Back in December I got a call from a fellow named Cory from ABC’s Extreme MAkeover: Home Edition’. The request was for artwork, of course. The big part of it was that they neeeded two wall murals in 48 hours. So I skipped a nights sleep and got it done. The program aired Sunday and, as I was to keep all this a secret, I can now show a bit of the artwork above.

Click here and the episode can be seen from their website.

Here’s the first books of the year! I kicked the year off with a Vince Flynn thriller. Then I moved on to reading of the 2nd Seminole War. That lead me to read of the life of Thomas S. Jesup. I went back to Flynn’s third book. I wandered into the Everglades and back to war with ‘Discovering the Civil War in Florida’.

Here’s Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp, me and the caricature I drew of him at a fundraiser last week. I was very pleased to learn that the Lt. Governor loves history and the caricature was all about that.

Haven’t done this in a while. The Illustration Friday word is ‘Wilderness’. I did two. The first I drew was the raccoon below romping through a Florida forest.

Then I decided to sketch a scene from the Second Seminole War from about 1839. Here a few of Jesup’s men in the thick oak forest spy a few Seminoles as the indians make their way along the Withlacoochee River.

I sketched both at the meeting mentioned on the 18th. Later I realized the Seminole scene would have more than likely been reversed with the Seminoles spying on the Army soldiers making their way out in the open across the river. The soldiers would also more than likely have been crossing the river without a boat or canoe.

Here’s a snowball I assembled with the snow we received today.

From Sunday night.

A Christmas Eve stop while on the road at Venetian Gardens in Leesburg.

There was even a bear in the trees!

Here are a few of the folks at the Suncoast Inkslingers Holiday wing-ding: Kurt Wright, John Stevens, Jim Fern and Ann E. Sabo. It was held at The Captain’s Italian Restaurant in Safety Harbor. Below is Dan Smith, caricaturist extraordinaire.

More caricatures! Here’s my good friend Claude Hunter above.

Here’s Luis and his caricature at the Triple Canopy Ranch Mud Bog!

Click here to learn more about this and upcoming mud bogs.

A color caricature from last nioght. The lighting wasn’t so hot.