Kris, a real live Alaskan SAHM, wrote me and said, "The dilemma I face each and every year is that my husband's birthday is on Christmas Day. As you can imagine it is always overshadowed by the holiday celebrations. I try to have a separate party and attempt to come up with a unique gift that isn't muddled in with the Christmas gifts. I think a gift of one of your drawings may be the perfect answer this year. I think you do high quality work and I know he will treasure it for a long time."Do you read all that? "Perfect" "High quality work!" "Treasure!" Thanks for the complements Kris, But they weren't necessary. You had me at "hello."
Some of the unique things about her husband, Adam, is that he built his own cabin out off trees from their own property—with a chainsaw no less! Who is this guy? Jeremiah Johnson? (I love that movie.) Also, he really loves his Jeep Scrambler, and is proud of his Polish heritage.
This was another fun illustra- tion. But there are two mistakes that I made, maybe not obvious at first...1) I left the windows off the cabin. Kris was okay with that, but thought that he would notice right away.
Also, 2) I was looking at this the other day and realized that the flag, chimney smoke, and chainsaw exhaust should be blowing in the same direction. They are not. Oh well, some things like that get by an artist when he's under pressure.
Happy birthday and merry Christmas Adam. And thank you Kris for your kind words. I look forward to hearing about the party.
And now, for those of you who enjoy reading about the mundane life of a doodler... My wife heard that yesterday was the last day that the Post Office would guarantee delivery before Christmas. I'm telling you, I've been doodling my precious fingers to the bone! I had two illustrations to finish down at the wire. Talk about pressure! I was up to 1 am in the night working on them. Then I got up early Saturday and finished my last one around 11 am. I thought the Post Office closed at noon, but it turned out that they were open until 2 PM.
I have one more local doodle to doodle, but that doesn't require the cooperation of the postal service.
Sadly, though, I couldn't get an address for one of those last two doodles. Lately, I've been mailing these drawing even before receiving payment. (So far no one has defaulted on me—knock on computer screen) I'm waiting to hear from the doodle requestee to see what our options are. Hopefully we can work something out.
There are a couple of other requests that I have on my list. Actually, they have the same first name (no last name), and for the life of me I can't remember if they're from the same person or not. One of the request required more photos that I never received. So if you're that person, or those persons, I'm sorry that we couldn't get it worked out, but I'll still be happy to put a caricature together for you for any other special occassion.
In other news: We're flying to Oklahoma for Christmas for Christmas. (That is, unless you're a robber that is reading this. Then in your case we'll be home all day, everyday.) The whole family will be together for a holiday celebration. I can't wait to see my girls.
I plan to take my drawing pad on the plane to get some prime doodling time in.
When I get back I'll be starting off my second Great Big Humongous Annual Giveaway!!!!
My plan is to give away a number of copies of some of my work art. (I haven't decided how many yet) and THEN, I will be giving away one chance to have a free caricature drawn for one winner by me. (This will be a doodle of a single individual—no group request.) I'll even pay for packaging and shipping.
What's the catch? None! It's just my way of saying thanks to all you crazy people out there that take the time to stop by my little corner of the WWW.
All you will have to do is make a comment on the Giveaway post and you will be entered into the drawing. That's it!! No placing a link on your blog back to mine. No handing over the deed to your house, or your first born child. Nothing like that! I just want to celebrate.
Of course, I would appreciate you telling your friends about my giveaway. That, I'm sure you realize, will decrease your odds of winning, But hey!, consider it payback for all those free doodles I've been giving to you! Remember that? Ummm? So be sure to tell your friends and family members about my little celebration.
Also! I will be revealing a special doodle that I really enjoyed working on between all the caricatures that I've been doing. In fact, I will be offering copies up for sale. I think you egg-heads are really going to want to purchase a copy. They're priced cheap too!!
Whew! That was a long post. How did you ever get through it?
Merry Christmas! Now go do something productive.
