Home Sweet Dome - Well, Maybe Not

Jennifer wanted an illustration of her family. It was to be a surprise for her husband, on their 10th anniversary. Two of the items she especially wanted me to include in their drawing was...

A. Bruce's Suzuki Boulevard, or C90T (big motorcycle to the uninformed.)

AND!...

B. The Dome house they were building in Florida. She said, and I quote..."The dome definitely needs to be in the drawing… it is a major part of our lives and is one of the things that makes us, well, us."

So I went to work and drew the little fam. settling into their Florida paradise.

I e-mailed Jennifer her creation.



She wrote said, (And I'm not quoting her here, but I'm pretty close...) "Well, I don't know how to tell you this, but we're selling the dome." I guess what made them, them, no longer made them, them - then. (Did you follow that?) Jennifer paid me for that illustration, thank you very much, and then asked if I could put another one together. This time she asked me for a drawing just of Bruce, who enjoys taking his ride out on camping trips every now and then. It took me a bit before I could get back to doing a drawing for her, but I got in done - in time enough for their anniversary.


Here are some photos from the unveiling.





Thanks Jennifer for commissioning me to celebrate your anniversary. (I seem to be very popular with anniversaries.) Go buy that pink Harley and let's the three of us go for a ride.

By the way, if anyone is interested in a
dome abode, located somewhere in sunny Florida, I understand that Jennifer and Bruce are still looking for a buyer. It's brand new and unused.

A Hippie Wedding

Caroline contacted me about doing an illustration for her parent's 30th wedding anniversary. (She is in the middle of the trio.) Thirty years of marriage is something to celebrate! Don't you agree? I was honored to be asked to create something to help commemorate the happy event.

Caroline sent me several photos of the family, including photos of what she described as her parent's "hippie wedding."

I thought it would be fun to take all five of the family members and illustrate the parents in their original wedding attire, and the rest of the family in true Flower Power Fashion. She, apparently a free soul, jumped on the idea and set me loose. (I like it when that happens.)

Here's what I came up with.



The color is not quite right on this scan. The grass is much too yellow. It's a long story as to why it looks that way, but I tried to fix it, and only ended up turning everybody blue. Please just imagine grass that is green, and not drought yellow.

Caroline was kind enough to send me these photos from their celebration at the cabin. Aren't they a good looking couple? Also a photo of the illustration hanging on their cabin wall. (Which I understand was it's temporary home - read her blog for further details.)

Thank you Caroline for using me to help honor your parents on such a special day. Give them my regards.



The wife and I are just one year behind them, (29 years on June 9th) and our love/bond is still strong.

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

Elephants Don't Fly

Birdie, Birdie
Birdie, birdie in the sky
Why did you do that in my eye?
I will not laugh
I will not cry
I’m just glad that elephants don’t fly!

Indulge This Proud Father

We made it home from our trip to Okla- homa. The family went there to see Andrea, our middle daughter, graduate from college. This is a snap shot I took of the moment she received her diploma from the University President. It's a proud moment for the wife and I and so I'm shamelessly using my blog to brag.

Hey! It is my blog isn't it? Indulge me a bit - won't you?

As I shared earlier, I had plenty of air time to get some doodling done on the planes. Here is one sample.

With recent work I did on the Hog Wild logo, I guess I had pigs on the brain. So, this doodle of a javelina (pronounced havalina) came to fruition. (I think I sound smart when I use the word "fruition.")

I still have a number of mullet illustrations to share, but I'm going to spread those out over time. Aren't you glad?

I had an idea of trying something a little different with this particular illustration. Normally I've hung onto my original artwork for prosperity sake, but with a daughter's wedding looming on the horizon, I'm willing to part with this illustration.

So...

The first person willing to drop a mere $25 for this piece can become the proud owner of an original Rick Green doodle. I'll even throw in shipping and handling for free.

Do you know a Razorback fan? Do you have an interest in desert wild life? Are you a wild hog? (Scratch that last question.) How about it? Are there any art lovers out there?

F.Y.I. It's a pen and ink illustration on an 8x10 piece of paper. No thrills. No spills. Just straight doodling.

So...

The first person posting a comment here telling me of their desire to purchase this piece can become the proud owner of this unique bit of artistic expression. (Talk about shameless promotion!)

