I recently made my first trip back to the Museum of Natural History in three years. Renewed my membership and drew some taxidermy. New York is not yet back to full tourist strength so it was easy to draw without crowds huddled over me. Felt good to be back in my old haunt.
Chickens
Over 72 billion chickens around the world were slaughtered in 2019. That’s 197 million chickens a day. My new book, “Vegan Art, A Book Of Visual Protest” is filled with over 200 works of art illustrating why humans should not be eating any animals at all. Photographers, illustrators, painters, and cartoonists visualize just how destructive all this is to our health and the planet’s too. Purchase one to make the world a better place to live in. Only $28 bucks on Amazon.
Manure
There was a wheelbarrow at our house in the Berkshires. It was used to move manure around. I used it as something to draw. Then I sketched Daisy the donkey. Turned out to be a perfect combo, a manure spreader and a manure maker.
Monkey Surf
It’s the end of summer, so of course I drew a monkey surfing. This also happens to be the last illustration in my current sketchbook. Soon, I’ll film myself flipping through the completed sketchbook and post it. Another one bites the dust.
Lure In Foot
My friend’s daughter became really fascinated with a dead baby mouse we came across on a hike. I decided to draw it. I filled the rest of the sketch with stuff around his lake house. His boys love to leave fishing lures all over the dock. This helps if you need something to illustrate, not so good if you take one in the foot but who cares. When they inadvertly catch a fish, they release it back into the water and not just because they had a vegan in the house.
Red Barn
A rat chased a chipmunk out of the barn past an unsuspecting, grazing rabbit while Hanifer the chicken looked on in amusement. A Pileated Woodpecker jackhammered a hole the size of a grapefruit in the tree above my head. I thought it would be lonely sitting by myself drawing the red barn. I got that wrong. Frogs were croaking while blue jays, cardinals, and finches fought over the bird feeder. I was the quietest animal around.
Peach Tree
Some peach trees on the grounds we stayed at in the Berkshires caught my eye. I ate about a dozen along with my usual vegetable medleys. Being vegan is easy when you’re surrounded on all sides by vegetable farms. I showed Daisy the donkey my finished drawing. She seemed unimpressed.
Berkshires Tractor
There were a lot of vegetable farms adjacent to where we stayed in the Berkshires. I asked a farm type dude if I could hang out in his field and draw his old tractor. He told me to have at it. I would ordinarily jam about 8 more images into this drawing but I was on vacation, so I chillaxed instead. As a result, all I ended up with was a drawing of this here tractor.
Berksires
My wife and I recently rented a place in the Berkshires which is in Massachusetts. Three sanctuary animals live on the farm-like property, plus a chicken named Hanifer. A neighbor across the road had a groovy log cabin. I chose that for my first drawing. Hanifer the chicken began to gravitate towards me when I drew. He liked to hang out. The owner who we rented from told me Hanifer just showed up one day and never left. He was a runaway from a nearby farm. I wondered why a fox never ate Hanifer because there was no chicken coop to keep him out of harm's way. The owner said, Haifer always stays tight to the horses and the donkey. Foxes won’t mess with them. Hanifer’s gang is the real deal.
Cat In Color
I had a stupid idea so I executed it. What if I did a drawing that I broke into sections and used a different colored pen for each one. It sort of looks like a black and white drawing that I put some kind of color filter over. I may do one where I put sections that are circular and then see how dumb that looks. I can always be counted on for doing useless things like this.
Eileen's Pool
This is my cousin Eileen’s pool in Florida. You wouldn’t know that from looking at this though. I get bored of the typical, see a pool and then draw the pool. A sketch like this can only be done wearing X-Ray specs. Yes, that’s right, just like the ones advertised in the back of old comic books that promised you could see through people’s clothes. Truth is, it won’t work on clothes but it does help you see objects living around a swimming pool.
Seashells
I recently went to Florida on a few missions. It’s not like I think going to Florida in the summer is a good idea. It actually turned out to be great though. When I sit on the beach I am basically wearing a burka, comprised of rash guards, hat, towels, and long board shorts. When I got back to Brooklyn, my wife said I looked as white as when I left. Success. I always do this same drawing of shells when I’m on Marco Island. So here is a new one just as nice as the other six I’ve drawn in the past.
Lake House
I drew my friend’s lake house living room. I’m sure it’s pretty apparent to everyone that this is exactly what it looks like. It’s framed and hanging in the same living room. Now when people stand in the room, they have a hard time telling the difference between my drawing and the actual living room. Some people have actually walked into the drawing thinking it was indeed the living room.
