Got to the Orlando Remembered meeting for the first time in a few months. This month it was at the Citrus Club with breakfast and always good fellowship. To the left is Andy Serros, one of the orginators of the group, and below is his brother Robert.

After the meeting I donated some time at the Orlando V.A. nursing center and entertained with caricatures.

We stopped at the ice cream social being held by the Loxahatchee Chapter of the Florida Trail Association in Green Acres at a giant park that is adjacent to the Florida Turnpike. Sandra got to see a lot of old friends and, having my caricature equipment with me, drew attendees.

Amongst those I drew is the oldest member of the Floirda Trail Association, a fellow named Henry, who is 92 years old. That’s him at the top.

We were out in Big Cypress again for the annual Clyde Butcher Muck-A-Bout! I assisted Sandra with a few swamp walks over the three days. as always: IT WAS GREAT! If you haven’t gone and would like to next year, e-mail me and I’ll give you more info. Or click here in the spring of next year. Click here to see a bit of someone’s swamp walk posted at the YouTube site.

This is an actual sketch made in the swamp. The digital color I added later.

 A quartet came to the James A. Haley V.A. Hospital in Tampa. Cartoonist, Tom Armstrong, his wife, Glenda, mayself and my brother, Jeff, all came to bring a bit of cheer to our greatest American heroes. Tom, who draws the comic strip Marvin, and I were guided though the many cooridors by the V.A.’s Steve Wilson, who is very good at keeping the area he’s in very bright with his sense of humor.

We saw many service folks and their families. Tom drew Marvin and characters along with a hilarious Elvis for a ’50s music fan. I drew caricatures. We had a great time.

The photo is of Tom, V.A. volunteer, Helen, and myself and the drawings she received. Helen is about to celebrate 35,000 hours of volunteerism. That’s over 21 years of work. Wow! I urged her to make it to 100,000 hours!

Had dinner with friends in Jacksonville at a Mimi’s Cafe near the University of North Florida. I was fortunate to be able to dine (From left to right) Don & Becky Perlin, Ed & Emmy Hall and Marsh Moreno. Good food with the exception of the very long hair that was literally tightly wrapped around a porkchop of Ed’s.

Lots of cartooning gab since most of us are cartoonists. Don is a legend in the superhero arena, drawing everybody from Ghost Rider to the Defenders. Ed Hall is a prolific editorial cartoonist who’s with the same syndicate I am. Marsh Moreno is a hotdog caricaturist who has drawn one of the best caricatures of me ever drawn. Wives Becky Perlin and Emmy Hall had to endure another evening of cartoon talk!

The Suncoast Inkslingers met Sunday and below are the results of our ‘Cartoonersize’. This months ‘Cartoonersize’ was to combine a number of elements that I provided: Groucho Marx (On the 30th anniversary of his death), Elvis (He was a lounge singer back in the 40s or something) and an item pulled from a card stack: A Comic Book Convention. Four Inkslingers participated:

Dan Smith
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Ron Johnson
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Sioux Hart
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Rob Smith, Jr.
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Sandra and I attended the first meeting of a new writers group organized by writer Lucy Tobias. It was a quick hour and a half and we wrote lots. The plan is to meet once a week for now. Above is a drawing of Lucy –  A so-so likeness.

We met at Chelsea Coffee in Chelsea Square in Ocala, which once housed Pizza Inn long, long ago.

After a very busy day I met with my old friend and collaborator, Ken Culotta. To the right is a sketch I did of him Tuesday night. We tend not to collaborate as much since the Ocala move. We did some political discussing and then started talking about a comic strip project I’ve been working in when time permits. After about an hours talk about the strip Ken came up with a brilliant solution to what may have been a bigger problem with the project than I thought. His idea alters the current structure of the strip but also streamlines and sharpens the focus of the concept. It’s folks as incredibly creative as Ken that can look at anything and recognize and come up with creative solutions to issues the creator may miss while bogged down into the actual physical creative process. Thanks, Ken!

 Ken is a creative genius that the Disney Company, whom he works for, has yet to see or use even a sixteenth of what he’s capable of. I’ve known Ken since high school. We created a comic strip in the 1980s and we worked on political cartoons until recently.

I visited my old friend/cartoonist/caricaturist, Charles Treadwell, at the Disney Village Marketplace (or whatever they’re calling it today). We talked about his various projects and other art stuff. Charles has been very prolific from drawing caricatures, comic books and creating storyboards. Charles is by far one of the best creative thinkers I know.

I also briefly visited with Jack Marler, also a caricaturist but also an otherwise incrdible fine artist.

Here’s a drawing of Charles capturing one of a myriad of expressions he’s capable of.

I hadn’t seen Bobbi and Paul MacMurray in many, many years. I used to work with Bobbi at Church Street Station in the late eighties. I was drawing caricatures at Church Street in the train depot and Bobbi and Catherine Courtney created portraits outside the Cheyenne Saloon.

I drove out to Goldenrod, in eastern Orange County and met up with fellow artist, Sue McNulty, to visit the MacMurrays.

Bobbi is an outstanding portrait artist who’s eyes after over 80 years have let her down. She still has all of her equipment. The drawing is of her giant easel she used to create so many wonderful paitings and illustrations.

Bobbi’s husband, Paul, has been playing music since a child. Now, at 88, he still plays at local retirement homes. I’m violating my own rules to keep this an illustration only site with this photo of Paul with his electric base. His wife is an artist. Close enough!

We made it to Murphy, North Carolina, where we had cartoonist encounter #2 for the day. This one was planned. I’d contacted Jack and Brenda Cassady before we left about stopping by and saying ‘Hello’!

Jack is a long time cartoonist drawing everything from magazine gag cartoons to advertising cartooning. Jack also was the birth-uh-father of the Suncoast Inkslingers group of cartoonists in the Tampa Bay area of Florida that I now head up.

That’s Jack in his nifty stand alone studio down a path from his home armed with a brush. Thank goodness it wasn’t loaded!