BOB FOSTER

Christmas Card 2010

2010-12-24T12:36:00.000-08:00

This is the result of running out of time and scrapping the Christmas card I was working on. I was writing a rhyme-y thing I called Rudolph the Redneck Reindeer, but it wound up going in a direction not suitable for Christmas. By the time I realized that I wanted to do something closer to the spirit of Christmas it was too late to do anything complex. So I experimented with Photoshop, found three suitable vintage postcards from 1921, and came up with the image above. The white space was left for a personal message. Below are the three cards as they originally appeared. Some people thought I had done the artwork for this. Thanks, but I didn't.

Merry Christmas, everyone, and a Happy New Year.

Christmas Card 2009

2010-12-14T22:48:00.001-08:00

Click anywhere on the image to make it larger.

Christmas Card 2008

2010-12-14T22:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas Card 2005

2010-12-12T00:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas Card 1980

2010-12-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

Oh, great. I found another Christmas card hiding in another pile of paper. I'm glad I'm finding them and can now put them in a binder so I'll know where they are next time. But I wish I'd been able to post these in chronological order.

Christmas Card 1985

2010-12-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

This one's out of order because I just found it buried under a pile of paper.

Christmas 2002

2010-12-10T11:13:00.001-08:00

Christmas Card 1987

2010-12-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas Card 1986

2010-12-10T11:03:00.001-08:00

Christmas Card 1981

2010-12-06T18:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas Card 1979

2010-12-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas Card 1976

2010-12-04T23:00:00.000-08:00

I usually send out homemade Christmas cards every year to a handful of friends. Over the next couple of days I'll put some up here. This first one is from 1976. As you'll see, my style and execution have evolved over the years.

It's Jimmy Hatlo Time Again

2010-11-26T15:12:00.000-08:00

Jimmy Hatlo created the comic strip "They'll Do It Every Time" which first appeared February 5, 1929. It was always one of my favorite comic strips. Technically it wasn't a comic "strip" but a single "panel" daily. Prior to doing that strip Hatlo was a sports cartoonist for the San Francisco Call-Bulletin, which he continued while doing They'll Do It Every Time. These sports cartoon samples are dated 1931.

All of these cartoons seem to be about college sports, in this case primarily football.
The bear in this line-up represents the UCLA Bruins.

Creative Talent Network Expo 2010

2010-11-22T17:31:00.000-08:00

About 8 PM Sunday, on my way home from the Creative Talent Network Expo, I saw this fantastic night view over Glendale, CA. I found a place to pull over and grab this shot. Great, eh? Available light, Canon Rebel.

One of the best costume models in the business, my old pal John Tucker poses for artists and photographers at this year's CTN Expo in Burbank.

The Creative Talent Network was founded in 2004 so that professional animators, web creators, illustrators, designers, production artists and other creatives can come together to market their talents, pursue common goals, share their experience, connect with other professionals worldwide and improve the ability for clients to connect with them. Two years ago, CTN founder Tina Price put together the first CTN Expo in Burbank, California. It provided a venue for those people to get together and hang out. This year's CTN EXPO ended last night and I thought it was a terrific three-day event that apparently was enjoyed by everyone.

Check them out at http://www.creativetalentnetwork.com/

Since I'm the new President of the Animation Guild, I got to hang out at our own table to meet and chat with a huge pool of talent as it passed by. Lots of familiar old friends, some highly talented students, and everything in between. I also spent a lot of time walking around the tables and the meeting rooms to see what was going on.

Sherm Cohen gives away (not literally) Storyboard Secrets and other fun stuff. Check him out at http://cartoonsnap.blogspot.com/

Ovi Nedelcu had a table full of good stuff he's done for publication, but I first knew him as a great story artist at Laika in Portland. Check out his stuff at
http://www.ovinedelcu.com/

This event was small (I'm guessing several thousand attendees) compared to something like San Diego's ComicCon International (150,000 attendees plus), so the CTN Expo was very comfortable and not too crowded. And it was strictly Animation-related. You could actually engage in intimate conversations with people and hear what they had to say. No pushing and shoving, no blasting music (no blasting anything), lots of demonstrations, lots of goodies to snap up and take home.

I did manage to squeeze off a few shots of some people I ran into.

First time I met Jean Giraud, aka Moebius, he was at Disney Studios in Burbank, CA working on the original TRON in 1980. The movie was released in 1982. We had lunch a couple of times and I didn't see him again until the 1992 San Diego Comic Con. I posted a photo of the two of us in an earlier blog entry. I saw him again somewhere in Europe when I was living in Denmark and traveling to various book fairs and comic conventions there. This past weekend I got another one of my silly "WITH MY OLD PAL" shots with him again. Giraud was the special guest at this year's CTN Expo.

At a reception for Moebius he and his friend Bill Stout paused for this shot.

My old pal Rusty Mills, former Producer and Director at Warner Bros. on Pinky and the Brain and Animaniacs stopped by for a quick visit before we headed off to a great three-hour lunch.

With Kent Melton, whom I first met at Hanna-Barbera back in the 70s. Sculptor, painter, maquette-maker to the stars, Kent now lives in a home that's been in his family since the Civil War days. Check out Kent's site at http://kentmelton.blogspot.com/

Let's take another look at that night shot of Glendale. Wow. Makes me think of Maynard Dixon and Pecos Bill.

Another Rainy Day in L.A.

2010-11-08T14:07:00.000-08:00

Southern California isn't all sunshine and coconuts. Whenever we get some conspicuous weather there's a chance of scattered pictures like this. Taken from the hills overlooking Glendale, facing west, that's pretty much Griffith Park in the distance with the San Fernando Valley to the right. I'd like it if we got more weather like this.

Dia de Los Muertos, Los Angeles

2010-10-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

I visited a community celebration for Dia de Los Muertos in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles last week and thoroughly enjoyed the event. There was so much to see and do I actually forgot to take pictures. But I did manage to snap this beauty, my favorite. These dancers wore magnificent costumes! Click on the picture to see it bigger.

Sitton's Never Looked So Good

2010-10-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

Sitton's Diner, now known as Andrew's North Hollywood Diner, 11329 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood near Tujunga Ave. never looked this good except when I was there and took this picture. The clientele is always eclectic, the food is hardcore diner food and the waitresses are tough, quick-witted, efficient and a kick, especially at night. This is definitely not some frou-frou gourmet restaurant, it's a diner. And it's a fine diner. After the bars close or after a show, this is a pretty good place to go.

A Rainy Day in The Valley

2010-10-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

I love rainy days. If it's raining and I have nothing urgent to do, I'll hop into the car and go find a place to take pictures. Last week we had a few days like that so I zipped over to Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Mt. Sinai Memorial Park near Burbank, CA.
I don't know what kind of trees these are but isn't their color really great?

If you're wondering where all the gray skies come from on a day like this, we have a gray and cloudy sky plant in Burbank that generates all the gray clouds and gloomy skies we need.

Actually, it's a power plant that's throwing off some steam that happens to be the same color as the clouds, but it sure looks like a cloud plant, doesn't it?

See that cougar sitting quietly at the top of the hill, just to the left of the path? I stood there for about ten minutes hoping he'd go away. As I moved closer I realized it was a baboon that probably escaped from the nearby Los Angeles Zoo. By the time I got close enough for him to pounce and eat me I realized it was a tree stump.

On one of those meandering roads in Mt. Sinai Memorial Park I found this dramatic beauty shot. Reminds me of Monterey. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Paint Out on Sauvie Island

2010-10-19T18:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been close to a year since I last posted here! Funny how work gets in the way of blogging. I just finished up storyboarding on the first season of Jake's Never Land Pirates coming soon to a television set near you from Disney TV Animation.

Back in June and July I took some vacation time and went up to Washington and Oregon to participate in some Plein Air painting workshops with Mitch Baird (www.mitchbaird.com.) The one in June was conducted at Beacon Rock on the Washington side of the Columbia River. The one in July was held on Sauvie Island near Portland. I'll post some photos from the Beacon Rock workshop as soon as I find them. Meanwhile, here's some pics from the Sauvie Island workshop.

July 17, 2010. After a two-hour demonstration by Mitch Baird we all spread out on this farm to set up and get to work. Mitch talked primarily about composition, shapes and values in painting. Those are a few of the important things I'd completely forgotten about. This is why I took the workshop - to re-learn what I'd forgotten. This is where I set up. I liked the sense of scale, the size of that tree next to the huge barn, the foreground elements in contrast to the distant background elements, the isolation.

Behind me was this great open farmland. Don't know what the crop was. We were all grateful to the owner for allowing us to go out onto his land and paint. We were careful not to spill anything.

July 18, 2010. Mitch leads the other five painters in our group of six to a new location on a different farm. Another two hour demonstration and then we each moved to a spot we liked.

A nice panoramic shot of the general location we were at. Great muted color, thanks to the overcast day.

This is where I set up, down the road a little and in the shade of a big tree. I liked the colors, the shadows, the path leading into the picture.

Sauvie Island is accessible by a single road over a single bridge. There's a burger joint close to that bridge, with a convenience store inside. The only other store of any kind on the island is next to that barn in the first picture. They sell farm-fresh vegetables, fruit and honey, all very locally produced. Essentially, the entire island in one big collection of farms owned by families who've been there for generations.

We didn't do any finished paintings in these workshops. We only had about 4 or 5 hours to work. Our focus was on applying the principles Mitch demonstrated to our own preliminary paintings. He wanted us to focus on composition, shapes and values. I could see some definite improvement in my work right away but I've yet to find the time to get down to working on a finished painting. Funny how a job always gets in the way of doing what you'd rather be doing. But it sure felt great to be outdoors, on a farm, painting again. Nothing like my gray cubicle at work.

Hey, look! I just found the painting I did from the above spot. This represents about an hour of work. It's on a 9" x 12" canvas panel and my scanner trimmed off about 1/2" on all sides, but it's enough to give you the idea.

Felix Hell Organ Recital

2009-11-16T18:12:00.000-08:00

I bought myself an early birthday present weeks ago, well in advance of my birthday - two tickets to an organ recital by Felix Hell, a 24-year old German organ virtuoso. The recital was held last night at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles.

Hell would be playing the fully restored Skinner Organ with all of its 6,600 pipes in full splendor.

The program consisted of Johann Sebastian Bach's Fugue in D Major, Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, Healey Willan's, Passacaglia, Fugue and, after the intermission, Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony #5 in C minor, Op. 67. I was familiar with Barber's Adagio and everyone is familiar with Beethoven's 5th (Dah Dah Dah Duhhhhh....).

About half-way through Beethoven's 5th I thought, "I should make a concerted effort to hear Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor someday. I don't get to organ recitals too often, and they probably seldom play that. Too common."

I consider Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor to be just about the greatest piece of music ever written. I still love Bohemian Rhapsody and Sea of Love, but T and F in D is beyond description. Especially when it's loud.

At the end of Hell's concert he was brought back to the stage by the rousing applause and cheers of the very appreciative audience. He was coerced into playing an encore. I leaned over to my friend, Christine, and said, "The only thing that could top this off is if he played Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor."

I then noticed that he had no sheet music on the organ, as he had for the previous selections. Immediately I thought, "He's going to play something he's familiar with, something that he doesn't need sheet music to refer to..."

Just as I finished that thought, the unmistakable opening three notes of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor pierced the silence. Tears welling up in my eyes, Hell pulled out all the stops and Bach blasted himself into Royce Hall with all the power and super nova brilliance only Bach could create.

What a birthday present!

Here's an interesting link to a YouTube video with animated graphics that cleverly illustrate the complexity of this Bach masterpiece. Check out some of the other YouTube versions while you're there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipzR9bhei_o

Early George Wunder

2009-10-18T00:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, George Wunder fans, today I've got a treat for both of you! Here's some comic strip work by Wunder in the years and weeks leading up to his taking over the Terry and the Pirates comic strip from Milton Caniff.

This first sample appeared sometime between July 1, 1941 and June 30, 1943. I couldn't find an exact date.

This one is dated July 27, 1946. One can see the early rendering of a master wrinkle artist. In the first panel it appears that Wunder has already been studying Caniff's Third World characters.

The final sample shown here appeared October 6, 1946 and I would guess that by this time he was well into working on Terry. Wunder's first Terry appeared December 30, 1946.

I read Wunder's Terry when I was a kid and even then was impressed by all the work he put into it. Every single panel was fully loaded with detailed backgrounds and detailed wrinkles, costumes and hairs, even on all the characters in the background, all the woodgrain in all the wood, and all those black shadows that lent an air of foreboding to each panel. I could never get over his 3/4 rear view of a character's eyeball straining to see something behind him. And all those overly bridged noses on both guys and gals all crying out for rhinoplasty. For many years I resented the overloaded panels and decided I didn't like Wunder's rendering of Terry and the Pirates.

It was only in the last few years that I came to appreciate Wunder's work on Terry. One day I realized that he never cheated. He gave us everything in infinite detail in every panel and never deprived us of any wrinkles, bricks, tiles, leaves, woodgrain, fingernails, hairs, cloth patterns or buttons. Yeah, the look-alike facial features of all his characters in the later years of Terry was stylistic and bothersome, but he never cheated.

George Wunder was born April 24, 1912 and died December 13, 1987.

The Sergio Aragonés Museum Show and BBQ

2009-10-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

Ojai, California, is one of those undiscovered places that everyone knows about that hasn't yet been ruined by developers. It's remote, quaint and picturesque with a slow-paced life style perfectly suited to writers, musicians, artists, horses, cows and those lucky enough to be able to work at home and not have to commute. One of the greatest cartoonists in the world lives there and a whole bunch of his friends drove great distances to visit him last week and to see an exhibit of his work that represents a lifetime of laughter, inventiveness and exquisite craftsmanship, not to mention the output equivalent to that of the next five greatest cartoonists in the world, combined.

With the grace of cartoon royalty and the energy of a middle-aged tennis player Sergio Aragonés greeted his friends as they arrived at The Ojai Valley Museum, located about 80 miles north of Los Angeles. With his usual warmth and enthusiasm he flitted through the crowd as they enjoyed the exhibit of his work that spanned five decades. From childhood drawings to his latest contributions to the pages of Mad Magazine, from model ships to religious icons, from awards to Sharpie drawings done right on the walls of the museum, visitors were overwhelmed by his hilarious imagery, brilliant absurdity and sublime creativity that was more than a feast for the eyes. It was an energy boost that challenged you to do more with your own work, and to do it better.

