I am not promoting anything devil-related. This just happens to be a guy with horns, a tail, and hobbit-like feet.

I grew up in upstate NY a hundred years ago. Most of the land formations were gouged out by the glacier from the last ice age, thus creating many gorges and deep lakes. This makes for some incredible swimming holes. One that comes to mind is up at Judd Falls near Ithaca. The hole that I remember was at the bottom of a fifty foot gorge. Perfect for jumping off of.

When you jump off a cliff, the first thing that you notice is the air rushing by your ears. It gets loud very quickly. The closest you can get to the sound is sticking your head out the window of your car while driving on the highway. Now imagine going from zero to sixty in six seconds (with no engine).

Now, keep in mind the fall lasts about three seconds or so. It doesn’t seem like a long time until you try to keep straight (Usually by flailing your arms) and finally hit the water.

The force of the impact can give you quite a jolt, especially on the bottom of your feet. A few jumps and you’ll immediately feel the bruising, even through sneakers. I can’t imagine what would happen if you dove.

Overall, it’s worth it just to say you,ve jumped off a fifty foot cliff into water. I know someone who has jumed from one hundred and lived (insane, if you ask me). That’s a ten story building.