Alabama

Also on our trip we saw this little wonder on the side of the road. I found out ArtWurks is a folk art shop in Brundidge. Above is a link with other sculptures by this artist. Below is a little description I found on the internet.

On Highway 231 between Troy and Dothan.
Just south of town, huge metal Chicken, and other sculptures by NYC artist, Larry Goodwin, who has returned to his hometown and his brother's folk art shop. "The 3G's" sell paintings, and metal art along the hwy. Brundrige is a nice "antiquing" town also.

Boys of Summer

We actually made it to Florida this Summer. We drove down this year with Izzy in tow. They were all pretty good travelers, we made some stops and stayed overnight in a hotel with the worlds grossest swimming pool. The next day was fine unitl we ran into Georgia construction! Needless to say, it took several hours longer than predicted. Once we arrived in Leesburg, we enjoyed the pool and the walking trails around the area. The kids ran around, watched movies, played cards and went swimming, with the exception of Graham. He wasn't allowed to go because of the no diapers clause in the pool regulations. Boo!!! Anyway, we had fun and even went to Epcot while my mom watched Graham. Thank you mom! It was awesome. Chandler got a lot more autographs for his book and we (the parents) even convinced the kids to eat in France. Thank France for bread and chicken!!!

Then Karla and I got to go to Orlando's Florida mall and out to eat for her birthday! We went to a Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant chain. I really liked it and talk about a lot of food! It was really delicious and we had a really good server, Patti, who turned out to be from Springfield, Illinois. Small world.

Afterwards, we traveled to the airport to pick up Chris and company. Then the next day we played cards, went swimming and got packed up for the trip back to the Land of Lincoln.

We got going early and trying to avoid Georgia, we took a different route home. That route went through Alabama, which sucked too! We couldn't make it to our hotel, so Karla called another one a few exits away in Birmingham and they had a room. That hotel rocked! The kids got to swim, play in mud puddles as well as catch and chase several bugs. You can't beat that! We also ordered carryout from Landry's, a chain that started in San Antonio and had the hotel's large breakfast buffet! Man, that was some good eating! Anyway we eventually made it home and chalked up the vacation as a winner.

I hav included a few pictures of Graham and Chandler drawing, one the activities that sustained us in the early moring as well as several evenings. Enjoy! Oh by the way, did I say thank you mom? You helped out out so much!!!! Oh yeah, if you have a family, stay in the Residence Inns by Marriot. They are a life saver.

Whoops

Soooo, my aspirations of being the next Lane Smith or Dan Yaccarino will have to wait. Tonight I came home from work and found a very very mushy ceiling in the back room of our house. Anyone who has been to our humble abode has probably seen this yucky ceiling with its shiny popcorn finish and its many colorful patches and spots.

We are lucky enough to have a flat-type roof covering a bedroom, closet, bathroom, and part of the kitchen. The ceilings back here look sewn together by half-blind tailors who had many, many different kinds of fabric and many, many cocktails.

I went ahead and started scraping off the icky ceiling so I could examine its underbelly. Our ceilings appear (at least in the bedroom) all plaster under that attractive popcorn! I found some cracks and some minor holes which worry me, but no gushers or trapped water to speak of. We did have an awful amount of rain, and I took a moment to wish for a popped roofing nail or a cracked seam.

It turns out I was right. It was all that and many more terrible and unspeakable horrors. There was also a BIG depression directly above the discolored and mushy ceiling.

I would like to pause here for a moment to mention this is not the first time I have "fixed" this roof. I have been on this pile of tinder many times patching, caulking and cursing. That's right, I said caulking. Well anyhoo, I knew this was going to take some real initiative and creativity. Not to mention some cursing. Lots of cursing. And sweating. Did I mention it is hot outside? I didn't? Well, anyway, I digress.

Sooooo, what I did next you see was to get my trusty caulking gun and some roof cement and go to work. First spreading the cement over popped nails, possible cracks and then applying the remainder of the tube all over the depression area. Why you ask? I don't know. Oh, did I mention it was 9:00 p.m.? Oh, I didn't? Well, just so you know, since I am not a freaking owl or have a budget for night vision goggles, it was just a little difficult to tell exactly what I was doing. OK. Off the subject. AGAIN. I do love to do that. Anyway, I then proceeded to borrow some plastic from my next door neighbor and duct tape a big sheet over the patch and most of the roof from East to West. That's right, DUCT TAPE. YEEHAW! I done fixed it for now! What's next? I am on a roll over here!

It's supposed to rain later tonight and all day tomorrow and it was dark out, did I mention it was dark? Oh I did? OK. So anyway, my options were limited. Were there other options, you ask? Maybe, but when you have no money and it is PITCH BLACK OUTSIDE, a roll of duct tape and 10 yards of plastic seems mighty brilliant. And when the forecast calls for two or three days of sunny skies, I will rip off the sticky mess and try to figure out some more options. Anyone know a roofer who works cheap? I mean like a pat on the back and a couple of beers cheap? Let me know. I'll even splurge for Michelob!

My non-existent books

I few years back I sent an idea, a cover and a bunch of rough illustrations to art directors and editors of some of the most prestigious children's book publishers. I got a lot of positive feedback and requests for more of my work. Wow, was I excited. I figured I would get around to that sooner or later. Well, guess what? I am looking at all of those email exchanges and they are from OVER FIVE YEARS ago!

OK... I will admit it, that's disheartening.

Sooooo anyhoo, I am going to start this process again, and we'll see how it goes. I hope to keep myself motivated by publishing this post. We'll see how it works. I have at least two solid ideas, one for a board book of sorts, and the other for early readers. Of course I also have ideas for merchandising, television spin-offs and plush toys, but I will come back to that after I get ink on paper. I might put roughs, etc...up on my website. Give me a few months, I am up to my waddle with AR's, photo shoots, and newsletters. I think I need to prepare to feel the wrath of procrastination!

Note: Above is the cover from my almost never was book. Look for more possible non-existent titles coming soon.

New Illustrations

These two illustrations were used in an article about metabolism for a regional hospital. I really wanted all of my illustrations to have a simple 2D feel. I started with my basic illustrational approach and combined it with some stock object photography. I then created a lined paper texture and "cut" the photos out of it. After some time playing with layers and composition, I was able to get the look I wanted. Enjoy.