Doodling My Love's Name

I enjoyed drawing out the name of my daughter and her fiance so much (see previous post), I decided to just doodle out my wife's name to see what I could come up with. The more I doodle on it, the crazier it got.

I had two long conversations on the phone today, one of which was with my son-in-law, the trainer, that's helping me along with my weight loss campaign. The other call I won't go into, but they gave me some time on a crazy day to use my computer to add some color to the doodle.

This was all just for fun. What do you think? Which one do you like the best? When was the last time you doodled your love's name on a piece of paper?

Here's a shot of us standing in the Redwoods together. We took some friends to see them just last Wednesday. Don't we look skinnier? It's the vertical stripes of the redwoods that make us look thinner.

Are You a Lonely Heart?

It's not a doodle, but I took this photo of our wind chime the other evening. To me it is symbolic of a love gone cold. For whatever reason, I figure that there are a few people that could use this photo to illustrate a point, or story they're are wanting to share. So... if you have a lonely heart and you want to tell the world about it, then...

Copy & Share If You Dare

Miss Fancy Pants

This is the second time that Cynthia requested a doodle from me. Back in the summer of 2008 she had me draw an illustration of her husband riding his antique tractor. That was a challenging caricature because of the unusual shape of the tractor. Apparently they liked the illustration enough to order a second one from me.

This time Cynthia wanted a drawing of their daughter, Melanie, for her 16th birthday. She wanted her dancing in her "fancy pants"—an unusual looking pair of shorts that I have the feeling are an original creation of mother or daughter. She also requested Melanie's dog, Lexi, to be in the illustration as well.

Cynthia gave me this report and photo...

Hi Rick, Melanie LOVED your picture. She opened it and said - "Wait . . . Mom . . . How did you do this? Where did you get this? How does anyone know about my fancy pants? . . . oh and Lexi is in it too !! I LOVE IT !!  THANK YOU !!" 

I knew we would all love it! Thanks again, Cynthia

You're welcome Cynthia. I'm so glad Melanie liked it. I really appreciate the photo. Those are always a joy to get to see. It was a fun doodle. I had a good time putting it together for you.

Check out Cynthia's blog, and Melanie's blog as well. You could wish her a happy belated birthday, and then ask her where she got those pants.

Ninja Complete

I finally mailed off the Ninja Family project yesterday. This was a gift that De'Etta wanted for her hubby, who is serving with our troops in Afghanistan. She has already e-mailed him a digital copy and it now hangs on his bulletin board over there. I was very proud to see a photo of one of my doodles hanging in Afghanistan. Ain't that something!?! (Click here to check it out.) Ain't the size of the family something!?!

I wasn't really sure how this project was going to turn out. Large group drawings are a challenge to make interesting, but since the rest of the family is living over in Japan at the moment, and there are a number of photos of the family dresses up in oriental attire, then I figured that the ninja theme would be appropriate. I was so glad that De'Etta went for it. I think that it makes for an interesting piece. I spent a lot of time looking for ninja illustrations and ninja weapons on the internet. If you haven't seen the previous post about this illustration, then scroll down to see some shots of the work in progress.

I'm still doodling all the time. I'm almost finished with another caricature that is laying on my drawing table right now. Then I have a list of three other illustrations a friend wants me to do. Next week I go on my annual three day motorcycle run. I think we have 15 bikes going this year—as compared to nine last year. Then it's off to Oklahoma to get some wedding prep done for daughter #2, who is getting hitched in November. I'm starting to feel the humidity.

Almost Thereeeee...

This is an involved project.  It looks simple, but with all the faces and filling in the background has taken a lot of time. But the end is in sight. A finished copy coming soon. Scroll down to see the earlier post of the piece.

Also, today is our youngest's birthday. She is 19. Happy birthday Marla. You are a mess!!

Dumpster Diving

Larry and Loraine are good friends of ours. Loraine wanted to surprise her husband for his birthday and requested a doodle from me. Larry has been accused of being a bit of a dumpster diver. I know that he supports the local schools by collecting recyclables. So, this image of him taking a dive just had to be done. This is Larry hold a big chunk of freshly caught salmon—not retrieved from a dumpster.