Mullet Mode

I'm in Oklahoma at the moment with my family. We got to see our middle daughter graduate from college yesterday. It's a very special time for us. This is the second of our three girls to get her diploma. The oldest one lives here as well. She and her fiancé are getting married in Oct, in Oregon.

Life is changing at a quick pace for all of us. We got to get to see a plot of land where the soon to be Mr. & Mrs. are having a house built.

Wow! My little girls have done and got themselves all growed up. The youngest has one more year of high school, and then it's off to college. Man, oh man! Is that ever going to tear me up.

As many of you know, whenever I travel I have to take pad in hand and get some doodling done. I'm going to have a bunch of stuff to share with you all when I get home and have time to scan some of my creations into my computer.

Here are some examples of doodles I made before we started on our trip.


I've been mulling over mullets lately.















Picasso had his Blue Period. I guess I've been in mullet mode of late.

I consider Mullets an artistic expression that has not yet been fully appreciated. It's not the first hairstyle to have it's own name, but how many cuts do you know that have their own catch-phrase: "All business up front, and a party in the back." Plus, it's close association with rednecks the southern gentleman puts this quaffs in a category all it's own.

You can look for more mullet making in the days ahead. I think these pieces could be egg-less, but the more detailed work, that I will be sharing, certainly is not.

Hog Wild Cycle Werks

Ron saw my Fat Hog illustration and contacted me about using it as a logo for a new motorcycle shop he and his wife, Kris, are opening in Nampa, ID. Unfortunately that particular piece was already purchased by a man in England for use on his web site. I've yet to see him put my Fat Hog drawing on his site, but a deal is a deal. So then Ron asked me to create a new illustration for him that they could use.

Here it is, and yes, every- thing is spelled as Ron request- ed it.

It turns out that Ron and I have a number of things in common. (One of which is our spelling talents.) I have been know to travel over to Nampa ever now and then, and so there's a good chance that I'll get to meet him and Kris someday. I look forward to seeing their shop, but more than that I'm looking forward to getting them over here to try out some of our Oregon coast, fanstic, twisting, turning, ocean viewing, roads here.

Talk about your wild hogs?

Safari

I drew this a few years ago as a design for a t-shirt for a children's summer camp. Safari was the theme.

I think it turned out pretty good. The kids liked it. What do you think?

I enjoyed telling the children that there was a secret egg-man hidden on the drawing. They had a hard time finding him, but you egg-sperts will have no problems.

I ask Tressa, (from my last post) to send me some photos of Josh's home coming so that I could post them here on my blog. She was kind enough to send me these three photos.






Ahhh! Young love. Don't you just love it?

Welcome home Josh. Thanks for serving our country, but we know what you're fighting for.

Tressa's E-Love

Tressa wanted a drawing illustrating her relationship with a certain navy man.

She wrote and said, "I sort of thought it would be neat to somehow capture an illustration of us 'dating via email' - showing me back home and him on his Navy ship. I have a vision of maybe me typing away grinning while he leans back in his chair reading the email with his hands behind his head... wearing his Navy uniform of course. Let me know what you think."

I thought, "Sounds like a fun idea."

Here is the lucky guy - goes by the handle of Josh. And below is the illustration I drew of them. Good looking couple ain't they?

Last Sunday, Mr. Josh Navy came home after spending some time off the coast of Africa. The drawing was a welcome home gift - haven't heard what he thought. I'll assume that they've had better things to do than to keep in touch with me.


Thanks Tressa for inviting me to illustrate your personal love story. I had fun creating it for you.

By the way, What DID he think?

Oregon Tan

If you live just about any- where in the north- west, or some place that is particularly wet, you'll appreciate this one. It's an old joke, but one that I've not seen illustrated before.

Sorry, but I'm pretty sure this particular cartoon is "eggless." To tell you the truth, I drew it so long ago that I forget.

Feel free to copy and share with your friends and relatives that do live where people rust.

A Day In Tonya's Overloaded Life

I'm getting just a bit caught up on my list of request for caricatures. Here's another project...

Tonya contacted me about doing an illustration of her family. At first she wanted me to draw the whole gang, each doing their own thing at the beach - they are SoCal people.

