El Diario y Otras Cosas( artwork is on this blog)

2011-05-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

section of final art for book.....

2010-11-24T15:20:00.000-08:00

Cover for book

2010-11-13T06:39:00.000-08:00

This is a scan of a print out for the drawing prior to finished art...the color really sucks...need to find a way to reproduce this better....

2010-11-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

Possible illo for magazine...more to follow.

Boat picture

2010-07-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

This is the final version of the painting. I'm not sure I like as well as the one I posted before...evidently the lone juror of the art show at the local museum wasn't all that fond of it either. The picture here is a little grainy... it is actually a little more crisp in real life.

WaWe banner

2010-07-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

This the banner for Watercolor Wednesdays...I'm having a little trouble getting it to reproduce but it is supposed to be up today so I guess this will have to do. I wanted to post it here first so I might get an idea how it's going to look on the WaWe blog.

sketch for borderlines

2010-05-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

I would like to get a couple of illos in Borderlines next month...this is a preliminary sketch. I know they like color but will I have time to do that? Hopefully...we'll see.

More Signwork

2010-05-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is a sign painted on a brick wall. Painting on bricks is no picnic but I like the way it turned out. Sadly, this building burned a few years ago.
And, why couldn't my wife tell me how ridiculous I looked in these running shorts.

Done enough

2010-04-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not totally done but the art show started last week....I'm stickin it in a frame and takin it in tomorrow...God, I'm glad I don't have a real job. I'd get fired for procrastination.

2010-04-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

This is Thanh, a girl I knew in Vietnam. I hope to write a story about the war and how we Marines may have appeared through her eyes. It won't be easy to write.

2010-03-24T13:27:00.000-07:00

The boat picture is coming along...I hope to have it done for our local library art show April 5th.
I included an older watercolor below to keep it company.....

Paper Angel

2010-01-21T16:00:00.000-08:00

One of the themes on WaWe is New Medium...this is an entirely computer generated piece I did with some free software. Some of the lines from the underlaying sketch are still there and when I figure out how, I'll remove them.

random sketch

2010-01-11T18:25:00.000-08:00

este illo enviare' a SCBWI bulletin...espero que lo gustan. I did this sketch to send to the SCBWI bulletin for a spot illustration. Hope they use it.

Watercolor Wednesday Painting Finally Done.........

2009-12-21T18:30:00.001-08:00

Lot of changes but finally it's finished...

Pen and Ink version of Santa's list for Wa We

2009-12-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

It's time to start making the watercolor.....

Earlier Aspirations

2009-12-16T19:27:00.000-08:00

Old photo that I found yesterday...I thought it was lost. This was in the mid-seventies when I couldn't imagine that I would not be making a living as a drummer someday. Thank goodness, reality set in. For art work, scroll on down.

Watercolor Wednesday

2009-12-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

First Watercolor Wednesday post.....

More old signwork (Scroll Down for Artwork)

2009-12-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

I did this 4x8 sign a few years ago for the entrance to the town I live in. It's all hand painted except for the small lettering. The "Rockport" is a style I made up for this particular sign. If you're looking for my art posts, please scroll down a bit.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T19:49:00.000-08:00

My son, who is running a grain elevator at the busiest time of the year, took off from his sixteen hour a day schedule to make a six hour round trip to be with the family and me (on my birthday). He made two family Thanksgiving dinners then went back to Northern Kentucky to go straight back to work tonight.

2009-11-19T12:13:00.000-08:00

While I'm waiting to finish the boat and the Tom Tilly cover, here's an old watercolor from fifteen years ago...

COLOR COMP BEFORE THE FINAL....

2009-11-12T15:26:00.000-08:00

got a little way to go on this...

Tom Tilly pencil sketch for cover

2009-11-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

I think I'm going to go with the more realistic Tom...gonna transfer it to illustration board or 300 pound Arches and then get busy.

2009-10-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

Anoche voy a hacer un commentario en espanol...trascurrido mucho tiempo y no espanoles del hombre que digo "algo cada dia en espanol." Asi, voy a tomar una cerveza (o mas) y escribir.

2009-10-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

Well, the post seems a little less askew now (see below) so I guess I can continue working on the foreground...

2009-10-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

I have only been working on my illustrations for my books lately neglecting any attempts at fine art. A very gifted cyber-friend of mine who is a great illustrator as well as a blossoming fine artist suggested that I could do both. So...this is a watercolor painting that I started and messed up a lot of stuff half way through it. I am going to try to resurrect it as a mixed media painting. I'll post progress (if there is any). The friggin post is leaning and don't know whether to adjust it or not...posts on an old dock do lean but this one is so dominant that I think it makes the whole composition askew...we'll see.

Some spanish so I don't completely give up.

2009-10-09T16:28:00.000-07:00

Hoy hable con mi amigo, Santiago. Que ha estado aprendiendo ingles y el esta hablando en ingles mas bueno que la ultima vez nos conocimos.

