A Clutter of Crocs

Oh man I hope M.C. Escher doesn't sue me for this ;) In today's litigious society he'd already have me court. Ok, for the "Clutter" theme of illustrationfriday.com again I thought I'd experiment a bit. This was tough! I guess it's gonna take some more practice, but it's fun at the same time. I read up on tessellation here, check it out.

Two Year Tribute

Ahhh, I miss him. 'Ol Stevo, the Crocodile Hunter. It's been two years to the day of his tragic death. He was so full of life and passion. That's really what I liked about him. Many people had their criticisms of him, and I'm first to admit I didn't agree with everything he did, but I overall what a great guy! It's that drive that really brings about the best in people. When the fire's there burning inside, there's no stopping a man. Look at Walt Disney, Bruce Lee, or Henry Ford. All these men had incredible passions for what they did, and it skyrocketed them to success. All mentioned here are among my heroes, whom I emulate and study.

Memories Of More Innocent Times (?)

A quickie for the illustrationfriday.com theme of "memories. I'll try to be as brief as possible with this. When I first saw my little cat Tuna at the local animal shelter she was with all 9 of her brothers and sisters. At the time they were all nine week old kittens. She was the MOST laid back of all of them, which I liked. All the rest were jumping on, clawing, and biting everything, including me. I saw her just sitting there and even when I picked her up, she just sat there and looked around calmly. Again I liked this, so I picked her.
With the purchase of her came a free vet check up and first round of shots. When we brought her into the vet, they took her temperature and right away the doctor said "Oh, she's sick, she's got a high temp." I was a little worried, but they said no problem, and prescribed some medicine to give her for the next week. Well, I'm really curious what was in those pills, which to this day I'm still convinced was crack or speed, because as soon as we started giving that to her she turned into a nightmare. Basically she turned into the opposite of what I liked about her...her brothers and sisters. All day, running around like a maniac, tearing things up, knocking everything over. If only I knew the terror I had brought home that day...

Wisconsin

I'm excited as I'm off to my homeland of Wisconsin tomorrow. Sarah and I are flying to Milwaukee to stay with my sister and her family for the week. I LOVE Milwaukee, though I was born and raised in Northern Wisconsin (Superior). They have a great zoo there (I know shocking I'd say that), a brand new ball park, beautiful lakefront areas, lively nightlife, and some of the craziest sports FANatics you've ever seen. Oh yeah, and they like their beer there too. Milwaukee is of course the home of such beers as Miller, Pabst, Blatz, Milwaukee's Best (duh), and a regional favorite Leinenkugel's. It'll be a nice, relaxing week which I've been looking forward to for a long time.

The One

I don't think too much needs to be said about this one, but I'm sure everyone has felt this way at a some point or another, especially if you're an artist trying to make your mark. I know I've sure felt it. The idea came to me after a previous post of all the flamingos I drew from the zoo. I figured there must been at least one feeling this way (He might have been the one giving the others the stink eye).
Although this didn't take me long to do, it may just be my favorite work of mine yet, and that's rare for me to say... :)

Detached

A little something different for this week's Illustrationfriday.com. I worry sometimes this has happened to me...

The Seagulls of Seacliff

You know when you do those things in life that you basically know the negative outcome, but do it anyway? Well welcome to my life...

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was drawing recently and had a little run-in with some seagulls. I was in the beautiful, yet foggy and cold San Francisco neighborhood Seacliff. I climbed up onto a huge boulder along the shoreline, and started sketching. The whole time I was there, nearby were about 3 seagulls. They were just these mangy looking birds. They looked like they were soaked in sewage water and in the tenth round of a fight they were badly losing. So after a while of looking at them, I felt bad and found what I think was food in my bag and I threw a few pieces to one. Well before I knew it a whole flock of seagulls (not the 80's band), pigeons, crows, and sparrows surrounded me. It made Hitchcock's The Birds look like a Disney movie. I should have known...I did know...I just wasn't thinking...D'OH!

Beijing

Dannnnnnnnnnnnnng! Y'all been watchin' the Olympics?! It's been so incredibly impressive and inspirational. My favorite events have always been swimming and gymnastics. The control these athletes have of their bodies is so amazing to me. I did watch diving and basketball yesterday too which was equally as impressive. Whew, lookin' forward to more!

If you missed them up to this point, check 'em here. At least watch the opening ceremony, it'll blow you away!

Setting Sail for the Canary Islands

Here's for this week's Illustrationfriday.com's theme of 'Sail'. I drew inspiration from an original concept painting done for Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean ride, listening to Joan Jett music, my friend Pascal Campion's panoramic image shots, and living with my scheming cat..........................who knew.

Whoa! I have the feeling I may smell like a pirate right now...probably time to shower!

Poof!

I apologize in advance for my immature interpretation of this week's subject of 'Poof' for IllustrationFriday.com, but this really happened to me and it wasn't pleasant.

Recently my friend from Wisconsin came out visit me here in California, and as a day trip we decided to take a drive up to Yosemite National Park. Beautiful up there by the way, but the scenery took a backseat as to what happened when I was with him there. He farted so much that entire trip, I just don't understand how it's biologically possible for one human being to let go of so many fumes. We walked through the Yosemite valley, up dried river beds, through serene meadows, with literally every 20 seconds there was farting. Now, being a guy I'm definitely one to enjoy a little tearing of ass here and there, but this...oh man, this got to be a little too much for me I'm ashamed to say. I guess you could say I was literally and figuratively blown away. How could one be responsible for so much gas? He must have destroyed a good 80% of the fauna and vegetation. I don't know if he had to meditate though to attain the state he was in, some kind of gaseous enlightenment, because there was definitely an aura around him, and it did not smell good at all!