The nightmare at the Bank of Santa Royale begins

I love psychotic Ruthie.
Thus begins the nightmare of a customer service representative at the Bank of Santa Royale.

Toby, you might want to light a match and lay off the spicy food. Maybe turn the AC down a bit as well.

--------------------------------------

I subscribe to a blog called Art Deadlines List. Description: Art contests & competitions, art jobs & internships, art scholarships & grants & fellowships, art festivals, call for entries/proposals/projects, and other opportunities in all disciplines, for art students, art teachers, and artists of all ages.

From time to time I tag an entry as "keep new" in Bloglines intending to follow up or submit something for a particular show. The deadline always passes and I never submit anything. My cartooning, life and other things end up filling up my time. I've not created other art in over a year.

I tagged this as keep new:

Side Show! Freak Show! Creep Show! We've all heard the terms. What does this mean to you? What comes to mind? What do YOU consider a 'Freak of Nature'? What constitutes this label? This is an open call to artists of all mediums to challenge themselves to respond to the title of this show. Who can participate: Anyone in the world, all artists welcome, all mediums. No entry fee. Contact: GM (Deadline is October 15)

The bold question really intrigues me. In response I want submit a portrait of Ann Coulter. So much ugliness in a somewhat attractive package. What a freak of nature.

The devil is an old lady in a pink pantsuit

A short list of the flaws in Mary Worth's suggestion:

1. Dr. Jeff is retired thus has the luxury of traveling to a foreign land and doing good work. He would have that luxury if Mary Worth would let him. Dr. Drew is employed at a hospital.
2. Mary, do you know whether or not Drew has a speciality that would meet the needs of the children at Peace Village? We have not seen Drew with an actual patient. He could be a pathologist or a medical examiner.
3. Nothing to cure the sadness brought on by a broken heart than working with poor, deformed children in a third world country. Yeah, that ought to cheer Drew right up. If you really want to cheer him up how about suggesting that he go to Darfur?
4. Christ Mary, let the man have some fun. He could take you and Jeff sailing in the Caribbean or skiing in St. Moritz. It would be better than you and Jeff's usual dates. Watching paint dry would be more exciting than one of your dates. Probably did the watching paint dry thing on the third or fourth date.
5. Browbeating someone to serve others really motivates that spirit of altruism.
6. Mary let Dr. Jeff go back to Peace Village and continue his work. This is Jeff's calling not Drew's and no amount of meddling will change that. If you really love Jeff you would support him in his pursuing his calling.
7. Drew may find his own calling - rescuing his father from the clutches of evil

This illustrates what I enjoy about Mary Worth - she has this facade of sweetness and good intentions but deeper analysis reveals something a bit more sinister. Reminds me that the devil does not wear horns or Prada.

Sort of reminds me of an influential member of my church but quite capable of expressing real love unlike Mary Worth. They possess a strong desire for things to remain as they are even if it is detrimental to the church as a whole. I've attempted to voice my concern about this once. A small number of people have alluded to it but I don't know if it is just me and a couple of people or if a larger group has concerns. I wonder if anyone has really put it together. I understand this person's desire to keep their beloved community and not have anything negative breach that community but there is a reality and other people. I guess that is where the community comes in - minister to this person, acknowledge fears and concerns and prove that the changes will make the beloved community stronger, safer and more inclusive. How to even begin that process? I don't know.

Funny, I wonder if anyone in the church views me as a barrier like a I view this member?

I would rather receive the picture. Mom has no appreciation for fine art.

Disappearing Bags - the non-brown paper variety

Where did Vera's bags go? The ones that she had yesterday which prevented her from holding her phone in a non-awkward way.

You're not a plugger if you call someone to tell them you're sending them an e-mail, you're very annoying. This level of annoying required a new Plugger species. I wonder if the dog Pluggers get along with the cat Pluggers? Or is cat and dog Plugger segregation the last frontier of prejudice to overcome in Plugger society?
Another entry for the New Yorker redraw Eustace Tilley contest. I created both entries using CorelDraw and a mouse. Eustace drinks a latte and thinks he's dressing ironically.