One evening I wrote and informed her that I was ready to start on her caricature. I drew my usual 8x10 frame for the piece, stared at the paper for a while, and then went to bed. Tonya wrote me the next morning and asked if I had actually started. I had to confess that I had not actually, officially, in reality started. Her response was "yippeee!"

(I wish my wife could get so excited by my procrastination skills.)

Turns out that it was a good thing that I hadn't actually put something down on paper because now she had a little different scenario in mind.

She wrote, "Okay, so maybe me juggling my everyday life stuff - husband, twins, teenager, pets, household chores, craft projects, cooking .... all the things I love I guess." She went on to list a number of different things that her husband and children could be doing. I liked the concept because, although it was going to take some time to get all this stuff on paper, it opened up the possibility for a lot of fun creativity.

Here's the finally product...

Anything about all this looks similar to your life?

It might take you a bit to get it all in. Her husband is a helicopter pilot for the Marines, but I put him in a little private one becuase I need him to be flying something close enough to a window so that you can make out his face. In recognition of his service I wanted to put a pic of him flying the real thing. Thank you sir.

You should check out the comments on Tonya's blog regarding her new art, and see all the new frustrated egg hunters that have commented there. I got too much joy out of it. But Tonya got weak (in my opinion) and gave a too easy of a hint for Eggy's location. But, I guess I've done the same thing myself on a previous post. So, you might want to go on an egg hunt here first before you pop on over there.

She also posted a little doodle I did on the back of the envelope I drew while waiting in line at the Post Office.

Thank you Tonya for choosing me for your cartoon needs. I've added you to the list of crazy people that have used my artwork for their blogs. I think it's a fun illustration, and I hope you enjoy it for many years - and I pray your life gains some sanity.

Natalie and Her Volunteer

Kris told Natalie about my art. Natalie is Kris' son, Travis, girl friend. (Did you follow that?)

She wanted an illustration of the two of them together. On the list of themes that I could include in the drawing is her love of fashion, shoes and pursers, his love of the Tennessee Volunteers, and their love for miniature dachshunds.

At first I thought about putting them on the red carpet with paparazzi flashing cameras all around them. But this drawing was meant to be a gift for him, and that concept seemed to lean towards her interest.

So, I decided to draw them walking on the campus of U of T - that's a campus building in the background, and two little weaner dogs dachshunds with them. The pups sport the name of the mascot of the university: Smokie.

I like how it turned out. What do you think of my purse and shoe design? My little bit of Project Runway.

Not So Funny Anymore

Just a quick post - very busy day today.

This is another cartoon I drew for the local paper last year. At the time $4.99 a gallon seemed funny. It doesn't seem as funny anymore.

Since I live in a touristy location, and since I ride a Harley, this cartoon strikes a personal note. How do people afford the gas in those beast? I'd rather sleep in a motel.

Feel free to copy and share.

Hayley Is Still Down

Back on February 3rd I posted an illustrat- ion of Hayley and her family. When she ordered that drawing she also put in a request for a caricature of just her at her laptop. It took me a while to get back to it, but I finally finished it. Here she is again - Hayley, still Underdown, or Downunder. (Whatever) My blog has been getting some action from the southern hemisphere lately. That's fun.

Actually, I've had this drawing done for several weeks, but I keep forgetting to post it. I'm still at the drawing board working on more cartoons. In fact, I was up till late last night working on one - trying to get caught up.

Thanks to all of you who are patiently waiting. I've begun to warn people, when they make a request, that it may take a while before I get to it. For all of you who gave me a deadline, I think I'm still okay. So, hang in there.

Thanks Hayley for liking my work enough to request a second illustration. You knew what you were in for. I hope that you get enjoyment out of your caricatures for many years.

(I just love the eyes on that little one. Don't you?)

Elk Hunt - Again

I put my counter on this blog about mid- January of this year. I don't know what the number of hits on this blog would have been if I had the thing installed a year ago (I've learned so much since I starting blogging.) But, sometime tonight I should go over 10,000 hits. I'm kind of excited about that. (Of course, about 5,000 of those were from me.)

Before I installed the counter I had no idea that there were a number of people visiting this page, and not leaving a comment. I just figured that the number of comments I got pretty well equaled the number of hits I was getting. Little did I know that a number of you out there are the lurking type.

