Happy B-Day Blog!!!

So here it is. The end of year one for this blog. It began with the birth of my daughter and seems to have retained its momentum. There was a short time of many visitors, but nowadays if you put your ear to the blog you can hear the ocean. But it seems that there are so many to visit, commenting on each is near impossible (even though I'm trying to "do unto others". So happy birthday blog, make a wish (more interaction with other artists, I know!) and blow out your candles. Maybe you'll get some legs and go somewhere in the next year.

Duck-Billed Batypus

Another OAC entry.

At dusk, on the surface of our local lakes you can spot the indigenous duck-billed batypus trying to get a meal. Known for their perfected sonar, their only flaw is the sonar affecting "quacking" that tends to cause these small aviarodents to occasionally land in the water and attempt to swim.

Reservoir Mice

Latest Outsider Art Club Assignment

Coming this spring! Known only as Mr. Cheddar, Mr. Mozzarella and Mr. Gouda, these three dangerous mice knock over a local store. The take.....cheese. The cost.....nothing. The risk.....worth it. Hold on as Rodent Tarantino takes you on the ride of your life in this rhyme gone ruckus in, "Three Blind Mice". -Rated SM for smelly rodents, smelly cheese and an overall smelly script. Doctor recommended shots suggested.

Cupid Claus

You better watch out, you bette not cry. Better not date I'm telling you why. Cupid Claus is coming, to town! Mandy suggested this one for this week's Outsider Art Club. The idea made me laugh pretty hard. Well done Mimi.

Ghetto Star Wars.

Here we have last weeks OAC assignment. I kept thinking Yoda the thug, Leiah the hoochie, Luke the pimp, etc. I did get to sit down with a co-worker and discuss ways to improve my character and life drawing skills. Now if I can just find time to work on my nun-chuck skills, bow-hunting skills and computer-hacking skills. Then I'd be set.

Happy Halloween!

Boo y'all! Happy Halloween to all ye who may dare to visit this blog. May your night be full of scares, tricks and a few treats. Heh, heh, heh.....

Kiddie Kage Fight

This one was fun. One of the artist on OAC suggested a sport for kids,.....KIDDIE KAGE FIGHT. The rules are simple,...there are no rules. Many kids enter, one kid leaves. I put all the bully types into this one character. I feel such therapy with this kind of stuff!

Crocodile Tears

This is they way I felt when I learned of Steve Irwin's death. We loved that guy. We're going to miss him so much.

Mad Jason Magazine

Outsider art project "I love the 80's". I loved reading the issues that Justin (older bro) would buy. The various artistic styles mixed with the humor made it SUCH a fun mag to read. In fact, I would look them over and over again. Good times!!!

Walt Diz Kid

Outsider art project "Famous people before they were famous." I admire Walt for all he was and is. We're frequenters of Disneyland. This was a poke at him getting his ideas from an odd place. It worked out a bit better in my head, but translated decently. Dave pointed out that he has no actual reflection in the window. Disney-dracula!

Ablutophobia

The Fear of Washing or Bathing

A co-worker of mine told me that her kid wouldn't wash his hair last night. He was freaking out about having shampoo on his head. I quote Adam Sandler in Big Daddy, "My kid's the stinky kid!?". Hope my 'lil gal never goes through that. Pee-yew!

Jambo

Post for "Outsider Art Club" (http://outsiderartclub.blogspot.com/)

"So I was torn as a child. Between being a break dancer and Rambo. Both would gain me fame and notoriety, and both could get me killed. So it was a toss up and now I'm an artist. My mother once said, "I'm so glad you never went into the military". Tell that to our troops when the war could have been over years ago with 2nd Battalion "Pop and Lock Killers". We'd have our own patches. (I'll repost a color version soon)"

The Smokehouse

Here's a sketch reproduction of "The Cat House" formerly known as "The Smokehouse". I got the image from the Farmgirl blog (http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/). Check it out. There are some pretty cool images. I love old wood structures like this. Drawing old wood planks was my first love in drawing. Weird, but true.