And as if all the smiles, warmth, hugs, stories, artwork, silliness, camaraderie, and overall good cheer wasn't enough, it was all topped off with a terrific BBQ from The Event Caddy, a great catering service that served up Tri tip steak, wonderful chicken, fruit and vegetables, drinks and dessert. Lots of hanging out with old friends, new friends and best of all, Sergio.

Top left: A display of Sergio's home studio with a life-size replica of himself at his drawing board.
Top right: Sergio chatting with Mell Lazarus.
Bottom left: As the sun was beginning to set and the temperatures got comfortable, BBQ was served.
Bottom right: Bill Morrison and Mark Evanier watch a video documentary about Sergio on a TV as others meander through the exhibit.

Top left: Todd Kurosawa, Bill Riling, Scott Shaw.
Top right: Disney Legend Floyd Norman snaps a pic of his wife, Adrienne with Sergio. In the background is Mandy artist Dean Yeagle.
Bottom left: David Folkman and Bill Morrison.
Bottom right: Mell Lazarus, Sergio, Chad Frye, Pat McGreal.

Top left: Chad Frye shows off a quick sketch that Bill Morrison did for him.
Top right: Mell Lazarus and Dean Yeagle.
Middle left: Oh, great, I used this photo twice. Oh, well, enjoy it again. Mell, Sergio, Chad, Pat.
Middle right: Wide shot showing the main show room and a lot of the crowd.
Bottom left: Yeah, yeah, I know. I did it again. The notorious Floyd Norman still snapping a picture of his wife, Adrienne with the notorious Sergio and the truly notorious Dean Yeagle still in the background.
Bottom right: Sergio points out to Bill Morrison and Chad Frye that he was the model for the sketch Bill did in Chad's sketchbook.

There were a lot of photos that came out too blurry to show here, (should have used a flash) and I didn't think it would be appropriate to publish a lot of the artwork that I took pictures of, but there was a lot more to see and do.

A good time was had by all.

CAPS, the Comic Art Professional Society, suggested this event to Sergio and he was gracious enough to arrange the exclusive, after-hours use of the Ojai Valley Museum with the cooperation of the museum and its fantastic staff. Thank you all!

Orison MacPherson - Jones & Laughlin Steel Ad

2009-09-23T01:43:00.000-07:00

This looks like something you'd find on an old wooden jigsaw puzzle from the 40s, but, boy - is it gorgeous. The lighting, the composition, the costumes, another stagecoach with horses in harness, and a great bit of illustration craftsmanship.

I love how my eyes wander all over the picture and keep coming back to the woman being escorted into the inn. Brilliant composition and color. What a beauty!

This is a two-page spread, but the right side of the art is as far as the illustration extended. Beyond what you see here is text for the ad promoting Jones and Laughlin Steel. Painted for Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation by Orison MacPherson (1898 - 1966). Even Ask/Art doesn't have any biographical information beyond that. I know he did some work for The Saturday Evening Post, but that's it. How can anyone this good be so obscure?

Noel Sickles - Railway Express Agency Ad

2009-09-23T00:51:00.000-07:00

Let's look at some great Noel Sickles art (like there's some that isn't?) This is an ad he did for Railway Express Agency in 1951. I'm amazed at everything depicted in this ad. It's just a wealth of research, detail, action, fine art and elegance.

The fine print under the art says "A de luxe duo-tone color print 18 1/2" x 16 1/2" on fine paper will be sent to you on request." You never see offers like that much anymore. They're probably all gone by now. I'd sure like to find one.

Can you imagine the reference files Sickles must have had to be able to draw things accurately? The clothing looks pretty authentic to me.

I can't imagine how long it would take me to draw a stagecoach that even LOOKED like a stagecoach, much less one that was laden with baggage. How do you get elliptical wheels to look right? How many spokes on a wheel? What do stagecoach horse collars and reins look like? What do stagecoach drivers wear?

I sure don't know my historical weapons well enough to identify this rifle, but I bet it's legitimate.

Etchings

2009-09-19T01:34:00.000-07:00

Oh, let's look at some real art. These are a few small etchings I picked up either on Ebay or at some paper collector's show somewhere in my travels. Elegant, aren't they? Click on the image to make it bigger.

Can't tell you much about these except what's written in the margins, in pencil, in what appears to be French.

Enjoy!

Café Sketches

2009-09-17T01:03:00.000-07:00

A quiet afternoon at Border's Books in Pasadena and Barnes and Noble in Glendale. Sippin' coffee, nibblin' cookies, readin' books, magazines and newspapers. Very civilized. Gentle conversations and quiet compositions for a very pleasant day.

Clifford McBride Insect Life

2009-09-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

Clifford McBride was best known for his comic strip Napoleon. His lesser-known daily titled Insect Life had great art, too. This original measures 8.5" x 6" and I've had it for so long I forget where I got it. I always loved his pen and ink technique. Definitely old school, but it's another one of those lost arts.

This is inscribed to Don McCoy in the margin and signed by McBride. Click on the image to make it bigger.

I have no idea what kind of pen McBride used, but you can feel the scratches on the surface of the illustration paper. It's definitely not brushwork. It must have been a ridiculously flexible pen nib.

I love the sloppy spontaneity of his inking. Very loose, very nice.

L. B. Cole

2009-09-07T00:37:00.000-07:00

L. B. Cole was one of those classic Golden Age comic book artists who did mostly cover art (over 1,500 of them) for a wide and weird variety of comic books, primarily in the 1940s. Most of them were much better than this, but I love this one because it's so screwed up.

The bad guy/human fly (the guy with the horned owl hair-do and suction cups on his hands and feet) seems to be a floor below Gunmaster Gregory Gayle (the good guy with the .357 Magnum with a 3.5" barrel). But he's also on the same floor. Gayle's elbow is half-way down to the second floor below yet his armpit is on the same window sill that the human fly is looking up from. Unless human fly guy is a midget. But given that the average distance between floors in a building is 10', fly guy is about a 9' midget. Maybe Gayle is huge. The jacket on his forearm is the same size as fly guy's head.

I like how the windows open outwardly on the fourteenth floor of a high-rise office building, just in case you need to lean out and shoot someone. Also notice that it looks as if the 12th floor has four windows and the 14th floor has three windows. It's an illusion. The fourth window on the fourteenth floor is there, it's just obscured by the shadow of Gayle's huge jacket. Looks like the awning below is trying to look up to see what's going on.

Between the windows, the mullions, the venetian blinds and the vertical holders, this is a perspective artist's nightmare.

Check out some samples of L. B. Cole's good covers at this link:

http://www.samuelsdesign.com/comics/lbcole_gallery.html

I met L. B. Cole when he was a guest of the San Diego Comic Con in 1981. I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was to talk with him. As I recall, most of the cartoonists I'd bumped into all day were lamenting the fact that there was no place to go after the convention closed down for the evening, no place where everyone could relax, have a bite to eat, have a drink and hang out with fellow cartoonists and friends. I found a place nearby called Ten Downing Street, a small pub-like restaurant/bar that closed early on weekends because business was slow. I made arrangements with the owner, who normally closed up at 6 PM, to stay open until 10 PM in exchange for a guaranteed full house of drinkers and eaters. He agreed and I had a lot of help handing out flyers to a select horde of cartoonists and friends who took over the bar at 6 PM. A really good time was had by all. It was one of those great events where cartoonists, assorted pros and their friends could hang out, mill about, drink, eat and chat.

I forget if it was a particular Scotch or Bourbon that Cole liked, but whichever it was, I bought a bottle and took it to the bar, set it down in front of Cole and, with some help, we pretty much polished it off by 10 PM. Before we were both completely blitzed, he did this sketch for me. Wow! Isn't it great?

Old Mulholland Highway

2009-09-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

About eight years ago I tried selling small paintings through an on line auction site. This is one of the first paintings I sold and it went to Patt Morrison, well known columnists for the Los Angeles Times, commentator for NPR Morning Edition and host, at the time, of The BookShow on KCET in Los Angeles. I'm honored that she has it.

I was out painting on Mulholland Highway somewhere in the Santa Monica Mountains and I decided to paint the road as if it might have looked back in the 20s or 30s, before it was paved. I eliminated whatever architecture was visible and came up with this 6" x 8" painting.

La Cañada-Flintridge Fires Aftermath

2009-09-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, August 27, I stood at this very spot with people from the neighborhood behind me, watching the fires burn on the distant hills. At that time the fires were so far away there seemed to be little concern for the safety of homes in the area. Today the view looks like this.

This is a patchwork of ten photos I took, pieced together in photoshop with no retouching. The house on the left had burned hedges in his backyard, visible if you click on the picture to blow it up. The house to the right had scorched grass very close to the structure itself. Big signs were hanging outside each home, thanking the firefighters and rescue workers who saved these homes.

The silence was overwhelming. Somewhere in the distance I heard a bird chirping, and I found it hard to believe that anything had returned to this area so soon.

As the crow flies, the most distant mountain ridge at the top of the picture was about seven miles away and everything between here and there was entirely burned. A week ago this was mostly green, filled with trees and shrubs.

I stood there for about ten minutes, just looking, feeling the loss, the devastation, the good fortune of those who had one of the world's greatest firefighting organizations at their disposal. The smell of burned wood, brush, even a sort of tar smell, probably from the oils in the foliage, was powerful. Long after I returned home I could smell it in my hair, on my shoes and on my clothes. The bottoms of my shoes were covered with spiny burs, undoubtedly little seedlings finding a way to cling to something to be taken away and accidentally planted somewhere else to start all over again.

Last Thursday, at the very beginning of this, I witnessed some of the most amazing helicopter piloting imaginable, helicopters swooshing over power lines and down into golf course fairways, over rooftops and over to a water hazard long enough to dip a big bucket into the water hole and roar away to drop a load on the distant blaze.

So far the blaze has consumed over 140,000 acres, or about 218 square miles of landscape.

This image shows an extremely small percentage of the total.

Marty Murphy

2009-08-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

This one hurts. I just learned that Marty died Wednesday night, August 26, 2009, at his home. What a great guy he was, not to mention what a great cartoonist he was. Here's a sketch he did for me in 1973.

Marty Murphy was a master cartoonist who contributed regularly to Playboy and is probably best known for that work. But to animation fans his credentials are equally impressive.

Marty was a Production Designer on Mister Magoo in 1960, a Layout Artist on Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, Character Designer on Wait Till Your Father Gets Home 1972 - 1974, and Hong Kong Fooey 1974. He was a Storyboard Artist on DuckTales, Garfield and Friends, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, and a whole lot of other stuff which can be found at the IMDb site:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614499/

Every once in awhile the cartoonist community suffers a great loss, and this is one of them.

Swan - The Art of George O. Swanson

2009-08-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite cartoonists was George O. Swanson, creator of Salesman Sam, High Pressure Pete and, mostly famously, The Flop Family. Salesman Sam began as a daily on September 6, 1921 and a Sunday was added in December, 1922. The Flop Family started on August 29, 1943 (originally titled Dad's Family) and Swan continued to draw the strip until the day before he died, December 1, 1981. Along the way he also did a strip called Officer 6 7/8 and Elza Poppin. He also did some single panel strips called NONSENSE, a few of which are shown here.

The thing I love most about his work is what I think is the absolute essence of great cartooning. The cliches, the symbols, the props, the shapes, the caricatures of members of society, much like the stuff that you see in great strips like Boner's Ark or Sam's Strip by Mort Walker and Jerry Dumas, even Frank and Ernest by the late Bob Thaves.

Swanson was born in 1897 and sold his first strip at the age of 24. He had a good 60-year run at producing daily comic strips and surprisingly few people are familiar with his work or career.

Beech-Nut Picnic

2009-08-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

Oh, this looks like it's going to be a wonderful pot luck picnic. Everybody bring some gum. Put on a suit, tie a name tag to your lapel and let's have some fun.

There'll be a bubble-blowing contest, a gum-toss, dodge-wad, gum wrapper origami, bobbing for gum wads, and at 4 o'clock we'll chews a winner of the gum ball scavenger hunt.

And the Golden Pretzel Goes to...

2009-08-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

I love this photograph. That must be Salesman Quimby with the pretzel in his lap. Is that an award or is it the main course? Take a bite and pass it on.

I can only assume this is some sort of awards banquet for the Holsum Bakery. These guys all look like they're rolling in dough.

Heh heh heh.

Tales From The Box In The Closet

2009-08-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

UTAH HOLIDAY - HIDDEN HORIZON REDISCOVERED

Hmmmm. I forgot about this. Found it in storage today. Guess I was developing another story line for Utah Holiday magazine before they killed the first one (see my post from August 24).

Looks like this was going to be a parody of Lost Horizon. This was done on Craftint Duo-Tone paper. I wonder if they even make that anymore.

Hanna-Barbera Reunion

2009-08-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

On Saturday evening, August 22 the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills hosted a celebration of 70 Years of Cartoons with the Hanna-Barbera Studios. In attendance were many of the original crew who were there at the beginning. I worked at H-B throughout the 70s and got to know many of the "old guys" and a lot of the new who were just starting out. Many of my photos were too fuzzy to include here because I don't like to use flash if I can avoid it. So I culled this batch from the 60 shots I took and wound up with a pretty good cross-section of those who attended.

TOP ROW: The crowd enjoys the exhibit of vintage art, photos and home movies in the lobby. Joanna Romersa shares a laugh with Don Jurwich. Mark Evanier points out the obvious to Scott Shaw.

MIDDLE ROW: Paley Center host Richard and hostess Etty share the spotlight as they greet attendees. Mitch Rochon enjoys a glass of French Grand Cru from 7-11. Two icons of TV, radio and Hanna-Barbera voice talent - Gary Owens and Casey Kasem.

BOTTOM ROW: Jeff Etter and friends check out the shrubbery. Bob Tyler makes a point with Kirk Hanson. Marianne Tucker and Sue (Crossley) Walker pose for a mug shot.

TOP ROW: Robert Alvarez arrives. Bob Singer chats with Don Jurwich. A very color-coordinated Annie Guenther.

MIDDLE ROW: John Tucker, Mark Kirkland, Tim Walker, Bob Foster. John Tucker, Merle Welton, Bonita Versh and Willie Ito reenact the good old days. Joanna Romersa and Don Jurwich fill out the row very nicely.

