15 Minutes of Beer on the Wall

After the Jackals Win of the FAHL C Division Championship, Mike Stangler at 850 the Buzz informed us that our team is the first to win the Miller Lite Team of the Month.



I finally get my 15 minutes and I'm surrounded by giant beer bottles.

http://www.850thebuzz.com/millersalute.html

There is also a radio interview but you'll have to listen to the show to hear it. I haven't hear it myself but as I understand it, my captain was able to fit in the word metrosexual while likening the stanley cup to a garbage pail.

go Jackals,

This is an illustration I created for this week's Picture-Bookies Showcase theme, Friends. I guess with all the re-writing and packaging I did this week for Dinocow, I felt like it would make a good topic.

Plus I was getting a bit tired of painting yeti. Though I should confess, I almost did my rendition of Yeti and Tramp.



visit the dinocow

Do I Feel Lucky?

That little white envelop on the left side of this photo holds the fate of my manuscript HOW TO MILK A DINOCOW. That envelop will prove that number 13 is either lucky or not.



If I never see that envelop, it will mean that HOW TO MILK A DINOCOW will be in a publisher’s catalog in summer 2009. However, if that envelop returns to my mailbox, it is rejection letter number 13 for DINOCOW.

Now, number 13, that’s a lot of rejection letters to keep track of. Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is #13 DINOCOW, the most powerful manuscript in the world, and would blow your socks clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question:

Do I feel lucky?

Well, do ya, punk?

Apex High School

If you get a chance, please stop by my classroom blog to view some of the paintings the art one students at Apex High have been working on. I’m so impressed with this group. They did an outstanding job.

Wog Close Up!!



I had a feeling the Wog would be around again sometime this weekend. So this time instead of using my camera phone, which takes less than perfect photos, I borrowed my wife’s digital camera with the zoom.

Early yesterday morning, I hung a towel over the railing of the back deck. It wasn’t till this afternoon that I needed it. I laid down on the deck, hiding behind the towel so the Wog couldn’t see me. Still, it must have been able to sense I was there because it looked really uneasy. It kept sniffing the air and making that grunting sound.


sketch I made last week. I think I did a good job capturing what it looked like without any reference.

The only problem was the towel blocked my view and I couldn’t get a good shot until I moved it. As soon as I did, the Wog took off. I snapped three shots, two of which are total blurs. Then there is this one.

I WON!

Editorial Anonymous had a contest. She said send me your first line (or your first two lines, if you must) and I will post a select few to comment on.




I’m a select few! Cause today I looked and there were two lines from my manuscript HOW TO MILK A DINOCOW.

I won for First Line Contest, Humor. How very exciting!! She wrote, and I quote,"I do want to know about the cow."

First, I’d like to thank all the little people who helped me get where I am today.

Mystery Beast Returns

Again it rained and again the Wog, or Rain Wog as it should probably be know, was back. But this time I was almost ready.



I had just pulled up to the house when I spotted the Rain Wog in the yard. I grabbed my camera phone and jumped out of the jeep. The Wog, which looked as if it were digging for food (grubs or seeds I assume) sat straight up and glared at me. It grunted three times then dashed towards the trees.



I ran after it. It ran about halfway up the first tree then to my astonishment, lept to the branches of the tree directly over me.



This photo clearly shows the outer anatomy of the Wog. You can even see the pads on the bottom of its paws. Two seconds later it was on the roof of my house and then it was gone.

UPDATE: Eye-witness Account

My students were looking at the photos of the Rain Wog and one of the girls said that she has seen it. So I asked her to tell me what she saw. Here is her account.

It was one afternoon when I was babysitting. The kids were out back on the trampoline. That’s when I saw it (Wog) in the pines trees. Then it scurried away up the tree.

*****

I have received many suggestions as to what the mysterious creature that showed up in my yard after the rainstorm might have been. The Long-tailed Weasel was the most common suggestion.

Though The Long-tailed Weasel has some of the characteristics of the Wog; similar size and coloring, and are even suppose to be adept at climbing trees, I’m not sure they have the jumping/gliding capability that the Wog has.

Mystery Creature (Wog) Sketch

The mystery creature came around again last night. I didn’t see it this time but my son did. He went to let the dog in because it was barking and said he saw something strange in the tree grunting at the dog. When the creature saw my son, it sprang into the trees and disappeared.

This is a sketch I did of what it looked like to me when I saw it. My son called it a wog because he said it looked like a mix between a weasel and a dog.

Any Idea What Type of Animal This Is?

I have a small pond in my backyard where I keep my turtles. It’s not unusual to find animals drinking out of the pond, especially my dogs. We had a rainstorm today and right after the storm I saw this little guy drinking out of the pond. He would hop down off the fence, drink out of the pond, then jump back up and disappear behind the fence.



At first I thought it was a squirrel but it was a little too big to be a squirrel. Plus it was more white and brown and the only squirrels we have around here are gray.



