Frenetic Festival

London is also a frenetic festival at the Winter Wonderland carnival, bombarded by cacophonous music, flashing lights and elevated voices of merriment. My favorite part was the hot mulled wine and roasted chestnuts.

Peaceful Wishes

Thank you to my commenting cyber friends---peaceful wishes for you . . . and, hey, all the rest of you too.

Christmas Eve in London is a luvely time and place.

Phido Christmas

Harrod's has a Christmas gift department especially for pets, and this is my favorite item in there. I wish I could've afforded it for my dog. He'll just have to be happy with a stocking full of treats.

No Visible Means of Support

Now here's an interesting fellow with no visible means of support that sits around down by the London Eye.

'Tis the Season of Ebeneezer

I am delightedly haunted by the Spirit of Christmas Present in the heart of London.

Retro-esque Holiday

Taking the ferry back to the white cliffs of Dover, I couldn't resist snapping this retro-esque holiday graphic on board.

Calais Window Display

Quite a few winter wonderland displays here in Calais. I'm spending a lot of time sketching sites, scenes and architecture here and in London. Hope to show some of that sometime in January, assuming my magic machine will finally be re-enchanted.

Memorial Sculpture

Calais, France is a lovely ancient town that suffered WWII devastation. Shown below is a beautiful Art Deco memorial sculpture, one of a number of powerful sculptures scattered here-abouts.

Where I Am

Here's a fun Christmas/Winter window display, where I am right this minute, in Calais, France.

Heroic Portrait

This is a heroic portrait of the late Christian Blackwood, filmmaker (couldn't you tell?). He purchased this pastel drawing from me, so it's now floating around somewhere out there in the big wide world.

Aztec-ian Birds

This is a study of some birds we placed in painted murals of ancient Aztec times for a museum exhibition.

Passions

This is a pastel portrait of sorts of a Pro-Rodeo champeen bull wrestler guy or whatsomever they're called. I love doing portraits of people who are engrossed in their passions.

Picabo & the Fastest Man Alive

A cover portrait I rendered some years ago of Picabo Street and Michael Johnson, using pastel chalks:

Yo Yo Ma

Watercolor wash rendering

Coco

No real time for commentary right now, just enough time to start my alternative images from my portfolio. Let's start with portrait drawings, though some of you may have seen some of these on one of my other blogs.

A crayon drawing based on an old photograph of Coco Channel:

Breathe Deep

Well, girls and boys, imagine my surprise that my computer is going back to the shop for the same reason as the last three times since October 23. This coincides with a bit of traveling I'll be doing, so my posts will be coming to you, as this one is now, from my cute little iPad--for the foreseeable future.

Here's the thing. I had some nifty Christmas-sy images lined up, but didn't have opportunity to transfer them to this device. I could just opt out of posting for awhile, but I enjoy this bloggy stuff too much.

I have some of my portfolio stuff on the iPad, so at the risk of boring you, I'm going to be posting some of that--with some pieces that you may have seen on my other blogs and some not.

The geniuses promise me that they will do everything in their power to make this right for me, but it will take until after Christmas, due to waiting for a scarce part. There's even a slight possibility of a replacement machine, but there are complications with that as well.

So be that as it may (I've always wanted to use that phrase, though it doesn't really make sense to me), I will be bellying up to the (space) bar and post when and what I can.

If for some perverse choice of the Universe I am unable to follow thru with my Quixotic plans, I wish you all Happy Holidays (this is not just a Christian time of year, so back off all you holier-than-thouers, and show some tolerance for the rest of us sinners that have different ideas about this time of year!).

As one of my favorite artists (hi James!) has coined:

Breathe deep and seek peace.

"Dad, What Did You Do in the War?" "I Slept, Son, I Slept."

Speaking of my dad, and WWII, that's him below, full page in Life magazine, February 22, 1943, bless his tired soul. 

And the newspaper clipping verifying it:

All the Young Turks

Because of different camera angles, you probably don't see that much resemblance between the cocky young turk from the last post to the cocky young turk, below, that was me—at the basic same age and rank as my dad was. But we really looked alike, though he was much more fearless than me, though I don't think he ever rappelled out of a helicopter hovering at a hundred feet. Though he faced enemy fire many a time and I never did . . . phew.