BOTTOM ROW: The H-B panel prior to the reunion, consisting of Ken Spears, Willie Ito, Butch Hartman, Jerry Eisenberg and moderator Gary Owens take questions from the audience.

Click on the pictures to see them bigger.

An Old German Mill

2009-08-25T01:25:00.000-07:00

Isn't this stunning? The fine print says An Original Etching by A. H. Haig. It's dated 1880 and it seems to have been taken from the kind of art book produced in England around the turn of the century. Click on the image to make it full screen and take a close look at the details. Wonderful.

Tales From The Box In The Closet

2009-08-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

UTAH HOLIDAY - ARE YOU INTO HIGH UINTA HIGH JINKS?

I lived in Salt Lake City, Utah from 1980 - 1985 and enjoyed a locally produced magazine called Utah Holiday. It was aimed at visitors and was chock full of ads, things to do, places to go, informative articles about life in the area, stuff like that. What it did not have was humor. It had no cartoons.

So one day I met with the editor and pitched the idea of a monthly, last page, continuity strip about the fanciful adventures of a little guy who liked to explore the back country and out of the way places in Utah and had plenty of amusing adventures. The editor liked the idea but wanted to see what I had in mind. Fair enough.

So I wrote up a few scenarios, roughed out some samples, he liked what he saw and gave me the green light to go ahead and illustrate the first adventure.

The four pages you see here are as far as I got before he called and said they had changed their minds and decided not to go with the strip. When I asked if I could be paid for what I had done he said, "Sorry," and that was the end of it.

My favorite idea for a story coming up after this one would revolve around a brownish-orange ogre who lived in a cave at the north end of the Oquirrh Mountains west of Salt Lake City. I was going to call it the Ochre Oquirrh Ogre.

Sigh... another blown opportunity.

Peacekeepers

2009-08-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

I say Peacekeepers only because they're standing outside the entrance of H. G. Allen, Justice of the Peace. They might be in the butcher business because the ME... on the window might say MEAT. But they do look like law enforcement guys. Don't know anything more than that, but it's such a great image I had to put it up. It's completely unretouched, as you'll see when you click on it to blow it up. I'll probably get around to Photoshop fixing it at a later date.

Malibu Creek State Park

2009-08-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

These are a few compositional sketches I did during a paint-out at Malibu Creek State Park in Calabasas, CA recently.

There's a lot of great scenery and a lot of good shade for artists who want to avoid exposure to the sun. The scenery runs the gamut from open vistas, froggy marshes, babbling brooks, meadows and dirt roads to ponds, rocks, flowers and trees.

Going on a weekend is highly NOT recommended because of the influx of slobs, noise, music, diapers and beer cans. Weekdays in the late fall and winter are much more civilized.

Day use parking is $10 and might go up to $15 soon, but for the scenery and the chance for a quiet day of painting or sketching, off-season, it's worth it.

Corner Cigar Store

2009-08-21T02:15:00.000-07:00

I don't know where this is or exactly when, but ain't it great image? It's from a 3" x 3" negative, which isn't a common size, so I wonder if it's foreign. Click on the picture to enlarge. It looks like Brooklyn to me, but who knows? Do you?

Tales From The Box In The Closet

2009-08-20T00:07:00.000-07:00

HARVEY HIPPO Part 3

The bottomless storage unit has yielded a few more tarnished gems from my clouded past, but this time I have company. Leave it to my friend Sergio Aragones to top them all with a mind-blowing finale to this series with a ripping good gag at the end.

Artwork for the psychedelic Hippo is the property of Sergio Aragones and is used with the permission of the artist. Muchas gracias, querido amigo.

Origin of Myron Moose

2009-08-19T22:58:00.000-07:00

Look what I found in storage today. The first appearance of Myron Moose - December 20, 1968 - at the bottom of a letter I had written to my girlfriend at the time. I had gotten out of the Army a month earlier and was temporarily living in Bill Spicer's basement in Los Angeles. She still lived in New Jersey where I had been stationed at Ft. Monmouth. At the bottom of the letter there was about a 2" space left over so I filled it with this completely improvised comic strip. This is where it all began.

Cool Man Cool

2009-08-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

Back in 1963 I sat on the floor at the feet of Sweet Emma Barrett and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in New Orleans, grinning from ear to ear with the utter joy of listening to greatness.

When Pavarotti hits nine High Cs in Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment, I freeze in utter disbelief.

When Renee Fleming sings just about anything.

Watching a wood carver in Chamonix, France, hand-carving a little figurine with the skills of a great craftsman of a lost art.

Devouring any of a number of paintings by Van Gogh.

Watching Alex Toth or Sergio Aragones draw.

These are people who, at some point in their lives, seemed to no longer think about what they are doing, they just ARE what they are doing. Their craftsmanship is so much a part of who they are and what they are that their work simply flows out them full blown onto the paper or into the air like magic.

Last night, in a remote corner of Glendale, CA, in a truly non-descript building that's been converted to a video production facility, I had the distinct privilege of sitting in on a live internet concert featuring Grant Geissman and his Cool Man Cool band. If you've ever had the chance to experience a performance that brings tears to your eyes you'll have an idea of how good this intimate little concert was. There was barely enough room for the 5-piece band and about 20 guests, a couple of cameramen and a handful of technicians, all packed into a 15' x 20' room.

One of Geissman's closing numbers, Cuba Libre, had me laughing and teary-eyed at the same time. Nobody's fingers can possibly move that fast and, witnessing it from five feet away, I still can't believe what I saw and will never understand how it's done. Magic. He seemed to be hitting 20 - 30 notes per second at some points, his fingers flying up and down the neck of his guitar like the wings of a hummingbird.

Back that up with a few phenomenal players behind him and you're talking about a world-class jazz band.

Emilio Palame on piano, Trey Henry on bass and tuba, Ray Brinker on drums and Brian Scanlon on woodwinds and flute.

Palame is a mighty fine piano player who seems to thoroughly enjoy playing and seems to have a limitless ability to play anything well. He also has fast fingers that tap danced all over the keyboard like they were red hot.

Hidden in the corner on drums, Brinker deserved more of a spotlight, or at least one good solo. Amazing, complex rhythms and subtleties punctuated his fantastic work.

Sitting in on two numbers were Van Dyke Parks on accordion and Grant's music mentor Jerry Hahn on guitar.

It was a wonderful two-hour experience that defies description. Check the schedule for opportunities to view this Network Concert at: http://www.networkconcerts.com/

If you can't find it or see it, the next best thing would be to go out and get the Grant Geissman Cool Man Cool CD.

Myron Moose - Live Action

2009-08-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

Shortly after the first appearance of Myron Moose Funnies in 1970 I made this Myron Moose head using an old army gas mask, a mailing tube, two ink-and-paint gloves stuffed with tissue, a huge chunk of foam rubber painstakingly carved down to a moose nose, and a lot of masking tape to hold it all together.

That's all.

Miniature Photographs

2009-08-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

Let's look at some more goodies from the Vintage Postcards and Paper Collectibles shows.

Packets of miniature souvenir photos like this were pretty popular in the 20s, 30s, and 40s and usually contained 10 - 20 real photographs, measuring 1.5" x 2.25" like this one. Some larger ones measured up to 3" x 5".

These packets are a pretty good quick reference if you're searching for images of a specific place, except they're usually not contemporary images.

Since they are real photos, the resolution is pretty good, considering their size.

Here's a 1.5" x 2.25" image blown up to 4" x 5". Click on the image to make it bigger.

Old Postcards

2009-08-10T01:56:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I discovered Vintage Postcard and Paper Collectibles shows. First time I went I went nuts. I never realized there were so many wonderful images and so much history to be found on old postcards. Here's a taste. Click on the image to make it bigger.

Don't know the date but isn't this old photo postcard of Amsterdam just great?

Can't find a date on this old photo postcard of Hamburg, either, but I sure love those rubbery old buildings that look all warped and crotchety.

One of these postcards has a hand written note on the back dated 1926. I think these photos pre-date that but there are no further clues. The front of the first card reads: Alt. Cassel, Haus in der Klosterstrasse. The second one is Frankfurt. The third is Strasbourg. Wonderful architecture.

Both of these are Hildesheim, dated 1905 and 1906. Magnificent creatures. They just don't build 'em like that anymore.

Tales From The Box In The Closet

2009-08-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Hamilton Comics

Back in 1991 my good friend Bruce Hamilton published some new horror magazines with titles like GraveTales, Maggots, and Dread of Night under his own imprint, Hamilton Comics. I had once pitched the idea of a humor magazine to him, he liked the idea, but opted instead to go with horror titles. I submitted a story to him for one of those magazines, he liked it and said he would buy it if I would do the final art. Well, I don't think I do the kind of art I think it needed, so it never got illustrated, never got published and I never got paid. But here's the script that I submitted.

This material is Copyright Robert M. Foster 2009 and is posted here for the edification of comics fans and students of comic art.

Boardwalk, Atlantic City

2009-08-03T23:42:00.000-07:00

I love old black and white photographs and here's a reason why -

This is the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey around 1925 - 1926, judging by the costumes. It was scanned from a film negative that measures 3.25 x 5.5 with a small margin around the edges. Touch up took about 1/2 hour because this was very clean to begin with. The building on the corner is Fralinger's Salt Water Taffy store at Arkansas Avenue and the Boardwalk. On the front of the building you can make out Steel Pier Block, which means this was very near the famous Steel Pier. Joseph Fralinger opened his store in 1885. Click on the image for a larger image. For more information on Joseph Fralinger, visit Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Fralinger.

San Diego Comic Con 2009

2009-07-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

Just back from the Con and there were several warm,
fuzzy events that I really enjoyed. On Saturday there
was a remembrance of El Cortez days when
the convention was all about comics, partying,
drinking and laughing, when everyone gathered
around the pool and drew pictures and leaped into
the pool, with or without clothes. Pros and fans of all ages hung out and had a great time getting to know each other. The panel consisted of Mike Friedrich, Jack Katz, George Clayton Johnson,
Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Bill Stout and Mike Royer (right) and they each told about some hilarious events, shared some touching memories and recounted a lot of absurdities that just don't happen any more. The good old days of uninhibited mayhem and silliness.
Me and my trusty WITH MY OLD PAL sign at the 40-years of Comic Con party with (l to r) Mike Friedrich, Paul Levitz, Trina Robbins, Bud Plant, Jim Valentino, Lee Marrs, Jackie Estrada, Bob Beerbohm. The center photo is from the remembrance of El Cortez days panel and shows Jack Katz, George Clayton Johnson and Sergio Aragones. The Thursday night party celebrating 40 years of Comic Con included some people I hadn't seen in 30+ years. We've all gone through some physical changes, but we're all pretty much the same people we were 30 and 40 years ago, just older.

Saturday there was also an appreciation of the work of Harvey Kurtzman. Among the panel members was Kurtzman's daughter Nellie, publisher Charles Kochman, author and publisher Denis Kitchen, Kurtzman colleague Bill Stout, president of DC Comics Paul Levitz, and historian and moderator Mark Evanier.

Tales From The Box In The Closet

2009-07-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

HARVEY HIPPO Part 2

More stuff from the closet, 1974 and 1979.

Tales From The Box In The Closet

2009-07-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

HARVEY HIPPO Part 1

We all have stuff in the closet that never got printed or used. Boxes, bags, and piles of stuff. Here's some stuff from 1974 and 1979. Look out blog, here it comes!

Stan Lee... Excelsior!

2009-07-23T00:55:00.000-07:00

Standing behind Sergio Aragones and Stan Lee, ready to take their order.

On November 11, 2007 the Comic Art Professional Society honored Stan Lee at a banquet with 100 close friends and members of CAPS, and presented him with the prestigious Sergio Award for... well... for being Stan Lee. Actually, the award is in recognition of his tremendous contributions to the field of comic books for over 60 years. One of Stan's trademark exclamations is, "Excelsior!" When Stan says it, he means the second dictionary definition of the word: "Ever upward!" (the motto of New York State.) But the first dictionary definition is "Fine wood shavings, used for stuffing, packing, etc."

About a month before the banquet I was at a collector's show in Glendale, CA, and stumbled upon a huge seltzer bottle labeled EXCELSIOR, from the 1930s. I had to get it!

The night of the banquet, which was being video taped for a documentary on Stan, I approached him with a special presentation. On camera I asked him if he knew what excelsior was, and he did. "Fine wood shavings used for stuffing. packing, etc." I was impressed. "But I prefer the second definition of the word, which is 'Ever upward!'"

The first time I was impressed by Stan Lee was when I was doing The Evolution and History of Moosekind for Marvel's CRAZY magazine. It was 1974 and I was in New York for the big Comic Convention. I was visiting the Marvel offices and my editor, Marv Wolfman, introduced me to Stan and I liked The Man right away. We spent about 20 minutes in his office and I knew he had actually read the stuff I was doing for CRAZY because he talked about a lot of the silliest details of the feature. If you've ever met Stan Lee, you gotta admit, he's an easily likable guy. And 33 years later, he's living out in California and here we are having dinner together (with 100 other cartoonists, spouses and friends.)

So I whip out the mystery package, present him with the EXCELSIOR seltzer bottle and everybody gets a big laugh out of it. None more than Stan.

Leni Riefenstahl

2009-07-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

When I was a film student we watched a lot of movies. Chaplin, Keaton, Kurosawa, Welles, Hitchcock, Ford, Lang, Wilder, Kubrick, Lean, Hawks, Stevens, Berkeley, Fellini, De Sica, Rosselini, Antonioni, Cocteau, Bergman, Marnau, Curtiz, Eisenstein, to begin with. Sometimes we'd see 4-5 movies a day. There were two inexpensive classic movie theaters a short walk from Chouinard Art School in Los Angeles, and a handful of us took full advantage. I don't know if we absorbed everything, but we all absorbed enough to have careers in the film industry. Some of us went into animation, others went into live action. We had great instructors and they instilled in us an appreciation for the film form, imagery, storytelling and the impact it can have on an audience.

The first time I saw Triumph of the Will at a tiny little theater in West Hollywood in the early sixties, I was stunned by the huge, powerful imagery of one of the most influential propaganda films ever made. The art of the movie was what impressed me most. Incredible black and white compositions, dramatic lighting, an amazing documentary. Setting aside the politics and motivation for the film, when studied strictly as a piece of film-making, this is an important film.