Loraine was going to present Larry with this masterpiece at a birthday party for him. Sadly, the party was rained out. That was really too bad because she is a great cook and I was really looking forward to sampling some more of her talents.

Unfinished Ninjas

I like publishing unfinished work here on my blog.  It gives me a chance to show you the steps I take to get one of my doodles done.  Here is a large family project that I am in the middle of.  This is a surprise gift for the father.  There are so many faces I'm having to drawn it on a larger piece of paper—14x17.

These are photos that I took of the piece to give "Mrs. Ninja" updates on my progress.

This is not the best shot—just a quick click of the camera while it sits on my drawing table.

I took this one under a little better lighting conditions.  I'm about 1/3 of the way done on the coloring. I have to work from the top left down to the bottom right so that I don't smear the colored pencil.  It has a wax base so it will melt and make quite a mess if I lay my hand across it too long.  I always like to see how the coloring really brings the image to life.

I feel bad that it's taking me so long to get this one done, but I feel good about how it's turning out. What do you think?

Inspiring Fatherhood

Father's Day is this Sunday.  I scribbled out this little doodle this afternoon just for you—in case you wanted to "Copy & Share If You Dare" it for your own blog, or color it and give to your father, or the significant man in your life.Being a father myself, there have been times when my daughters made comment on my "less-than-inspiring" attire. But, I know that, in the end, if you force them to... they will admit that I am the wind beneath their wings. Right girls!?!

(Remember the rules: If you  Copy & Share this doodle I want to know about it. Especially if I can go and visit it on your blog.)


P.S. If you haven't read my personal challenge on the previous post, please do so. I need your help. I need your inspiration if I am to go through with doing the craziest thing I've ever done. (It beat the time that I tried to scare the whits out of a bunch of little campers while wearing a bear suit while in the forrest one night.  That didn't work out so well for me.)

You Wanna Be a Rock Star?

This is the beginning of a doodle that I've been working on in my spare time. I'm not sure why I went with this guitar guy—just thought he would make an interesting drawing.  It's actually on a larger piece of paper than I normally draw on—17x14.  That's part of the motivation—having room to draw in a bunch of stuff. I'll see where it goes. I have a drawing of a LARGE family that I started on last night. Plus I have a finished caricature waiting to be picked up that I can't publish because it is for a friend that might look at this blog sometime. You can expect me to be updating this doodle from time to time.

Blogger has a new way to customize your template, so I fiddled with that a bit.

The wedding plans continue. We'll be making a trip to Oklahoma in July. I'm sure that the ladies will fill my time with all the "stuff" that they have to do to make this wedding come off.

Speaking of weddings... June 9th marked 31 years for Marylynn and I.  I posted these to Facebook Wednesday and thought that I might share them here with you.

The just pronounced Mr. and Mrs. Richard Green.  Some things have changed.

I'm telling you, the stars were real!

Let's get out of here!!!

Having my cake and eating it too.

It's off to Colorado for the honeymoon! This is back when they still used rice.

Let's Go Camping

My friend Scott is the pastor of a church in Coquille, Oregon. He wanted a doodle to advertise a family camp that they have coming up.  He wanted a van that was packed with people, packed with equipment, and ready to go camping.

Scott called me yesterday evening to ask how the doodling was coming. I had to confess that I had forgotten his request. So, I got to work on it right away and e-mailed this creation to him just this afternoon.  He said that it was "amazing."  (I like it when people say that about my art.)

Unfortunately, this seems to have become a pattern with me when dealing with Scott. Last January we had a lunch engagement at a little port town one hour away from the both of us. He showed up. I didn't. I got a call. We rescheduled. I felt so bad that I bought the lunch AND took some really nice photos of him for him to use.  (He looks so casual and happy.)

My apologies Scott. I guess I've got some kind of metal block when it come to dealing with you. Were you mean to me one time and I've somehow blocked it out of my mind? I want to lay the blame on you, if I can.

The Whole Big Bite

Back on April 19th I posted half of this illustration. Basically I hadn't scanned it correctly and half the of the drawing didn't come out right.  He now, for your viewing pleasure, is the whole "ding dong" thing. Was it worth the wait?