Time Capsule

Time to put up with a little more of the autobiographical slant of this image blog. Well, you don't HAVE to put up with it, but here goes.

Going through your deceased parents' possessions can be an amazing trip through time, a way-back machine of sorts, without Mr. Peabody and Sherman. My parents weren't packrats, per se (okay, maybe my mother was to a certain degree), and so much stuff has been lost over the years, due to flooding and some mysterious 'leave-home-quickly-at-midnight' scenarios I had to go through as a kid. 

But I'm still going through a fair amount of stuff that my mom left behind as she made her final mysterious journey (she passed at noon, on the dot, the day that I told her, while she was in a coma, that I had to leave at noon that day and wouldn't be back till much later that night), so that I was with her at her last breath. But I digress.

My parents divorced long ago, yet my mom still had a number of things of my dad's that I'm now slogging through. I don't want to miss anything that would shed light on his early years, so piece by piece I sort out old receipts and work detritus from interesting photos and memorabilia. 

One photograph that slipped out from some newspaper clippings is one I hadn't seen before. It was a tiny little thing, probably a contact print from a small negative. I squinted to see any detail, and not having much success, I scanned it at 1200dpi and was delighted to look in on my dad in early WWII uniform with the WWI style helmet. He's the cocky young smiling chap to the right, in the image below, looking aMAZingly like I did at his age (he was 18 in this shot in the South Pacific—He lied about his age when he joined the army at 16 years old). So he's a corporal here, and looks fearless as he begins his deployment in the Pacific theater. It's like my scanner was a time machine window, looking back in time. It's fun to look forward to more photographs of that sort, still to come.

So, in the same box was this souvenir coconut, coming up on 70 years of age, and seeming quite pristine for its travels. As a kid, my family left homes in the dead of night, and yet this moonlit gal must have gone with us every time. My mom had said that she lost good silver and packets of letters on those  great escapes, and yet this coconut made it all the way to the future. Do you think there's a market for this kind of momento  on EBay or such? I don't want to keep it, but I'm sure not tossing it into a landfill.

And then there was this copperish tin can, below, that was sealed tight with a lid that wouldn't budge. Something made some clatter when I shook it, but it wouldn't open up. It looks like an old K-ration can, but what amazing thing could be inside? My wife was thinking maybe it had some ammo or explosive gimcrack from the theater of war, and I pictured maybe currency from one of the number of islands that my dad waded ashore to help liberate. Whatever it could be, I thought, wow, this is truly a time capsule, and my curiosity made me try harder to pry open, which I finally did.

HA! There were SOAPS knocking around in there, still smelling fragrant and fresh, and a set of nail clippers (!?). World War II vintage souvenirs. I was slightly disappointed, hoping it would be something that could help put my daughter through the next two years of college, but still delighted in getting to know my young parents a little bit more as I delve into these boxes. 

Monkey Biz

So, this is what New Yorkers do on cold wintery nights. 

I feel warmer already.

Quintana — New York Nights — February, 1937

Jack Frost

Cold? Yes, it's downright f-f-f-frosty.

Ub Iwerks — Jack Frost — 1934

Fendi

It's c-c-c-cold where we are. Hope yer stayin' warm where u r.

Karl Lagerfeld — for Fendi

Romantic Enchantment

I have a sincere fondness for images of romantic enchantment, and many artists of today are just as wonderful as masters of the old days, though utilizing some new artistic media, such as digital tools, as evidenced with this lovely image by Laura Diehl.

©2011  Laura Diehl — Golden Fish

K-Reek

These two images tumbled out together from a partial spill of my image morgue — a splendid example of my little world laughing at itself.

 Curt Swan —Superman — 1970s

Robert Crumb — self-portrait — 1989

Mighty Interesting

I don't know anything about the story that this illustration by Walt Scott was for, but it looks mighty interesting, mighty interesting indeed. Very nice wash technique, says I.