While living in Denmark in 1993 I met people from all over Europe. It was then that I learned that Leni Riefenstahl was still alive and still working as a film maker. Riefenstahl was born in 1902, began her movie career as an actress in 1924, directed her first movie in 1932, and directed Triumph of the Will in 1934.

After WWII she went to Africa to begin a film project that never materialized. But her time there gave rise to an interest in Africa. In the 1960s she took up photography and documented the lives of the Nuba Tribe in Sudan. In 1974 she published The Last of the Nuba, and in 1976 The People of Kau.

In 1974 she took up underwater photography and published two books on the subject. On August 22, 2002, on her 100th birthday, she released a documentary film called Underwater Impressions.

Leni Riefenstahl died in 2003 in her sleep a few weeks after her 101st birthday.

There are numerous DVDs and books available. The best biography is probably Leni Riefenstahl by Leni Riefenstahl.

When I learned she was still alive and living in Munich, a friend of mine there put me in touch with her. I wanted to have her sign my copies of The Last of the Nuba and The People of Kau. She said she would love to but was leaving very shortly to shoot some underwater documentary footage in The Caribbean and would be happy to sign the books when she got back. Meanwhile, she sent along the photocards below.

By the time she returned to Munich I had relocated back to The States and all my books were in storage.

I can't think of anyone who lived through more historically interesting times and had such unbelievable life experiences as this woman did.

The Steinbeck Connection

2009-07-21T02:15:00.000-07:00

Basic Training, Ft. Ord, California, 1966. I had just turned 23, pretty old for a guy to get drafted. I'd managed to stay in art school long enough to get my BA in Film, but then they got me. After this I was assigned to the Signal Corps Training School at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey where I spent the next two years writing and directing short educational films about radar, electronics and other exciting stuff. Training classes were located all over the base and some training films were viewed via closed circuit TV. I worked in the TV station. The art department there consisted of four military artists: me, a fine artist named Dave Ligare (who went on to an incredible career as a fine artist, teaching in Italy and now residing in Salinas), Don Henry (who went on to a career in advertising in Houston, Texas), and Steve Stiles (who went on to a career in comics). There were a couple of civilian artists there, too. I don't recall their names, but one guy was a master sign painter. He would whip out posters, signs and anything that required hand lettering, and it was a true joy to watch him work. He used to paint signs on windows and his control and manipulation of a brush was amazing. A lost art.

Anyway, there are two arrows in this photo. The one on the left points to me. The one on the right points to Thom Steinbeck. Guess who his dad was. John Steinbeck came to visit Thom once, but I never got to meet him. After Basic Training, Thom and I went to visit his Aunt in Pacific Grove. Her name was Mrs. Ainsworth and we spent an incredible afternoon at her wonderful home as she talked about the early days in nearby Cannery Row and her brother John's books. I remember we had tea and cookies and I think afterwards Thom and I stopped on the way back to base for some burgers and beer.

Thom was in the bunk next to mine for the 12 weeks of training and we got along pretty well. After Basic Training he went to Viet Nam as a combat photographer, and made it back okay. After the army he wrote documentaries and screeplays, and has written a book entitled Down to the Soundless Sea (2002).

Our drill instructor was a bulldog of a sergeant named William Vibbard. If you met him you'd think of Frank Sutton, the tough sergeant from Gomer Pyle. He had served a couple of tours of duty in Viet Nam, broke the filters off his Camels, ran circles around our platoon as we ran the seven miles out to the firing range, kicked ass, and scared the hell out of everyone. He's retired now, living in Seaside last time I knew, and about 10 years ago I looked him up so I could let him know what I thought of him. When he met me at the door to his modest home above Monterey Bay, he looked exactly the same. We chatted for awhile, he remembered Steinbeck, we had a beer and then I began to leave. But before I left, I thanked him for being so tough, for kicking ass, for being such a mean S.O.B. because his training probably kept a lot of guys from getting killed in Viet Nam.

The last thing I said to him was, "You're a good man." I don't think anybody ever told him that.

CRAZY Filler - The Last Supper

2009-07-20T01:15:00.000-07:00

I wrote and illustrated The Evolution and History of Moosekind for Marvel's CRAZY Magazine, issues 1-16 (1973 - 1976). Marv Wolfman was the editor and occasionally asked for some filler material to use whenever there was an extra page or two to fill. Since I was doing a history oriented thing, he suggested a history update, based on real events in history as if they happened today. He might have even said, "Something like the Last Supper, for example." So I thought about it and realized that if it did happen today, they might go to Sambo's coffee shop, might have a tough time getting a table for such a large group, might have a problem ordering and divvying up the bill. I got 16 people to agree to do a fumetti-style photo shoot in Studio City, California, on Ventura Blvd., one of the busiest streets in the San Fernando Valley. We all assembled on a Saturday at a small Animation studio about three blocks away, put on period costumes and walked the three blocks to Sambo's. I gotta hand it to these guys for having the courage to make that walk. Being in a group helped, but I think most people passed it off as just another day in Los Angeles. The opening shot was a real "grab and run" thing. We were in and out of there in about three minutes, heading back to the studio to do the rest of the shoot indoors.

Click on the image to enlarge. In the first panel of Page 1, from left to right, the participants included Willie Ito, Mark Kausler, and Bill Spicer (all standing), Tim Walker (kneeling in front of them), Drew Gentle (kneeling), Milt Gray (standing), Jim Childs (kneeling), Dave Alexander (behind Childs), Phil Phillipson (half kneeling), Terry Stroud, Bob Randles and Bill Stout, on the rock. Hidden behind Drew Gentle is Don Glut.

A lot of us were working at Hanna-Barbera at the time. Mark Kausler was one of the best independent animators during this period, Bill Spicer was publishing Graphic Story Magazine and was one of the premier comic book letterers, Dave Alexander and Terry Stroud were partners in a comic shop, Bob Randles was a music editor for live action films, Bill Stout was doing underground comix.

In the second panel, the same cast but with the addition of Greg Crosby as the Maitre de. A writer in Disney Publishing at the time, he later became Vice President, Disney Publishing.

In Page 2, Linda Glut, Don's wife, enters as the waitress.

In Page 3, Carol Svendsen, wife of Disney story man Julius Svendsen, enters as Bill Stout's mother. The final panel shows Mark Kausler, Phil Phillipson, Drew Gentle, Bill Spicer, Bob Randles, Willie Ito, Tim Walker, Terry Stroud, Dave Alexander, Jim Childs, Milt Gray and Don Glut all going for the leftovers.

A piece of real trivia: The lettering for this filler was done by Alex Toth.

Cartoonist Get Together

2009-07-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

Used to be time when a small group of cartoonists in the Los Angeles area would get together about four times a year for dinner. I don't know how I managed to be included in this group but I was. Maybe because I used to call everyone and pick a time and restaurant to do it in. This particular dinner was attended by such luminaries as Floyd Norman, Don Dougherty, Jerry Eisenberg, Sergio Aragones, Leo Sullivan, Marty Murphy, Jack Mendelsohn, Fred Lucky and, I believe, Dale Hale. There might have been a couple more but I don't have photos. And this was long before digital cameras, so the pictures are dark and grainy and there's not too much I can do about it.
Floyd, Don, Jerry, Sergio and Leo after a great meal, lots of laughs and plenty of stories. We were all a little fuzzy.

I met Marty Murphy (left) when he was doing character designs for Wait Until Your Father Gets Home at Hanna-Barbera (1972-1974). Marty has done a vast number of brilliant cartoons for Playboy over the years. People often refer to his rendition of sexy, innocent-looking women as "Marty Murphy Girls" and everyone in the business knows what that means. Jack Mendelsohn (right) is probably best known for creating the comic strip Jacky's Diary (1959 - 1961). He also wrote for Mad, Panic and numerous TV series. Please check out this great interview with Jack Mendelsohn in Hogan's Alley conducted by John Province. Here's the link: http://cagle.msnbc.com/hogan/interviews/mendelsohn/home.asp

Fred Lucky was a storyboard artist on Disney's The Rescuers went on to be a story illustrator on Rocky II, The Black Hole, Rambo First Blood, Cobra, No Way Out, Joe Versus the Volcano, Newsies, The Fugitive, Free Willy, Home Alone, Jack Frost, among many others not listed here. In 1975 Fred created the comic strip The Dumplings. Here's a link to a detailed article about Fred, written by Floyd Norman for Jim Hill Media.
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/floyd_norman/archive/2007/06/12/toon-tuesday-remembering-fred-lucky-of-wdfa-s-story-department-1938-1999.aspx
I think the out of focus guy in the background is Dale Hale, former assistant to Charles Schulz and at the time of this photo was doing a comic strip called Figments, which ran from 1970 - 1985.

I'm waiting to hear some verification on the date of this dinner and will update this post when I get it. All I know for sure is this was more than ten years ago.

Other dinners like this often included Mell Lazarus, Willie Ito, Frank Ridgeway, Scott Shaw, and the occasional out-of-towner.

Arroyo Mourning

2009-07-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

This is a painting I did in July and August 2002. The location is under the 134 Freeway looking south toward the Colorado Blvd. Bridge as it passes over the Arroyo in Pasadena, California. It's a ridiculously hot time of the year here, especially down in the Arroyo, and I tried to convey that with the contrasting sun baked colors in the background against the cool shade of the foreground. It's oil on canvas and measures 16" x 20". The owner is a highly regarded Pasadena resident.

Klondike Bob

2009-07-18T02:15:00.000-07:00

My first trip to Alaska in 1991 included a stop in Skagway where I had to get the obligatory tourist photo of me as a gambler or some such legendary cliche.

Disney Comics Core Group 1989

2009-07-18T01:53:00.000-07:00

October 27, 1989.

Someone had the idea to snap this photo soon after the team had been selected to put together the Disney Comics line after the company decided to publish the comics itself. We all squeezed into an office and someone grabbed the shot for posterity.

In front, squatting: My old pal- Michael Lynton, Executive Editor.

Standing behind him, left to right: My old pal Len Wein, Editor-in-Chief/Comics; Sally Prendergast, Marketing Manager; Randy Achee, Publisher; Bob Foster, Managing Editor, Editor, Disney Comics; My old pal David Seidman, Editor, Disney Comics. Len is holding two Gladstone comics, Sally is holding a Gladstone Album in her right hand and in her left hand is one of a handful of mock-ups (ashcans) of Disney Digest, which is what the publication originally was to be called. Soon after, Michael thought Disney Adventures would be a stronger title, and that's what it became. Disney Adventures ran for 17 years and has now ceased publication. Randy is holding a Gladstone comic and what appears to be a European digest, perhaps from Italy. I'm holding a Gladstone Donald Duck Adventures and David is holding a copy of Italy's Topolino.

Michael became President of Disney Publishing soon after this and in 1994 headed up Disney's Hollywood Pictures. From there he went on to become Chairman of Penguin Books in New York, then left to become President of America Online International and now is CEO of Sony Pictures.

Where was that WITH MY OLD PAL SIGN when I really needed it?

Berkeley Con Vol. 1 #1, April 1973

2009-07-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

Just in time for Comic Convention season I found these in a box in storage yesterday. This is at the first Berkeley Con April 20, 21, 22, 1973. Lots of Underground cartoonists there, but I didn't get shots of most of them. Still, it's fun to see what some of us used to look like back in the day.

Left to right, top row: Bob Sidebottom, Milt Gray, Jim Vadeboncoeur, Bob Beerbohm, Tom Knowles.
Middle row: Bud Plant, Glen Bray, Terry Stroud and Dave Alexander, Fred Patten, Bruce Hamilton.
Bottom row: Richard Kyle, Bill Stout, Dave Gibbons, my old pal Mike Royer.

Resurrection of Doom - Part 3

2009-07-17T02:01:00.000-07:00

I couldn't squeeze a "Rosebud" reference into this but the inspiration for Von Rotten Manor was the opening sequence from Citizen Kane.

The idea of an old Multiplane camera substituting for the operating table that rises into the dark and stormy night in Frankenstein was just too good to throw away. I had to use it here. I'd never have a chance like this again. The Racketa, Racketa, Racketa is a very subtle homage to the sound effects lettering in Harvey Kurtzman's Two Fisted Tales story entitled Hill 203, illustrated by Jack Davis.

Okay, now we're getting into some Don Martin sound effects. But can't you just hear the low, electric hum of the WOOJIE, WOOJIE, WOOJIE? I know I can.

And so, Doom is back and mayhem ensues. That's enough of that for now. Gotta move on to other stuff.

And finally - This material is presented here for historical and educational purposes. All material is Copyright Walt Disney and Amblin Entertainment, Inc, All rights reserved. Originally published by Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc., in 1989.

Resurrection of Doom - Part 2

2009-07-17T01:25:00.000-07:00

Ron Dias did a beautiful background painting for this cover, then added the characters on an acetate cell which he inked and painted and positioned on top of the background. This is a wrap-around cover with the background scenery wrapping around to the back of the magazine. Elegant!

I sure admire how Dan Spiegle can interpret my sloppy roughs and come up with something so good.

We all know real character model sheets don't look like that, but most readers wouldn't notice. Looks like Disney pegs on that model sheet in panel 1.

Todd Kurosawa and Bill Langley jump back in with great, whacky toon stuff and an incredible ink-and-paint lady. Scholars and historians will catch the reference to Aurel Thompson's Ink and Paint Service in panel 7.

Next: Homage to Citizen Kane and Frankenstein.

Oh, and remember - This material is presented here for historical and educational purposes only. All material is Copyright Walt Disney and Amblin Entertainment, Inc, All rights reserved. Originally published by Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc., in 1989.

The Resurrection of Doom - Part 1

2009-07-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, fans and scholars, here's an interesting morsel I just found in my files. It's the graphic novel sequel to the story in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? In the movie, Roger's nemesis was an evil toon named Doom, who dies in the end. After the success of the movie and its graphic novel adaptation, I felt there was a need for a follow-up. I pitched my idea for The Resurrection of Doom, and was given the go ahead to do it. I wrote the story, and did the breakdowns and layouts. Final art was done by Dan Spiegle (Illustrative style), pencils by Todd Kurosawa (Toon art) and inked by William Langley (Toon art). Lettering by Carrie Spiegle, coloring by Jo Meugniot.

On the left is my original script/breakdown/layout. On the right, the final, printed page. This is how I write comics. I'm not a big advocate of scripts from a typewriter or computer printer. I know most writers work that way, but I just can't see doing it any other way than with sketches like this.