Tom Tilly cover

2009-10-02T05:14:00.000-07:00

I added this one after the ones below...just to make myself a little crazier about how to represent this character. If anyone has any thoughts as to which style is preferable, feel free....

I'm going to try to post a step by step for Tom Tilly's cover.
Here is the pencil sketch for the cover...

I've added some color in Inkscape...

Some linework to see how it's gonna look...Next will be color in the bottom part then ink it....hopefully, soon.

2009-06-13T07:44:00.000-07:00

More miscellaneous art...

Semi comp sketch for dummy book

2009-05-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Es un pintura por un libro que estoy escribiendo. Espero que estara acabo en una semano mas o menos.

Eagle Moon at Bear Cave

2009-05-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

Stuff I Used to Do

2009-04-21T06:25:00.001-07:00

These are products I made for a company where I was production art director/designer/painter/silk screen printer, etc. They are made of 4 to 6 inch foam board and are completely handpainted. They range in size from about 4 to 6 feet tall.

The Rest of the Year They Hop...

2009-04-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

2009-04-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

Artwork I did when I worked at some crappy job fifteen years ago.

cat liberal

2009-04-13T18:29:00.001-07:00

MORE MANCHESTER

2009-03-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

VECTOR ART for BANNER

2009-03-30T08:06:00.000-07:00

Perdido en el Mar

2009-03-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

2009-03-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

2009-03-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

REMEMBER WHAT THE DORMOUSE SAID...

2009-03-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

sketch for Monday Art Day...thought I'd check it out here first.

Yet another stalled project....

2009-03-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

Contribuiendo un poco mas color por el blog.

2009-03-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

2009-02-24T19:44:00.000-08:00

If you have two chickens and deny one to a starving stranger…you are a pig.
If you have two chickens and give one to a starving stranger..you are a good man.
If you have one chicken and you are starving but you give it to a starving stranger…you are on the right track.

2009-02-23T16:11:00.000-08:00

Finally, I've done new roughs for the book...Manchester has just been caught reading in Great Event Class by the Grand Elder.

Manchester Lemming

2009-02-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

En relación con el libro, ahora estoy solo estancamiento.

THEN AND NOW

2009-02-10T16:22:00.000-08:00

This is on the porch of the house we live in now...it was 1950 and that's my PaPa (PawPaw)

Here we are in the old kitchen overtwenty years ago....

...and here we in the living room over twenty years later.

2009-01-27T15:45:00.000-08:00

Hielo y nieve hoy y manana. Deseo estaba en LA con mi primo.

2009-01-22T15:05:00.000-08:00

Hoy es los cumpleanos de mi esposa. Feliz cumpleanos, Angie!

2009-01-21T19:22:00.000-08:00

I felt the need to post something, anything, today to keep in the swing of things. I read a piece from a book that was very good and in it I found a new word in spanish that I could use for my "una palabra cada dia" category (okay, it's not each day but I am trying).

And even better...it gave me something to illustrate. "La chismosa," I believe, in the context of the story means "tattletale."

I portrayed this character as she might appear as a vile lemming dishing out a little dirt. I kinda like this character and may find a way to insert her into the book...but someone else may have to go.

A NEW BEGINNING

2009-01-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

Somos el cambio de que buscamos.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2009-01-17T15:28:00.000-08:00

Hoy es los cumpleanos de me hija. Feliz Cumpleanos, Baby!

2009-01-16T07:20:00.000-08:00

I'm posting the project I'm working on today. It is an aluminum sign for a local bridal shop. The sign is four feet tall and twenty-one feet wide. This is the sort of thing I do for income while I wait for the author/illustrator thing to happen.

2009-01-15T12:51:00.000-08:00

This will also be the year that I will improve my spanish speaking and writing skills. Somewhere on this blog, at each posting, there will be something posted in spanish. Anyone who speaks spanish is graciously invited to comment or correct...I've been too inconsistent over the years at this and now it is time to learn at last.

Manchester Lemming nacio' cuando el mundo de los lemmings fue uno de estricto orden.

2009-01-15T06:46:00.000-08:00

This is the idea for pages one and two with the old Manchester in the drawing. The new and improved Manchester is the graphic above. I like the new one better. And I just noticed, the top paragraph is supposed on the bottom and vice versa. Guess I'll change that, too.

2009-01-14T07:35:00.000-08:00

This is Manchester with a little colored pencil added. He will be modified before the day is out but it's a start.

2009-01-13T20:36:00.000-08:00

I have nothing important to add concerning Manchester today but to stay in the habit of posting I'm going to include a sunrise shot I took in November. It's from my neighbor's back yard and just beyond the trees is the Ohio River.

2009-01-12T16:51:00.000-08:00

This is Manchester Lemming. His appearance has changed a lot in the last year. Hopefully, he is becoming the lemming he needs to be to represent the book that is named for him.

In the next few days he will have a little color added and maybe a little intro to his situation.

Day one

2009-01-12T16:11:00.000-08:00

This will be a test entry for the virgin blogger....Feliz cumpleanos a mi nieto, Jackson.