Happy Meals

Tater says, "Look at this Happy Meal toy.  It looks cheap and it doesn't do anything.  They don't care about us kids."

Shemp Howard

Shemp is my favorite Stooge, so here is my paper sculpture caricature of him.  He had a face with a ton of character.  I tried something different with the paper, by soaking it in watered down paint and then crumpling and recrumpling and letting it dry out.  I airbushed a little more paint after cutting out the face pieces to smooth the crinkles out just a smidge.  Shemp's hair would look something like this right after Moe smacked him in the face.

Shemp Howard, March, 2004

Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene has finally left our area, leaving behind high winds and extensive flooding.  Tater had some thoughts during the ordeal.  While watching news coverage, Tater says, "Why is that news lady smiling?  Doesn't she know a hurricane is coming?!  I would be like, 'A HURRICANE IS COMING! GET OUT NOW PEOPLE!'  I wouldn't be smiling."


Tater: "Dad?  What would happen if it rained like this every day?"
Me: "Well, I guess there would be a lot of water.  Maybe we would need to move."
Tater:  "That would be a huge puddle."

Petunia

Here is a shot of our little red-eyed tree frog we call Petunia.  I don't know why we named her that.  To be honest, I don't even know if it's a girl.

Tater says, "Ants are weak.  They can only lift a crumb."  I explained that ants are strong and they can lift crumbs many times bigger than themselves.  After some thought, Tater says, "I could lift a car if it was made of foam." 

Joker Card

This one is brush and ink on illustration board.  The colors were airbrushed and I can tell you it was no easy feat to get the two sides to match.  This Joker was inspired by the Jack Nicholson Joker of the first Batman movie.

Joker Card, September 1991

Angler Fish

Do you remember the old Lindsey Buckingham song, "I Think I'm in Trouble"?  That's what I think of when I look at this little yellow fish.  The angler fish is an amazing creature, but I have to say that my inspiration for this piece came from the movie, Finding Nemo.  If you haven't seen the movie (and who hasn't), it's worth seeing just for the angler fish sequence.
My original art was a paper sculpture, but when I did this version in Photoshop, I took the opportunity to tweak it a little.  This one is darker, but has more contrast with the lighted "lure".

Anglerfish, June 2008

Tricky Dick

I never called him that horrible name myself.  I just heard it from time to time over the years from disgruntled relatives.  This Richard Nixon was drawn, inked and airbrushed on illustration board, then cut out and scanned into my computer and placed on the front lawn of the Whitehouse.

Tricky Dick, October 1991