The artists who worked on this were the perfect choice for the team collaboration. Dan Spiegle is one of the best illustrative story artists in the world and he's been doing it for 50+ years. Todd Kurosawa draws beautifully and his animation style is just right. Bill Langley draws extremely well and has one of the most elegant ink lines I've ever seen. Dan's daughter, Carrie Spiegle, is a terrific letterer and Jo Meugniot is a superb colorist. All of these people played key roles in the early days of Disney Comics (1990 - 93).

I'd forgotten that certain things were changed for legal reasons, and I think they were sound decisions. As funny as some of the characters depicted might be to fans with a knowledge of Disney characters, the generic alternatives work just as well. For example, the photo of Walt Disney's original studio in Kansas City was changed to a photo of my father standing next a friend's new car, back in the 20s. Even the narration was changed to fit the new image. The new character names are just as funny.

Much as I like the idea that Doom was a character actor who played various Disney character roles, the switch to non-Disney characters was maybe funnier. (Although, the idea of Doom running around town in his Queen of Hearts costume long after Alice in Wonderland was done makes me chuckle. Sort of a Sunset Boulevard thing.)

I'll post more pages next time, along with the cover, featuring great art by Ron Dias. Until then...

This material is presented here for historical and educational purposes. All material is Copyright Walt Disney and Amblin Entertainment, Inc, All rights reserved. Originally published by Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc., in 1989.

Grandpa at Grand Coulee Dam

2009-07-14T02:56:00.000-07:00

I've become the archivist for the family's old photographs, which is fine with me. I love old photographs. Especially those with a good story attached. Or some historical significance.

A couple of years ago I finally visited Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State. If you go to the archives for this blog, go back to November 24, 2006 to see the pictures I took of that trip.

During the Depression my Grandfather left his wife and kids in Eastern Canada and rode the rails west to Vancouver to find a job. He sneaked across the border and stayed in Seattle briefly then headed east to Grand Coulee, Washington, where he found work as a cook for construction workers who had come from everywhere in the country looking for a job on the dam. The rule for getting work on the dam was you had to be an experienced construction worker and you had to be citizen of The United States. A lot of workers falsified their applications and listed their names as "Smith." In this photo from 1933, he's the one in the middle standing next to the pole.

It's not a crisp photo to begin with and it only measures 3" x 5", but between a good scanner and a good computer, you can get something pretty cool. Maybe these guys were all cooks, returning from a day of fishing. Notice that slope-shouldered working man stance?

Here he is in Memphis, Tennessee in 1951 where he lived with one of his daughters (I blew up the image and read the date on the license plate). I didn't know it snowed in Memphis. He still had that slope-shouldered working man stance that he wore like an old suit. He was born in 1882, worked hard all his life and died in 1955 at the age of 73. And he worked on the Grand Coulee Dam!

With My Old Pal Jean Giraud

2009-07-13T21:55:00.000-07:00

If you're at all interested in unique photographic portraits of cartoonists, there's a great book available called The Artist Within by Greg Preston. Greg has an eye for capturing the unpretentious essence of many famous cartoonists around the world in a series of riveting black and white photographs often taken in their studios. Others show the artists in places away from their studios, and even then Greg manages to use those settings to tell us something about the artist. In my opinion, one of the best in the book shows Jean Giraud, aka Moebius, standing on the beach in Santa Monica, California with his back to the ocean, facing the beach. It's a wonderful portrait of Giraud, a gentle man and an amazing artist. The fact that Greg depicted him not facing the ocean, as might be typical in a snapshot or travel image, makes for an interesting, maybe even introspective portrait. Greg began taking photos of cartoonist more than fifteen years ago and many of those included in the 216-page book have since passed away. This book was published in 2007 and I understand a second volume is due out sometime this year. Great stuff!

Eat your heart out, Greg Preston! Is this a great photograph or what?
I first met Jean Giraud in 1981 when he was at Disney Studios in Burbank, California, working on Tron. When I heard that he was on the lot I made a point of meeting him. We had lunch a few times and got along wonderfully. His English was far better than my French but we managed to communicate quite well. This photograph was taken ten years later at the San Diego Comic Con. He remembered me and by then I had the stupid WITH MY OLD PAL sign which brought a smile to his face.

Perfect

2009-07-13T01:09:00.001-07:00

I posted this last night and thought the title said it all. But in case some of you were wondering if there's a backstory to this, there isn't. It's a post card I bought off of Ebay last year and was so struck by the elegance of the image, the shape of the head and hat, the subtle hand tinting, the beauty of the girl's face, that I had to bid on it. I cleaned it up a little in Photoshop, eliminating all the blotches and scratches on the surface. I did a little research after the posting and dated it to somewhere around 1917 - 1923, according to the stamp on the back. I'd guess the girl is about 20, give or take, which means she'd be at least 100 years old today. The signature on the back looks like Kater. That's about all I can tell you about her.

Humboldt Trail

2009-07-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

After a few years of pastel paintings I finally switched over to oils. I took a few seminars, went to a lot of gallery shows, absorbed a lot of fine art, joined the California Art Club, and began to sell paintings. The learning curve was very steep and I had a lot of fun painting on canvas with brushes and gooby swaths of wet paint. I felt like an artist again. And I got work in animation again.

This was a location somewhere in Northern California, near the Redwoods. I have a habit of exploring roads that aren't on maps, then looking at a map later to see where I'd been. This was done in October 2001 and measures 30" x 15". I'm happy to say it's in a private collection.

Painting on locations like this is very invigorating and energizing. I recommend it to anyone who wants to paint.

Topanga Hillside Pastel

2009-07-12T22:19:00.000-07:00

I lived in Denmark for two years, 1993 - 1994, and when I returned to Los Angeles in 1995 I couldn't find work in animation for a year. In the two years I'd been gone from the States I'd lost all studio contacts and pretty much had to start over again. In all fairness, when I moved to Europe I had no intention of coming back, but things didn't work out and I did. That's another story. Meanwhile, I wondered where I'd gone wrong and what had steered me into the art and animation field in the first place. I decided to take a look at myself as an artist and at what inspired me in art school. I took a pastel painting class at Santa Monica College and rediscovered pastels.

One of the first places I went out painting with some friends was in Topanga Canyon. One of those friends, whom I will talk about more in the future, kept bugging me to try oil paints. As much as I love pastels, once I tried oils it was hard to go back. This painting was done with Schmincke soft pastels on sanded paper. I think it was about 12" x 16".

Adventures of Crusader Sneak and Raggs Maggee

2009-07-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

November 1954. This is the first comic book I ever did. I had just turned 11. I'm not saying that what I do today is any better than this stuff, but I do wonder how anyone who started off like this wound up working for Disney. There's hope for everyone.

The obvious influence here was Crusader Rabbit and Rags the Tiger although it's hard to see. Most of my stuff looked like this up until, oh, about a year ago.

Another gripping yarn in the tradition of Jack London.

Look-alikes

2009-07-12T02:06:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago I was rummaging through some old photos at the Rose Bowl Swap Meet when I found this. My head jerked back in reaction to this image of myself from about 100 years ago, maybe more. I looked even more like him before I started wearing glasses. Creepy but cool, eh?

See? Same beady little eyes, chubby cheeks, pathetic beard. All it needs is a sign that says WITH MY OLD PAL...

Wow! This looks more like me than anyone I ever met.

My friend Ron found this and had the same reaction I did. Another eerie resemblance. As far as I know, neither of these men are related to me, but they sure could be. I have no idea who they are.

Same beady eyes, etc. Oh, well. Just an amusing little blog-filler.

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck

2009-07-12T01:24:00.000-07:00

In 1992 my old pal Don Rosa was preparing a special edition of his Scrooge McDuck stories under the title The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. This edition was destined for European publishers, in this case as shown below, Norway and Finland. Since I was the Managing Editor of Disney Comics, and Editor of the comic book Uncle Scrooge Adventures, I guess someone thought I needed to rough out the cover for this book.

This is my rough, dated March 28, 1992.
This is Don Rosa's finished art done shortly after that.

Here's the final printed cover as it appeared in Norway.

And this is the final printed cover as it appeared in Finland.

This material is shown here for informational and educational purposes for fans, historians and students of comic art. All material is Copyright 1992 The Walt Disney Company.

Kids' Art

2009-07-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

Kids do great art but by the time they turn 6 or so they begin to lose it, becoming more focused on making the image more precise, paying attention to the tools and making the images more recognizable to parents, relatives and friends so they'll all recognize what you've drawn and heap praise on you by doing so. So to get the reward, the pure childish pleasure of mushing paint and crayons around on paper gives way to identifiable objects and critters. At this point the child could develop either as a fine artist or a cartoonist, depending on the reward motivation. Both possibilities exist. The drawings shown here are right at that point where the child who wants to be an artist could go in either direction.

I love this drawing. See the door in the rainbow teepee? Great! And the setting sun, setting on this side of the mountain, burning a hole in the fence on the hill. And the Indians on the left and right... I can't imagine what's growing out of their chests.

Now here's a scary family, dressed in hand-me-down recycled crazy quilts purchased from an old clown outfitters store in Florida.

Here's the albino Barone family just back from their first trip to the beach. Left to right: Susan Barone, her sister Cheryl, their father Ed, who seems be pretty excited, his third daughter Eileen, and her mother Sarah, whose left leg is six inches shorter than her right and loves her new Mickey Mouse shoes.

The Molina Hawaiian Mariachi Family Band poses with their new plaid outfits as the All Pan American Riding Academy participates in a Civil War reenactment behind them.

Donut and pickle vendors dancing at the Annual DPV Association Picnic in San Francisco.

Milton Caniff, San Diego, 1974

2009-07-08T01:21:00.000-07:00

Shel Dorf, Milton Caniff, Willie Ito and me, San Diego Comic Con, 1974. Another little gem I just found and thought I'd add it to tonight's posts. Caniff is flipping through my collection of Terry and the Pirates . I have a complete run in tabloid size except for 4 half tabs. It's pretty frustrating trying to find those four full tabs. Caniff was a true gentleman. Shel had recruited me to be Caniff's chauffeur while he was in San Diego. He was working on a Steve Canyon Sunday page when we arrived at his hotel room. He liked working in his bathrobe.

Me and Mike Royer, 41 years later.

2009-07-08T00:52:00.000-07:00

Oh, man! I just found this! This is me with Mike Royer at the 2006 San Diego Comic Con. And there's that stupid WITH MY OLD PAL sign. At least it tells me who I'm standing with. Compare this with the photos from the previous post showing me and Mike at Rick Durell's house 41 years earlier. Hwarf!

Rick Durell's Fanclave #3 1965

2009-07-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

I keep everything. Recently I found these photos in storage. Collector Rick Durell lived in El Segundo, CA and periodically he'd invite a bunch of friends and fans down to his home for an evening of comics talk and drooling over his amazing collection. Rick was a very generous man and fearlessly shared his collection of mint, primo comics by putting them out on tables in stacks for friends to look at and thumb through. He had beautiful storage cabinets lining his walls, filled with complete runs of ECs, DCs, Marvels, Fawcetts, Dells, and anything else you wish you owned. In the photos you'll see two Prince Valiant originals on his walls. He had more stuff in other rooms in his house. These were the first Hal Foster originals I'd ever seen. The date on the backs of the photos is 12/20/65. Mark Evanier has a nice piece about Rick on his blog at: http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2008_12_02.html

Left to right: Bill Spicer, Mike Royer, Rick Durell, Richard Kyle, Chuck McCleary, Glen Johnson, John McGeehan, Eugene Henderson.

Standing: Rick Durell, Glen Johnson, Richard Kyle, Mike Royer, Eugene Henderson. Kneeling: Bob Foster, John McGeehan, Chuck McCleary, Bill Spicer almost completely out of the picture.

Bob Foster, John McGeehan, Chuck McCleary, Eugene Henderson.

Rick Durell, Mike Royer. I can pretty much guarantee none of us look like this anymore.

Click on the photos to make them bigger and see if you can make out some of the titles.

DuckTales #0 - Part 2

2009-07-07T23:15:00.001-07:00

Here are pages 6 - 10 of Marv Wolfman's Relic Racket for Disney Adventures Magazine #0. My rough layouts on the left, finished art as published on the right. See Part 1 of this post for more information.

Please keep in mind that, even though this is shared for the enlightenment of comics students and fans, all material is Copyright 1990 The Walt Disney Company.

DuckTales #0

2009-07-07T22:36:00.000-07:00

When Disney Adventures was conceived in 1989 under the direction of Executive Editor Michael Lynton, a format for the book had not been decided upon. All we knew is that we'd like to get it in front of the potential buyer's eye without it getting lost on a newsstand. I suggested that since Reader's Digest and TV Guide were strategically positioned at the checkout stands of most supermarkets at that time, and that one of the top selling publications in Italy, Topolino, was about the same shape and size as Reader's Digest and TV Guide, publishing a book in that format and utilizing existing display racks at the supermarket checkout stands might be a way to go. I guess everyone agreed because that's the format we went with. The digest-sized magazine ran for 17 years, ending publication in October 2007. Issue #1 was cover dated October 16, 1990, but there was an issue before that, one that we referred to as #0. It was dated FALL 1990. The purpose of this issue was that of an ashcan issue - to establish copyright. Marv Wolfman had been chosen to be the Comics Editor for Disney Adventures and he took it upon himself to write a DuckTales story for that issue. I was elected to do page layouts for the story before it was sent to Italy to be illustrated. Below you'll see the first five pages of that story, with my rough layouts on the left and the final, printed page on the right. It's interesting how the artist, Guiseppe Della Santa, took appropriate liberties to usually improve my ideas and layouts. I was very pleased with the job he did. Pages 6 - 10 will be in the next post.

Although this is shared for the enlightenment of comics students and fans, all material is Copyright 1990 The Walt Disney Company.

Harvey Kurtzman's ass

2009-07-07T00:41:00.000-07:00

1979 San Diego Comic Con. Underground cartoonists jam. Harvey Kurtzman's ass in my face.

After everyone had contributed to the artwork on the wall behind us, we all arranged ourselves for a group shot. Harvey Kurtzman walks in and there's no place for him to squeeze in, so he just plops down on top of everyone in the front row. That's me in the middle, in the greenish shirt. To my left is Trina Robbins. To her left is Carol Lay. These photos are courtesy of the great Jackie Estrada.