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In other news:  Let the wedding planning begin. There have been a ton of phone calls going back and forth between here and Oklahoma. This is daughter number two getting hitched. This wedding is a bit more tricky than when our oldest got married. We live 2,000 miles away and the wedding will be there, where the wind come sweeping down the plains—lots of logistics to plot out. But I married Mrs. Logistics. I am confident that this event will come off in style. As for me, I'm sure that it will kill me.

Lizard in Living Color

This is kind of a repeat of an earlier post, except that I took time to color it.  There was a young man that asked me to draw a lizard for him.  I think that he has some kind of science display about lizards that he was working on.  I remembered that I had this drawing of an iguana and told him that I would print it out for him.  That seem to make him happy enough, but I did decide to put on the splash of color on it just so that his report would have that extra "zing" to it. (I like "zing."  Don't you?) There is a bit of an interesting story as to why I drew this lizard in the first place.  Go here to read the rest of the story.

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In other news:  Our middle daughter, Andrea, became engaged last Sunday evening.  My now future son-in-law, Evan, surprised her as she arrived back from a mission trip to Haiti.  He was kind enough to have a talented friend put together a video of the event.  It's been getting a lot of attention on Facebook and the ladies especially have been giving reports about tearing up watching the thing.  I'm not telling you how many times I've teared up watching the thing—a dad likes seeing the smile of love on his daughter's face.

If you love a love story I invite you to click over here to watch.

The Math Wizard

Back in 2008, Kim requested that I make a doodle of her daughter's entire school class to be auctioned off as a fund raiser.  Two years later she's back with another request to create an end-of-the-year gift for her daughter's math teach—Mr. Hill.  He's also a baseball coach.  Kim wanted an illustration that might incorporate both of those aspects of his life.  After thinking about it, I requested that I be able to focus on just one of them.  Kim allowed that and said the math part would be best.  I was happy for that because she described him as a "math wiz," and the idea of drawing a wizard intrigued me.

I downed loaded a few images of wizards from the net and went to town—actually I just went to my drawing table, but you know what I mean.  So, here is Mr. Hill the Math Wizard.  He hasn't actually seen this yet.  Chances are he doesn't visit my blog, but if you know Mr. Hill, don't tell him that I just posted his face on my blog.

What do you think?

Chemistry

I just finished a caricature last night.  I have another one to do soon.  Then I have an illustration of a large family to put together.  I've been spending so much of my doodling time on getting these request done I haven't had any normal/fun doodling time.  Still, I wanted to have something to post so I threw this little tidbit on paper this morning—just for you.

I dedicate this doodle to my wife, Marylynn.  We have such chem-is-try!!

In the meantime... Copy & Share If You Dare.

Featured Photos

Webshots is a popular web site which host 1,000's of photos that both pro and amateur photographers post there.  I've been posting photos there over the past five years.  Recently I received a comment congratulating me on having one have one of my photos featured in their US Travel section.

It was this photo that I took down in Crescent City, CA of the Battery Point Lighthouse.  Naturally I looked to see where the photo was feature.  When I saw it  I also discovered that another one of my photos was featured as one of the most viewed in the US Travel section.  You can see it posted below the lighthouse pic.

This photo was taken at a state park on the north side of our town—Harris State Beach.

Now I've got to admit that I was pretty proud to see two of my photographs featured there. There has to be thousands posted on that web site, and two of my shots are featured. What do you think about that?

I've often told people that the secret of my photography is that digital camera has made it possible to take tons of photos in one setting.  One of them is bound to turn out.

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Overcoming Evil

Just do it.

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Not Quite a Dragon Slayer

My cousin Lily contacted me about creating something for her husband.  She saw my recent dragon doodle that I posted several updates on this blog about.  Apparent she liked what she saw and then wrote me saying..

"Here is a picture of my husband.  He tells a story to all little children he meets that ask him what he does for a living.  He says that he is a dragon slayer but he is not very good at it and he has a dragon friend named Sally and Sally lives in his backyard and she sneezed on him and that's how he got a small bald spot!  If the children look interested he keeps the story going, expounding on Sally's physique (she's gained a lot of weight and has itty bitty wings so it makes it hard for her to fly).  He says she is big, green, stomps on Tokyo, breathes fire...on and on he goes.  He is very funny and the kids love it."

