HERE I GO AGAIN...

Came across this little beauty on good ol' YouTube today. Figure I better enjoy the good stuff before they start cracking down on copyrighted material. Before long, all you'll be able to see is videos of people doing that stupid mentos-diet coke trick.

Anyway, Whitesnake--what a band. Sort of like a sleazier, whiter, Zepplin--but with THREE, count em, THREE keyboard players!! Also, they have that Tawny Katain (or whatever her name is) dry-humping two Rolls Royce's at ONCE!! I mean, that's just GOLD!!

Yes, I did listen to a little Whitesnake. My musical tastes in high school were a veritable potpurri of depressive angst and unbridled, car-humping sexuality. I remember this video in particular because supposedly, there is a part where one of Tawny's nipples peeks out ever so slightly. You know, back in the day (before the internet that is) we teenagers had to take our nipple-sightings where we could find them. Seriously though, my tape collection went from the truly somber (The Smiths, The Cure, New Order) to the "alternative" (REM, The Femmes, Camper Van Beethoven) to redneck, hair metal (Metallica, Ozzy, Whitesnake, Crue, Def Leppard) to classic metal (ACDC, Zepplin) to Southern Rock (Skynyrd) to Rush (I don't really know how to categorize them--geek rock?). I listened to it all--that is when I wasn't listening to U2--which I was most of the time. Sometimes I think that if they were to re-make The Big Chill with people from my generation (who the hell would want to see that?? Anyway...) the soundtrack would include this kind of stuff... God I feel OOOOOOOLLLLLLDDDD...

Anyhoo... Please take a minute to view this awesome blast from the past--and maybe you coould spot the nipple!!

ART SHOW

My Paintings are actually hanging and they look great... They seem to compliment the surroundings and color palette of Gathering Ground's decor perfectly. We had a small but lively reception last Sunday with the little ones providing quite the floor show. My good mate Raj from Clemson and his handsome family showed up to share in the festivities as well. It was great... And, actually, I have had a few people express a little interest in buying a couple of pieces. We'll see what happens.

This has been sort of a strange experience for me actually--mainly because I don't paint on canvas usually. I am used to my work looking back at me from the computer screen. It's funny how I invest so much energy in trying to make digital images look like wet media--when I could just use the paints and canvas and all that mess and go for the real thing. Why don't I? Well, firstly because paints and materials can be expensive and messy and especially costly if you are prone to making mistakes as I am. Also, since most of what I do is for print and the web, it's WAAAAY easier to manipulate digital media and images as opposed to taking a large canvas, photographing it and then having to color correct it.

Still, I do enjoy painting on canvas when I can. It's hard work but well worth it! I hope y'all will toddle on down to the Kirkwood community to visit the kind folks at Gathering Grounds and check out the art as you sip a Latte...

ART SHOW COMING UP

canvas1.jpg
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

I know, I know... I have been long absent from the blogospehere. I have actually been working like a demon--full time job, part time stay-at-home dad. It's just crazy man.

Here's what's what. I am prepping an art show at a local coffee shop called Gathering Grounds. I have a ton of paintings in various stages of undress. I need to get them finished and looking spiffy and ready for hanging. This is my first show ever and I don't really know how to price my paintings or even really what to include. It's strange--but exciting too. I am not really expecting to make, like, a ton of money or anything. It's just so nice to have a place to show my work for w couple of months and if somebody likes it, GREAT!!

The paintings are really an interesting lot. They aren't really a series per se, but they do all seem to have a certain quality in common--that is, I guess they have a nostalgic feel. For some reason, I seem to have an affinity for things from the early twentieth century. I don't know why... Anyway, painting is something that I don't do enough, something that is amazingly comforting and solitary--yes, sometimes lonely. And I really do feel like there's a little piece of me in all of these pieces. They are have a certain sentimental value. I am going to have a hard time parting with some of them. Anyway, I am excited.

In other news, I am exploring a new way of creating illustrations. I'll post more on that I promise!!

MORE THINKING...

Which really isn't all that good for me I guess. I am turning 35 in a a week and I am feeling a little anxious about it all. I am having one of those "EVERYBODY HATES ME" days. I don't know what my problem is. I guess it could have somehting to do with how hard I've been working lately--OR that I have not been getting enough sleep these days because Leo is cutting teeth and making our lives difficult in the sleep dept.. Just feeling a little paranoid.

I am feeling the burn of my thirty-something years. I look back on things I've accomplished and things left un done or abandoned. I still believe that my most productive years lay ahead--but the trick is finding time to realize those ideas and dreams that I have whirling inside my noggin. I have this grand idea for a story that I keep pushing off to the WAAAAAY back burner--in the midst of all the other stories I have. It's a story I want to do for Leo, one that we can add onto together when he gets older. I won't give away any details but I will be posting some of the sketches soon...

I don't know... Maybe I should head off to bed.

JUST THINKING

I am sitting here, just sitting--listening to the house settle, listening to my neighbor's party break up. Car doors are slamming and people are heading home, their radios thumping into the night as the rest of the 'hood seems to slip away under the full moon... Things are feeling strange, almost hyper-real--close to the bone. It's 11:30 and Mandy has gone to bed. Leo will no doubt be up soon for a midnight feeding.

I was hoping to get some work done. I have a deadline to meet and I am worried I may have overextended myself a little with work these days. So as I write this, I know I should be working. I just can't. There is so much stuff swirling around upstairs that I can't be bothered with something as silly as work. And yet I can't go to sleep. It's not that I am anxious, it's almost like I am just aware, calmly aware.

MY LABOR DAY SUCKED--AT LEAST SOME OF IT...

Oh sure, we spent some great quality time with my family in Clemson--which is always great. We all got to sit and visit and of course everyone got to have some great QT with Leo. Mandy and I went for a walk with my dad (who happens to have a PhD in Agronomy from Clemson) in the woods where we were introduced to the lethal pokeweed. So that part was great...

The shitty and really suck-ass part of it is that Steve Irwin died this morning in a freak encounter with a stingray. Steve Irwin, the "Crocodile Hunter" was a true freak of nature, a wild-eyed man-child who would hurl himslef at all manner of dangerous animals and then, as he is holding said animal in front of the camera, deliver a hurried monologue as to the animal's lethality and why it deserves our respect and protection. He was like some bastard cross between Marlon Perkins and my crazy uncle Bill who once grabbed a massive rattlesnake by the throat and killed it because he heard they "were supposed to be pretty good eating."

We used to watch Irwin every Saturday morning in bed... He attacked the world like some mutant three year old--full of wonder and excitement. I will miss him...

WKRP - Thanksgiving Turkey Drop

Quite possibly the funniest episode of any television comedy ever. EVER!! This was always one of my favorite shows growing up and this episode... It still makes me laugh hysterically. This clip is from the last six minutes. Watch it until the end for the final line. Priceless...

Oh yeah, I am supposed to be working now. This is more fun.

ANOTHER SKETCH

deckard_sketch.jpg
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

This is another sketch from a screen capture of the film BLADE RUNNER. I actually prefer this sketch to the last one because I think I have a better handle on the lighting in this sketch. The face is also rendered better in this sketch than the last. It really goes to show you how lighting can really make the scene.

Another important lesson to learn from this process is how different skin tones look in different lighting conditions. There are so many subtle differences in shading and value that come together to make the face pop out.

I have to give some mad props to Ridley Scott. This movie... Every scene is like a work of art. It is breathtaking and it still holds up after all these years.

Anyway,... I hope to do a sketch a day. These are great workouts! Like power-lifting or windsprints for artists! Ha!

QUICK SKETCH PART DEUX

boy_face_sketch1.jpg
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

I created this sketch in photoshop today from a screen capture from THE PATRIOT. I am working on some illustrations for the portfolio that are much more dramatic and use different lighting techniques.

I am not particularly happy with the boy's face. I think it looks flat--primarily because there is no light shining directly on the face to provide differences in value--light and dark. It's all about learning though. Stay tuned! I'll be posting some cool stuff soon!

U2-GLORIA

I found this little nugget of nostalgia on YouTube.com tonight and wanted to share it with all the faithful 'smear readers--few of you as there are.

This Band defined my high school life pretty much. I listened to War driving back and forth to school every morning. I watched the Under A Blood Red Sky concert on MTV when it came out. I made pitiful, "high schoolish" attempts at romance to Unforgettable Fire... I wore out the Joshua Tree LP until it skipped and fuzzed through my favorite songs.

I still find that my love of U2 holds up after all these years. Not the new music so much--mainly the EARLY stuff. Boy, October, War and of course Unforgettable Fire. I love Joshua Tree too, but that's the last album I fell in love with.