Anyway, thanks for visiting the old blog. I've said before, and I'll say it again, my tender ego needs, thrives on, the attention.

Above is another cartoon that I did a couple of years back. Previously I have posted two other elk hunt drawings; a rifle hunt, and a different bow hunt version. This one is actually the first bow hunt one that I drew. But, when I drew it, I didn't like it because I didn't leave enough room for the arrow to stick out straight from the elk's nose. To me, that didn't look right. So, I had to redraw it. Still, I liked this one well enough that I hung on to it.

Which one do you like best? (A question obviously asked to try and get a comment out of you lurker types.)

Monsters Ink

I drew this while sitting in the back of a class while attending graduate school back in the early '80's. Yes, even while earning a graduate degree I could often be seen doodling away on a piece of paper at the back of the class while a professor lectured up front.

I've hung on to this scribble ever since. One reason is that I felt it was different in style from the way I normally drew. Over the years, when I have visited school classrooms to do a cartooning demonstration that I do, this is one of the pieces that I like to show the kids. It's generally a big hit with the boys.

One of the requirements for my degree was to face a committee of professors, alone for two hours, answering any question they want to ask from any class you took over the threes years you attended school. The committee is called an "Orals Committee" because the exam is an oral exam. At the end of my inquisition exam, after I had been told that I had passed, I gave each of the professors a copy of this illustration; telling them that it was my interpretation of what an Orals Committee looked liked. They laughed, but I still think it was a good thing that I waited until AFTER they told me that I had passed.

What do you think?

Snapper Chris

This was a first for me. Just a little while back Chris asked me to create something for a tattoo of a snapper fish that she and her husband want to have done. He, for his chest and she, for her leg.

Wow! My art enshrined in flesh! Sounds kinda'... kinda'... personal to me.

Chris sent me this illustration of a snapper, but said that she wanted her fish to be "kinda swimming uphill, curving to the right. With big lips! And a cheeky smile! and bubbles/water around."

I thought, "this snapper will be a snap," and so then I put together this illustration for her.



Chris' response was less than enthusiastic. She thought the eyes were too buggy, and the teeth were too teethy. Then she followed up those comments by finally telling that "snapper" was something her husband called her, (Awe - how cute!!) and so the fish was suppose to be her.

Now you tell me Chris!!! Why didn't you say that in the first place?

With that bit of insight I went to work on feminizing the little critter and then this is what I came up with...

Christina Joy was happy with the sex change procedure transition and then so was I.

After going to work on coloring in her snapper this was the final result...

What do you think? The lady that always makes my color copies of the drawings for me said that this one was her favorite, and she's seen a lot of my illustrations. You regulars might notice one addition to the final piece.

Chris promises to send a photo of the tattoo once it's... it's... umm... planted. So, I'll post that photo later.

Another note: This represents another first for me. Chris and family live in New Zealand, so this is the first time that one of my illustrations has made it to Middle Earth. ("Lord of the Rings" humor there.)

Be sure to check out her blog. She's a fun, spicy gal, and if you're really nice to her, she might even call you "mate."

Pull My Finger

Here is another result from a recent meeting that I was in. I debated about dividing these various characters up instead of posting them all at once, but I guess I'm either too busy, or too lazy. Maybe a little of both. For what may be obvious reasons I'm calling this fine piece of art: "Pull My Finger."

Copy and share if you dare.

I'm still working on caricatures all the time. They've been moving along much too slow for what I would like to do, but if you've ordered one from me, I haven't forgotten you, at least I don't think I've forgotten you. (If I had forgotten someone, how would I know if I've forgotten them?) Anyway, I think I've on target to get the art done for those of you who have deadlines.

Hang in there.

Family Practice - Nerd Day

I'm trying to remember the story behind this particular strip, but my memory fails me. But, as best as I can remember, something very similar to this happened to one of our girls, and I thought it deserved to be immortalized in cartoon.

Also, I just had to share this photo.


Monday I saw this rainbow after driving our youngest to school. I went home to grab my camera and then drove quickly to the beach to get off as many shots as I could before it faded. While I was shooting some pics the boat came out from the harbor. The boat looked like it was "Chasing After the Rainbow."

Download and/or share if you would like.