Got the prep work done a couple days ago. Added watercolor while painting live during the Art Walk in Mt Dora at Julianne’s Coastal Cottage. I still need to work on details in the illustrations to get it to pop out more.

Penciled this during a meeting tonight as I prep for a series of watercolor paintings I need to get done. It’s part of a Swampy’s Florida series that will soon be available to interior designers through a Miami company. There will be two series. One much like this of Florida locations and Florida critters. The other series is of beach scenes around the state.

This is just the pencils of the artwork. Next I prep the art to be watercolored. I’ll be painting the art  this Friday during the Art Walk in Downtown Mt. Dora, Florida, at Julianne’s Coastal Cottage store. I’ll be doing it live. If you’re in the area, please come by and say ‘Hello!’.

I did the penciling during a meeting of the Springs Alliance which I’m involved with. Certainly an appropriate time to be working on artwork about the Rainbow River.

This is from a photo taken by a friend of a half fallen cypress tree on the Rainbow River in Marion County, Florida

Last caricature gig of the year and drew a terrific assortment of attendees. Most in the event business themselves.

A group of fellow artists got together in Orlando at Stardust Video and Coffee Shop last Wednesday night. We get together around this time of year to catch up on the goings on in the past year. Above are Pam Treadwell, Paula Large, Jerry Darkey and me.

Holed up in The House of Joe in Melbourne to get the last four of the Swampy Webcomics penciled and inked.

The new single panel comic premieres in January. Seven of those are already finished. The new version stars Swampy and Pasco Pete as they present interesting Florida historic facts.

Been penciling and inking and penciling and inking and… I guess ya get the idea…

Got lots done on the upcoming ‘Swampy’s Florida: Titusville’. Lots more to do. And that’s besides this Swampy book!

Here is a step by step of a watercolor caricature I painted on Halloween.Above is the pencil and preparation for watercolor.

Here I’ve added the watercolor.

Finally, I brush in the line work.

Here’s a piece of artwork I’m drawing of the upcoming ‘Swampy’s Florida: Lake Wales’.

For those who know the story – Here’s a big Happy Birthday to Jacob who turns 18 today!

‘Funny Folks Behind the Serious Business of Cartoons’ is the name of a fun panel of Florida cartoonists and author Tim Hollis this Saturday at the Orange County Regional History Center.

Tim Hollis starts off the event at 12:30 with a talk about the history of cartooning and tourism. He will also be introducing his new book, ‘Part of a Good Breakfast’ about cereal premiums for the Baby Boomer set. Tim will be available to sign books after his talk.

The cartoonist panel starts at 1pm with cartoonists Bruce Beattie, Allen Bellman, Mike Osbun, Jeff Parker, Mark Simon, and me. Each will talk about the cartoon work they do.  Then the floor will open to questions from the audience.

Afterward be sure to take a stroll trough the Peanuts exhibit of comic strips reflecting outdoor issues.

I organized the cartoonist panel and dove tailed it with our annual Florida Chapter meeting of the National Cartoonists Society, which I am also Florida Chapter Chairman of. I’m also involved with the History Center.

A Socrates Cafe is a group that gathers and talks issues for a couple hours. I attended one today and, as usual, sketched the ideas we discussed. Here are a couple pages from the sketchbook.