Judging from the typing scores appearing in the UU blogosphere, I'm the slowest typist in UUdom. Setting the bar low and making everyone else look good - one of many ways I serve my fellow humans.

Eustace Tilley

Who? The dandy that appears on various covers of the New Yorker. The New Yorker is holding a contest for interpretations of their mascot. Here is mine:

The rest of the entries appear on Flickr The contest ends Jan. 24.

Friday Five Minute Art

This is an experiment to see how much I can draw in 5 minutes using Sketchcast. The video is actually just under 4 minutes long. The 5 minutes included set up, typing title and other tasks.

A bit of abstract art.

Now, That's Art!

The last panel of Saturday's Rex Morgan M.D. I will hold this image in my mind next time I find myself annoyed by a cell phone user.

What is Talent?

I received the above postcard today. I saw the image and initially thought, "It's just two chairs stacked on top of each other! Where's the talent?" but upon further inspection I noticed that the artist, Mike Womack, created an optical illusion with paint. Now, that's talent. The piece is titled Cloud. Maybe this year's exhibit will have some more examples like this.

I have visited previous exhibitions of New American Talent and have wondered why did this curator choose these pieces and what are they seeing that I am not. One year, a piece with a title that I do not remember (probably untitled complete with the pretentiousness of all lowercase), was simply a roll of toilet paper on a holder bolted to a wall and part of the roll was carefully rolled out and laid out over a couple of steps. The Stark Gallery marketing people featured this piece on the post card advertising the exhibit.

Some people wonder why the public does not support the arts to the extent that they feel the public should. Others wonder why non-commercial artists are not taken seriously.

Does the toilet paper roll artist really have talent? Talent worthy of being placed in a gallery? Talent greater than say, Thomas Kinkade? Which one is the hack - the commercially successful Thomas Kinkade or the toilet paper roll artist? I think the real talent was the person who convinced a curator that the carefully laid out toilet paper roll is art worthy of being placed in a gallery.

I wonder how much of a curator's criteria is determined by the merit of the art rather than other factors? Curators are human beings with all the foibles. Would a truly talented artist with poor representation have the same chance as a so-so artist with a great agent?

Changing subjects: in the third panel Momma realizes that her own death would make her children happy. The one thing I'm certain about the nature of God is that it has a sick sense of humor when it comes to answering some prayers. Momma knows it, too.

My father-in-law is still in the hospital undergoing treatment for cancer. The drugs and toxins have had a weird effect on him. Walter successfully convinced his father that the people at the VA hospital were not trying to kill him, they did not kidnap him, and most importantly, they are not trying to sell him a car. The third item took Walter the longest to explain. Odd the fears that come forth in an altered state of mind.

Abstracting the abstract

How can one make an abstract rendering of a character drawn in a somewhat abstract style to begin with? A photograph or something drawn in a more realistic style would have worked better because it would look bizarre in a world of cartoon characters.


The regular actors called in sick. Bring in the understudies! Thing from the Addams Family makes a cameo in the first panel.

Mary Worth feels self-reproach over killing a man!? Intuition? Hell, Ella could have just picked up the gossip around the condo complex. Who does Mary think Toby spoke to during her adventure in Vietnam?

I admit I'm not the most qualified to critique another artist's abilities. Looking at a few of my comics makes that abundantly clear. I include Watch Your Head as a contrast to the art in Mary Worth. See, Giella, depth can be portrayed within the limits of two panels without Escheresque spatial contortions.

Look Giella! Look and learn. Call Cory Thomas. Review your art lessons.

Yes, I am jealous that both Giella and Thomas can draw much better than I can.

Call your paper and demand Watch Your Head. Cory Thomas deserves every bit of success he can get.