Birds of Carbondale

I'm trying to figure out what all sorts of birds we saw (and I sketched) from the back porch of our cabin. 1: Red-Tailed Hawk 2: Carolina Chickadee 3: Red-bellied Woodpecker 4: Northern Cardinals 5: Tufted Titmouse 6: Redheaded Woodpecker 7: 8: Blue Jay 9: Great Egret 10:Dark-eyed Junco (?)

Come Pecha Kucha with Me! Thurs: 1/27/11

I'm participating in St. Louis' Fifth Pecha Kucha Night on Thursday night. I also made the poster. Along with several other local fascinators i'll be showing a few slides (20) and giving a short (6 minute, 40 seconds) lecture. Them's the rules.Here are a few sneak peeks from my powerpoint presentation.The event is at Bridge / The Foundation (1004 Locust Street 63101) and is FREE. Get there at 6:30 or 7 to make me feel less nervous or just adjust my bow-tie.Hope to see you there!

In Hot Blood

I did this cover illustration and 5 interior spots for this week's NY Observer, about the grizzly murder of Portuguese telejournalist Carlos Castro, allegedly by his companion and Portuguese reality-show star Renato Seabra, in a Times Square hotel. Here's Seabra on the model-hunting show A Procura do Sonho (In Pursuit of a Dream):Apparently the couple had seen Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark the evening of the murder:Castro had been gruesomely killed & mutilated with some combination of a TV set, corkscrew, and wine glass on the 34th floor.Here were some alternate cover ideas:Seabra was seen rushing out of the hotel lobby that evening, neatly dressed but visibly shaken and with cuts on his wrist:The scene from Seabra's arraignment hearing, while he is held at a local hospital:Castro's remains being emptied by friends following the funeral, into a subway grate in Times Square, a "place that he loved":

Timely Facts & Beyond

Hope you haven't missed these recent nuggets ripped from the headlines of knowledge, courtesy of Amazing Facts & Beyond. In this one, Leon Beyond solves St. Louis' recent Smoking Ban.Jerry 'the King' Lawler pile-drove opponents on one of the most expensive Rugs in the Commonwealth of Kentucky:And finally, Leon recaps Top Ten important Dog-Walking related inventions of 2010:

Mary, Mary!

Here are the paintings I showed in November's Famous Fictional Verses! art show. My characters were Mary, Mary (Quite Contrary) and Mary, Mary (Why You Buggin'?).
Sketches & color list:Some reference:My original vector drawings:Vector art converted to outlines and output to tiles for tracing:The idea was to think of these paintings as 6-color prints with flat, fluorescent & metallic color. Key-color mock-ups:First few color layers down:Another couple:Finished paintings:Acrylic & Gold Leaf on Illustration board, 36" x 34".

RFT's 2010 News Quiz

A lot happened in St. Louis this year. Take the Quiz here! Some selected scenes to help you cheat:
Alternate cover sketches: