Nix It On the Pig Slop

Here's a little doodle that I've had tucked away on my pad of paper. I've been slowly working on it bit by bit. I finished it two nights ago while Marla was studying for her test.

As usual I started with a face which turned into the whole angry farmer. While I draw these sketches I'm generally running captions through my head. I was trying to figure out what this angry farmer wanted to say. Then it hit me! Pig slop! He was angry about pig slop.

I think that this doodle has many applications. Maybe it applies to your school cafeteria. It very well could have political undertones. (Or overtones. I don't know) If you're like me you've felt like someone has been feeding you a boat load of pig slop of late. This doodle applies no matter which side of the isle you're on—mine, or the wrong one. (insert smilie face here)

So, Copy & Share If You Dare.

We're heading across Wyoming today and plan to make South Dakota tonight. Say a pray for us and no throwing pig slop around while we're away.

Fair is Fair

Maybe I shouldn't be showing you this one yet, but I want to.

The local county fair board is running a contest to get local artist to submit concepts for posters depicting this year's theme. We're not talking big money here. The winner gets free tickets to the fair and also reserved seating for some of the events. I won't make fun of our fair, but I live in a county that is not well populated, so you can imagine what kind of events I might be talking about. But, they try with what they've got.

The theme (as you can see) is "Pioneering Fun for Everyone." So, in my usual cartoon manor, I depicted a group of pioneers happily making their way to the Curry County Fair.

This is not the first time I've drawn something for the fair. I actually won the contest three (or so) years ago. I drew three submissions that year and they said that they wanted to use them all. (One of the other ones can be seen here.) The style for all my submissions is pretty much the same. In fact, they look a lot alike. But hey, cartooning is what I do. Besides, they sent me an e-mail regarding the contest, so maybe that's what they're looking for.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to attend any of the fairs—even the year I won free tickets. Each year it seems that I'm busy while it's going on, but maybe this year will be different. Maybe I'll go. Maybe I'll buy a pig and enter him in the fair as well. Maybe. Maybe not.

I'll keep you posted on the results of the contest. Either way I had a lot of fun drawing it. Don't tell anyone that I've gone ahead and posted my entry here already. They might not like it, and not choose me. And that would be... "unfair."

Cow Chips

Some doodles are best left unexplained. Therefore I will unexplain it.

Copy & Share If You Dare

Also: I'm still working on posting follow up reports from Christmas. I think I got more feedback and photos this year than I did the last. I really enjoy getting them.

Here is another...

Pat had me doodle up an illustration of her trooper son. She sent me this note and the following photos.

Hi Rick, I'm finally getting around to sending you a couple of pictures of Mike, taken on Christmas morning, as he opened his caricature that you made for him. Needless to say, he was besides himself when he opened it ... he just laughed and laughed and thought this was the neatest thing!!! He kept looking at it and pointing things out, and then he'd laugh and laugh. He was amazed at the story behind it. He was going to take pictures with his cell phone and send to his trooper buddies throughout the state (easiest way to get it everywhere instantly), although he admitted no picture does it justice. He's told me several times later that that was the best Christmas gift ever. *sigh* He's going to have it framed at the same place where he's gotten his diploma and class picture done so it's all matching.

Many thanks Rick for a job well done ... it was fun and neat seeing 'my trooper' soooo happy!!!

Now that's the kind of follow up report I love to get.!!! "The best Christmas gift ever?" What can I say? I'm practically speechless. Practically. Nearly. Almost. Eventually.

Thanks Pat for those very very kind words. And before I get a chance to visit your beautiful state would you mind giving me your son's badge number—just in case I develop any ticketing issues while I'm there. After all, I did create his "best Christmas gift ever." That ought to mean something in the court of law.

Paying It Backwards

Have you seen this woman?

The authorities are interested in discovering the whereabouts of one, generous, Oklahoma suspect named Helen - a.k.a. "The Reddirt Woman!!!"

She is described as being a woman - a woman that is dirty, and the dirt she carries on her person has been described as being red.

She's been known to frequent vegetables gardens - more specifically: tomato vines and okra patches. Other know hang outs are any, and all O.U. Sooners souvenir shops.

Please watch out for this woman, and approached with extreme caution. This suspect has been known to carry farm utensils. She is well trained and can use them with deadly accuracy.

Other aliases include: Magenta Mud Matron, Fuchsia Filth Female, and Scarlet Soil Siren.

If you do happen to make contact with her, please don't tell her that her surprise gift mugshot has been posted on this blog, as she is probably not aware of it's display.

Also, certain unnamed sources have discovered this additional image of her buried deep within her own blog.

(Her Schnauzer are the subject to an ongoing investigation as well.)

Your help is needed in apprehending this woman. Comments may be made regarding this suspect's other possible aliases and/or hangouts.

But please!!!, use extreme caution when approaching this individual. Otherwise you might find produce placed in your mailbox.

Thank you. That is all.

Potatoes On Parade

I really liked how this carica- ture turned out. This is a birthday present for Sharlyn's husband. He's an Idaho potato farmer. Is there any other kind. Oh yeah! There are sugar beet farmers too, but anyway... Sharlyn wanted me to illustrate hubby on a John Deere tractor harvesting potatoes. His real tractor is one of those big ones that has all the comfort of a Cadillac, but Sharlyn thought that putting him atop an older model would look better. I agreed.

I don't know where I got the idea, but the image of potatoes popping out of the ground and marching along with him seemed like a fun concept. Sharlyn liked it and so away I went.

The challenge for me on this particular drawing is that I couldn't find a photo on the internet taken of a tractor at just the right angle. I wanted the tractor to have a commanding, dominate position in the illustration. To do that I want the perspective on the lines of the machine to be at a dramatic angel. So, instead of taking the usual shortcut and tracing a picture, I had to draw this one out pretty much free hand. As I said, I really liked how this one turned out. The only thing I wish could be different is that I would have liked to have more room to draw a whole bunch of potatoes marching along behind him in formation.

I seem to be in a tractor mode of late, since this is the second one of late that I've been asked to illustrate. I've seem to have been drawing a lot of potatoes as well. I guess it was fate that the two themes should come together in one illustration eventually. (I'm so philosophical when it comes to my cartoon work.)

Check out Sharlyn's blog. There are some very nice quilts displayed there - another art form that impresses me.

Back to Mulletdom

I'm still working on caricatures all the time. I have a number of them that I need to post, but it always takes me longer to write out the story on each on, so for now I'm still posting my airplane doodles.

Here's another sample from my mullet mode. We'll call it Farm Mullet. I think Eggy has been on a diet - poor guy.

Have a great Memorial Day. God Bless America

Airplane Art - Make Some Hay

This is the first in a series that I guess I could call "Airplane Art". When I travel on planes I like to take my drawing pad along and doodle the hours away. I have four different pieces that I kept on this trip - another one I gave to a young soldier sitting next to me - going to Iraq soon, and another I gave to a kind flight attendant - don't call them stewardesses any more.

Besides filling the empty time, I like drawing on planes because my art is forced to be "off the cuff." Whatever comes out is what I got to work with. This drawing started out being just a face - all I knew was that I wanted to draw someone leaning forward. The hat was added and then the overalls. The rest just followed. Also, if you make a mistake, or if the plane suddenly jumps and makes your pen move, you've got to work it in some how.



What do you think?