Walt Scott — magazine illustration — 1940s

I do believe that Walt Scott is the same fellow who turned out some comic books back in the late 40s/early 50s about 'Little Folk' or 'Little People' or some such title, akin to the Teeny-Weenies and Walt Kelly's Brownies.

Christmas Gifts

Georges Lepape — Vogue — December 7, 1929

French Frails

Here's a jaunty little number from the age of flappers. Looks like a couple of French frails flitting about in their flivver. 

l'officiel de la Couture et de la Mode de Paris — November 1927

Way Up North

It's a little less than 3 weeks till Christmas, but this image shows what I like to think is going on right now, way up north — at least according to the vision of Carl Barks (the GOOD duck artist, as we Dell Comic aficionados like to say). Yes, Virginia, Barks painted more than just Scrooge and the boys.

I like that he has animal helpers, 'stead of them nasty little elves — the woodpeckers are a hoot and a half—'specially the test pilot.

©1979 Carl Barks — Santa's Work Shop 

Thimk!

Sometimes I think I could solve some of the world's problems if I could just have a few days with no distractions whatsoever. Sometimes on my nature walks I think, that's it! That's it! I've solved one of the vexations of (wo)mankind! But then I have no follow-through to  transmorgraphie my thoughts into actions. My mind gets weary and soon I'm distracted by some shining gewgaw with pretty colors. 

The little cartoon sketch below is something I doodled years ago, while I was working on a prehistoric culture exhibit, that reflects my reflections. Most of the time my brain is zombie food.

Really, just a few days with NO distractions, I know I could . . . I could . . . now what was I talking about?

Buchanan

Four Words

 Colorful.

Stunning.

 Fan-tab-la-glorious.

Moebius.

1980

Special Number

An Art Nouveau cover from 105 years ago:

Vogue — December 5, 1907

The Arrival of Saint Nicholas

St. Nicholas is, of course, a grand saint. And Santa Claus really seems to be a separate entity working in association with the saint. Nicholas, I think, is the pope of the holiday and Santa maybe the head cardinal? And then all the millions of Santas spread around the world that are scaring all the little kids in the malls and on street corners are the faithful bishops and knights and pawns?

I dunno. 

Anyway, here is a lovely depiction, by Hergé, of a grand arrival of Saint Nicholas, certainly emulating His Holiness, the Pope. And it looks like Homer Simpson's granddad must have been one of triplets back in the day.

Hergé —The Arrival of Saint Nicholas — 1936

De Rigueur

This is a friendly notice that any correspondence and requests to Santa should have been e-mailed by now, or no later than the next day or so — due to high volume and low band width. The North Pole Post Office has been shut down for several years now, and emails, brief and to the point, are de rigueur. I've heard that one of the recent viruses has infected the North Pole website, so even that may be shut down for the season. If your requests aren't filled this year, that may be the reason.

My little snail mail to Santa, shown below, was mailed when I was but eight years old and evidently somehow made its way back to my mother's care, where I found it just yesterday as I was going through more of her papers. Pretty good printing for an eight year old, I'm proud to say. Likewise I'm beaming proud that my requests WERE fulfilled, including the item for my brother, which sits on a shelf display to this day, many many many years later. The Cape Canaveral set — played to death oh so long ago. And I guess I've always liked coloring and recoloring — just ask my clients.

Hey, I Love This Guy!

By popular request (one of you) (yay), the Robert Crumb introduction to the previous post's komic of Harvey Kurtzman, one of the (great) cartoon geniuses (and there have been so many of 'em) of the 20th century (of course Crumb himself is one of them there), and . . . good lord, I've used so many parentheses in this sentence I forget where I was going with it . . .

Thanks, Sim, for the request. Crumb's intro is worth the time to read, and especially about Mr. Bad Taste  himself, HMH.

Robert Crumb — intro to Kurtzman Komix — 1976

Pygmalion Complex

I think there may be a bit of a Pygmalion complex in most artists, and as the creator of Annie Fanny, well —yeah!

© Harvey Kurtzman estate — Kurtzman Komix — 1976

Finally, a label (below) that fits perfectly! (snort, chuckle)

Girl in a Glass

Leo Putz — Girl in a Glass — 1902