Kids Grow Up

I've just realized that our youngest starts high school on Tuesday. What exactly happened and why wasn't I paying attention?

Movie Queue

I spent more time this summer driving kids to and from multiplexes than I spent in an actual theater. This isn't to say there weren't movies I wanted to see. To paraphrase Dorothy "Movies come and go so quickly here!" At least movies I like. Now that my kids are the age when we like the same things they, of course, would rather not be seen with me. I did this illustration for my usual entertainment slot in the LA Times. You can tell by the marquee when it ran, and see the audience for each film in the line. Sophisticated African Americans and knuckle-dragging twenty-somethings still go to the movies.

Woof

They're cutest when they're asleep, but when we're asleep they tend to be noisy. I did this Jack Russell's portrait for an art director friend who walks and feeds him.

Working Small

Business cards are a cool item. I did these drawings for a restaurant web directory founded by some friends of mine. The friends had the taste and judgment to hire SPUNK do do the design, and the design is the hero of the piece. Good design always makes art look exponentially better. Good design makes me seem like the kind of artist who works in a cool studio suite of 50s modern design with refurbished steelcase and Swedish furniture in a hip warehousy neighborhood. I actually do most of my work at an old kitchen table looking out at a leafy neighborhood view, resisting the urge to walk down to the lake. My inspiration for this art came from watching too many Tex Avery cartoons.

Roma

When I've spent time in a city it can be harder to illustrate a map of it. The things I remember, the places I liked, the cafés and piazzas I hung around in, insist on being included. Like the best stories, it's all about selection. And Rome is like a wonderful overstuffed museum, you step back to get a photo of a Baroque church and you stumble over a statue by Bernini. I walked Rome with a 1912 Baedeker in hand. A modern street map can tell you where you are but it doesn't capture the atmosphere of a place; it reduces the fabric of an ancient city to a soulless calculation.

Health Care Surprises

I don't remember what the article was about, but this drawing captures the feeling we all get these days shopping for healthcare. It's like being run down by an ambulance. And billed for it.

Support for Education

I did this illustration for the New York Times. The op-ed was about education funding, or lack thereof.