King Salmon

Alaska king salmon are in crisis with their population at a historic low. They are smaller in size then they’ve ever been and some argue the only way to save the species is to stop catching and eating them all together. The volume of kings caught in Alaska and sold to processors has been declining for 40 straight years. In 2021, the numbers were down 80%. For many king salmon populations, humans may not be able to do enough now to reverse the consequences of decisions made decades ago.

On another note, 70 percent of the salmon that people eat is farmed atlantic salmon.

Tree

Right now I’m in The Berkshires in Massachusetts, up in the mountains. This is a tree I drew in Brooklyn a few weeks ago and haven’t posted yet. I’m eyeballing a new tree to draw, seeing as I’m surrounded by forests as far as the eye can see. I’ll pick a winner today.

My friend, Snow handed me a sun-bleached lobster claw he found on the shore in Maine. I drew it. Then my friend Pate found a crab claw. I found a muscle shell and my page of drawings began to take shape. I’d glued the Bee-bim bop and Japanese lettering to the sketchbook page a few weeks earlier, not knowing what I would be drawing on that page. Then it was just a matter of drawing whatever got in my way after that and presto.

Hockney and kane


I recently posed for the legendary painter, David Hockney. He told me that I'm very good at sitting still. The painting will now hang in the men’s room at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City.

Snow House

We recently spent time in Little Deer island, Maine. Staying at our friend Michael Snow’s family home, I decided to draw it. I listened to the sounds of cormorants and loons as I sketched on the rocks by the shore of the cove. A river Otto popped out of the rocks inches from my feet. We scared the hell out of each other. I moved closer to the house to do this drawing so I didn’t scare any more animals. I can assure you the mosquitos weren’t afraid of me. My first urban sketch in a long time.

Barbie World Cup

I've been loving the women's World Cup soccer. Very exciting matches. Can't wait to see the final.

RIPeewee

Around the corner fudge is made. a very old painting I did of the legend.

Last Drawing

This is another drawing from my jaunts to the Museum of Natural History, the Asia section. I think I may have officially drawn every object in the museum. At this point, I can either begin all over again or end my 20 year run of drawing New York’s Natural History joint. WANTED; a new muse.

Bees

I’ve been reading The History Of Bees by Maja Lunde. Climate change and its effect on bees may decide the fate of humans. Her novel gives a bleak reality of what life could be like if they become endangered. Fortunately things work out in the book, sort of. Let’s hope we can do the same.

A tree In Prospect Park

I drew this trunk in Prospect Park. Got to try out my new REI Flexlite Folding Chair. Worked great. Excellent for the old back. There are a lot of summer day camps for kids happening in the park. Masses would march by me all dressed in identical colored camp t-shirts. At one point, a 6-year oldish kid started pointing at me and yelling frantically. “My dad knows this guy. My dad knows this guy!” He yelled it at the top of his lungs like 20 times. I never saw him before so I couldn’t back up his very loud claim. His camp counselor tried to mollify him which seemed to work somewhat. I just smiled and waved a lot. They had other fish to fry so eventually they moved on. I felt like a low-end celebrity who gets accidentally mistaken for a giant celebrity. You can either choose to pretend to be that person and take selfies and sign autographs or tell them truth and ruin everyone’s day.

Chicken Abuse

“An individual seen whipping a dog risks arrest, but CEOs whose companies in effect torture chickens are celebrated for their business acumen. Individualized animal abuse is a crime; systematic animal abuse is a business model.” Nicholas Kristof, NY Times

Tiny

I was talking about the singer, Tiny Tim the other day and a younger generation person had no idea who I was talking about. So, I YouTubed a video of Tiny singing “Tiptoe through the Tulips.” I’m not sure what the young person thought about it. Probably wondering why the hell I was showing it to them. To me, it was riveting to say the least. I did this illustration to show what the song feels like.

Totem

I could never create a work of art like this using my own imagination. This is a drawing I did of someone else’s brilliant imagination. This was part of a totem pole that lives in Eskimo Hall that caught my eye. When someone looks through my sketchbook and gets to this page they usually say, “wow.” But in my mind, I know they are not really complimenting me, it’s for the artist who made this incredible creation.