Good Things, Small Packages

In my extended gig as a health food store "vitamologist," word got out that I also dabbled in the Arts. Before long, I was asked to exhibit work in the store cafe, next to the "all you can eat" salad bar and across from the "grab 'n go" deli. It occurred to me one day, while noshing on an organic radish, that in a restaurant setting a different kind of art exhibit would be better appreciated.

Thus was born the Grab 'n Go Art Show, featuring scores of original 3"x 5" drawings covering the deli walls. Customers simply pulled off the drawing they liked and left $5.00. I made enough money from that exhibition to buy more art supplies.

The Grab 'n Go Art Show will make a reappearance at the July Cool Art Show in The Cloiseum in St. Petersburg. Above are samples of many new works that will be available. Just grab 'n go....after paying for them.

Not Fade Away

Standing in a dim theatre lobby,
the woman looks at her husband.
“I see two of you,” she says.
“There’s a blue glow behind your head
that travels all around your body.”
“Just forget it,” he answers.
“Let’s go back inside.”
“I never noticed it before,” she says.
“You live with someone twenty years,
you realize you don't know them at all.”
Following him into the darkened theatre,
the woman stares as his once familiar figure
dissolves into blackness.
"Who are you?" she whispers.

Happy Birthday Barbie

Barbie, with a waist that remains impossibly slender, turns 50 this year. For a gal who doesn't say much, she still has the ability to turn heads. Perhaps that's part of her mystique -the beautiful and silent type. And wealthy! At 1.2 billion dollars a year, Barbie earns more than any of those Hollywood blabbermouth beauties.

The curvaceous cutie also outlived her steady beau Ken by two years. While attempting to light a panatella, the poor chap incinerated himself.

Life goes on however and Barbie is again playing the field. Our sources report seeing her exit a Toys 'r Us, with a certain Russian hockey player. Careful Boris, it will take more than a few rubles and a hockey puck to corral this high maintenance beauty. We say, hats off to you doll - still hot after all these years.

A-B-C, What A Concept

Today I finished an alphabet book project that has kept me occupied for two years. A,B,C
books are examples of children's concept books -well-told stories intended to teach basic knowledge. Creating this book re-taught some valuable lessons - patience, deliberation, and research.

I've sometimes balked at illustrating narrative picture-books, because I found the job of drawing the same figures over and over unappealing. An alphabet book gives me the opportunity to tell twenty-six different stories in words and pictures. Humor also became a way to keep the writing from becoming didactic. Laughter can be a great learning tool.

A is for Anteater has been through many edits and drawing revisions, and my goal is to make it look as simple as A-B-C.

A Way With Words

Words produce mental pictures and for the visually gifted there is an abundant crop of mental word pictures waiting to be plucked. I've bypassed the process here and present the images without stories. It's been said viewers bring their own stories when looking at art, so I can imagine lots of interpretations for these drawings.

If Only The World Were A Fuzzy Puppy

Over the years, I've tried and tried to write a fuzzy puppy story, a feel good tale to be read near a warm fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate. I have been unsuccessful, due in large part to hot and cold wars, melt-down economics and my own fuzzy headedness.

Winter may be approaching, but I feel a refreshing gust of warm air coming from our nation's capital. I get the sense now that anything is possible, even a fuzzy puppy story. This time I've started with the illustration.

What Happens When You Won't Vote For A Witch Doctor