I made a couple postcards this evening for Operation Denver. (Check my earlier post for more information on what Operation Denver is and how to participate.)
Recently in Finished Art Category
A while back, I found a dead but otherwise unmutilated squirrel in the middle of my living room floor. I was going to write a little story about it, framing it as a murder mystery, but the real life mystery was solved soon enough (the dog did it*) and I couldn't get the story to turn out to my satisfaction.
These were illustrations I started drawing for it. I started out with the theory that the dog brought in a live but stunned squirrel and the cats finished it off, so the cats were initially drawn as the bad guys, with Sadie as a lovable but very dumb brute.
* There was a nest of half-grown squirrels in one of the trees that all decided to start running around on the ground before they were fast enough or smart enough to evade a dog. Sadie got two more of them before the last one wised up and stopped coming into the yard.
More goofing around with watercolor pencils, on a postcard this time.
Back Octoberish, at the Gargoyle Centennial weekend, my pal Adrian Choy was passing around a piece of bristol to the artists in the room, getting us to pencil in some characters. Besides me, Cathy Fisher and a few other folks did some, too.
I drew exactly four characters, all of whom should be terribly obvious to anyone who's browsed the gallery here.
NOTE: The below illustration contains nudity and crude humor. Please do not click it if you do not enjoy these things.
Adrian did a beautiful job with the inking and coloring, as usual. Apparently this is the back cover to the latest issue of the Gargoyle, too!
Watercolor and ink. 2.5" x 3.5".
A friend's cat has an important business to run.
You may not be aware, but Neil Gaiman recently had a fairly public ordeal involving his little cat Zoe, who had cancer. He had her put down on Monday. I follow the gentleman on Twitter and read his blog because he's an author whom I like, and the whole sad affair with Zoe resonated with me profoundly. I have been in the same place so many more times than I ever wanted to be.
So I drew this on the back of a postcard and sent my consolations to him. Because it felt like the right thing to do, even though I don't know him. I'm not sure if it's creepy or if it's weird, but I thought the drawing might convey the kind of understanding that words can't. So off it went.
I meant to finish this last year for a friend who was studying abroad in Australia, but it just never got done for some reason. But now here it is! Platypuses may be adorable, but they are poisonous, like every other animal in Australia.
Acrylic on canvas. 2.5" x 3.5".
Happy guinea pig.
Acrylic on canvas. 3.5" x 2.5".
Acrylic on canvas. 2.5" x 3.5".
the most beautiful dog