I am currently back drawing in the Museum of Natural History. You can see me hunched over and scribbling in my sketchbook if you wander around the place. I was the first one in the building on a recent morning. I was in the room with blue whale on the ceiling all by myself. That was pretty surreal. As I was drawing this walrus, a 4-year old boy got into an argument with his mom. She read on the display that walruses use their tusks to break open the ice to make a hole to swim in and to help them pull themselves up onto the ice and out of the water. The kid claimed he already knew that information. He was upset she was assuming he didn’t know all kinds of National Geographic minutia due to his incredible knowledge of nature. The mom looked at me and rolled her eyes. I assumed her kid was doing this all day long. At least I learned a bit about walrus tusks.
Game of Shrooms
This is one of the works of art I did for this year’s Game of Shrooms 2023. It’s a scavenger hunt where artists from around the world hide mushroom themed original art in public spaces for ordinary people to find and claim as their own. This was all started by the artist, Daniel “Attaboy” Seifert. June 10th is the date of this year’s extravaganza. Go to https://yumfactory.com/gameofshrooms/ and follow the link for more info and how to participate yourself.
Sleepers
This is the last drawing in my subway sleepers series.
Gassing Pigs
I read a very eye-opening opinion column in the New York Times recently. It was written by Noholas Kristof and titled, “Spy Cams Show What the Pork Industry Tries to Hide”. He talks about how the hog industry sells the public on the notion that gassing pigs is painless, stress free and animal friendly. The problem is, none of that is true. We should all know about this because four pigs are killed per second in the United States. Recently an activist with insider help was able to set up 3 spycams in a gas chamber owned by Smithfield Foods and grab the footage shot remotely. This was highly illegal of course but it did expose how horrible the pigs death by gassing really is. The opinion piece included the actual video too, so you can watch it to see for yourself. Everyone who sees it will be shocked but probably not enough to stop eating ham sandwiches.
Sleepies
A couple of more subway sleepers dreaming of a better tomorrow.
Bird Flu
The U.S. Department of agriculture says that 58 million commercial birds have been wiped out since last February. The reason is the worst outbreak of Avian Flu in U.S. history. 40 million egg-laying hens have been culled causing the price to skyrocket. The virus can knock out poultry farms for months. It seems I have to do an illustration about this kind of thing on a monthly basis now. I always end by writing the same thing. Maybe it’s time to stop eating animal products. Might help fix the situation. Easy to say, hard to do. I get it.
Pieta
This is a drawing I did of two separate gentlemen sleeping in the subway. I combined them one over top of the other. It is my Pieta.
Another Sleeper
Winter is a great time for subway sleeping. I notice that sleepers all wear hoodies, a hat, scarf, and a parker with an additional hood. All of these layers make for a kind of wearable sleeping bag. Quite comfortable. This is my third in the series.
Sleepers
This is the second drawing in my subway sleeper series.
Sleepers
People love to sleep on trains. It’s like strapping a baby into a car seat. They’re out cold in like two minutes. Same goes for adults. Stick them on a subway train in New York and boom, they’re down for the count. You want a great night's sleep? Sit on the F train for a few minutes and you’ll be dreaming in no time flat. This is the first of a series of drawings I did of Sleepers.
Toys Again
This is the last of my old broken down toys illustration series. You won't have to put up with looking at these any longer. You're welcome. Every kid I know has some sort of Godzilla toy in their junk pile. He always seems to make it into my sketches.
An Immense World
I am currently reading the book, “An Immense World,” by Ed Yong. It explains in detail how different animals use their senses of smell, sight, and touch and how it varies wildly from our own use of these same senses. There are some incredible scientists out there doing mind blowing research helping to explain our complex world. This is an illustration I did in response to what I was reading. Very self explanatory.
Chinatown Again
I returned to Chinatown to do this drawing. I met a woman named Ming who worked in the hair salon. She hung out with me during her downtime. I not only know every crack and crevice of the exterior of this building but I now know all about the inner workings of this beauty salon too. That was something I didn't anticipate.