Lily wanted something that she could frame and hang it in their pool table room.  This was fairly easy and an enjoyable one to draw.  Dragons, as far as I can tell, come in all shapes and sizes.  That makes room for a lot of creativity.  Lily liked the illustration.  I haven't head whether or no her dragon slayer has seen it yet.  I hope he doesn't quit his day job.


Update: Cousin Lily sent me this message after seeing this post...


Well, my dear cousin, the "not quite" dragon slayer checked the mail this Saturday and "lo and bebald" the doodle you created. I have not yet framed it but he loved it. My mom was over for Mom's day and she loved it as well. I am tempted to have t-shirts made, but I already gave out t-shirts that say "Sally Rocks" (the name of the dragon). If I find an extra, I'll send you one. THX again...hugs to all...cousin Lily

Sheriff of a No Horse Town

During all the excitement I had last Friday night while trying to up my vote totals I grabbed a spare piece of paper and starting doodling this guy. In my usual fashion I started without really knowing where the drawing was heading. The next thing I knew he turned into a cowboy, and the the cowboy was upgraded to sheriff.  After shading the feller in with my usual crosshatching I decided that I liked it so well I would add some color.  Next came the dog and more color. Finally, I figured the Sheriff needed a town. I only wished that I had added a horse so that I could say he was he sheriff of a "one horse town."

I really, really like how this doodle turned out. In fact it's up there as one of my favorites. I just like how the whole thing turned out. I wished that I could express this kind of freedom when I do my caricatures, but I feel bound down when I draw those. The one or two times that I've tried to add my own "flair" to a caricature I sensed that the client was less than enthused with my work.  Still, I try. What do you think?

Cute Megan

I can always tell when graduation season is upon us. There are some purple flowers that bloom whenever it's that time of year. Another hint is that I get graduation gift orders. Kathy wanted a high school graduation gift for her daughter, Megan. She wanted an illustration which depicted her daughter's love of nature and included the lake that the family enjoys water skiing on during the summer.  Also, she wanted Megan's high school mascot, the lightning blots (or something like that) included.

Megan is a cute looking young lady, don't you think? The cute ones are always harder to draw.  I always appreciate an ugly mug to draw.  This gift is yet to be opened, so I hope she's not a blogger.

This is a photo of the illustration, that's why the edge is kind of skewed.  I think the caricature turned out well, despite the cuteness factor.  What do you think?

Watchin' the Tube While Doin' a Doodle

Thank you all for voting for my blog @ BlogInterviewer.com.  The voting ends tonight—midnight.  I'm in the lead, but 2nd and 3rd are closing in.  If you haven't voted in the last 24 hours please do so.  It's not the prize, it's now the pride.  You know my tender ego feeds on it.

Here's a quick little doodle that I threw together last night while the wife and I were watching the end of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.  Nice movie, but totally predictable. The doodle has nothing to do with the movie, but that's what I often do in an evening—watch TV and doodle for you.

I was purposefully trying to be a little messy with the lines on this illustration—just to do something different.  I don't know what you would do with it, but Copy & Share If You Dare... then go VOTE!

This Is Art!!!

Peggy (or Peg, if you prefer) wrote me about creating a new header for her blog.  She said...
I have a blog that has been giving me fits with my header. All of a sudden today the photo is off and I can’t get it centered again. I have even tried to change the photo all together but it is not cooperating with me. I have had it!!!  So I have decided that maybe you can doodle me a blog template instead to elevate this problem all together.

Here is the photo I love that I scanned. I love it because it so captures some of our life.  I don’t care that the photo’s looks like us as much as a photo of a woman, a man and a dog. That is my life. What I love about this photo as I said it is just so us.  My hubby loves to fish and I love to sit on the boat and drink wine while sunning and keeping him company.  But our young lab comes with us now.

Peggy (or even Margaret, if you're the kind that prefers that) also sent me a photo of their lake house, and of the lake where all this fishing, sunning, and alcohol consumption takes place.  

In addition she sent me this peculiar—"who is that masked woman" photo of herself.  She didn't care if the characters in the illustration looked like her, but I liked having something to work off of.  Nice eyes Peg.  I did a little research on her blog and discovered that her husband was a Yankees fan.  Then I went to work.  This is what I came up with...

