I recently went to the Brooklyn Museum to see the work of Virgil Abloh. He was the artistic director of Louis Vuitton. His museum show consisted of sculptures, drawings, clothes he designed, sneakers, packaging, digital work, branding, music, and books. A true renaissance man. Unfortunately, he passed away quite recently at the age of 41. It inspired me to do a drawing of him.
Hoboken New Jersey
Hoboken is a bit of a college town. The streets are filled with young people. I stuck out a bit. When I drew on the streets, no youngsters took any interest, only my peers did. I think the reason is because I wasn’t doing it on a laptop or an iPad. That seemed to keep them at bay. It was as if I was doing a cave painting and they had no interest in my ancient way of doing things.
Vegan Dogs
Whenever I post one of my little vegan animation videos promoting my new vegan book, people immediately unfollow me by the dozens. It never fails to occur. Plus, I get angry DMs. I recently read that Cracker Barrel, which is an American chain restaurant, added a plant-based breakfast sausage to their menu. It instantly caused an uproar even though those same customers could still order the same foods they have always been able to. Furious customers vowed never to return and made all kinds of threats to the company. Seems that offering one single alternative choice that doesn’t involve murdering and abusing animals is a good way to piss folks off. I’m starting to think maybe it’s me who has it all wrong.
Homeless
I recently spent some time in Hoboken, New Jersey. Home of Sinatra. It’s a lovely little town. Lots of young people, great energy. I drew in the train station early one morning. As this bloke slept peacefully, a mom entered the empty station and her her child started to scream at the top of his lungs. He liked the acoustics and was testing out his echo. The poor dude finally sat straight up out of a dead sleep. He staggered outside after approving my sketch.
MONH
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.
