Friday 26 July 2013

In the moment


   Yesterday I walked into a hallway leading toward the kitchen only to be waylaid by a ten pound mini dachshund's withering gaze. Evidently she had a stake out going and was waiting to intercept me so I'd grab some kibble for her mid afternoon snack. Little moments don't always generate the stuff of priceless anecdote, but I savored that moment nonetheless.





Wellll????



Thursday 25 July 2013

Remember Harold's Purple Crayon?

Our pen jar is full of interesting writing implements including pens with colored ink. On this rainy gray day, I spied a purple pen and remembered the little story about Harold's purple crayon. Great drawing in that little book! I figured  drawing with a bright colored pen while I savor a nice pressed cup of fresh  morning coffee would brighten things up.


"A tip jar? You're taking tips now?"



This event actually happened. I had a mug of water with me during the service as I'm shrugging off some sort of sinusy alllergy thingee. Somebody asked if the mugs was a tip jar and if I was supplementing my income. Fun to be around people with a keen sense of humor. I think they were kidding....

Wednesday 24 July 2013

A point? I just drew the guy while I waited for breakfast
Having Coffee and wearing the "summer glasses"
Note the way cool Mug by Gary with a beagle on the handle!
I saw my first ever episodes of "Comedians in Cars Going for Coffee". Love that show! All those fancy cars, cool coffee shops and snippets of clever repartee and friendly conversation. Maybe I'll have to invent "Cartoonists wearing tennis shoes going for coffee"--the nearest REAL coffee place is about an hour from here. sigh.

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Time Warp Tuesday

Circa 1961-ish...'Where's my sketchbook?'
When Mathematicians laugh (from the bartster archives)
    You look at the expression of the little tot pictured a top of this post and you wonder if he thinks ANYTHING is funny. Parents and older siblings report that the kid didn't speak until he was nearly four. The story goes that one day, the little bartster toddled down to breakfast and for some odd reason decided that particular day suited him to begin speaking in complete sentences.
   As I look at the 'encore presentation toon' I can see where I would tweak a few details. The big stack o' sketchbooks probably contain a few funnies I could re-do. Most of the sketches are just little faces or people standing around--just because.

Friday 19 July 2013

Left-overs--so many reasons to love them

A formal frame requires a regal pose
I liked the ornamentation on this box. I was reminded of those "days gone by" photographs in gilded frames and I had to fill this one in accordingly(sort of). I'm telling you these to-go boxes beg for illustration. Next time you take left-overs home, remember to perform your own artistic public service and draw on those cartons:)

Thursday 18 July 2013

Goofing off

From this week's sketching
I'm sketching more than posting. As we've been eating at restaurants with out of town guests and getting "to go boxes", I've done plenty of doodling. I'll share one or two on another post. These sketches are sort of random squiggles done as I sat relaxing one afternoon.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Another Brekkie Challenge

"That's some to-go"










These to-go cartons are simply waaay too tempting for somebody who likes to doodle. The server who brought the boxes noticed the sketches as well. She seemed to like them and maybe they cheered her a bit. Carton cartoons....maybe they'd let me draw on other people's boxes in exchange for brekkie? (or coffee).
"I'll deal with you later...."

Tuesday 9 July 2013

Time Warp Tuesday-Puppy Faces

Zoe and Greta with the bartster in 1998
   Fifteen years ago next week these little doxies were born and came to live with us about five weeks later. Greta went "to the rainbow bridge" this spring. I hadn't heard of that concept until we received a card. What a beautiful thought.
   Zoe, our little red dog is still pretty spry, despite cataracts and arthritis. Today's retrospective carries with it some wistfulness mixed with gratitude for some really fun times with these two.

Here's a little story....we referred to our dogs as "the girls". Once when we were new to a community someone asked where our girls were at the moment, "Oh at home in their crates", we replied. The person looked aghast and it was then we learned that the lady assumed our girls were human.
Zoe and Greta playing fetch in their new Canadian backyard--2011

Friday 5 July 2013

Serendipity

The blog is having a little vacation. I am as well. The sinus infection is NOT on vacation, so I'm trying to relax and heal up. Anyway, my lovely spouse was laundering our dog's "woobies" and one caught our attention. She had cut a larger blanket into sections and here's the serendipitous part...the cuts perfectly preserve and frame Mickey's face! Being we do a lot with cartoon faces on the blog, I thought I'd share.




I'll be posting now and again during the vacation and will try to get onto a consistent schedule after that (well maybe August).

Tuesday 2 July 2013

July Challenge--This piece began as a page from our wall calendar.

We put our breakfast dishes around the calendar page and they served as the outlines. I wasn't sure what to do next so I connected the shapes with some kind of ganglion looking thingees. Then I went with faces (my fall back position). Once that was done, the spaces between intrigued me enough to find scissors and an exacto knife. So there you are.
My fancy pants artistic statement: "Uh I dunno...just seemed like fun at the time....". Call Southeby's.

Monday 1 July 2013

Inopportune Moment for Temporary Amnesia # 17

Forgetting all but the first word when performing the National Anthem*
*ie., Canada and U.S. 

Happy Canada Day and Happy "Fourth" to our friends and family down south.