I liked how this one turned out.  Peggy apparently liked the results too.  She wrote...

Hey Rick THIS LOOKS FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Wow.  I don’t recall sending you anything with me and you got my hair down.  (Apparently she forgot about her fairly unrevealing photo)  All of it man. It is perfect. I just called my husband upstairs and he was blown away! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I will tell everyone on the blogs about you and give them your link!!!  God I am so exicted it is like Christmas in April. “Doodles” my ass – this is art!!!!

Now THAT'S the kind of response that I like to get.  Did you see all of those exclamation marks?  Over the top, I'm telling you.  Peggy quickly made it her blog header.  It fits there very well.  Please click over there and leave a little comment or two.  We bloggers, as most of you are, love receiving those comments.

Thank you Peggy for your MOST kind comment about the doodle (or "art" if you prefer).  I had fun putting it together for you.  I hope it graces the header of your blog for many days to come.

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In other news:  I appreciate all of you who have voted for my blog at BlogInterviewer.com. Many are telling me that it often won't let them vote everytime, even if the required 24 hours has lapsed, but many are getting through.  Supposedly you can vote once a day.  The contest goes until the end of April.  I'm in second and catching up on first, with third not far behind. So, keep on clicking.

Move That Mountain!

I really needed to get some- thing up quick tonight. It's been a long day and I've got another one facing me tomorrow.  I don't think that I've posted this one before.  To tell you the truth, I really don't remember.  So forgive me if I've posted two reruns in a row.  I try to keep things fresh.

When Jesus talked about His followers moving mountains I don't think He was talking about landscaping. I think He was challenging us to believe that He can do something about the figurative mountains in our lives. I will be honest with you, and I mean this, I have discovered that God can do amazing things in our lives, IF we will only trust Him. Try it—I think you will find it to be true too.

Copy & Share If You Dare

Thank you for all that have been voting for me at Blog Interviewer.com.  I am hearing from a number of people that the "Vote Here" button doesn't always work—even after they've waited for 24 hours.  I don't know why that's true.  I would appreciate it if you just keep on trying.  I'm in second place and catching up on the guy in first.  But, the gal in third is gaining on me as well.  She may be deserving, but I may be more deserving.  So keep those fingers a clicking!

Earth Day

This is a reposted doodle, but perhaps there are some of you that haven't seen it and would like a chance to use it on your own blog.  Earth Day is April 22.  I believe that it's our God given responsibility to take care of the one earth that He has given us.  Go ahead then—be a little green.  I've been Green for years and it's kept me in good stead.

Copy & Share If You Dare


AND!!: Please vote for my blog over at Blog Interviewer.com.  You can vote once a day during the month of April.  There is a "Vote Now" button at the top of the page.  I could win a "Major Award!"

Big Bite

This is just a little doodle I started last night and finished this morning—realizing that it has been too long since I posted anything new and had nothing to share.  This actually just part of the illustration.  My little scanner at home isn't big enough to copy the entire image.  That'll have to come at a later date.

Copy & Share If You Dare

Don't forget to vote for my blog a BlogInterview.com.  All you have to do is click on the "Vote Now" button at the top.  You can vote once a day during the month of April. I could win a prize, and that would be nice.  Right?

Community Art Walk

On each 2nd Saturday of the month the local art association in town holds an art walk.  Various businesses downtown host an artist to display their works. Some friends of mine own a popular thrift store and asked me to display my doodles there. I was happy to do so.  This is the third time I've had the chance to show my art during the art walk. I've yet to sell anytime at one of these, but I always have a good time showing my stuff—plus they always serve snacks.

Me and some of my doodles.  Perhaps you recognize some of the pieces.

A better photo of the display.

The girl's name is Peanut.  (Her nickname) She and her mother worked the counter.  She was a nice young lady.  I'm pretending to explain my work to her.  I let her have a copy of one of my cartoons—signed it to "my new nutty friend."

My eyes look so intense in this photo.

Also: I was asked for an interview at bloginterviewer.com.  If you go there and vote for my blog during the month of April I could get a prize!  That wouldn't be so bad—right?

Click on the above image, find the little "vote" button and visit once a day during April.  You don't even have to give them an e-mail address or anything.  Just vote.