Created this watercolor caricature for a client who contacted me earlier in the day. He had to have it by noon on the 27th. So we met and I drew, inked and painted the artwork at a coffee shop. Here’s step by step of the development of the caricature. All are photographs at the scene.

‘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.

Charlie by Ben Hecht

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is outstanding in so many ways it’s hard to know where to start. I want to be sure to point out something that might be missed and that is that author Hecht has this biography of his pal Charlie MacArthur with excellent quotes. Much to be quoted is just descriptions made by Hecht. I have my volume full of sticky notes where I found wonderful quotes.

Hecht’s writing is typical Hecht and his love of his friend shines through often in the text. I’m glad he wrote many of the chapters more as if approaching a column than a linear biography. It gives the opportunity to read a part and walk away and savor the writing abilities of Hecht.

Certainly the biggest drawback to the book is that there’s a good deal not told about MacArthur. Especially missing is information in his youngest years. However, the entire book is a joy to read and I highly recommend it.

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Here are a few caricatures I drew near Sarasota on September 6th. Started off outside.

It soon got dark….

So we all came inside.

This is one of the last I drew after more than 4 hours non-stop.  I was pooped!

Found this in Publix – Hamburger Cake! A chocolate cake that looks like a hamburger.

On UStream for a second day this week and another very productive time was had. Watercolored a wedding caricature, inked an editorial cartoon, inked another cartoon for a client, penciled a cartoon for a client and penciled/inked/watercolor a Thank you card for a friend in the military. All in 4 hours. Hope to be as productive tomorrow on UStream, too! 🙂

Got on a drawing spree this evening. 5 projects knocked out in 5 hours.

This is a painting of Manley Fuller who is president of the Florida Wildlife Federation. I painted five of these for those who spoke at a water and springs awareness event back on June 23rd at Silver River State Park. I’m involved with a great group of folks called the Silver Springs Alliance that sponsored the event.

Shall We Tell the President? by Jeffrey Archer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Pretty standard thriller. Where the book is going at the beginning is the funnest part of the book. As it goes from there it takes a track revealing most of the bad guys and a few other character interactions. After that, it was clear to me how the book was going to end and, unfortunately, it did end that way. I was hoping for more from my first reading of a book by such a long time author as Archer. More tight writing and more of a chess game for a plot. I do like how the ending includes a mistake of missing a clue.

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Charles Lee is the director of Advocacy at Audubon of Florida and came to speak at our event at Silver River State Park June 23rd. He spoke about how water is used. About 50% of our water resources in Florida are used to water grass.  As Charles points out, grass is just for decoration and yet swallows up so much of our water. Something to add is that the decorative grass is also responsible for the poisons of fertilizer and bug killer being added to the soil that filters it’s way into our Florida water supply. His talk is below and was recorded by Live Oak Production Group.

This is another in a series of five watercolor paintings of speakers from a conference I was involved with this past June 23rd.