Harvey Kurtzman was the cartoonist who by far had the greatest influence on me. Even as a kid I was aware of his work and fell in love with it without knowing why. The creator of MAD, Humbug, Help!, Trump, Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat, Little Annie Fanny and a thousand other things for Pageant, Esquire, Playboy, and on and on. For my money, one of the greatest cartoonists that ever lived. So when he plopped in my lap I was at a loss for words. I'd like to say we became good friends from that moment on but I had actually met him in San Diego a few years earlier. And prior to that I'd submitted some stuff to him during his Help! days, but I was politely rejected. I was still in art school and I just wasn't ready for the big leagues. The first time I ever wrote to Kurtzman was around 1964 when Bill Spicer was corresponding with him. Bill gave me Kurtzman's address and I wrote to him and he wrote back. We continued to corresponded occasionally through the years and I saved everything he ever wrote to me.

This second shot includes some of the jam art behind us. The yellow critter in the middle of the jam art, with the blue pants, is Myron Moose. Behind Carol Lay is San Diego Comic Con founder Shel Dorf. To Shel's left is Steve Leialoha. I don't know the names of anybody else in the photos.

With My Old Pal Carl Barks - Part 2

2009-07-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

In 1991 Carl Barks was inducted into the Disney Legends Hall of Fame at Disney Studios in Burbank, CA. At the time, I was Managing Editor of Disney Comic Books at Disney Publishing. I also acted as Editor on Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck and DuckTales. My previous job at Disney was as a staff writer/artist. From 1980 - 1989 my primary job was writing the Donald Duck comic strip for the newspapers. Other staff artists did the art. Sometime in 1989 Disney decided to publish their comic books themselves and canceled the license that had been held by Gladstone Publishing in Arizona. As a knowledgeable fan and collector of Disney Comics going back to my childhood in New York, and being a ten-year veteran at Disney, and having been a staff writer, I was invited to join the Disney Comics team as Managing Editor. I requested that the job of editing the four titles mentioned above be mine. I felt compelled to protect the history and Disney values those titles represented. In my capacity as editor, I found myself dealing with My Old Pal Carl Barks on a soft business level. Even though Carl was no longer working, we did reprint a lot of his material and one of my privileged duties was to make sure he got a sort of royalty check for each page of his that we used. It wasn't a lot, but I felt it was very important that he get something. So this is why I was able to imbed myself in the Legends ceremonies unfolding on the lot that day. I worked there, I was in management and I knew one of the Legends.

Getting ready to approach the ceremonial wet cement, Barks introduces himself to his creation, Scrooge McDuck.

Leading the way is Winnie the Pooh escorting his voice, Sterling Holloway. Next is Scrooge McDuck with Carl Barks waving at the camera. Behind him is Julie Andrews with a penguin from Mary Poppins, and finally Ken Anderson with Snow White.

While he was in town for the ceremony Carl paid a visit to the Disney Publishing group to meet, greet and sign copies of his comics. See... this is where that stupid WITH MY OLD PAL sign comes in handy. Just add CARL BARKS to it and you're done.

This is the real shot. Happy Legend, happy fan boy. Oh, and I didn't dress like that normally. This was a special occasion.

It's only fair. I'm pretending to be annoyed but I was giggling inside. The kid from New York feels very lucky, indeed.

With My Old Pal Carl Barks - Part 1

2009-07-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

I have a sketchbook filled with sketches by famous cartoonists from all over the world, but primarily from the USA. When I visited Carl Barks in 1973 he did this sketch for me.

When I was a little kid my father painted Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Pluto and Jose Carioca on the walls of our basement in New York. I never knew if he painted them on the walls because I loved the Disney characters, or if I loved the Disney characters because he had painted them on the walls. Either way, they became a part of my life.

My mom and dad bought me my first drawing table when I was about ten years old and right away I started doing comic books on it. I still have them and may post them here at a later date. I read the Sunday funnies ravenously, gobbled up copies of Batman, Superman and Walt Disney's Comics and Stories. Naturally I was a fan of Carl Barks, even though nobody knew his name then. This would have been around 1951 - 1953.

Jump cut to 1966. I'm going to art school in Los Angeles. Fantasy Illustrated and Graphic Story Magazine editor and publisher Bill Spicer and I go visit "the good duck artist" whose name had recently been discovered - Carl Barks. He was living in San Jacinto, California at the time. Can you imagine? I grew up on this guy's work, he was one of the reasons I pursued a career in comics and animation, and now I was visiting him. We were friends for the next 34 years. The last time I saw Carl was at his home in Grant's Pass, Oregon. He was 96, we went to dinner, and he drove. Carl died in August, 2000 at the age of 99.

After Carl retired from comics in 1966 he began doing oil paintings. A Barks fan named Glen Bray commissioned Carl to do an oil painting for him and thus began a second, and very successful career for Barks. One of the paintings that Bray commissioned was of Bombie the Zombie.

Anyway, here are some rare photos of Carl Barks and Glen Bray that you might enjoy.

That's Glen Bray holding his latest acquisition - Carl's painting of Bombie the Zombie, a character from Donald Duck One Shot comic #238, (1949.) I think this photo was taken in 1972.

This is Carl helping Glen hold up his painting of Bombie the Zombie.

That's Carl, me and Carl's wife Gare, standing outside their home in Goleta, CA. I think it's 1970.

Gare and Carl stand in front of one of Gare's recent paintings. She was a very fine artist. More photos and stuff in Part 2.

With My Old Pals... Dave Stevens, Russ Heath, Tiny Ron

2009-07-06T15:55:00.000-07:00

I'd known Dave Stevens for years prior to The Rocketeer. As fate would have it, when I was Managing Editor of Disney Comics (when Disney published the comics themselves, 1990 - 1993) I wound up being the editor of the graphic novel adaptation of the movie. When Disney Comics had a booth at the 1991 San Diego Comic Con, Dave was there to promote the movie and the graphic novel, along with Russ Heath, who illustrated the adaptation, and Tiny Ron Taylor who played Lothar in the movie.

Someone was taking pictures of me with Dave, Russ and Tiny Ron. I didn't want it to look as if I had jumped behind the table like a fan boy (which I am) to get into the shot, so I hastily wrote on a piece of paper "OLD PALS" which I held up over Dave's head so people would think we were old pals (which we were).

I did the same thing with Russ Heath. I'd met Russ in 1974 when I attended the comic convention in New York. I was working for Marvel at the time, writing and illustrating The History of Moosekind for CRAZY magazine. Larry Hama took me over to Neal Adams' studio and introduced me around. Squashed in one corner of a small room, along with about three or four other artists, sat the great Russ Heath. We became friends from that day on. When Russ moved out to Los Angeles to work in the animation business he stayed at my place until he found a place of his own. We became pretty good drinking buddies. Dave, Russ and I all worked at Hanna-Barbera in the 70s.

But this idea of holding up a sign that said WITH MY OLD PAL and then adding the name of my old pal of the moment made me laugh. It also made my "pals" laugh and made it easier to get them to pose for a picture. But the fact is, a lot of these people really are pals, friends, co-workers and at least acquaintances. If you work in comics and animation, there's a lot of overlap and plenty of opportunities to meet and get to know a lot of your heros. More on that later. For now, let's just start with Dave, Russ and Tiny Ron.

By the way, I'd never met Tiny Ron Taylor before, and never saw him again after this photo was taken, but he sure made me feel like an old pal. He was, and I'm sure still is, a great guy. Check out Tiny Ron on IMdB.

PAINTING BY KORISSA, August 22, 1997

2009-07-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

In 1997, as I was getting into my car on Franklin Avenue in Los Angeles, about two blocks from the famous Shakespeare Bridge, a little girl ran from her front yard, across the busy street, to me. She held three small paintings in her hands and asked if I wanted to buy them. To this day I'm uncomfortable with the idea that she ran across a busy street and up to a stranger and asked if he wanted to buy her paintings. She was about 10 or 11 years old and her name was Korissa. I bought the one shown here. She wanted $2 for it but I was so impressed by it that I gave her $5 instead. She said thank you and ran back across the street. Shortly after that she moved away and I never saw her again. But I still have this painting and I think still it's wonderful.

Here's what I like about it. This is the kind of painting that seasoned painters strive for. Uninhibited application of paint, great shapes, negative shapes, a childish simplicity in the execution, spontaneity, observant and not noodled to death. Let's begin by looking at the big fish at the top. There's a pink underpainting there and the shape of the fish has been described by the blue paint on top of that pink underpainting. It's a negative shape that says fish. Into that pink, negative space the artist has added stripes of varying colors - blue, black, hunter green, light red, red, black and yellow. And see that fish eye? It's red, but the red is another bit of underpainting with the blue on top of it. The negative space created by the blue exposes the red enough to make it look like an eye. That all blew me away more than anything.

Look at the bubbles. Aren't they perfect? They're white, they're round, they're bubbles. More stripes and shapes on the other two fish, a hint of aquarium flora at the bottom, and a signature that becomes part of the painting. Finally, take a close look at the overall blue and make note that under the big fish, and cascading down the right side of the painting, is another coat of paint that doesn't quite match the blue. It's a bit greenish. I love paintings that have other colors within a color that looks like part of the color but just adds a little something to the painting that makes it interesting.

I wish I could remember all this stuff when I paint.

So today I decided to look for Korissa on the internet. I ran into a lot of dead ends, and I don't want to reveal Koriss'a last name or possible city of residence, but if anyone out there knows a Korissa who used to live on Franklin Avenue in Los Angeles in 1997 who sold paintings to an old guy across the street, I'd love to hear from her. I would be very pleased if she became a fine artist and has more paintings I could look at. According to my calculations she'd be about 21 years old now.

I have some more children's art that I recently acquired on Ebay that I want to post here very soon. Stay tuned. Great stuff!

2007-09-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 26

I had forgotten that the Spruce Goose had been moved from Long Beach, California to Oregon. As I was driving around exploring McMinnville, Oregon, 4th of July week, I came upon the Evergreen Air Museum, the new home of the Spruce Goose along with plenty of other historical airplanes and military vehicles. The museum was closed, but there was plenty of daylight and plenty of glass to see inside, so I was able to get these shots through the windows.

The Evergreen Air Museum is about 8 stories high and is all glass on two sides, front and back. In this picture, you can see some people standing outside the museum looking in, just to give you a sense of scale.

A shot through the window at some the great stuff inside. That's the Spruce Goose dwarfing everything else in the shot.

A beautiful little GB.

More interior stuff. The place was stuffed with planes, tiny in contrast to the Goose.

There were sevaral other warplanes on the grounds surrounding the museum, too.

Another interior image, this one featuring a Messerschmidt, I believe.

There were also some great WWII tanks out back, too.

Another great old tank.

If you dig out your maps of Oregon and find McMinnville, you'll see that it is part of a triangle of towns that include Sheridan and Willamina to the southwest and Dallas and Rickreall to the south. Route 99W runs north and south between Rickreall and McMinnville, Route 18 runs from McMinnville to Sheridan and Willamina, and Route 22 from Willamina back to Rickreall. This triangle of land is criss-crossed by a network of small, paved farm roads that are pretty much totally devoid of any cars other than mine. This is the Oregon I'd like to live in, and as I sit here typing this stuff, I continually ask myself, "What the hell am I doing here in Los Angeles?" I've been in Los Angeles since 1961, (Except for 2 years in the Army, 5 years in Utah and 2 years in Denmark.) After a 35 year career in the animation business in Los Angeles, I hope my next big move is going to be completely out of the animation business and completely out of the state.

If you want to find me then, here's where I'll be.

Above: Farmland southwest of Amity. I hear a train coming.

Above: Here's the train. Even the traintracks are hard to see out here. I love this picture, and when I saw that the approaching train was orange, I knew I was about to get a good shot, so I prepared for it and waited for the train to arrive. The engineer waved as he passed by.

Oh, just another country road about 1/2 mile from the previous shot, with a nice white gate leading to a wonderful meadow.

Along Route 22 headed for Rickreall, the grass was wonderful.

This is beautiful image of a terrific little farm just off Route 22, late in the day. I can't take credit for the scenery, folks. I just aim the camera and click the shutter.

More wonderful grass.

That's my shadow stretching into this image in the foreground. Probably the last shot of Oregon I'll be posting here for awhile. I'm planning to return to the area around Thanksgiving, looking for more paintings and looking at homes. A nice little farmhouse in the McMinnville area would suit me just fine.

2007-09-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 25

Trees, meadows, poppies and scenery in the Willamette Valley.

About 20 miles SE of Silverton is Silver Falls State Park, a nice scenic drive with plenty of hiking trails and waterfalls.

Another beautiful meadow. They're everywhere!

A huge irrigation device on wheels that slowly moves across the farm land.

Hey, look! More poppies!

There are flower farms and grass farms throughout the Willamette Valley and every one of them is spectacular.

Another interesting little meadow meandering through farm land.

Late in the day in the McMinnville area - a good, old-fashioned farm with a spectacular barn.

On Route 97 between Bend and Madras on the way to Route 26 toward Mt. Hood, this view to the west was pretty amazing.

Approaching Mt. Hood from the southeast.

On Mt. Hood from the ski area parking lot. As I write these notes I'm in my apartment in Los Angeles about 9 PM and the temperature is still 94 degrees. It's hard to describe the beautiful places I'd rather be when I'm sitting here sweating and wishing I were still there. Sigh.

Next: The McMinnville area.

2007-08-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 24

Back in Oregon, 4th of July Week, 2007

This is what's happening to an awful lot of perfectly good farm land in Oregon and I hate it.

This is the Oregon I love - Big, open spaces, wonderful farms, no tract housing.

Chuck's Gas Station.

These plants are about 15' high and I was told they were hops.

Nice poppy field by the roadside near Molalla.

More poppies.

Blazing red poppy field.

More red poppies!

Foster Lake in the town of Foster.

High-speed drive-by of a poppy field.

In the parking lot of The Home Depot in Albany, OR, this 12' x 12' storage shed that looks like a barn was about 10' high with double doors, shelving and windows. I think this would make a great studio. Costs about $6,000 delivered and installed.

NEXT: More of the Willamette Valley.