Anyway, if you're a fan of old music videos, they probably have them on YouTube. Check it out,,,

JOHN THE BAPTIST

john_baptist2.jpg
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

This is a very quick Photoshop sketch depicting the baptism of Jesus by John. I am working on a few biblical themed illustrations here and there to market to Churches for use in worship multimedia presentations...

Obviously, this is a pretty rough, unpolished sketch... The reason I stuck with this image is because I had been noodling over the idea that John the Baptist was possibly black. I don't know why, but I started to really put it together in my head that this was possible. I know that, according to scripture John was related to Jesus and was, in fact from the same town of Nazareth. Still, suppose, his father Zacharias had married a Jew from Northern Africa... That could explain it... Maybe??

Who knows. I do think it's safe to assume that Jesus and his contemporaries didn't look like Def Lappard...

In any case, I abandoned this sketch because it really is lousy and I can do much better. I see promise in this piece, though, in that it is forcing me to look at my faith in a different way--through different eyes. I truly feel like it's important for me to challnge, through art, the commonly-accepted view of scripture as completely WASP-ish and Euro-centric. That is, I want to try and visualize scripture in a more appropriate historical context... We'll see what happens.

IN PRAISE OF OPPOSABLE THUMBS

I just replaiced the hard drive in my Mac Powerbook... No small feat, considering the teeny tiny parts and screws. So far so good!!

SKETCHING

sketch3.jpg
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

One thing I try to do as often as possible is to sketch. Sketching from life, from television, from my imagination...

A particularly fun thing I enjoy is taking favorite scenes from films and attempting to recreate them as quickly as possible in color using Photoshop. This keeps me sharp--sort of the drawing equivalent of doing windsprints. I also cannot rely just on draftsmanship, I have to be thinking in terms of color, mood, light...

This scene is from The Mission starring Robert DeNiro. I wasn't after a likeness, rather, I was trying to quickly capture the overall palette and feel of the scene as it appeared in the film.

HOWARD PYLE

pyle_book.jpg
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

I came across this book today while doing some online research on Howard Pyle. Pyle was, and is, considered to be one of the greatest American Illustrators that ever lived. N.C. Wyeth was a protoge' of his, as were several other illustrators who lived and worked during the early twentieth century.

I love Pyle's work for its simplicity, its technique. I also admire his ability to place the viewer right in the middle of the action. It has to be said that nobody paints pirates like Pyle.

Tonight I was back at it, painting on canvases again. It's a different animal from digital art. You have to work--execise, almost. Some days it's easier than others...

THANKS KRISTI

I AM BLESSED-with a beatiful, funny, quirky wife and a movie-start cute kid! I also have the best dog in the world. To have a job doing what I love.

I WANT-to be liked.

I WISH-I could take a year off and do nothing but sculpt. I were a better painter.

I HATE-That I am so sensitive--that I read too much into people's interactions with me. That I need to be liked. That I sometimes talk to much. Bill O'Reilly.

I MISS-South CArolina. Camp Cherokee. Playing soccer. Doing theatre.

I FEAR-Cancer. Losing my wife, my son.

I HEAR-The air-conditioner in my office. MVY radio online out of Martha's Vinyard.

I WONDER-If illustration is what I was meant to do... If I'll get any better as an artist. If Leo will be an artist or will he rebel against all things creative.

I REGRET-Not going to art school. Some past job interviews.

I AM NOT-Untalented. Skinny. A redneck. Black.

I DANCE-better than my wife.

I SING-in church every Sunday at 8:45.

I CRY-more than I am comfrotable even admitting...

I AM NOT ALWAYS-a good Christian. Happy. Sad.

I MAKE WITH MY HAND-art. Lots and lots of art.

I WRITE-like a child with a crippled hand.

I CONFUSE-Chipotle and cilantro...

I NEED-Friends close by. Something to draw. My family. My wife. My son. To be appreciated as an artist.

I SHOULD-be inside with Mandy. Get a new hard drive for my mac. Get my iPod fixed.

I START-illustrating a book on Monday.

I FINISH-very few ambitious projects I start on my own..

MEN WITH HATS

canvas3.jpg
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

Yes, I know I have been way absent from the "blogospehere" but I have been consumed with work/fatherhood/general malaise. I have been grappling these past months with a wee bit of the old depression--otherwise known on the street as, "the pity party." I apologize to any and all faithful readers of the 'smear who have been missing me. I am back, for now...

Yes, I have been a-wallowing in the pit of semi-despair (more like semi-sadness--or whiny-ness) of late. However, art continues to be an area of comfort for me and I am happy to have some time to try something different--painting on canvas. This is something that I enjoy doing--though time doesn't always permit it.

This is an as yet unfinished large canvas in a series of canvases entitled "Men with Hats" since I somehow always end up painting men in the 1930's style with those fedora hats on. I don't know why, it's just something that I have always done. Subconsciously, I guess it's all about what I grew up with. My Grandfather was always wearing one of those hats (never indoors!!). In all the pictures I saw of him over the years, he had the same stern--yet placid expression on his face and a-top his head was always one of those hats. Later in life, it was a Tom Landry/Bear Bryant-style hat--the kind with the little feather in the side of the brim. Anyway, y'all let me know what you think...

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY (ROBOT)

mech1.jpg
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

I did this sketch a while ago in my sketchbook. It started with a doodle of an eye and grew into this wierd robot/mech face. I just found the pencil sketch and dropped it in Painter and fixed it up a little...

FLIGHT OF FANCY (MORE JOYS OF SELF-PROMOTION)

airplane_kid2.jpg
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

Here is another image I did for self promotional purposes. It sort of illustrates how I feel at the moment with my work--somewhat detached and upside down with the world. Having a young child has changed my world view so much and I am really feeling like I want to crawl deeper and deeper into my creative self, that is, even as I play daddy. Also, I hate dealing with the reality of rejection. I sent a portfolio to Lucas Arts last month and just recieved a rejection via email. Email... What a way to get rejected. I am not even worth wasting paper and postage on. I get the form-written email that says "Thanks but no thanks..." Still, rejection is as much a part of what I do as drawing. I have to accept it and learn from it and move on. It is hard though... I tend to take it personally--probably because I invest so much of myself in my work. A couple of weeks ago, a friend who had previously said they wanted me to do some work for them decided to use someone else. I was actually shocked at how hurt I was. I mean, I know it wasn't personal or anything and I know it isn't like they hate my work. Still, my feelings were really hurt--I guess because it sort of hit me where I live. My ego is most tender and vulnerable when it comes to my work.

But, as I said, you move on... Now I am working on a bigger, more comprehensive portfolio which is going to KILL!!! And if it doesn't, I just gotta keep drawing--keep going.

GHOST ORB??

ghost_orb1.JPG
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

I was just going through some pictures to send to folks of Leo's baptism and I came across this picture of my mom with what appears to be, at least according to people who study this stuff, a ghost orb on her head. Apparently, spirits, ghosts, or entities will sometimes manifest themselves as an "orb" in photographs. Anyway, that's what I have read on some websites and seen on TV.

Now I am not sure really what to believe actually. Truthfully, it could be an errant speck of dust or some kind of moisture phenomenon. Who knows? I will say that this "orb" doesn't appear on any of the other pictures taken that day. It's also more than a little creepy that it seems to have settled right on my mom's head.

Our church is a hundred years old this year and is rumored to be haunted. This past fall, I volunteered to stay at the church overnight as we played host to some Katrina evacuees. One night as I was drifitng off to sleep, I did have a distinct feeling that someone was in the room with me and I bolted up awake. The feeling persisted for a little while and I had to leave the room. I walked around in the fellowship hall and got a soda. I read for a while and eventually drifted off to sleep... It did freak me out though.

I don't know, it's most likely a piece of fuzz that happened to float by. It is an old church as I said and prone to collect dust. It is fun to speculate though. I mean, I think about 99 percent of this stuff is bollox but you never know. As Hamlet says, "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy..." Indeed...

EVOLVE OR DIE!!!

charlesdarwin.jpg
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

This is a caricature of Charles Darwin I just finished... Strange that I should finish this the day after Easter--when we Christians celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior by hunting colored eggs and eating ham. Why is that by the way? Why do we Christians eat ham--essentially, pork, on the day of Easter?? Is it sort of a final "screw you" to the Jews?? I don't know.

We had a great Easter. I helped with the sunrise worship service which was held this year, as every year, at historic Oakland Cemetary. It was a gorgeous morning and we had a huge crowd. Afterwards, I went home to change into some nicer clothes and help Mandy get Leo dressed for church. He had this WONDERFUL little outfit. I can't believe it... His first Easter!

After church we went to our friend Linda's for an AMAZING meal! Yes, we did eat ham. Following lunch, we all came home and promptly passed out. It was just a great day!!

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY (MONSTER)

angry.jpg
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

This was an illustration I did a while back as part of a larger series. It was all supposed to be for a picture book called "THE BIG BOOK OF MOOD." I still may finish it one day. Right now, I simply have too many projects to finish and too little time to do them!!

