June 27, Fahrenheit 109 in Southern Oregon

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What better way to cool off on a hot day than to paint my kids escaping from a volcano demon by running into a waterfall that has a hidden cave behind it?

It’s going to be miserably hot for the next week, but I’m okay with that, so long as the air remains breathable. I’m more concerned about Southern Oregon’s summer and fall curse: wildfires that cause horrendous air pollution. I’m hoping for the best this year, but just in case, we’ve got our evacuation bags packed and ready to go.

The painting above is a rough sketch for page 24 that shows Dylan Dolphin and Jimmy Jay falling behind in the race to escape from the volcano demon. Dylan was slowed down by his fixation on the awesome soccer ball he found, and Jimmy is just a slow runner. I hope that they make it safely to the tunnel!

Al Fresco Art Club Challenge, Aug 23, 2020: Noses

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Reference: Jack Hamm, Drawing the Head and Figure

Today’s Alfresco Art Club Challenge was held indoors. It’s wildfire time in Southern Oregon and it’s so smokey outside that it’s harmful to the lungs of all living creatures. Beside the challenge of dealing with foul vapors, we had an artistic challenge: sketch a body part, such as hands, feet, eyes, and so on. I chose noses. My reference for this exercise was one of my standbys: Jack Hamm’s Drawing the Head and Figure. Jack Hamm worked at Warner Brothers on such masterpieces as Bugs Bunny and later was a teacher at Baylor University.

Chore Day Oct 5, 2019 -- Cooking for the Week, Going to the Art Store, and Brainstorming

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Every Saturday I cook up food for the week, usually making some bean and sweet potato burgers for my canine amigos (with all the nutrients required by canines), and some delicious goodies for myself, such as rice and beans flavored with lots of powerful spices.

The big event of the day was a trip to B&N in Medford, where I bought the latest issue of Ad Busters which asks, Can artists save the world with a Brutalist new aesthetic? That’s a question well worth investigating, I say. To prepare myself for the future, I went to Art Central I bought a big Fabriano notebook for my gouache paintings, a Kunst und Papier watercolor tablet, and four small Princeton brushes for my gouache painting. They have with eye-pleasing cerulean-colored handles.

And I did some uncritical brainstorming on the iPad — I’m trying to figure out how to do the cover image of Jimmy Jay jumping down a chimney. This is my third effort. I think I’m loosening up a little with each attempt.