Then I thought maybe it was a fox squirrel. I have seen them down on the coast where my parents live. They are a little larger than regular squirrels and I think they come in white and brown (I’ve only seen the black ones with the white faces).



I tried to get a closer look but it sort of grunted (like piggish sounding?) and jumped away into the tree. It was a nice jump too, about 15 feet from the fence to the tree. Sort of looked like it glided (flying squirrel). Then it jumped to the other tree and it was gone.

Citrus Yeti-ade



click to enlarge

A few steps in the yeti-ade illustration. I think I decided on this being my last yeti.

I was sticking with the yeti/fox subject while I played around with different methods for applying the mixed media. Does chalk go over paint? Under paint? What happens when paint goes over chalk? Over colored pencil? Stuff like that.



For this illustration, I’m fairly happy with the combination of the media but I’m not so satisfied with the application. I botched a lot of this job.



I’m also dissatisfied with the composition. Look at the left foot of the yeti. Where is it? I was rushing the drawing to get to the painting. Big mistake.

Yeti-ade

Making lemonade with a yeti can be messy work. Maybe this is the reason the yeti was hiding from the fox in the first place. Looks like the fox is pretty disgusted.



Sketch for this week’s Illustration Friday word, citrus.

Hockey News

The accolades keep coming. My captain just got a call from Mike Stangler at 850 the Buzz informing him that the Jackals are the first team to win the Miller Lite Team of the Month. He is supposed to go to the studio next week for an interview that will be played on the air. We are also supposed to get a prize pack.

Prizes? How very exciting!

Surprise



click to enlarge

Another in the yeti series.

Motivation from a Movie

'A League of Their Own' was on TV last night. I've seen it before but hadn't remembered this line.

Dottie Hinson (on quitting the league): It just got too hard.

Jimmy Dugan: It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great.

Ian Sands
http://www.ponywombat.com

Neighbor



click to enlarge

See the work in progress.

View the early sketches.

Better Be Worth It

Working on my new illustration for IF's word neighbor, I pulled the light closer. The light gave way and fell to the table knocking over a large cup of water I was using for the paint. The water fell on the side of my art desk where I store all my paintings.



Every painting I've created in the last few months (excluding the ones on hanging my wall) got wet. Nice.



But that's ok. The water was pretty clean and they'll dry. In the meantime, I feel I'm moving in the right direction with these yeti, at least as far as illustration is concerned. They are smaller, freer, whimsical, yet still scribblely (is that a word?).

Smaller Neighbors

Since last year, my artwork has become larger and larger. The last few pieces, like the water towers, had to painted on the floor. Wouldn’t fit on my art table.

Now that is all fine and good for fine art. Not so fine for illustration. So I'm reeling myself in.



This week's illustration for IF titled neighbor is going to be small. Look how much smaller it is than last week's yeti. I'm also working on illustration board. I'm also working on my art table. First time in a year. Imagine that.

Wow! I made it!

My post titled On The Left Hand Side of Jacketflap is number three on jacketflap.com's, menu titled 'Most Commented Posts' In the past 7 days.

Besides the day my children were born, and the day they printed my name in the phone book, and the day I defeated Apollo Creed, this is the best day of my life!

I would like to thank all the little people, the streetlight people, the village people, and the confused people who don't realize that pizza is only pizza when you don't need a knife and fork to eat it, for helping make my dream come true (wipes tear from eye).

Ian Sands
http://www.ponywombat.com

On the left hand side of jacketflap.com, I noticed that there is a menu titled 'Most Commented Posts' In the past 7 days. The blog entry with the fewest comments is 36 and the blog post with the most comments is 84.

I was thinking I could have a blog entry with at least 36 comments. That is, as long as I wished really hard for my comment dream to come true.

So here I go. Just like the pig farmer sang, Dont stop believin. Hold on to the feelin, streetlight people.

Ian Sands
http://www.ponywombat.com

Hiding Place, Part 2

Here's the illustration I'm posting for this week's Picture-Bookies Showcase theme, Hiding Place.



click here to enlarge

It's a Bigfoot hiding from the fox from that famous children's book story, the Fox and the Yeti. I'm sure you are all familiar.

Hiding Place

This is an illustration I'm working on for this week's Picture-Bookies Showcase theme, Hiding Place.



It's another yeti, or maybe it's a Bigfoot. He is hiding from the fox. I'm not sure why he is hiding. Maybe he found out what the fox did to the gingerbread man and figured he was next.




I'm still working on it. I'm not sure I like how it's coming along. I'm always trying different ways to mix media. This paper was a little thin and ripped when I was applying the chalk pastel. Of course I was impatient and didn't wait for the watercolor paint to dry. Still, it would have worked out better on a slice of illustration board. That's what all the hip, young illustrators are using these days.



My other option is to go with an older illustration. I have one of a musk turtle hiding in the weeds.

Maybe I should have a vote. Should I go with the yeti or the musk? Commenter, you say what?