YOU'RE GOING TO PUT THAT WHERE??

colonoscopy.jpg
Originally uploaded by stymie924.

Well folks, friends and family, I went and had the old colon examined yesterday... First things first, I am all clear and have a nice big healthy colon.

The day started off with me laying on the couch with Leo--unable to sleep. I was pretty nervous with the effects of the previous day's prep still rumbling down below. Leo an I lounged on the couch for a couple of hours in the early morning. I was debating whether I should take him to his momma for a little ealry morning feed while I jump in the shower and have another in a series of anxiety attacks... I opted for the shower.

At around 8:15 our preacher and good friend Susannah showed up to care for Leo. We ran through his routine, etc... while I continued to worry and fight the unbelievable urge to run to the bathroom. Why am I so worried? I wasn't worried the day before, or the day before that. I was pretty well settled that everything was going to be fine. Now? Who knows... Anything could happen. I run through all possibilities--one of them involved the doctor coming in after the procedure and showing me a strange piece of hardware. "We found this. I'm not really sure what it is. It coould be an alien probe of some kind. We're sending you to the Jet Propulsion Lab for further analysis. Don't bother getting dressed."

9:00 we arrive to check in and I look around the waiting room. I am the youngest person there by about 25 years. Everyone has the same look of dread and impending discomfort. Some people are clearly there under the duress of their spouse. One older man, as he is being escorted back is asked, "How are you feeling today?" he replies, "Don't know yet..."

At about 9:30 my patient beeper thing goes off (sort of like what they give you at Red Lobster) and I am taken back to where the magic happens. The admitting nurse is amazed at my vitality as I sprint around the corner. I explain that it's all an act, I just want to get this over with. She replies that she hears that a lot.

An IV is administered despite my freakishly small veins. They ask another series of embarrassing questions and then I am wheeled into the "chamber." When the doctor comes in, a gentle looking Chinese man, he remarks, "My god, you're just a baby! What are you DOING here?" I am asking myself the same question when the nurse asks me how much sedation I prefer. Are you kidding? I want TOTAL SENSORY DEPRIVATION!!! I am watching as she injects something into my IV. She has a knowing smirk on her face. While I am waiting to feel comfrtably numb, I look over and see the endoscope being "prepped" and I wonder, just how much of that long bastard are they going to stick up there? I am pondering the possibility of perferation when I am suddenly semi-alert in the recovery room. I guess it's all over! Mandy is there looking alternately embarrassed and as if she is sick from laughing. Apparently I shouted "Far out man! Far Fucking Out!" as I was coming out of the anesthesia. I then cut loose a barrage of roaring farts that would have blown the walls off an abrams tank--which prompted a feeble "Bravo" from one of the nurses in the recovery area. The Doctor eventually comes in and gives me the whole play by play which culminates in an "ALL CLEAR!" He says I shouldn't need to come back until I am 50. I couldn't be happier.

I spend the rest of the day in a relative daze--but somehow manage to put together a portfolio for a prospective client. Go figure. Anyway, here's to good colon health!!

COLONOSCOPY JOY

All done and all clear... More detailed post to come after the effects of the anesthesia have worn off.

COUNTDOWN TO COLONOSCOPY

In less than five days--well, let's just say next Tuesday, I'll be having a camera snaked up my you-know-what to see what, if, anything is up there... Of course, I am scared. I am scared, not of the actual procedure per se--although it doesn't sound like a day at the beach, but of the possibility that there might be something seriously wrong. My gut tells me (no pun intended--really) that there's nothing to worry about. Rationally, I know that I am a young man--reasonably healthy, if a bit overweight. I know that the chances of me being eat up with colon cancer are less than average--rationally I know all this. I haven't had any other complaints or symptoms. Still, you never know...

Still, I can't help but worry. I can see the doctor coming into the room, his brow furrowed with concern. He struggles with the words, "We found something, this area here (shows me the picture). I took a biopsy. We'll just have to wait and see." In the meantime, I am swallowing the giant lump in my throat. How will I break the news to my family? How can I support my wife and child with a tumor up my butt? I imagine the months of treatment to follow, the awesome journey of self-discovery--worthy of it's own movie of the week on Lifetime. I see myself swimming into the Atlantic ocean toward the end. I look to the sky and shout to the heavens, "I want to LIVE!!!" I think that may have been in another movie I saw a long time ago... Anyway...

I'll keep you all posted.

MAKE BETTER MOVIES INDEED

Ward-O-Matic has a great post about what movie theatre owners are telling Hollywood... MAKE BETTER MOVIES! I thought I'd weigh in myself as a self-avowed movie geek.

First, there is a ton of speculation as to why people have been staying away from the movies this past year--Entertainment Weekly did a great little piece on it a few weeks back. Bad films, expensive concessions, cell phone madness, CRAZY ticket prices... These were all cited as reasons why the film industry and theatre owners have lost audiences. I tend to think it's a combination of all or some of these factors.

1. Let's look at quality. Do movies stink any worse now then they did last year? Ten years ago?? Twenty years ago? I'm not sure how to quantify that exactly--although I'll go out on a limb and say probably not. I will concede that I have been less excited about going to the movies lately--nothing much interesting me. From my own experience, I can tell you that the movies I have gotten excited about in the past five years were blockbusters, LORD OF THE RINGS and, yes, the STAR WARS films. Now the STAR WARS movies were good eye-candy but not what I would call "really good." But LOTR was and is something I will watch again and again--which brings me to a central point, repeat viewing. One way that theatre owners make a lot of money is by letting a blockbuster hang around for a long time while people see the movie again and again. Say Bob goes to see KING KONG on opening day. He loves it and that weekend he goes again with some friends and maybe those friends each see it again and so on and so on. Think of the concessions sold... That's just a theory I sort of thought about--nothing I know for sure. I have heard that that is one of the reasons TITANIC did so well was that people were just seeing it again and again and again. These days, one only need wait a few months before the director's cut is released on DVD and they can watch it at home--complete with the key grip's commentary. I don't know. I don't think movies are especially worse now than they were, say, five years ago. I just think that people are going to think twice about plunking down $30.00 for tickets and concessions for a movie that, I don't know, might be okay but do we really need to pay all that just to catch a glimpse of Angelina Jolie's bare nipple? I mean, I got cable... I'll see all the nipples I want at home!

2. Concessions. They are just outrageous. Next.

3. Cell phones. This is a particularly sore subject with me. I have seen people answer their phone in the middle of a movie and then threaten the life of the poor bastard who complains. Conversely, I have seen an entire theatre practically disembowel another poor bastard who forgot to turn his phone off. In this latter example, the guy just frantically fumbled with the phone as it screamed the theme from Shaft--all while his fellow moviegoers were cursing him with language that would make Mamet blush. Personally, I HATE it when somebody's phone goes off. It makes me crazy. I heard today on NPR that some theater owners are trying to get the FCC to let them scramble cell phone signals. Wha? That seems a little excessive. I think I would prefer a more direct ad campaign. Picture this, before the FEATURE PRESENTATION, Jack Black or some other popular actor, comes on screen and simply says, "If you don't turn off your cell phone now, YOU ARE A SELFISH DICK!!! Thank you and enjoy the show."

4. Couples. I recognize that this post is less about quality movies and more a rant about what annoys me at the movies... So what. I'm rolling. Now, couples. You know who you are. You are the ones who put up the arm rests at stadium theaters and snuggle and coo and smooch and feed each other popcorn and share your one big coke and basically make the rest of us want to, first, puke, and then, kill you. Let me say this. SHUT THE F**K UP. Sit in your seat and watch the screen and keep your hands in your lap.

5. Movie talkers. Again I say, SHUT THE F**K UP!! What makes people think that it's okay to speak AT ALL during a movie? What? Tell me? I'm serious. I've had people I love run their mouths the entire movie AFTER I have told them to shut it. I am not interested in your commentary. I like to be totally immersed in the complete movie experience and when you start in with your running color comentary it kills it for me. And for those of you I don't know, shut your suckhole during the movie. I'd like to insist that you shut it during the trailers--which I love--but I realize that's asking a lot.

6. Late arrivals. This is more of a nagging annoyance. I realize that not everyone needs to see the previews and not everyone really cares about where they sit. I like to get there early. People who know me, know this about me and love me anyway. It drives me nuts to go to the movies with people--I show up to pick them up and then they screw around until about fifteen mnutes before showtime and then say, "What are you so worked up about? We have PLENTY of time."

I don't know... I guess I just needed to get all that off my chest!

SALLEY TAGGED ME!!!

Four movies I would (AND DO) watch over and over:
1. Star Wars (Original Trilogy)
2. The Big Lebowski
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. A Mighty Wind--really anything by this crew...

