Was in JPnte Vedra, near Jacksonville, drawing golf enthusiasts at the Players Club at Sawgrass Country Club. GREAT crowd! They each had so much to say about themselves and I got to really work out my creative juices in the storytelling of most of the drawings. Here are some photos!

The Howard Hughes Affair by Stuart M. Kaminsky

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nice to return to a solidly written story, after another bout with a current author that was left alone by a good editor. Kaminsky does move this one very, very fast. The plot is very good, the mystery great and the characters very well done. As usual, Kaminsky nails the dialogue of the separate characters. Also, if you are a nostalgia nut like me, you’ll love the appearances of the well-known during this 1940s setting. To some, I’m guessing, this all appears way too old fashioned. Cynics of this day might say it isn’t realistic to what was really happening at the time, as if they knew what was realistic at the time (We sure have a weird view of “realism” today). These Toby Peters novels are just very good mysteries that are also much fun to read. With the 500 page tombs drowning in excess being produced today, I think some have forgotten what a good book is.



View all my reviews

The President’s Assassin by Brian Haig

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This story had a promising start for me. I liked the beginning and the humor knitted in the text. However as the book wore on, the endless meetings depicted and the constant reports of action that had already occurred began to wear on me. It would have been a better story if the narration had been brought to the action than more than three quarters of the book reflecting on it. It was almost like a series of flashbacks. As much as I love humor and sarcasm, even Haig’s leaning on it became to much for me. I kinda figured from the start who the bad guy was, which made it even tougher to get through the 500 pages. Another recent book needing severe editing is what is the bottom line…again!

The sarcastic hero reminded me a lot of Stuart Kaminky’s Toby Peters and Kaminsky’s writing & plotting in general. I would guess Haig is a Kaminsky fan. So, Toby Peters is my next stop.



View all my reviews

Was at the 25th annual Child of the Sun Jazz Festival in Lakeland, Florida,

this past weekend. Here are lots of sketches I drew while there.

Had two hours to render these during a public forum on water issues here in Florida. Got all done but had to finished watercoloring one and a half at the end. All are 11″ x 14″. The big one below was fun as Professor bob Knight with the University of Florida brought attention to the days when Silver Springs had Tarzan of the movies was swinging around. I added another movie star in the picture that also was filmed in Silver Springs, The Creature of the Black Lagoon peeking through the water.

If you are from the area you might recognize a few of these folks like Barbara Fitos and Guy Marwick. The issue at hand involves 32,000 acres to be famred and demanding a huge draw down of our water supply while we struggle with a drought. I’m a big fan of farms, but this is most dangerous due to also including tens of thousands of cows on the land along the Silver River, which has already been severly damaged by development in the area. the big question: How much does this all hit taxpayers? A lot, it seems, for cleanup and potential dry wells for thousands of homes in the area.

Got a bunch of artwork done today in a couple hours. Two editorial cartoons, a bike drawing and the next Swampy’s Florida webcomic.

Always Say Goodbye by Stuart M. Kaminsky

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the first I’ve read of the Stuart Kaminsky series involving Lew Fonesca that otherwise takes place in Sarasota. This entry in the series, though, mostly takes place in Chicago as the main character looks for the murderer of his wife. The writing is well done. Especially in getting the Chicago dialogue to read true. There are a number of twists. One twist involving one character is especially well done. Also, this is not an overwritten novel as so many others are today.

View all my reviews

Hiding out in the corner of a Steak ‘n Shake produced these 4 in 3 hours.

Mayday! by Clive Cussler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was my first Clive Cussler book and certainly I started with one of the shortest of the Dirk Pitt series. I understand ‘Mayday’ is second in the series and came out in 1973.

This is a fun reading experience with all sorts of things happening in a rather confined area of the world. The plot twists and turns were a surprise and very well crafted. There’s also a lot of history thrown in. The clever writing of the Pitt character is really well done. Especially when it comes to deducing who-did-what-to-whom. I’m usually pretty good at this, but I hardly saw more than one of the conclusions to wrap up the mystery. Since starting to read the Gardner Perry Mason series, i can tell Cussler is a fan in that he writes much of Pitt’s introduction to his conclusions in a similar manner.

The question for me is will I go from a 237 page novel to one of the Pitt 600 page books. Have to wonder if he’s stuffing all those extra pages with a lot more history, action…or what?



View all my reviews

Was at our Orlando Remembered meeting on Wednesday. Here are sketches I made during the meeting. Below is a photo of some of the gang during our meeting. From right to left: Chariman Bill Milligan, Bob Buck, Betty Bandy, Hillis Bandy, Robert Serros, Claude Hunter, Claude H. Wolfe and Steve Rajtar.

Nice illustration on the cover of Agatha Christie’s Hickory Dickory Death.