Nudge, nudge---I got a new sketchbook

New Sketchbook begun while on vacation

Pristine white pages of a brand new sketchbook fresh from the wrapper opens a world of possibilities. Borrow a fine point marker pen with a gliding smooth ink flow and you're in business! Nice to have some time to sit on the couch and just let the drawing and silly thoughts flow.

Friday

Making Faces is taking the day off. No shopping for us,though. We'll eat left-overs and I'll keep trying to catch up from being away for a week. Thanks for reading the blog!

I know the number for a great pizza delivery joint...what do you say?

Happy Thanksgiving to our neighbours * ahem..neighbors....* due south of here!

From the vault...archive...crypt?

Circa 2008

Remake-over, Over?

Extreme Make-over goes low budget

You remember those tv shows where ordinary people are "glammed up" to look like movie stars? Years ago I drew up my thoughts on the subject. Above is the "make over" I did this week. Below is the one from 2005.

A very lovely face

The birthday girl

This beautiful lady has a milestone birthday today. She's as youthful as ever and her husband the luckiest guy there is!

Remake: Take Two

I'm Bob, and I'm addicted to Twelve Step Groups

This drawing is an update of a joke a scrawled out in 1992. I'm not sure the line is all that funny, but someone in Church History Class wrote under the original that the old Bartster is "one sick puppy".

Circa 1992

I'd say the drawing style has evolved. I dropped the nom de plume shortly after drawing this toon.

Caption Contest!

Dude, What's My Line?

Gone Fishin'

Fish for Friday

I have several methods for making faces. These fish were thrown on the potter's wheel. Actually, they start out as little jars that get a make over. This school was done a couple of years ago. More recent work is waiting to be fired. The kiln vent I installed looks very neat and tidy. It doesn't seem to be venting, however, so we might have a wait before you see some 2013 fish and sundry faces from the clay.

Remake: Take One

Let us raise our half empty glasses...

 You've heard of the Optimist Clubs. They do fine work and seem.....well optimistic. Maybe you haven't heard of the club across town; the Pessimist Club. They meet, but doubt it would do any good. Below is the 2007 edition of the same gag.

Keep on Truckin'?

circa 2008

Once in a while I play editorial cartoonist. This one goes back a few years, but I think things have stayed about the same or possibly our consumption is accelerating.

Head em up.

Riding the range....actually,  just posin' pardner

The discerning viewer will note the brogues this psuedo-cowpuncher is wearing...not to mention cuffed chino pants. The hat was borrowed....the horse, mellow as can be stood quietly, while his owner held the reins and bribed 'Pal' with treats. Not all Montanans are cut out to be cowpokes, I reckon.

Make up!

You might ease up on the concealer, Fran

I saw a label for a cosmetic called concealer. Hmmm....I wondered just how far such a product could go. Maybe the Invisible Man would have something to say about my question......

A church-y thought

Did you spot the "oops" here?

Our bishop says that structures are mean to help us do what we're  called to do and when we become servants of those structures, we have things backward. Leave it to a doodler to take such wisdom toward the absurd.....

Just a sketch

Ha ha, look-it those LONG arms!

Those t-rex jokes never grow old! This little sketch might suggest who gets the last laugh.

His bleepin' honor...

And I promise to watch my *#%&-ing language from now on

One can imagine Toronto's mayor practicing those nascent oratorical skills as a youth. I believe the whole mayor-scandal thing is a conspiracy because comedians need material!  Notice the boy's fingers are crossed...yes a politician in the making.

Hard Boiled Faces

These hard boiled eggs cracked. I thought an illustration would cheer them up.

Coffee Coffee Coffee on the label label label...

At this risk of "over-explaining" (which I notice never clarifies despite the volume) I'll ask if you remember the jingle for Libby's frozen veggies. "If it says Libby's Libby's Libby's on the label label label....."

The tune to this jingle rattles around in my brain pan as I look at the homemade label for the jar of coffee grinds I take to the office (refilled this morning).

Mugging with a mug

Cheers!

Fresh ground coffee in a handmade mug made by a friend (and "real live" potter) make for a happy face.

Will a ribbon or a poppy suffice?

Remember?

Rick Mercer has it right. He usually does. He says it as succinctly and as sardonically as it  can be said. To remember means more than merchandizing (poppies or ribbons). What a tragedy that people come home from war wounded or suffering from PTSD. What a calamity that these same people are denied health care, pension, or other assistance so they can try to get some semblance of a life back as civilians--now coping with a disability. Meanwhile check out the benefits package a legislator gets (pick a country any country...the idea's probably the same).

Getting Away from it all...well some of it.

Signs of "civilization"

Someone will mistakenly think I'm implying that astronauts are messy. Not. I am coming right out and saying that some people are slobs.  Hiking in a scenic place and coming across detritus from a junk food binge really is a nature-buzzkill. Don't get me started on people who throw trash from their cars because they want to keep their ride clean.

Can it REALLY be possible that some people don't know better? How sad. What if people really DO know better? Beyond sad.

Wait for it...wait for it...

Once the snow  falls, I will be the first to fly down this mountain

Flakes and flurries so far. We're told the 'real stuff' is coming. Some eagerly await it. Some of us....well let's say we await it less eagerly.

So it's Friday...what ya gonna do this weekend?

For the blog's birthday this week, I gave it a bit of a face lift--tweaking  colors, mostly. One thing I wanted to add but couldn't was a background drawing (file was too big). Oh well.

MMA: Merry Moose Antics

Uncle! Uncle!  (Cavendish, PEI 2011)

The moose assured me it was all in fun and he did go easy on me. We both found amusement in the reaction of the teenagers walking by ---eye rolls, head shakes the whole disapprobation thing.
We often think back to our trip to PEI and how people and some pets befriended us with such warmth and sincerity. There is just the "vibe" of the place. We hope to return one day.

It must be a conspiracy

I'm telling you, Reg, the days are getting shorter and somebody needs to look into it!

For real, someone once tried to tell me that "the government" tilted the earth or was making it spin faster making the days shorter. I tried to join in on the joke until I realized the person wasn't kidding. Some of what we experience just "is". On the other hand.....

I don't think those polar ice caps melt themselves or that the ozone spontaneously thinned and tore. I don't think the rivers, lakes and sea sullied themselves with chemicals and what the frack?

OK enough politics!

"Making Faces" marks its first year.

How DOES one celebrate the birthday of a blog?

After a year, we're still at it. I may have to rework the description of the blog as an experiment. The data over the year are inconclusive. On the other hand, I think some are enjoying these posts and I like drawing them (most of the time), so why not?

As a "special bonus"....a re-post (not like reposte or even repaste) of the very first blog toon. Hope you enjoy both doodles today.

Old Mac Bartster doesn't farm...

Gonna raise me some dandy lions (2009)

Looks like we're having a little trouble lining up bodies and objects here. Glad shoulders in toon land are more forgiving than they are on the other side of the pencil!

Encore of this and that

Sampler circa 2006 or so...

Pierced say

        Why some don't donate blood....( circa 2008)

Irony appeals to me. This drawing  came about after a conversation about donating blood and subjecting oneself to various medical procedures. The increasing popularity of tatoos and piercings set me to thinking....

Day of Reckoning

Halloween Hangover 2013

Is it smart to buy Halloween treats YOU like in case you have left overs? Depends on how many are left over and how many you eat at once, I suppose. Living on the outskirts where we do, Halloween traffic is light. However, families we know come see us and that's welcome. I could have doled out quite a bit more 'loot' and had less lying around the house.

The drawing was done in semi-darkness...colored later.