Four places I have lived:
1. Clemson, SC
2. Rock Hill, SC
3. Boston, MA
4. Atlanta, GA

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Lost
2. The Office (Original BBC version)
3. Survivor
4. House

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. St, Thomas, USVI
2. Edisto Beach
3. St. George Isl., FL
4. Isle of Palms, SC

Four websites I visit daily:
1. Folioplanet
2. The Onion
3. MSNBC
4. www.wardomaticblogspot.com (a friend's blog)

Four Favorite Foods:
1. Sushi from Aloha--a takeout place in ATL
2. Good pizza
3. Mandy's stepmom's mississippi mud cake...
4. Snow Crab Legs


Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Fishing in the intracoastal waterway...
2. Fishing in the surf at Edisto.
3. Fishing in the Chatooga River
4. Really, fishing anywhere...

That's it for now... Thanks Sal. This was fun...

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY (INSECT)

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Originally uploaded by stymie924.

This is an image from a story I am working on... You gotta love little robots...

LEO GET'S HIS BAPTIZE ON!

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Originally uploaded by stymie924.

This past Sunday, Leo was surrounded by both his church family and his REAL family as we all together celebrated his baptism. It was a great day--over 15 family and friends came to visit.

One note, the gown he is wearing the same one my grandfather wore to his baptism. It was very old and fragile...

SKETCHBOOK MADNESS

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Originally uploaded by stymie924.

I had the old sketchbook out last night while I was watching television. First we watched Days of Our Lives (I know, it's a cheesy soap, but what can one do?)... This is a sketch of Victor from Days. He has sort of a square shaped head. Check out some of the other sketches by clicking on the pic...

Sketching is a great way for me to keep those all important drawing skills honed and sharp. Somehow, though, my I always seem to prefer sketches to the finished illustration. What does that say about me as an illustrator? Huh...

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY (TEA)

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Originally uploaded by stymie924.

This is this week's Illustration Friday topic... Thought I'd get a wee bit of a jump on this one...

STORYTELLING 102

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Originally uploaded by stymie924.

Another image from this story book portfolio I am working on. I am attempting to drum up some work in children's publishing and I am hoping these images will help.

My wife, Mandy says that this is too scary--too dark for kids... I don't know, I always liked a little darkness in my stories as a kid. Somehow, the stories that scared me a little bit were always my favorites. "Where the Wild Things Are" and, when I was older, "James and the Giant Peach" were stories that had a real impact on me. I suppose that there is an argument to be made that there is so much in the world today that is frightening to children, why do we need to scare them with books? I would argue that a little scare is a good thing... It raises the stakes and pulls kids further in. Maybe, I just have too much of a dark side...

STORYTELLING 101

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Originally uploaded by stymie924.

This is an illustration I am working on for a story project... Really, this is an opportunity for me to build some portfolio pieces while I indulge my imagination a little bit.

I am working on several stories intended for children at the moment--all of them lean a little toward the dark side. I guess this is because the stories that really spoke to me as a child were darker stories, stories with an edge. I love the dark stories and pictures of Maurice Sendak... Not to mention Roald Dahl.

This has been a challenge for me since I am not really a writer--I mean I have DONE some writing... Nothing like this. I am also really trying to adjust my illustration style a bit for some of these stories. I want to keep the painterly look while simplifying the figures and scenes. I am trying to do more with color while I am more intentional about my line-work. Like I said it's a challenge.

TO QUOTE INDIANA JONES...

"It's not the years honey... It's the mileage."

My body is falling apart.

First, I am due to have a camera stuck up my bum on the 21st of March. That gives me a little over a month to totally freak out... I hear the prep work for a colonoscopy is a real blast too! Can't wait!

And now, based on my last urinalysis, I have some protein in my pee so now my doctor wants me to do a 24 hour collect to make sure my kidneys aren't doing something they aren't supposed to be doing. I had a kidney stone about three years ago... Maybe the fuckers are making more rocks for me to discover later!

I am not the physical specimen I would like to be that's for sure. I had some friends tell me about a month ago that, in spite of how heavy I was, I sure didn't look it. Sort of like, "Geez James. In spite of being a total fatass, you still look okay..." I snore now, which I never did before. I have to get into shape. I don't need to look like Brad Pitt--or even that Eric Bana guy, I just want to loose a little around the middle. I'd love to get back down to 185. That was a good weight for me. Really, I just want to be healthy. Sheesh...

WHAT'S THE POOP?

Well, due to some recent dodgie-ness in the old tum tum, I had to make a visit to my friendly neighborhood doc this afternoon where I underwent a somewhat humiliating examination... It turns out I have to have a colonoscopy. That's right, some doctor is going to have to snake a camera up the old laundry shoot to see if there's anything up there that shouldn't be. Needless to say, I am somewhat terrified.

First, a thing about me and doctors. I have always been just a FREAK when it comes to visiting a doctor. I don't know why... I take that back, I DO know why. It's because I am a raging hypochondriac. It's somewhat better since I've gotten older, but I still turn into a giant toddler when it comes to going to the doctor. One thing, those little gowns they give you?? What purpose does this useless garment serve? It's pitifully inadequate to keep you warm and it hides NOTHING. Plus, they make you leave it open in the back so you look like an idiot. Try acting cool with one of those things on. Also, I am such a fat-arse that it probably wouldn't have even been able to tie closed--even if I had had someone there with me who wasn't totally repulsed or doubled over with laughter to tie it. I hate it...

So anyway, the doc says that the big "C" is pretty far down on her list but that it is, nonetheless, something they have to rule out. We'll see. I am, as ever, an eternal optimist. I just keep thinking about those movies where the main character gets cancer and dies and everyone is sad but ultimately able to get on with their lives. Think TERMS OF ENDEARMENT or BRIAN'S SONG or LOVE STORY, the list goes on. I don't know what is in store for me. I hope this will just be another "procedure" that ultimately leads nowhere scary. Still, I keep thinking worst-case scenario--which just sucks because we have a new baby. I don't want the first years of my son's life to be about him watching me wither and die--which is probably what sent me to the doctor in the first place. I don't know... Mandy is totally tired of hearing me whine and wax maudlin over this stuff. She has enough on her plate to have to deal with her idiot husband's hypochondriosis. So, in short, stay tuned. I'm sure I'll have a lot to write about in the near future!

WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO??

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Originally uploaded by stymie924.

Well, for those of you who don't know... Our son, Leo James Palmer was born two months early on December 12th of last year. He is doing great but I have been swimming in the joys of parenthood and have been unable to get much done--let alone post on the 'SMEAR.

I am back now... Ready to comment and pontificate and, yes, whine about life in the past two months. Currently, work-wise, things have been alternately wonderful and incredibly frustrating.

One of the GREAT things has been this site I helped illustrate and animate for Ant Farm Interactive. Take some time to check it out. It was a lot of fun and I am very proud of the result. I mainly did the illustrations and a tiny bit of animation so it was great to see what they were able to do with the stuff...

On to the frustrating end of things... I have been trying to find an art rep for the past month. It's been incredibly humbling and frustrating--mainly because I have been roundly rejected by about every rep I have contacted--well at least the ones who took the time to write me back. One rep wrote that my work was in no way appropriate for children... Oh well... Stay tuned!!

LEO IS HERE!!!

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Originally uploaded by stymie924.

Hey y'all! So sorry I haven't been posting these days but, you see, our son Leo decided to come two months early--I guess the tax deduction was really important to him! Anyway, Please check back often and I'll be updating everyone on what's going on!!

WE CAME, WE SAW, WE ATE...

Mandy and I spent the better part of last week in Clemson with my folks. It was great--although I was very much ready to come home by Saturday. Of course, we ate like fiends--picking every morsel of edible flesh off that damn bird! The picture above is just our first go at it. Of course, the white meat was the first to go.

We had a great visit with family and friends which climaxed with a cool engagement party for a good friend of ours on Saturday night. Everyone continues to marvel at Mandy's ever-expanding belly. She is getting so big and we're starting to sort of freak out about the prospect of her getting much bigger. She is really sort of starting to get uncomfortable and sleeping is becoming difficult. Last night, we were sitting around talking to the baby (Leo) and he started getting the hiccups. It was so cute. It also seemed that he was pushing up against Mandy's belly because her belly-button was poking out. We figured out where his back is and we have been giving him little back-rubs every once in a while. It's amazing. I can't wait!!!

STRENGTH

I just tossed off this sketch for Illustration Friday's topic.

Strength is a relative concept obviously. I see so many businessmen these days who are pumping themselves up to make themselves look more intimidating. There's really no reason to be able to bench 300lbs. unless you play tight end for the Falcons.

Anyway,...

GOINGS ON

Mandy and I just finished playing some music for Leo. We ran the gamut--Beethoven, Strauss, Dvorjak, Bob Dylan. I wanted to play some Dark Side of the Moon, but Mandy forbade it.

