Heads Up

Before you think I'm getting too sentimental in my old age with my postings, here's a pretty splash page from 1942 by Charles Biro that should keep us feeling heady.

Full disclosure: I don't think anyone actually lost their hat-holder in this story, thanks to Crimebuster and his monkey. 

I jes' love the old comics.

An Old Chestnut

Here's an old chestnut . . . roasting on an open fire?

By now it seems like every man, woman and chile in the world must have seen everything that Mary Engelbreit ever conjured up. Then again, perhaps there are some new comers to the scene, so this graphical message is for them.

©Mary Engelbreit — Believe

The Kid in Me

Holiday comic covers like this one by Daan Jippes are so appealing to the kid in me. And it's a good reminder that now's the time to find your tree, if you celebrate that way.

Daan Jippes — Walt Disney's Christmas Parade #2 — 1989

Slap Him Out've the Air!

Comic book artists have an undeniable talent for telling expansive stories in confined areas. Imagine putting all this action into two small panels and giving it believable perspective and superb rendering. Many comic book artists are graphic geniuses. The graphic genius of these two panels is Russ Heath (I don't know if the breakdowns are by Heath or Joe Kubert.

Tahiti — It's a Magical Place

Ghoul Friend

I've only recently discovered the new Mickey Mouse animated shorts for TV.  I think they're pretty cool, in their own way.  I'm a bit surprised that the Disney Studio is okay with some of the premises and jokes in these shorts, but l think by doing so they are gaining back some audience, like me, that they lost a long time ago.

I'm not into the zombie thing that is going around, but I like this set-up shot of Goofy for one short called "Ghoul Friend"— good for a Halloween posting I think.

© Walt Disney Productions and their appropriate designees

Portraits!

Portraits! I paint portraits! If anyone would like to commission a portrait of a special someone (and that could be you, by definition), now is the time to start the process in order to be shipped in time for Christmas or the other holidays.

Email me for details and costs.

Portrait artwork © 2013 Thomas Haller Buchanan

How Often?

How often do we get to see the Christ Child AS a child, not a newborn? Not that often.

Margaret Tarrant 

Epic Scene

Knud Andreassen Baade 

Scene from the Era of Norwegian Sagas — 1850

Furor Poeticus

Have you ever thought much about 'automatic writing'? Otherwise known as psychography, it's writing 'which the writer claims to have produced from a subconscious or maybe a spiritual source without awareness of the content.'

Similarly 'inspiration' 'refers to an unconscious burst of creativity in a(n)...artistic endeavor.' 'In Greek thought, inspiration meant that the poet or artist would go into ecstasy or furor poeticus, the divine frenzy or poetic madness. He or she would be transported beyond his own mind and given the gods' or goddesses' own thoughts to embody.'

Hmm. Every once in a while, I sit down to a blank sheet of paper, sharpie pen in hand, clear my mind, staring inward through the paper to a bare room, painted white (but with no light on), filled with white noise and a hint of Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk in the dark while humming to himself. Or something to that effect.

And then I draw. I draw without thinking, without stopping, without being aware of what I'm drawing, mostly without taking my pen off the paper. All in 30 second intervals. 

This drawing is one recent result. Hmm, 'given the gods' or goddesses' own thoughts to embody...' 

Anybody have a good anger management class to recommend for the gods and goddesses? 

Close Your Eyes and Dream, Dream, Dreammmmmm

Boy, here's a dream I haven't had in a couple of weeks.

Moritz Stifter — Allegory of Dream

Under the Sea

Under the sea sets always make a great location for fantasy drama.

William Shackleton

Glow

I'm a sucker for images that have some sort of glow in them.

Charles Courtney Curran — 1913

Life without Fantasy?

What would life be without fantasy? It would be a textbook.

Charles Courtney Curran — circa early xxth century

Monochromatic Green

This is one of those paintings that inspires the 'What th'--!!' segment of my imagination. Not your Thomas Moran landscape. Monochromatic green, wow.

 Gustav Wentzel

Lovingly Immortalized

A  beautiful low chroma portrait painting of Mme Mucha, lovingly immortalized by Alphonse Mucha.

A Deeper Level of Explanation

Thoughtful, balanced words of a foremost scientist.

Image of the Abell Cluster of Galaxies

Attractive Allegory

Dedicated to all my painter friends—a very attractive Allegory of Painting. Remember, fat over lean . . .  or is it . . . whatever.

Paolo Veronese — Allegory of Painting — 1560s

Update: after looking at this published post, I realized some people would think that I was referring to the subject when I talked of fat over lean. I was not. "Fat over Lean" was and is a technique term in handling of paint on a canvas, directed toward painters. I was being flip here because that's a basic lesson for artists. I love the statuesque figure of the woman here. Like I said, a very attractive subject. 

FYI, I NEVER intend to make seemingly negative judgements about anyone's appearance. I know I'm going overboard in explanation here, but oh-Lord-please-don't-let-me-be-misunderstood.

Fantasy Narrative

I'm starting to cross-post some images between here and Facebook, thinking people may be of two different audiences, with a little overlap. This way the images may reach more people than the blog alone, which is kind of the point of doing this sharing stuff.

This painting is sort of remarkable for it's time of approximately 1880 by Carl Spitzweg, showing fantasy in a narrative form (there's a specific character-driven story going on here).

Carl Spitzweg — fantasy painting — circa 1880?

Delineated Life

Even before 'officially' publishing the first issue of Pictorial Arts Journal, we're nailing down the first sub-publication 'imprint' of the Journal, called Delineated Life, which will publish intermittently with the main Journal. Its purpose is to showcase one artist and their work per issue. Sometimes it will be a classic master from long ago, and sometimes a current, contemporary, right now artist.

The first issue of Delineated Life is dedicated to the cartoon mastery of Walt Kelly, a natural, timing-wise, to tie in with his 100th birthday (even though he left us 40 years ago).  The online publishing date is August 25 (Kelly's birthday) and I'm working round the clock to pull it together, as well as officially publish the Journal itself. And, oh yeah, I'm not making any money from this (yet) so I have to keep plugging at my deadlines as well. Poor me — hah! I love where these publications are heading, and sooner or later I should be able to collaborate with artists and writers and layout artists and other creatives, so that it's not just me having so much fun!

This is the cover, as it stands now, and there will be many wonderful interior pages that will explore the Whirled of Kelly.

I'm still casting out a call to any professional cartoonist or animator to contribute a tribute drawing jpeg, demonstrating what Kelly and his work has meant to you, personally and/or professionally. We need jpegs by the week of August 4, but hopefully sooner. And it would really be helpful for you to send over an email even earlier to let us know you're planning on doing one. Of course we know how life gets in the way of things like this, so it's not like you HAVE to do a tribute, even though you intended to. But heck, even a simple sentence or two will suffice if you don't have time to whip up a drawing or doodle. Each person who contributes some sort of sentiment can have a bio-blurb and website link next to their piece. C'mon, I know there are so many pros out there that admire Kelly's legacy. Join us in this 'time capsule'.