Flowers are my quicksand. Lately I’ve been sinking into the drawing mud of botanicals. For all intents and purpose this should be the last of it but I suspect it won’t. There happens to be two vases full of flowers sitting on my dining tabel as I write this. They’re mocking me. The good news is that I have bunch of my original floral doodles for sale in my Etsy shop. Tkane9 shop on Etsy.
Fall Issue
On sale now. It is certianly not easy having my every fashion choice publically scrutinized but I don’t have much of a choice. Thankfully I rarely faux pas.
Lurch
I continually lurch from drawing in large sketchbooks to small sketchbooks. Then I lurch to a drawing pad where the sheets of paper can be torn out. Most folks don’t realize the amount of lurching I do. My skull is a bit rattled by getting lurched all over the place. As you can see, this drawing is a perfect example of a lurch. It’s done in a small sketchbook. So the next time I post, I’ll probably be lurching to a large, further scrambling what little brain tissue I have left.
Oil Spill
We are always told not to worry about oil pipelines. The petroleum companies love to announce that with today’s technology there will NEVER be a leak or pipe break. I for one, always believe what they say. So I was more than shocked to hear that over 100,000 gallons spewed into the Pacific ocean and washed ashore in Southern Califonia. I instantly thought, fake news. Even if a few drops did get out somehow, which I doubt, people should not get all up in arms. After all, the California Brown Gaspumphead is a bird that thrives on gobbling up crude oil. So relax do-gooders, all is copacetic. The stuff will be cleared in a few hours. Here’s an illustration of a Gaspumphead I recently did for the Audobon Society.
Exstinction
Recently federal wildlife officials announced that 22 additional animals should be declared extinct and removed from the endangered species list. This is happening amid a worsening biodiversity crisis that threatens a million species with exstinction, many within decades. Human activity like farming, logging, mining, and damming take habitat from animals and pollutes much of what’s left. Climate change adds to the peril. They also announced that the most threatened animal today is a feeble, aging, semi-blind, vegan artist named tommykanedotcom. He does dress nicely though, not that anyone will remember that detail about him after he skips town.
Steaks
A lot of sports teams get named after animals people love to butcher such as, Ducks, Bulls, Rams, Razorbacks, Bucks, Bears, Bisons and so forth. Why not just name the teams after cuts of meat like the Patties, Ribs, Tenderloins, and Sausages or maybe you could just NOT murder and then eat a symbol you pretend to love.
BQE
The Brooklyn Queens Expressway snakes through those boroughs in a constant bumper to bumper stupor. Seen from below, it appears to be an enormous dinosaur size, prehistoric centipede. It’s hideous rusted green appearance is actually quite beautiful. The structure seems so rickety that I half expected to get hit by loose bolts as I sat drawing.
Flower Face
This is the last of my summer vacation illustrations. Drew this in the Berkshires, deep in the woods. It probably lives in my Etsy store by now.
Climate
A new UN report on climate change shows a world in which nature is way out of balance or at least teetering on the verge of a lot more man-made catastrophes. So put down that pork chop, leave the car home, and shut off those air conditioners.
Recycle Symbol
California is about to pass a law to ban recycling symbols on things that aren’t recyclable. In fact companies will have to prove that the material they use is recycled AND used to make new products. How about them apples, plastic of course. People spend so much time recycling all their plastic bottles and containers, wrapping them in blue recycling bags. Placing them in their nice blue garbage cans, thinking they’ve done a good deed. Few realize 91% gets thrown into landfills or blown into waterways and out into the ocean. Finally a bit of truth in advertising might become law. Hopefully this spreads to other states. Sticking it to the man instead of all of us. The Petroleum man that is.
Truckin
one. The driveway. Making the illustration look interesting was easy. I just pulled a squirrel out of my hat. Works every time.
Caddy's Ice Cream Shop
One morning while I was in Maine, it was cold and rainy. So I drove down the block to draw this quirky old ice cream shop. I sketched it while sitting in my car which I never do but I needed to block the raindrops. As I was drawing, a bee flew into the car and landed on my drawing thumb. He really attached himself and had no intention of leaving. I stayed calm and watched his striped lower half bob up and down slowly. It seemed this would go on forever so I eventually stuck my hand out the window, blew on him a little and shook and off he went without incident. I got back to the gruelling task of trying to make a store appear on a blank piece of paper using a ballpoint pen and a few colored pencils.
Roller Skating
A friend of mine told me he had taken up roller skating. I didn’t think much of it until he showed me his new skates. They looked so cool. I was a bit shocked. So I took one outside to draw in the sun. I could see myself skating but I’m sure I’d break my drawing arm in no time flat. So I’ll stick to moseying around town.