To think, in February, we'll have our little dude here with us!

In the meantime, I have to finish this freelance gig which is about to kill me. It's a web-toon for a company here in Atlanta to send out to clients for the holidays. It's pretty involved and I am really sort of burning myself out.

On the upside, once I finish this, I can move on to some cool projects of my own. I just sent out some promo cards and I am waiting to hear from a couple other prospective clients at the moment as well. So, while I am waiting, I can work on a personal story I am creating for Leo. It will be sort of a fantasy/sci-fi thing... I'll post more here and there as I get cracking on it. Anyway, here's a color sketch I did for that story. It's going to be a picture book-type thing ultimately. It'll give me a chance to stretch some different muscles. It's really the kind of story I would be into as a young lad. We'll see...

WHAT THE F**K?

"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city,"

Well... I guess I hadn't better move to Dover, PA. Honestly, how can anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ say something so unabashedly hateful?

From the CNN article: "In voting on Tuesday, eight Dover, Pennsylvania, school board members up for re-election lost their seats after trying to introduce a statement on "intelligent design" to high school biology students."

I wish I could say that Pat Robertson has just lost his ever-loving mind, but the sad fact is that he commands a pretty large audience of "believers." The 700 Club has been spouting this kind of swill since its inception in the 60's and Robertson is the Chsristian Broadcasting Network's--which broadcasts the "Club," chief commentator and, yes, televangelist. His "Keebler-Elf-esque" head is the one that I usually flip right past between BBC America and ESPN.

Pat needs to re-attach himself to the twenty-first century...

WHOSE CHURCH IS IT ANYWAY??

Friends, and readers... I realize that this is ostensibly an art blog--and that to go directly from a post about the limitations of Flash to a post about religion might cause some people a momentary loss of orientation... Still there are several things that have really put a burr under my bum, so to speak, about the way that my faith is being dragged farther and farther away from what I believe are the true teachings of Jesus.

First, The United Methodist Church, in what can only be seen as a quantum leap backward from their slogan, "Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors." has reinstated a pastor in Virginia who had been placed on involuntary leave by the judicial council for denying membership to an openly gay man. From the church's own website:

"In Decision 1031, the council dealt with the due process problems in how Johnson was disciplined. Decision 1032 was the more sweeping ruling, saying that the church’s Book of Discipline “invests discretion in the pastor-in-charge to make determination of a person’s readiness to affirm the vows of membership.”

I am not interested in quibbling over technicalities regarding what the ruling said, or what the Book of Discipline says. To me the central issues are these: (one) that an openly gay man--every bit a beloved child of god, was denied membership into the United Methodist Church and (two) that a local pastor, acting on his own authority was the one who denied that membership and that (three) that pastor now has the blessings of the governing body of the UMC to CONTINUE to deny membership to ANYONE he feels goes against the Discipline.

Friends, this is wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Not only is it ethically wrong, it is a 180 degree turn from the UMC's own stated policy of "Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors." AND it is in complete opposition to everything we are taught as Christians. For the UMC's governing and judicial bodies to cave to the rigid right wing of the church in this way is shocking. It makes me scared for my church, my United Methodist Church, of which I have been a member all my life.

Jesus was a champion of the outcast and marginalized. He was someone who, without fear, would challenge those who would hope to limit the kingdom of God to a chosen few. He sought out the otcasts and misfits and those on the "sketchy" side and he said to them, (I'm paraphrasing) "Hey y'all! Y'all who have been locked out of the temple! Come and follow me." After they have been turned away everywhere else, where can they go BUT to the church?

I am a member of a United Methodist Church here in Atlanta. We are a stewpot congregation of broken mutants--gays, lesbians, blacks, whites, Baptists, Catholics, Bhuddists, Dancers, actors, artsists, police officers, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians. We are all there every sunday to soak in the fellowship and to hear the Gospel. One sunday, as I was waiting to recieve Holy Communion, I looked around and saw the wonderful, bizarre, diverse family that had taken me in two years ago. I thought to myself, "This is indeed the body of Christ."

I don't know what will happen with the UMC and their policy on homosexuals within (and without) the church. I do know that every time we here on earth attempt to close our church doors to one group or another, to quote my crazy cousin Ed, "...the power of the Gospel just breaks those doors down again."

The second burr under my bum deals with the Kansas Board of Education's decision to delete the teaching of science from its science curriculum. This article illustrates part of the reason why I am so beloved by my liberal friends for being a devout Christian. This group is one of several behind the push to rid our nation's schools of the scourge of evolution instruction. Apparently, if dinosaurs actually existed, then the bedrock of scripture which our Christian faith is built upon would crumble before our eyes.

For me, whether or not we decended from Australopithecus africanus is immaterial to my life as a Christian. It doesn't affect how I worship or how I pray to my God. It doesn't affect how I read the Gospels. It doesn't in the least change how I relate to the poor or the sick. It doesn't at all deter me from working and seeking to be in ministry with my fellow Christians. While we shout and beat our chests over issues like homosexuality and evolution, poverty is killing thousands upon thousands of people every day--in every corner of the globe. The irony is enough to make one sick.

I could go on, but I seem to have burned myself out... My bed is calling...

USING FLASH

I am pushing a serious deadline this week--a ton of illustrations for use in a web-toon which will be created in Flash. In order to help the process along, I have been trying to re-acquaint myself with Flash. In short, it's been a little bit frustrating. The rewards are obvious (right Jared?)... Still there are some things that drive me up the freaking wall!!

First, keyboard shortcuts are different than just about every other program I use so there's a substantial dropoff in usability. Also, sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. The old "apple-spacebar" zoom-in feature works sometimes and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, I end up dragging a huge part of the illustration off the stage. Which brings me to another irritating feature that sometimes doesn't work: apple-Z undo. Flash will sometimes crash if I try to undo too far back... It also doesn't undo accurately.

Second, making selections is a hassle. Flash will sometimes just not select what you've "selected" just for spite. Also, making and editing multiple selections is all but impossible. In Adobe Illustrator, it's possible to make a multiple selections by holding down the "shift" key. You can they easily change colors and transform the selection. I haven't figured out how to do this in Flash yet. What seems simple and intuitive turns out to be hard as balls to figure out.

Third, working with Illustrator files is sort of frustrating. Sometimes Flash just refuses to import an Illjustrator file. It just refuses. I have to export the illustrator file as a *.swf file and THEN import it in Flash. It seems like a minor step, but it is frustrating.

About four years ago, I helped animate and design a "web-toon" called "kung Fu Kiwi" which actually won some awards. That project was created in a much older version of Flash and seemed to move a lot more smoothly than this one. I just don't remember being this FRUSTRATED with Flash.

On the positive side, The animation capability is something that all but erases all the frustrating aspects... It takes some getting used to but it's a lot of fun. Also, the html capabilities rock. I am already trying to figure out some cool stuff to add to the old website. Stay tuned! I also like how smooth the drawing flows in Flash. There is a great crowquill-look to drawings in Flash. For creating great, vector illustrations there's really nothing better.

I'm sure all of this stuff just takes more learning and more patience than I am willing to give at this point. I wish I could post some examples of what I am working on but I signed an NDA which prevents me from sharing. Maybe after I get finished, I'll be able to post some other examples.

Now that I've vented, I feel better...

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY (BROKEN)

This is the illustration I chose for the current Illustration Friday topic.

I WANT TO BE THIS GUY!!

Okay, I am a TOTAL HUGE ASSED GEEK!! I so badly want to return to the days when I could dress up for halloween and not be openly ridiculed. I could have dropped a couple thousand bucks on a complete, screen-accurate Boba Fett costume--assembled from various parts obtained from ebay. Mandy, my wife, seemed to think that the money would be better spent on, oh I don't know, stuff for the baby were expecting in three months. Still, who wouldn't want their own Fett costume?? I mean, come on. The guy's a total badass! The gun and the helmet and the ever-important jetpack!

I might just make my own costume. I could do it myself over several years and then christen it when our son is about 6. I am a little worried that by then I'll be too heavy and old to wear the thing. That would just be pathetic.

JUMP ON THAT BANDWAGON!

Inspired by my friends Ward and Andrea, I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and share a few things about myself that some of my faithful readers might not know... So, without further ado... And since I am 34 this past September, I have listed 34 little tidbits of info.