Surf's Up and So Is My Hair

A doodle goes color. Or shall I say, "A Doodle: In Technoramafied Colorization Mode III!". That's more like it. Getting geared up for a Hawaii trip in early December. Gonna catch a surf competition on the north shore. Should be cool.

Phone Doodles

My mother always, ALWAYS, doodles when she's on the phone. The apple never falls that far from the tree. In this case the Swann didn't land too far from the pond. Here's some doodles while on a conference call. Random, sketchy, meaningless.

Ready,...Aim....

Don'tcha feel like this sometimes? Whether while driving, at work or whatever, it sometimes feels this way. It certaily gives the kids in my Sunday School class somethin' to aim for! (hee, hee...)

...Old Watercolors Continued

...and the rest of 'em.

Old Watercolors

Stumbled across these and thought I'd put 'em out there. They date mostly at '03. I wish I did more landscapes. They seem to help me with all aspects of detail and such. The last one is of my honey sleeping. Ahhhh, so peaceful when they sleep, eh?

Wacom Fun

Fun with Wacom. It's taken some time for me to get used to the tablet. But I'm getting there. As I get better with it, it really is a much better way to work. It's a much more natural way of drawing and such. So I got a doodle going and tried coloring him a bit. I see what others can do with their tablets and try to get in as much practice as I can. Good stuff!

Dragon Shrink

Just another doodle gone color. I messed with the scales a bit. Simple but effective. The rest was more of the same. Some doodles seem so flat and lifeless. Some almost look like they'll start talking. I picture this guy having a lower but soothing voice. He'd ask how your day was and then actually be interested in your ansewer. That's it, he's my dragon shrink.

Bellagio II

It's always nice to put icing on a cake. This was fun to play with lighting and some Illustrator tools. Night time at the 'Laggio (as me and my honey call it), watching the fountain show to some Sinatra or Bocelli. That's nice....

Little House on the Hill

Just a doodle of our place. We're at the bottom of a little hill. It's finally a place we can call home. We moved four (that's 4, IV, quatro) times during 2004. Utah to Cali, Cali to Matt's place in Vegas, his place to a condo, and the condo to our current home. Phew! I'm done for awhile. I think this 'lil diddy does it justice as a comfy place to kick back and throw on Peter Pan, Iron Giant, Icredibles, The Secret of Nimh and the like.

I See Myself

It's always a wonder how people see themselves. I don't really wear my red hat all that much, but this is mostly how I see me. Red cap pulled down, bearded wonder with my arms folded and my pants a little too baggy. Will that be how my daughter sees me? Will she grow up and tell me that I got no style? Will she mock me for liking Green Day or Mudvayne? Hmmm......

Belly Wars!

This is my nephew on our way to go snow skiing. Cool dude. He had a HUGE belly as a kid and after dinner we'd pull our shirts up over our bellies and shout, "BELLY WARS!!!" Then we'd run at each other full speed and try to knock the other down ( I was on my knees to play fair). He's a cuddle bug and has the frame to make a great football player one day. Rock on my good man,....and "Belly Wars!!!"

Bellagio

I dig the Bellagio. Yeh can't beat that fountain show. I did a little doodle of the hotel and would love to get it finished into some sort of pretty little scene. I thought an artist was just someone who drew cool things for the longest time. Then I heard some of my favorites say a good artist is a good draftsman, architect, characaturist, biologist, etc. Kind of like the inventors of old. You know, the guys who invented, drew, gardened, were involved in politics and so on. I seem so one dimensional these days. Time to get moving, eh?

People

People. People are cool. People are even more cool at a distance where you can appreciate the mystery. Who is that? What are they like? That guy looks interesting. It's amazing that humans can have the same features but look so different. So many noses, so many eyebrows. It's a wonder.

1000 Yard Stare

Fun with prismacolor greys and highlighters. I was looking past a shelf of shoes and saw this guy looking back. Yeah, it was me. Is that really what I look like? That seems to be the questions every once in awhile when I'm doing a self portrait and stare long enough.
Second, there's something about a still life that grabs you. I'm not huge on still lifes but they certainly keep the tools sharp! (grind, grind...)