boats? what boats?

This toon was inspired by a float on the lower Klamath River, in Northern California. It was back in the mid-80's, and we floated right through a hydro-plane race. There were SO many boats zipping by us, disturbingly close!!! We dodged them the best we could, and they seemed to take absolutely no notice of us. And it wasn't like it was totally flat water. There were some pretty significant riffles going on there. But these were jet boats, which means they didn't have propellers to hit rocks with. Man, they were fast!!!

Don Quixote

This drawing almost made it to the calendar, but I like it anyway. I was inspired to draw this one as we were driving from Madrid to Granada, via Toledo, home of Don Quixote. As you walk in the old part of town, you see the influence of Don Quixote all over the place. Yet, as we were driving, and nearing the town, the countryside was covered with modern, power-generating windmills. I had never seen such a concentration of windmills. And these are not small unobstructive things. These things stand about 150' high!!! The windmills in this drawing do not do them justice. They were huge!! There is no way Don Quixote would have beaten one of these new windmills, I don't care how good he might have been with a lance!!! By the way, Toledo was a wonderful place to visit.

I hate roll practice

Up here in the cold northwest, during the winter months, kayakers will hone their skills at the indoor pool. Every Sunday evening Parks and Rec opens the pool to roll practice, and for a few bucks, you can bring your kayak in and work on your eskimo roll. They limit the number of boats allowed at 12 boats max. Well, that many boats pretty much fills the indoor pool!!! So, it is always fun to witness the chaos during roll practice. Yes, some people have been known to launch their kayaks off the high-dive.
This drawing pretty much depicts the fun that can be had at roll practice. Everyone comes away feeling water-logged and happy. Everyone, that is, except the life-guards...

mouse in space

I just can't tell you how much fun this is...this blogging!! This entry is like the old 45 records. With the smash hit on side 1 of the record, what does the artist put on side 2??? Well, this drawing is what I found on side 2 (the back side) of the last entry "three amigos".

"Mouse in Space!", tethered to his space capsule, obviously before the shuttle series. The space ship looks like the old Apollo rockets. Then the moon, and some sort of half sketched face all in on the action. It is great, like a christmas present!! What really bakes my noodle is that I have absolutely no memory of drawing this.

So, I just had to share!!!

three amigos

This is a graphic I made for a t-shirt for one of the many Riverhouse Rendezvous slalom races I ran in the 90's. I think this was for the third series. Anyway, I really like this one because it is sooooo happy!! The goal here was to make the three "amigos" be in perfect synch with each other, like a dance step. Take the aspects of dance steps; precision, rhythm, grace, and balance, and apply them to whitewater, and you get something very close to kayak slalom racing.

Now, those of you who know about whitewater kayaking will see something missing from these three...give up? Okay, THEY DON'T HAVE LIFEJACKETS!!! Big no-no in the kayak world. I have no idea why I didn't draw them with pfd's, but there you go. By the time I realized I had left them out, they were done, and at the print shop. Fortunately, I haven't been so forgetful when putting in for a kayak run, though a couple of friends I have boated with have forgotten to wear their pfd......no names...

dancing stegosaurus

Every once in a while, I get delusions of grandeur and think I could actually be an illustrator. Usually reality creeps back in to my mind in time, but occasionally I get some pretty good concepts and drawings out of the process.

Here is one such case. I love the idea of a great big lumbering stegosaurus getting up on his hind legs with a good pair of cheap sunglasses, and dancing something like the jitterbug!! Somehow, this drawing hit everything just right; the amount of detail, the proportions, the attitude, the color, the action, all work together to make a great composition.

From this drawing, the plot expanded to include Caveman Clyde who discovers a ghetto-blaster somewhere in the bushes and becomes lord of the dinosaurs with his music blazing away!!!........until the batteries run out.....

None of the other drawings came out as well as this one....back to the drawing board!!!!

jumble of kayakers

Sometimes, my drawings are from a snapshot image in my brain. This drawing is one such example. The occassion was running Quartzville Creek at flood stage. Normally considered too high to run above 2500 cfs, we had the priviledge of running it at 8000 cfs. Boating at this high level demanded a new technique for me...I call it "brainstem paddling". Basically, you get about 1/4 of a second when you are at the tops of the waves to map out your course. Then you drop in to the trough between waves, and can't see anything. Then you get to the top of the waves again and have that split second to alter your course. Well, this drawing depicts that split second at the top of the wave, looking down into the next hole. I found the hole significantly occupied with multiple kayakers getting tumbled in the hydraulic. Somehow, I didn't run into anybody, and joined the fracas and was tumbled around myself for a couple of seconds, then spat out below, where I rolled up and kept paddling. That was an exciting trip!!!