1. I talk to myself. Alot. Sometimes in funny accents and voices.
2. I played soccer in high school and had once toyed with the idea of walking on in college--until I played pick-up with some blokes who played for the college one day and was almost laughed off the field.
3. I am indeed, a cat person.
4. I whine. I can throw tantrums sometimes and I have been known to pout.
5. I fell in love with my wife Mandy the second I saw her.
6. I am terrified of going to the doctor.
7. I was a counselor at this camp for many years and I still think of this place as where I came of age...
8. I played an indian chief in an Ohio outdoor drama where I opend the show on horseback. One night, my loincloth snapped and, had it not been for the huge buckskin tunic I was wearing, I would have been showing the audience a little something extra.
9. My friend Wavy Davey used to make me pee in my pants in grammar school.
10. I had a horrid, awful case of acne in high school.
11. I have often thought of going to seminary.
12. I once sang "Sweet Transvestite" from the "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at an audition. I didn't get the part.
13. I have been known to tell some small, white lies...
14. I am a proud member of the ACLU--although, my membership has currently lapsed.
15. My toungue is tied.
16. I cried like a little girl during "The Fox and the Hound."
17. I like to pretend sometimes that I am Scottish, Irish or Australian.
18. I also like to pretend that I am more of a redneck than I actually am.
19. I once told someone that I used to hunt deer and ducks just to impress them. They didn't care.
20. I have kissed a man on the mouth. Don't ask.
21. I chewed Red Man tobacco one whole summer at camp. Everyone else was doing it. Needless to say, the habit didn't take.
22. I have never been to Europe--or for that matter, anywhere outside the continental US.
23. I love my dog like a part of my own body. Maggie is my second soul mate.
24. I once stopped up a toilet at a friend's house and then left without telling anyone. I guess I hoped they would think it was someone else.
25. I am worried about what kind of father I'll be...
26. I once ate cat food on a dare and it actually tasted pretty good.
27. I once prematurely ended a date with a girl because, well, she was infuriating to listen to and I wanted to watch Twin Peaks.
28. I'd pretty much always rather be fishing in the intracoastal waterway in South Carolina.
29. I love reading true crime/true drama novels about people lost in the wilderness and having to eat each other...
30. I have a really sick, SICK sense of humor. I laugh at some of the most inappropriate stuff.
31. Once, after smoking a wee bit of weed, I ate half a bag of chocolate chips only to throw them up fifteen minutes later.
32. I have never broken a bone.
33. In total, I have probably had about 36 stitches over the course of my life--most of them on my head. It's so freakishly huge that it just can't keep from hitting stuff!
34. When I die, I wasnt to be cremated. I want my ashes sprinkled 1) in the cul de sac at my parent's house in Clemson 2) on the dunes at Edisto Island 3) next to Francis Marion's tomb in Berkeley Co. SC.

That ought to do it for now. That should be enough dirt.

JOSHUA

Lately, I have been providing images for our church's early worship media presentation. Today's scripture was about Joshua gathering all of the Israelites together before finally settling in the land of "Milk and Honey." There, he challenges them to make the final choice to devote their lives to God. This after having wandered in the desert for, well, a long time. Apparently, the Israelites didn't have much in the way of a sense of direction--figuratively, not spiritually, speaking of course.

Anyway, this image was meant to portray Joshua blowing his mighty trumpet, or shofar, to bring down the great walls of the city of Jericho. I kind of portray him here as an almost "William Wallace-esque" figure--the mighty warrior of the people. One of my friends took issue with that portrayal. They were uncomfortable, I suppose, with the idea of someone in scripture being celebrated in such a heroic way. I guess it's open to interpretation. I mean, hey, it's the Old Testament. They did some fighting in the Old Testament.

Here is another image I cooked up of the Iraelites preparing to lay siege of the city of Jericho--but not before walking around the great city in silence several times just to mess with their heads... I have the Ark of the Covenant being hoisted and marched ahead of the throng. I was pushing for atmosphere here. Anyway, here endeth the lesson...

FUN WITH CLAY

Okay, so I have been terrible about updating my blog as often as I had hoped. I have been consumed with guilt over it but, hey, I am in no way perfect!! Having said that, I am enjoying a respite from a tense, deadline-driven schedule to explore some personal projects--like the above sculpture.

I love sculpting. There is a real zen thing that happens as you move the clay around. After a day of fighting deadlines and freaking out about the next freelance gig, it feels so nice to do something totally unrealated. This is a bust of, you guessed it, Francis Marion. I am continuing my journey into the American Revolution in South Carolina--for which Marion has been something of a muse.

This piece is done in sculpey. Sculpey is a polymer clay that polymerizes when baked into a hard plastic-like substance. The cool thing about sculpey is that you can bake it in stages--building up between bakings. You can also add some cool effects by using lighter fluid or alcohol as a solvent. After I finish this piece, I plan to make multiple castings of it in resin. We'll see... It's a lot of work and who knows if I'll have the time. Still, I am hoping to do more of this stuff... Stay tuned!

LET'S TALK ABOUT POVERTY

There has been an ongoing debate in the media since the Katrina disaster about poverty, it's causes, its relation to race and geography--not to mention it's political implications. Even as the president, in a startling moment of clarity on the issue, was acknowledging the fact that poverty continues to be a major issue, his shills and minions in the media and elsewhere were already gearing up the machinery of spin. Those on the left, smelling blood in the water, went on the offensive as well touting President Clinton's success in dealing with the issue of poverty--how there were less poor people under the Clinton administration than during the first four years of the Bush administration. Blah Blah Blah...

Poverty continues to be an issue that politicians are loathe to discuss in a substantive way. They speak in sound bites. They feign empathy and affect a sympathetic posture that says to people, "I feel your pain..." Genuine responses, however, by policy makers to the stark images of poverty and privation in recent weeks have been more akin to stunned, sucking silence--a deer in the headlights reaction. The reaction is, as I like to call it, as if one had been "snake bit." While the events surrounding Katrina were the result of a natural disaster, it is entirely approriate to take this opportunity to discuss the issue of poverty while we have the attention of our nation's leaders. We must, in this country, finally recognize that how we treat our nation's poor is a reflection of our very basic values as Americans. How can we preach to others in the world about freedom and democracy and human rights while we continue to ignore our own failures.

The issue of race and how it relates to poverty is also extremely hard to ignore. When Matt Lauer on the TODAY SHOW stated that the images of people clamoring for food at the Superdome reminded him of images from Somalia I was actually sort of stunned. He was right... Not because it was a scene of hungry people fighting for food but because it was a scene of hungry BLACK people fighting for food. The black faces wailing and pleading for help on our television screens remind us that we still have far to go.

If we are going to talk about these issues, let's talk about them. Let's have an honest discussion... Let's deal with the failings of public education and unfunded national prgrams intended to improve it. Let's talk about the war on drugs and how that war has largely been a war on our nation's urban black population. Let's talk about how property tax increases in newly "gentrified" urban areas force many black people out of their homes. Let's talk about the lack of comprehensive sex education in this country that would help curb the number of unwanted pregancies among poor women. Let's talk about the need for child care opportunities for working mothers. Let's talk about making the minimum wage a living wage so that it keeps up with the rising cost of living. Let's talk about the ridiculous cost of healthcare and the cost to taxpayers of caring for the uninsured. Let's talk about re-vamping our welfare system so that it's more efficient. Let's reduce corruption in state and local governments that make it harder for poor people to be heard. Let's talk about job training. Let's talk about no more tax cuts for the wealthy. Let's talk about sacrifice. Let's talk about the war...

These are issues that aren't some abstract idea on an editorial page or on some radio talk show. These are issues that stare at us every day whether we notice or not y'all. We ignore these issues at our great peril.

EDISTO ISLAND

I was culling through some old pictures this morning and came across this picture from our May trip to Edisto. Edisto Island is a barrier island off the coast of South Carolina. As many of you faithful readers may or may not know, I am a hard-core South Carolinian. It is the most beautiful state in the union and Edisto Island is the most beautiful place in South Carolina. It's a smaller fishing community that hasn't been totally overrun with development and people. I have a lifetime of memories of Edisto...

This picture was taken from the back yard of my uncle's family house, better known as The Pink House. Ironically, it was taken the day that Mandy and I were very sure that the IVF hadn't worked. It was an appropriately gloomy afternoon and there was a shrewd bite to the air as we sat on the beach. Still, the clouds were lovely--perfect cold grey. As we were getting ready for supper, I took a walk by myself and snapped a few pictures... This is by far my favorite.

EVACUEES NOT REFUGEES!!!

I spent last night at our church
sort of playing host to some new friends from Louisiana. We have a family of about eleven people living with us at St. Paul at the moment. About three weeks ago, we all knuckled down and prepared to recieve about fifty evacuees from New Orleans. We began stockpiling supplies, bedsheets, food, toiletries, etc... Two weeks later, eleven people is all that we have taken in. I think some people have preferred to stay with family, others in hotels and still others have returned to Louisiana to search for loved ones. There is a possibility, however, that we'll start taking in more people as they get turned out of their hotels and their money runs out. We'll see...

