Pivotal Point of Life

Graphic 'borrowed' from ShoeboxBlog.com—

a very funny (and honest in its own way) site

We dropped our freshman daughter off at University, and whereas I'm excited for her opportunities, I am devastated at the loss of her presence. As I've said before, a bond between daddy and daughter has never been stronger than ours . . . I'm sure many equal to, but none stronger than.

Spending a lot of time with her these past few weeks has been wonderful, but it also has made her absence all the more apparent, and feels like a punch in the gut. We've talked a number of times on the phone, but when I think she won't daily come tapping on my studio window to wave hi, or coerce me to watch a dopey dvd with her or give me the spontaneous hugs that she's been so . . . spontaneous with, or a thousand other joys. mm. I have to bite my lip to keep from blubbering.

Of course we'll see each other a lot, and she has a room here, but she really doesn't live here any more, and that thought just stings my eyes once again for the 1000th time.

The other day we went out to dinner, and I stupidly forgot to turn the car lights off (it had been raining on the way over). Well, the battery was dead when we came out and I felt horrible about my stupidity. We had to walk home, over 2 wet miles, partly along a highway, on a full stomach, without good walking shoes (who knew I was going to be so stupid?) and I was mentally despising my idiocy as we set out. My daughter was cheerful and unblaming as she got thorns in her sandals. She played 'I spy with my little eye' with me, tried to get me to play 20 questions, turned her iphone up loud to play music I liked, sang aloud with me, and held my hand as I was running out of energy (I haven't been feeling well lately). She is ALways this way.

I'm having troubles concentrating on my horribly complex deadlines, and I miss my daughter terribly. I've escaped the blogging addiction and the surfing addictions. It's going to be hard getting back to the old and the new blogs, but I will in due time. Please bear with me—I hope you'll keep checking back, because I appreciate your interest in all things pictorial. I just need time to adjust to a pivotal point of life.

Full Circle

I've posted to this blog pretty continuously for quite a while now, but with a deep sigh, I must take a leave of absence for an indeterminate time. I have a very intense deadline that will take 2 to 3 weeks, not to mention spending quality time with my daughter before she departs for university, and in what little spare time I have left, I will be developing new content for a new blog that I hope you'll enjoy—showcasing master illustrators, both contemporary and classic.

I am not abandoning this blog by any means. I'm greatly attached to it, and all the many cyber friends I've made through it. Check back in a few weeks, cuz I still have a ton'o'stuff that has inspired me over the years and could have some interest for you.

In the meantime, I'm coming full circle with this post, commemorating the impending retirement of Bud Plant, the image lovers friend for many years with his mail order art book business. Over the years, Bud's catalogue and on-line store has been the primary source for hundreds, maybe thousands of books of images that are scarce to find anywhere else. I've purchased many books from Bud that are key pieces in my library.

The Bud Plant catalogues themselves have been a tremendous source of inspiration. Even when there was no way to afford all the goodies that he offered, so many of them were imaged in full, bright, glorious color, arranged in eclectic, yet organized layouts that were worth collecting in their own right. There were many catalogues over the years, usually with quarterly updates and I'm posting here just a few of the front, back and inside covers.

Here's where it comes full circle: These catalogue covers and many more were the primary inspiration for me to photograph and scan my graphics collection and create eclectic and colorful compilations for digital archiving — and then ultimately to appear here on this blog, and in turn shared with so many of you around the world.

Here's to you Bud! All the best in your retirement. I wish I could afford to buy your store, but hey, I need that money to help put my daughter through college (but she gave me a gift certificate for your store for Father's Day that I need to finally redeem—so I'm heading over to your on-line catalogue now).

And for the rest of you, to use the words of Dr. Sidney Freedman of the M*A*S*H tv series:

Ladies and gentlemen,

please take my advice,

pull down your pants

and slide on the ice . . .

Shneak Peek

Last post, I mentioned a sneak peek I had at concept art for Disney's John Carter, and Erik asks if I can share that. Unfortunately no, the person who showed it to me would get in trouble if I even described what I saw, but it was very cool.

In the meantime, here is some material you've undoubtedly seen already, but I'm posting it up just for the record.

I have great hopes for this movie. So far, it looks like it will be rustic high adventure — truly in the spirit of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

I'm already looking forward to the DVD.

Princess Factory

I've seen a quick glimpse of conceptual art for the Disney Studio's John Carter movie, and it actually looks good so far. We can only cross our fingers and hope that a princess of Mars, Dejah Thoris, will get a decent treatment from the fairy tale princess factory.

William Stout — A Princess of Mars — 1992

Drew Covers

I've told you that I stopped buying and reading new comics for the last few years. I don't even make it a weekly or monthly ritual to check out the new shipments at the comic shop. I still go there now and then to pick up some archives or art books, and MAYbe I'll go look at the DC reboot.

When I did buy any comics for a decade before I gave em up, it was usually for the cover, which I know is a pathetic thing to do, but I AM a person who loves images (who isn't?).

I know there must be some great cover art done these days by some great artists, but I just can't make myself go looking. Well, anyway, some years ago, I was delighted to see these covers (specially that first one) by Drew Struzan, the classic movie poster illustrator.

Yay Drew!

A Human Moment

"The sublime Mozart has a human moment."

Milton Glaser — Mozart Sneezes

'Tis a Long Time Ago

Wallace Tripp — 1973

Lemnians

People of Lemnos, doing . . . um . . . I dunno . . . Lemnian stuff . . .

Sir William Russell Flint — The Lemnians — 1925

Beatific Essence

Radiating the very essence of bliss.

Head of Buddha — Gandharan-style — 4th-5th century

The Cosmic Force

Illustrating an article entitled The Cosmic Force ("Is there a single glue that binds everything in the universe, from galaxies to gardens? Physicists say yes."), this photo illustration looks simple enough to create, yes? Yet, this was created four years before Photoshop was even a twinkle in Thomas Knoll's programming code.

Michel Tcherevkoff — The Cosmic Force — Science Digest 1983

Life's a Beach

What a sweet comment on modern society, even though this art is from a few years ago. You can tell it's from a few years ago, cuz you can see that these people aren't using smartphones.

Carter Goodrich

Where is She Now?

Above, Maren Jensen was a model before she was an actress—but where is she now, and what is she doing?

Below, some photos to remind you what you may have seen her in.

Yes! She was Athena, in the original Battlestar Galactica!

I do love a woman in uniform.