2006-12-26T20:08:00.000-08:00

Looking for paintings - Part 23

Loose Ends - Number 2: People along the way

The people I spent time with over the last three months are very special and helped make this a memorable journey. I thought of this entire trip as a vacation, but I was really looking for something - a job, an experience, a chance to visit some old friends, to revisit that part of my childhood that spent the summers of the 40s and 50s traveling throughout the eastern United States, to answer the call of the wild, the lure of the open road, to see if there was more to life than Los Angeles. The job I got at Laika Entertainment and the two months I spent there were terrific. I was blown away by the caliber of talent among the artists and technicians working there and got to know a whole bunch of people who made it a pleasure to go to work every morning. There were old friends from Los Angeles who had moved to a better life in Oregon and Washington, and one who was always smart enough to live in Seattle. As soon as I figure out how to add their links to my sidebar I shall do so.

Jack and Hae Jung Heiter. I don't think this trip would have worked out if it hadn't been for their kindness and hospitality. Jack and I worked together at Warner Bros. in 1995. Hae Jung is a great preparer of great food and plays a mean game of Dominoes.

Gerry and Angele Woolery. Gerry owns and operates Gerry's Kitchen restaurant in Freeland on Whidbey Island, Washington. Angele is a fine artist in every sense of the word. They both create good stuff. They opened their home to me and I had the opportunity to really explore Whidbey Island, share some great meals and enjoy some fine wine. It was tough to leave.

Jorgen Klubien and Brian Ormiston. Jorgen and I met at Disney's in 1986. Here he is going over some storyboard sketches for his animated feature Jack and Ben with storyboard artist Brian Ormiston. Both amazing talents.

Brian Ormiston. I'm lucky I shared a cubicle with this guy. I love his work and we talked about almost anything, from Kurtzman to Kurosawa, from conspiracy theories to books, from restaurants to the edge of the universe.

I have no idea who this woman is. I was having lunch one day about a week before Christmas at Elephant's Delicatessen in Portland when I saw her standing there, waiting for a place to sit and eat her lunch. She looked so nice, I had to take her picture. She fit right in with the festive ambiance of the delicatessen, which was done up nicely for Christmas.

That's me pitching my storyboard to Jorgen and some of the storyboard guys for a segment of the Jack and Ben feature that I'd just completed. They weren't laughing at my board - they were showing the security guard who to throw out.

Jorgen Klubien and Robert Lence after dinner at Jorgen's home in Portland. This reminded me of the available light scenes in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, but without the period costumes.

Jorgen, me, Robert, admiring the work of Mary Blair. Either that or getting ready to fight over the last piece of cheese on the table.

Me and John Lustig, creator of Last Kiss, the online humor panel about to make its appearance as a Sunday Feature in The Seattle Times. Here's a link to John's site:

http://www.lastkisscomics.com/

John making good use of the wreath hanging on the front door to his home in Seattle. Didn't I see this in the Sistine Chapel?

The Laika studio Christmas party. We all indulged in the great Danish Christmas drink, Glugg, but without the oomlats. That's Chris Kiser giving me the evil eye. He and his brother Tommy came here from DNA in Texas where they worked on Jimmy Neutron.

Tom Knott chatting with Brian Ormiston and Ovi Nedelcu. Here's Ovi's website:

http://ovinedelcu.com/index.html

Josh Look, who, we figured out, remembers me from when I was in the Apple store in Glendale, California where he worked before coming to Portland. Was it the way I walked, or was it the altercation I had with the security guard at the Apple store? Hey, isn't that the security guard next to him?

Vanessa and Robert giving me the eye.

Me, holding Jack and Hae Jung's genetically modified cross between a cat and a bear, commonly referred to as Pepper the Schnauzer. This is an amazingly entertaining little dog who spends a lot of his time on his hind legs demanding attention, and getting it. Hope he remembers me when I come back. It's December 26, 2006 and I head back to Los Angeles tomorrow to begin work at Disney's on January 8. I can't wait to come back here again, maybe for good. This whole region is wonderful and I think it'd be a perfect destination for plein air painters. By the way, I never got any paintings done. I was so busy driving around the next bend in the road, down some dead end side street, along some washboard farm road or timber road, exploring the scenery and taking pictures. The paintings may come in the near future and I think I found plenty of them. I just haven't put them on canvas yet. Stay tuned.

Next: I don't know...

2006-12-24T21:52:00.000-08:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 22

Loose Ends - Number 1

I have a lot of photos that don't fit into any particular time frame or category so I'm going to post them here, under Loose Ends. This first Loose End will be pictures taken from my balcony in Portland, looking toward Mt. Hood, over a period of two months, between October 25 and December 23, 2006. The seasons change dramatically in that timeframe, and the weather is always exciting, even when it's raining. So, from sunshine to clouds, to fog, to nighttime, from leafy trees to barren branches, from warm to cold, here's what I see from my balcony.

Next: Loose Ends - Number 2: People along the way

2006-12-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 21

Christmas comes to Portland

The air is cold and crisp. My face tingles from the chill wind. People zig-zag along the sidewalks, bundled in scarves, hats, and big, bulky coats, steam pouring out their mouths, packages dangling from their arms. There's an energy in their walk, a youthful spring in their step, an enthusiasm brought on by the twinkling glitter of storefront decorations, holiday lights and general good cheer. Store windows are also dressed for the holidays, adding a festive look to an otherwise colorless downtown area. Restaurants, pubs and bookstores invite you and your fellow shoppers in for a hot meal, a perfect Martini, or a comfortable book to curl up with when you get home. It's Christmastime and this is the way it's supposed to be.

The Pittock Mansion.
Henry Lewis Pittock was born in England in 1834 and came to Portland by wagon train in 1853.

At the age of 19 he began working for Thomas Jefferson Dryer's Weekly Oregonian newspaper.

A consummate businessman, Pittock gained ownership of the Weekly Oregonian in 1860, changing it to a daily newspaper. In 1860 he also married 15-year-old Georgiana Martin Burton and they spent the next 58 years together. He went on to build an empire incorporating real estate, banking, railroads, steamboats, steamships, sheep ranching, silver mining and the pulp and paper industry.

In 1909 he started planning and designing his mansion in the Northwest hills overlooking Portland. Completed in 1914, the mansion contained some very progressive features, including a central vacuum system, intercoms, and indirect lighting. He hired Oregon craftsmen and artisans, using Northwest materials, to build the home. Georgiana died in 1918 and Henry died in 1919.

In 1958 the estate was put on the market. A severe storm in 1962 caused extensive damage to the home and the threat of developers brought concerned citizens together to raise funds to restore the estate. Recognizing the important historical value of the home, the City of Portland purchased the 46-acre estate in 1964 for $225,000.

After 15 months of restoration, the mansion was opened to the public in 1965. Every year at Christmastime, the Pittock Mansion Society calls upon local designers and interior decorators to take one room of the mansion and decorate it for Christmas. I feel very fortunate to have been here at this time of year so I could experience first-hand what a fantastic home this is, and to enjoy the amazing decorations done especially for Christmas. I spent a lunch hour touring the estate and took 98 photographs. Here are the best of them.

Merry Christmas, everyone, from Portland, Oregon, December 23, 2006.

2006-12-17T22:30:00.000-08:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 20

Hillside Homes.

Hillside is a district of Northwest Portland where you'll find some of the finest old homes in the city. Other districts known as Goose Hollow and Southwest Hills also have many grand old homes which I'll post pictures of in a few days. But first, let's see what the homes of Hillside look like. I have no information on any of these homes. I just drove around and took a picture every time I saw a house I liked.

That's just a smattering of what's there, but you get the idea. The homes in Goose Hollow and Southwest Hills are more grandiose and stately and I'll put those up soon.

Next: Christmas comes to Portland.

2006-12-16T12:33:00.000-08:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 19

The Steel Bridge

Okay, bridge buffs, here are some shots of my favorite bridge. There are 16 bridges in the Portland area, seven of them in or near downtown Portland, all of them beautiful in their own way. But my absolute favorite is the Steel Bridge, accessed at the eastern end of Everett Street, carrying cars, buses, trolleys, trains and pedestrians eastward over the Willamette River to the Oregon Convention Center, the Rose Garden Arena, the Lloyd Center and the northeast area of Portland. Westbound traffic flows into Oldtown, Chinatown and the wonderful Pearl District. The Steel Bridge has been photographed a lot by other photographers with greater skills and equipment than I have, but we all share an appreciation for this wonderful bridge.

The bridge was built in 1912.

For more information and images, go to these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Bridge

http://www.portlandbridges.com/00,0,28,0,1,1-portland-oregon.html

Here are my images:

The evening of December 9, I went to the Steel Bridge looking for a good vantage point for the Willamette River Christmas Boat Parade, but the turnout was small and downriver from where I was, so I didn't get any pictures of the parade. But then I discovered the extended exposure option on my camera and started photographing the Steel Bridge at night.

This is a wonderful bridge with tons of character and history. The texture and color of the steel and the massive beauty of this bridge evoke an emotional response that pays tribute to its stature as a grand old lady who holds her 94 years very well. Check out the information on the Wikipedia link above.

Earlier in the day I was around Amtrak's Union Station. Here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Station_(Portland)

I got this shot of The Amtrak Cascades train sitting in the station.

Later, as I was taking those night shots of the Steel Bridge, along comes the Amtrak Cascades. Another thrilling thing about the Steel Bridge is how much it moves as a train goes over it. Very exciting. I hope you enjoyed looking at these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Next: Great houses of Portland NW

2006-12-15T00:50:00.000-08:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 18

Columbia River Gorge - December 2, 2006

I've been living and working in Portland since October 16 and have taken full advantage of the opportunity to see as much of the region as time allows, which is usually weekends. I've been very lucky - almost every Saturday has been clear, with maybe a smattering of obvious weather, which I thoroughly enjoy. I think gray skies, a little rain and tolerable cloudiness mute the colors of nature just enough to make photographs better.

A friend of mine has arrived from Los Angeles, doesn't have a car, and has not seen anything other than his apartment, his office, and whatever lies in the five blocks between. So I happily offered to show him what I saw a week earlier (last post) so I could revisit some of the great scenery and check out his reaction. So we headed out the same route to Washington, but detoured almost immediately to visit The Fort Vancouver Historic Site just off Route 14 about 1 mile east of the I-5. Now, I'm not a big tourist trap, gift shop, guided tour, droning docent, historical recreation kind of guy, but this was one terrific detour that I'm glad I was talked into. Granted, it didn't take a lot to talk me into it, but normally I would have driven right past and made a beeline for the big scenery.

"Since 1966 Fort Vancouver's palisade and several buildings have been reconstructed on their original locations. Together they can give you an idea of what life was like when Fort Vancouver was the most popular settlement in the Pacific Northwest."

The first fort was built around 1825 and this reconstruction lies on the original site.

This gentleman is one of a small army of local volunteers who donate their time to make this historical destination worthwhile. He was a wealth of information about blacksmithing, tools, and pioneer life at Fort Vancouver in 1825. He took the time to explain how things worked, how things were made and the ingenuity the early settlers displayed. My thanks to him for his time and knowledge.

The smokey light of the blacksmith shop was a great opportunity to utilize available lighting very nicely. Sunlight streamed through the windows while the warm glow of the fire added some warmth to the scene.

The nearby infirmary as seen through the windows. (Below)

Adjoining the infirmary, the pharmacy.
An unexpected, elegant dinner setting.

Back at Cape Horn, overlooking the Columbia River Gorge. Please note the white caps on the water below. Maybe (maybe) this will give you an idea of the wind chill factor at this overlook. It was extremely cold here. We'd hop out of the car, grab a shot, then leap back into the car for a minute before jumping out to grab another shot. Don't let those pleasant shadows and sunshine fool you. It was windy, freezing cold and face numbing.

That's me, trying to look like some macho tourist enjoying the pleasant weather and stunning view while exuding total immunity to the elements. Truth is, I was shaking like a leaf and urging my friend to "just push the damn button!"

This mountain north of Bonneville Dam is too pretty to look as cold as it must have been up on it. I was freezing my XXX off where I was standing, so I can't imagine what it was like up on top.

Another cold mountain with a cold lake in the foreground. Skinny dipping, anyone?

So I'm zipping along Route 14 near White Salmon, Washington when I spot something out of the corner of my eye. I thought I had seen some sail boards and wind surfers! I immediately pulled off the freeway and took some local roads down to the water's edge and sure enough... There were some guys windsurfing on the Columbia. I chatted with one guy who was packing up his board and getting ready to leave. He said the water was 41 degrees, the air was 30 degrees and the wind chill factor dropped it down to about zero. And these guys were wind surfing across the Columbia (it took about three minutes to cross the river which is about a mile across at this point.) I don't know what else to say except Brrr.. But that somehow doesn't quite do it.

On I-84 back to Portland on the south side of the Columbia.

Back home in Portland, it's clear enough for a late afternoon shot of Mt. St. Helens from my balcony.

Next: The Steel Bridge

2006-12-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 17

Columbia River Gorge, November 25, 2006

Taking the I-5 north out of Portland, across the Columbia River into Vancouver, Washington I took the 14 east and got off that freeway as soon as possible. I switched to the Evergreen Highway about 4 miles down the road and found myself enjoying the drive and the scenery at a much more leisurely pace, saw some great old homes and some gorgeous new estates. I even stopped to compliment one of the owners on his house. You can do that here without people getting nervous or wondering if you're going to sell them something.

Near Washougal is the Steigerwald National Wildlife Refuge, teeming with geese and a few deer. This shot is facing east where you can see Mt. Hood in the distance. Click on the picture to make it full-screen sized.

East of Washougal the road starts climbing, offering splendid views like this one. The mountain on the left is dusted with snow on the higher elevations, fading down to no snow at lower elevations.

Very high up, the road turned to the left and suddenly there was this sign for Cape Horn. A little past this sign was a small place to pull off the side of the road, but there's not a lot of warning and it's not big enough for more than three cars. I was definitely not expecting the view to the right, and I remember saying something along the lines of, "Gee, what a nice view." Yeah, that was it.

I wish I could present these as a single panoramic shot, but we'll have to settle for three separate images that you can assemble in your heads.

Reminded me of Alaska's Inside Passage, Norway and Switzerland. Please click on the images to get a better look and a bigger look.

That's the road that the previous three images were taken from. I'm now down on Cape Horn Road which I thought would get me down to the shoreline, but there was a gate that prevented me from entering somebody's private property. Snort.

This is Cape Horn Road leading to the gated private property.