I had a great time. Besides talking about the horrors of the flood and the even worse horrors of the aftermath, we talked about much more pleasant topics like eating rattlesnake and just how bad the Saints suck. They've been here two weeks and I think that they are starting to get a little frazzled. Willie, the matriarch of the family, is showing signs of stress related discomfort. The teenage boys, Jamar and Derrin are having a difficult time adjusting to a new school and new life. They never know from one day to the next just what fate is going to throw at them.

Still, they love to visit and talk and laugh. After a few minutes, I felt like I was sitting around the table at my grandmother's house in Orangeburg, SC. I bored all of them to death with the latest ultrasound pictures of my son and we talked about all kinds of stuff that had NOTHING to do with the flood or Katrina.

At about 12:00 midnight I went to rack out in one of the sunday school rooms. I slept great except that I woke up in the middle of the night convinced that someone was in the room with me... I swear, I think that they got ghosts up in that church!

HE'S A LITTLE OUTLAW

I just can't resist those RAISING ARIZONA quotes!
We had our 20 week ultrasound today!!! Mandy, me, mandy's mom and her stepdad were all there for the big reveal. Of course, we were very much interested in finding out the sex--which wasn't difficult to determine once the "wee wee" popped up onscreen (Huston, we have a boy...). It was hard to miss actually. Many of our friends with children were very careful to remind us that the sex isn't always easy to see in an ultrasound. Well... Let's just say there wasn't much left to the imagination. His little pecker was just out there as plain as day. It's a boy alright!

The doctor did say that it "appears" that it's a boy--meaning, there is a chance that what is seen in an ultrasound isn't always what comes out. Confused, I had the urge to ask whether a baby with what appears to be a bona-fide penis at 20 weeks has ever come out a girl. I decided to keep that question to myself. Mandy later explained that he probably meant that in VERY RARE cases some babies are born with both male and female sexual characteristics. Okay. Hmmm. Should I worry about that too? That's going to make things awful confusing in kindergarten.

Anyway, he has all of his appendages--arms legs fingers and toes. He has a well-formed brain, heart and liver. He looks like he's going to have very long legs just like his momma.
He also, as this picture shows, appears to be blessed with a beautiful big nose like his daddy--AND his momma. Mandy and I are interested to see all the neat stuff like whose feet he's got and who he looks like, whose eyes he has and what color hair he ends up with. In all the years we tried and tried to concieve, all of the "treatments" and injections, the disappointment, the mourning... It all seemed to melt away as we watched our beautiful baby boy on that televison screen. Earlier today, I was thinking about that May afternoon that we sat on the beach at Edisto, convinced that the IVF hadn't worked, that we were back to square one. It was the longest drive of my life, that drive from Edisto to Atlanta. I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach--repeatedly. Still, I hoped a tiny, teeny, miniscule little bit that it had worked. The next afternoon, we recieved the best news ever. The journey continues--and continues.

Anyway, we have a baby boy on the way and I am hoping I am up to the task of being the model dad. I can't help but worry I'll end up like Glenn in RAISING ARIZONA... The one who went in to adopt "...on account 'a sumpin went wrong with my semen." I'm sure I'll do great. Anyway, I thank God for this blessing.

BALLS AND STRIKES?

Yesterday, the senate judiciary committee heard an opening statement from chief justice nominee John Roberts. In his opening remarks, he stated, "Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules, they apply them." He went on to add, "...it's my job to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat."

An over-simplification? Possibly. I would hope that decisions regarding affirmative action, abortion rights and other important issues likely to be before the court would merit a more lengthly deliberation than the split second it takes to judge a ball or strike. Based on what I've read, he will likely be confirmed. He has broad support from both Democrats and Republicans... We'll see...

GET DOWN ON IT!!

In an effort to show a little more discipline in my daily life, I have decided I will post a blog entry a day whether I really have anything to say or not.

First, Mandy and I are going for an ultrasound this week to check on the progress of the baby. Of course, odds are that things will be totally fine and that we'll have a healthy boy/girl on the way. Still, the sinking feeling that things might not be okay--the nagging doubt, the gut-wrenching worst case scenarios... It's hard to ignore. Mandy and I have been waiting so long for a child. I just want everything to be okay--not perfect, just okay. A healthy baby and a healthy Mandy. Mandy is doing GREAT. She is eating everything in sight and starting to look like a pregnant woman. It's hard to imagine her NOT being pregnant! She has struggled a little bit with some indigestion, etc... Still, she is looking and feeling (mostly) great. I am hopelessly hopeful.

Creatively, work wise, I have just completed the book on Francis Marion. It should be out this October for sure. Since I've finished it, I can now focus on getting my portfolio out there. I have several idea of where I want to send my work. For the next couple of days, however, I am going to take some time to clean up my studio and relax a little. This book really did kick my ass! I really do need some time to regroup and look to horizon to see what else is out there!

Stay tuned!

F**K FEMA

I am not an editorial cartoonist but I play one on this blog. Geez... The devastation wrought by the hurricane and flood in New Orleans/Gulf coast is matched only by the devastation wrought by the spectacularly incompotent FEMA. It's saddening and horribly unfair... And don't think that we don't notice that the vast majority of the displaced are poor people of color.

Natural disasters happen. They just happen. Hurricanes. Tsunamis. Earthquakes. Floods. They are occasional reminders that we are merely stewards of our planet, not masters of it. Still, in the midst of such suffering at the hands of nature, shouldn't we take great comfort in a certain, swift response from our government? Shouldn't we EXPECT aid and comfort? Instead what we get is a lot of blame and "non-blaming" blaming. Political Leaders abdicating responsibility as they try and maintain a death grip on their job. It sickens me... Badly done.

BACK TO THE SWAMP

Francis Marion and his ragged men emerge from the South Carolina swamps with their flintlocks poised and ready for battle. This is a recently finished image from a forthcoming book about Francis Marion entitled "Francis Marion and the Legend of the Swamp Fox." This book is another in a series of projects about Francis Marion. In this image I wanted to give the impression that Marion and his men are setting up an ambush or perhaps they are moving to the aid of another group of partisans.
Francis Marion and his men spent a lot of time fighting loyalist militia in skirmishes and ambushes along the Pee Dee river region of South Carolina. They did however face the redcoats in a pitched battle at Eutaw Springs. Redcoats, or regular British army soldiers, were well equipped, trained and pretty accustomed to the grueling and brutal life of an eighteenth century infantryman in a foreign land. The unconventional war waged by partisan fighters like Marion and his men, however, made it very difficult for them to maintain their hold on British North America. An occupying army as large and as spread out as the British were at the time would have been very vulnerable to attack on their supply and communication lines. An army that can't re-equip or that is cut off from the chain of command and intelligence is almost crippled.

The British did have a few ways to cope with this problem. Their chief "counter insurgencey" expert was Banastre Tarleton.
Cornwallis figured out that the best way to combat a small, mobile force was to come after them with a small, mobile force. Tarleton chased Marion all over the Carolina lowcountry finally giving up. He even gave Marion his famous nickname when, at the end of his chase he wheeled his horse around and stated, "...let us go and chase the Gamecock (Thomas Sumter). As for this damned old fox, the Devil himself couln't catch him!" Tarleton was a brutal foil for Marion. Check out this
wonderful website devoted totally to him.

APOLOGIES TO JEFF MacNELLY

As the news out of Iraq has gotten worse and worse in the last week, I was compelled to create this editorial cartoon/comment... This cartoon is a homage to a cartoon by Jeff MacNelly from 1972 where he had the words NIXON with the "O" as the drain...

Obviously, I am, and have been, opposed to the war in Iraq. I feel as though we were bullied and misled into the war--not for purposes of national security but to fulfill some ill-concieved neo-conservative global agenda. Mostly, I feel achingly sad for the service men and women--particularly the soldiers and marines, who are there fighting and dying. It's just beyond sad--tragic.

I'M SUCH A GEEK

Here's another Jedi in the style of Caravaggio...

THE SOWER

I am working on a few religious-themed images for use in our early worship services at my church. They are meant to illustrate different themes from scripture. This image is supposed to illustrate the parable of the Sower from the Gospel of Matthew. Obviously I am very much influenced by Caravaggio in this piece. When I am doing these religious pieces, it's hard not to go back to the masters--of course they are the ones responsible for the White-Anglo-Saxon-Ted Nugent vision of Jesus that is so prevalent in our culture. I am very much trying to move away from that--although I don't know that I succeeded here. He is still looking a little Nordic to me.

Who knows what Jesus really looked like? I would hypothesize that he was probably similar in appearance to naitive arabs in and around the middle east as opposed to modern-day Israelis. Israel's population today has a large number of people of European descent--Russian, German, Hungarian, etc... as well as American. I don't know. It's sort of cool to think about. I am interested in these things from an anthropological point of view.