I love meandering small roads like this, but it really irks me that there's usually a no trespassing sign, a private property sign or something that deters me from getting around that final bend in the road that would reveal something fantastic.

Approaching Bonneville Dam I spotted this nifty little passageway under the railroad. There's a small sign that says something about this being a private road and permission to use it is reserved for whoever lives on the other side. Snort.

Bonneville Dam. Tourist season is over so a lot of the typical attractions, like the salmon ladder, access to the innards, views from the catwalks are shut down for the winter, so I didn't get much. Besides, I thought my earlier posts on Grand Coulee Dam covered it better.

This is from Bonneville Dam looking west.

Back home in Portland. I'd managed to turn a 100 mile day-trip (according to the map) into a 200 mile drive that took about 6 hours. Typical. Nice storm clouds rolling in from the east, where I just came from.

Next morning, sunrise with Mt. Hood.

Next: Columbia River Gorge a week later and about 30 degrees cooler. Brr...

2006-12-10T20:56:00.000-08:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 16

Sushi, barns, meadows, lakes and Erik Larson

My friend Jim will appreciate this.
Somewhere in Beaverton.
Where's my cat?

Beer with the guys from work at one of Portland's many, many fine pubs and breweries. Portland is one of the best beer towns on the planet, with local breweries producing some of the best beers in the country. If you must, you can get an ordinary commercial beer, but that would be foolish. I've had beers here that are 7.5, even 9.5 alcohol. I don't know what the line is between beer and white lightning, but this stuff is right there. At this place I got the sampler tray of about ten beers in double shot glasses, from dark and bitter to light and sweet, and I only made it through about 5 double shots and I was double shot.

Somewhere southwest of Beaverton I found this magnificent barn, probably one of the best I've seen so far. A real beauty. A three-story structure with waterfront access in the back.

Schoolhouse or church for sale, fixer upper, southwest of Beaverton.

I don't know what this is or was - part barn, part church, part root cellar, meeting hall, schoolhouse. It's fantastic!

This is Erik Larson, author of Isaac's Storm and The Devil in the White City signing copies of his new book Thunderstruck at Powells Bookstore in Beaverton. He gave a good hour-long talk to a crowd of about 100 fans, discussing his work methods, routines, research methods, adventures and professional background. It was a fascinating talk peppered with terrific anecdotes and amusing events in his career. We chatted briefly but I got to tell him how much I enjoy his work. He must have signed 300+ books because people had multiple copies of Thunderstruck and copies of his other books, each of which he cordially signed. He lives in Seattle, about a 3-hour drive from Portland.

Next: My Saturday November 25th day trip to Washington to explore the north side of the Columbia River and the Columbia Gorge.

2006-12-10T01:40:00.000-08:00

Looking for paintings - Part 15

The Oregon Coast and Tillamook Bay.

After a scary drive down Route 6 from Banks to Tillamook, I finally made it to the Oregon Coast. One thing I really like about Oregon beaches is that they're flat and hard. No mushy white sand to struggle across. The perfect beach for playing Frisbee with your dog. These shots are on the beach in Oceanside.

Night was falling as the white foam intensified and I realized I'd be driving back to Portland in the dark through the Tillamook State Forest on some scary mountain roads and with stormy weather visible in those mountains.

This is Tillamook Bay, looking east. It reminded me very much of Ireland and Scotland with that silvery steel blue-gray water and the foreboding rain clouds in the distant mountains.

Isn't this a fantastic picture? I was zipping along this two-lane, rut-infested bayside road hoping to reach civilization before the light disappeared entirely when I saw this. As usual, there were no other cars in sight, so when I stopped abruptly to grab this shot I knew I wouldn't have some bumper-sniffing Hummer plowing into me. The lighting is amazing. The setting sun is actually behind me, illuminating the storm clouds to the east, where I'm headed. Those old dead trees look like some long-abandoned pier, and I don't know why they happen to be arranged in such an orderly manner, but I sure appreciate it. Click on any picture to make it full screen.

Next: Sushi, barns, meadows, lakes, houses and Erik Larson.

2006-12-09T23:06:00.000-08:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 14

More exploring around Portland and beyond

About four miles north of Portland on Route 30 is the town of Linnton... oops... there it went. On the south end of town, just off the road where you can easily miss it if you blink, is Linnton's old train station, built in the 1930s. It sits quarantined behind some oil company fence that prevents you from walking on private, highly toxic ground and getting too close to this asbestos laden building that looks like it escaped from a Charles Addams cartoon. I had an entertaining chat with the security guard for the company that owns the land (and probably the building) and he said there had been talk of converting it to a museum of some sort, but the asbestos in the building presented a problem. So there it sits, isolated and brooding, locked away from admirers of buildings of great character who are forced to keep their distance by the chain link fence that surrounds it. Isn't it magnificent?

On November 18 I decided to finally drive to the coast, about 1.5 hours drive under normal conditions and with a normal driver who wants to go from Point A to Point B. But, hey... it's me.

Heading for Tillamook, I started west along Route 26 and meandered onto some of the side roads before switching over to Route 6 near the town of Banks. It took me four hours to get to Tillamook. A week earlier there had been some terrific rainstorms in those mountains, something like ten inches in a day, and it all ran down into Tillamook, washing away campgrounds, RV parks, lots of land and trees, and probably some cattle. Some houses I saw in Tillamook had mud levels as high as 7 feet. Lawns were littered with furniture, clothing, toys and miscellaneous household goods ready to be salvaged or trashed.

Route 6, the road I took to get there, had been littered with mud, rocks, trees and ruts, and it's a major east/west road. Sunlight was fading quickly and by the time I was done shopping at the Tillamook Cheese store, it was dark.

I had found Route 6 through the Tillamook State Forest to be so treacherous and nerve-wracking that I decided to take a different route back. I opted for Route 53 about 25 miles north of Tillamook. Big mistake. I learned later that there are no homes, businesses or people along most of Route 53 and that the reason I didn't see any signs of civilization along the way is because there was none. About every ten minutes or more I'd pass another car coming from the opposite direction. It was pretty much a winding two-lane road, it was pitch black except for my headlights, and it was raining heavily, with intermittent hail and sporadic fog, sometimes all at once. Driving with high beams in fog is like driving into a sand-blasted mirror. Driving with low beams forced me to do about 20 mph, relying on the road I could see about 50 feet ahead and hoping that some deer or Mr. and Mrs. Bigfoot didn't leap out in front of me. Every inch of me was tense, alert and anticipatory so that the 18 mile drive on Route 53 felt like 100 miles. I was exhausted when I finally hooked up with Route 26, and at that point it was still 65 miles back to Portland.

And that's why I don't have too many photos of this day trip. But here are some pix from somewhere off Route 26 earlier in the day.

And, of course, another obligatory weathered farm structure. There's something so attractive about barns, clouds and open pasture! All of the landscapes here can be found within 40 minutes of downtown Portland and only recently have developers begun pushing to the west, primarily around Hillsboro. West of Hillsboro is the small town of Forest Grove which is the end of the line for the current MAX light rail service. I'm sure in the very near future, that rail service will extend further west toward Banks. Check your Yahoo or Google maps. And don't forget to click on any picture to make it full screen.

Next: The Oregon Coast and Tillamook Bay.

2006-12-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 13

Portland

This is a re-posting of Part 13. For some reason only the text part of this post went through and I don't know how to edit just that text, so I'm going to re-post all of Part 13. Here it is, again, with 13 pictures...

For those of you who want to know, all the photos you've seen posted on this Blog were taken with a Canon PowerShot S400 Digital Elph, 4.0 Mega Pixels. This is a sturdy workhorse of a digital camera and I've been very pleased with the results I've gotten with it. I carry it in my coat pocket, shirt pocket or pants pocket, depending on the weather or how covert I want to be. The only complaint I have with it is a very minor one: Sometimes I just can't get a second shot off fast enough because of the camera's response time. It's not like one of those motorized 35mm film cameras where you get a shot, get a shot, get a shot, as fast as you can push the button. The fastest I can get a second shot is about four seconds after the first. No big deal, except for those moments when you want to get consecutive action or grab two or three shots of something in passing. I can live with it. None of the photos have been Photoshopped or altered in any way except for those few where I cropped the image to emphasize a composition or to frame a scene. What you see is exactly what I saw the instant I saw it. I always prefer available light and seldom resort to using flash except when a) It won't matter, such as wide open spaces where the flash will have no impact or b) Where the only source of illumination is the flash. Usually the flash shots are obvious, like guys drinking beer in a dark old bar. Okay, let's move along...

My rental condo is the fourth one from the left, second floor, partially obscured by that evergreen tree in the foreground. The construction stuff you see in the picture is for a new 20-story condo complex that probably won't be finished for another year. It ought to obscure most of the view directly eastward for the folks that live in the first three condos. Meanwhile, my view directly eastward looks like the next three shots.

That's early morning fog blowing off. Below is a night shot.

My kind of road, in the hills about three miles behind my condo.

Just across the Columbia River in Washington, about ten miles from Portland on I-5 is the Vancouver Lake Wildlife Preserve. The day I drove there, Canadian Geese were gathering, ready to begin their migration south. They'd been gathering at Vancouver Lake and were in for the night. This felt like one of those African Safari movies showing the wildlife gathering at the watering hole. There must have been thousands of geese here, all honking they're beaks off. Click to enlarge the picture and start counting.

Southwest of Portland, near Beaverton and Tualatin, I found some protected marshland where more birds were gathering. I got as close as I could, but not close enough to photograph the birds. So I settled for some fall foliage, late October.

And the obligatory weathered farm structure...

And a nice, early morning foggy fall foliage shot to wrap it up for today.

Next: Some great old buildings, more landscapes and the odd...

2006-12-03T19:55:00.000-08:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 12

The last posting was a bit confusing. I was trying to fix a date to some of the images, most of which were taken about two months prior to this posting, and moving suddenly into past tense made it sound like I was talking about things that happened today. Not so. I'll try to put a reference date to the posts from now on. Sorry for the confusion.

In and around Portland, probably October 21, 2006

This is the Burlington Northern Santa Fe bridge, about four miles north of Portland on Route 30, used exclusively for BNSF trains. Access to it for a good photo was almost impossible. This is the best I could do.

Here's a link to a website with more info, and a shot of the bridge in the up position to let a ship under. That's facing Portland which can be seen in the background to the right.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:BNSFBridge(Portland).jpg

This is under St. John's Bridge which crosses the Willamette River about a mile north of the BNSF bridge. It's a real pretty bridge with a beautiful park underneath.

Here's a link to everything you ever wanted to know about St. John's Bridge:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:BNSFBridge(Portland).jpg

About two miles east of downtown Portland is Laurelhurst Park, a stunning neighborhood park surrounded by equally stunning turn-of-the-century homes

Strolling through this park on a Sunday morning made me think of Lady and the Tramp and that era when people went strolling through the park, saying "hello" and appreciating the serenity.

One of the cozy little pathways along the water's edge, stuffed with colorful foliage.

The park takes up about one city block.

Here's an interesting link for more info:
http://www.ourlaurelhurst.org/wiki/index.php/Laurelhurst_Park

Next: More Portland pictures, weather and stuff.

2006-12-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 11

I had my meeting with the Laika folks and am set to start work on Monday, October 16. This set of photos was taken on October 15, 2006. This condo is owned by my friend Jack Heiter and it became available for rent today. It has one bedroom, bath, living room and kitchen, with stove, fridge, dishwasher and a balcony. The cleaners will clean the place today and it should be ready to move into on Tuesday the 17th when the rental furniture arrives. I stopped by to check out the view so I can share it with you. The condo faces east. Just imagine that the following seven pictures are linked together to form one huge pan shot. You can see where the overlaps occur for the David Hockney panorama I'll piece together in the future.

The pan starts facing South.The pan ends facing North.

The crane in the second picture is for the construction of a 40 floor hotel or condo complex, I'm not sure which. It should pretty much block the view of the condo owners about two buildings over, and I'm sure they appreciate it.
The second crane in the last two pictures is being used to finish off construction of another condo complex to the north, and it won't be anywhere near as tall and scene-ruining. The weather for just about my entire trip so far has been like this. Tomorrow, when I start work, it'll rain. And in a matter of days, autumn will arrive and the seasons will change conspicuously.
Next morning the first hints of autumn moved in, but the view is still great. In the weeks ahead I'll be taking lots of pictures from my balcony, capturing the changing weather patterns and season's colors as they roll by.
Sunrise around October 18. That's Mt. Hood in the distance, about 50 miles away.
Probably the same day. That's Mt. St. Helens in the center of the picture in Washington. Small and very faintly in the distance, visible to the left of Mt. St. Helens is Mt. Rainier, about 85 miles away (not that easily visible lump to the left but the faint one that's kind of hard to see). I have better pictures coming, when the weather was better, but this was impressive.

Next: Local color and more balcony stuff.

2006-11-30T21:20:00.000-08:00

Looking for Paintings - Part 10

Back in Portland

So it's the week of October 9 and I'm back in Portland at Jack Heiter's house waiting for a meeting with the folks at Laika. The weather is perfect and I'm out exploring the area. This is a pumpkin patch in Gresham, a town a couple of miles east of downtown Portland. I like the fact that if you drive about ten minutes out of downtown Portland, you're either in a pumpkin patch, a pasture, a farm or the woods. Click on the picture to make it screen sized.

This is Willamette River Park near Lake Oswego.

This is Willamette Falls. I remember the town of Willamette Falls on maps. I don't know why they'd want to change the name of the town to Oregon City, but they did. Not sure what the factory is all about, but it's old, has a lot of character and makes a good picture.

A close up of the factory.

A little south of West Linn is the small town of Canby, which has its very own six-car ferry boat that crosses the Willamette River. It's pretty much a short cut for local residents and it costs $1. The crossing takes about 5 minutes, maybe.

Willamette Park near the town of Lake Oswego.

A few days later I found myself back in Gresham where I found this wonderful farmer's market where they had huge wooden tubs and boxes filled with all sorts of apples and squash.

Another pumpkin patch at another location in Gresham.

Somewhere in the hills to the west of downtown Portland where they're building big, scenery-obliterating houses near this ominous sign which states: DEAD END STREET TO BE CONTINUED WITH FUTURE DEVELOPMENT. I love the sentiment.

I nice foggy hillside at the same location, minus the Dead End sign. I hope the hillside wins.

Next: From my balcony and around the neighborhood.