Of course modern western popular culture has "had its way" with Jesus. Check out Jesus of the Week for a laugh at the different images of Jesus.

SELF PROMOTION (AGAIN)

This is the latest self promo card that I will be sending out in the near future. I am hoping to get some book-clients as well as some editorial assignments. The audience for this particular piece is children's/fantasy publishing. I am a big fan of fantasy art--artists like Alan Lee, John Howe, Tony Diterlizzi, Wyeth (of course), Brom, etc... Since so much fantasy art leans to the dark side, I thought I would shoot for something a little more hopeful--a little more optimistic. I also like art that tells a story, that leads somewhere. Wyeth's illustrations for LAST OF THE MOHICHANS and TREASURE ISLAND are simply perfect--perfect in their imperfection. Dramatic. Dynamic. Full of character. I try to include a little homage to Wyeth in a lot of what I do because he really is a hero of mine.

Anyway, I welcome comments and criticisms so please let me know what you think.

BONO PAINTING

This is a caricature I did of Bono--sort of portraying him as Jesus walking on water. I have long been an admirer of Bono. When I was in high school I was in a garage band with some mates from school. We would set up borrowed sound equipment in my garage and bang out U2 songs (among others) for hours. The great thing about U2's music is that it's wicked easy to play--just two or three chords. Singing like Bono on the other hand is near impossible... That doesn't mean I didn't try.

As I got older I started to become an admirer of Bono for his political advocacy. I read the book UNFORGETTABLE FIRE in college and was interested to see that Bono really struggled in the early days with issues of faith. As a devout Catholic, he was troubled at how his dreams of being a rock star would compromise his beliefs--especially since the culture of rock and roll was polluted with substance abuse and money. As Bono and U2 matured they found ways to use their music and fame to draw attention to important causes.

As I grow more and more devout in my faith, Bono (in addition to Jesus) continues to be someone I look to. He works tirelessly on behalf of the less fortunate--the poor, the sick, the victimized. He hasn't let fame and money separate him from the pressing social/health issues of the world.

Still, in spite of all that, I couldn't help poking a little fun at him...

BATMAN IS BACK BABY

I am not typically into comic books--or graphic novels, as I hear they prefer to be called. In the 80's however--just as I was being ravaged by adolescence, Frank Miller's wonderful THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS came out. Suddenly, comics were considered art not camp and I started drawing Batman in the margins of all my school notebooks.

BATMAN BEGINS is a vision of Batman in the tradition of Miller's Dark Knight--forever leaving behind the technicolor antics of the 60's television show. Fans of Miller's Dark Knight graphic novels (like me) had long been hoping for a film that was more dark and more grounded what was always the central thread in the Batman canon--that he was an ordinary man made extra-ordinary by his own quest for revenge.

Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale have turned this beloved icon on his cape. Batman is portrayed as a complex bag of swirling and dueling emotions. Bale's Bruce Wayne is sometimes petulant, sometimes self-righteous but always solid in his resolve. He is, at times, hard to like. Bale transforms from the younger, simpering misanthropic Wayne to the cool "alter-ego" of later life with believability. Always under the surface, however, one gets a sense that there is a boiling anger that is just waiting for a moment to burst forth. Bale's intensity is something to behold (why wasn't he Anakin Skywalker?). In one scene he is confronting mob boss Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) in a restaurant. Sitting in the booth across from Falcone, Bale's expression is almost a poker-face. As he speaks, his lips barely move--his voice is hardly above a whisper. He appears as though he could, at any moment, either burst into tears or launch himself across the table and tear Falcone's throat out with his teeth. His transformation into the Dark Knight is why the audience cares--why they/we are there. When he finally does don the cowl and cape--over halfway into the movie, the audience is well primed for what follows. Christopher Nolan deprives his audience the payoff of seeing Bruce in the final batsuit until the last possible moment. Even when he emerges in his full glory--he doesn't FULLY emerge. The kinetic fight scenes where the newly born Batman is fighting several thugs is at once both chaotic and beautiful. Batman is a ghost moving among the men, clobbering them--dropping them with a flurry of kicks and punches. His cape flutters about, shrouding him from sight and meshing him with the shadows in a seamless fashion so that you're never quite sure where Batman is and the shadows aren't. The wonderful tableaus of him perched atop buildings (an admitted cliche' in most comic themed films) mark him as somehow part of the very surroundings. The visual look of this film has more in common with the final scenes of BLADE RUNNER thyan it does Tim Burton's original.

This re-imagining (a term currently all the rage in Hollywood) of Batman is a triumph in many ways. This is no franchise movie. There isn't any real obnoxious product placeement to speak of--no Burger King tie-ins. BATMAN BEGINS succeeds much MUCH more than it fails and it's few failures can be forgiven on the whole (the whole "poisoning-of-the-water-system" plot is not very isnpired). BATMAN BEGINS soars.

I would like to take a little moment to address the moral/spiritual issues of BATMAN BEGINS. Personally, I am troubled by any personal journey that is motivated by vengance masquerading as justice--and the film addresses those issues somewhat. The notion of redemptive violence--when the hero exacts justice through the violent destruction of his enemy, is counter to everything I believe personally. Batman is a troubling figure--especially in this day and age where people somehow seem justified acting as vigilantes against the "criminal element" in the war on terror. Compassion, empathy--these are themes that are admirably addressed sporadically in BATMMAN BEGINS. They are discarded ultimately as the film slips into action-movie-mode. Still, it does deliver and it's worth a look nonetheless.

COOL WWII WEBSITE

This is an illustration in a series that I am doing for a guy in Alabama. The site is a tribute to the Second Emergency Rescue Squadron. Their mission was to act as rescue support for fighters and bombers in the Pacific during WWII. They flew giant PBY aircraft which were basically giant flying boats. These planes would swoop down and rescue downed flyers who made the unfortuneate decision to ditch in the Pacific Ocean. It was an incredible mission--considering that theirs was a mission to save as many lives as possible, not take them. WWII aviation has long been an interest of mine.

These illustrations are meant to illustrate the different uniforms and accoutrements worn by the pilots and crew. They also happen to be a caricature of the site administrator, Jim Teegarden's uncle Gary. In addition to running the website, Jim is a flight instructor at Ft. Rucker Al.. He's a great guy and this is a wonderful tribute to his uncle and fellow flyers. I hope y'all take a minute to check out the website. It's simply amazing. It's possible to get totally lost in it for hours! The volume of photographs is probably one of the best collections of WWII photos I've ever seen. This has been one deleriously fun project and I hope I am able to continue working with Jim.

STAR WARS THOUGHTS PT 2.

I thought that I would get back to my ruminations on REVENGE OF THE SITH while I still had it fresh in my mind.

As I mentioned before, I don't feel like I can really offer a bona fide "critique" of this film given how much the STAR WARS saga has permeated my psyche... I will do my best, however, to try and process what I can.

First, it has become somewhat fashionable for some of my friends out there in blogland--as well as in the print media, to foolishly dismiss this film out of hand as another in a series of silly or unimportant popcorn movies. One thing that we ALL must agree on is that STAR WARS--whatever you may think of the films, is indeed culturally and socially significant. As cool as it my be to sniff and guffaw the onslaught as some kind of mass Jungian hysteria, it is IMPOSSIBLE to deny the impact the films have had. So, roll your eyes and harumph and laugh at the legion of costumed fans waiting in line... It doesn't change the simple and irrefutable fact that STAR WARS is an incredible cultural phenomenon.

Now, that isn't to say that there aren't problems with the films or film, in the case of SITH. As much as I liked the last film (it was the best of the prequel and ranks below EMPIRE in my top three) it definitely had it's weaknesses...

Acting. Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, and Natalie Portman all did the best they could with what they had to work with--that is, that is some of the most stilted dialogue ever written for the screen. Lucas has often said that these films are a throwback to the old serials of the 40's and 50's where the acting was indeed broad and the dialogue melodramatic. Indeed. --Dammit,... I have to go again... I will continue this at a later time... I have a doctor's appointment to be off to.

MUSIC BATON

Sorry I've been a wee bit out of the loop here lately. I've been too busy to breathe--AND my wife and I are expecting which is exciting so I have been sort of preoccupied trying to drum up some freelance here and there... Anyway... Ward sent me this today and I thought I'd give it a shot...

Total volume of music files on my computer:
Old G3: 2 GB
Powerbook G4: 2.5 GB

Last CD I bought was Jack Johnson "Brushfire Fairytales"

Song Playing right now:
"Portland Oregon" by Loretta Lynn and Jack White

Five songs I listen to a lot--or that mean a lot to me:
"Forever My Friend" by Ray LaMontagne
"Hard Times Come Again No More" by Eastmountainsouth
"Feelin Better" by Hank Jr.
"Mary" by Patty Griffin
"Bubble Toes" Jack Johnson

Passing the baton to Kristi