Illustration: Donkey Burger Logo Trials

I recently was creating a logo for Donkey Burger, the fast-food restaurant in The Book of Bartholomew. A donkey was the first order of business. I needed to create a comical donkey head. Below are some trials of different donkey heads. You can see that I had a pretty good beginning and only tweaked hair, mouth, ears and eyes from this point. My first go is the upper left image in the group of eight. I didn't like the hair, so I printed out several incomplete donkey heads and then tried different hair styles.

After I settled on a hair style, I wasn't happy with the ears.  I had one thin ear and one big ear.  They didn't match.  At first I copied and pasted the thin ear to the other side of his head, so they matched.  I didn't quite like this.  Then I created a big ear for the front, to match the one in the back. I liked this better.

Now that I had the donkey head like I wanted it (although I still want to change the eyes slightly) I made it into an official Donkey Burger logo by adding the name, some circles and stars and the tagline. I like "Meat with a Kick," which is safer than the other choice of "Eat My Ass."

This logo will appear on the next published story in The Book of Bartholomew. The story is titled "Lunch Rap," and will be published on March 18 at http://www.bookofbartholomew.com/

I hope you enjoyed this. Keep using your Donkey...ooops!... I mean, your Artist's Brain.

Drawing: Glass of Water

Here is a glass of water to go with the salad.

Drawing: Salad

I decided to draw a salad the other day. It will be an illustration for the story Someone To Call Home. I went to the kitchen and tore apart Romain lettuce leaves, added sliced red onion, feta cheese, diced apple and pine nuts. I topped it all off with some ranch dressing. I then sat and drew for three hours. I sketched out the bowl and a few "landmarks" with pencil and then began drawing with ink. I was getting hungry and happy to finish the drawing and eat the salad.

I know some artists who would gather every Wednesday night, draw/paint the food they were going to eat that night and then cook it and eat it. I joined them one night to paint a plate of shrimp that we then grilled. That was delicious, too. Food and art go together, don't you think?

Drawing: Frog Drawing

Here is a frog drawing I created quite a long time ago. It has been in storage for at least ten years. I used it in the story #3: Geraldine, from The Book of Bartholomew.  It looks just fine here as a digital image, but the paper which it is on is very thin and when I was shading in the area underneath his chin I pressed too hard.  This resulted in the paper buckling and puckering.  The lead is also shiny and different from the rest.  That is why it has been in storage.  BUT, it looks good here.  It was used as a background image behind the text in the story Geraldine. 

I have painted and drawn frogs over the years.  My interest goes back to a quote from a Flannery O'Connor book in which she describes a column of souls rising to heaven like an endless stream of frogs leaping over each other on their way to salvation.  I think humans are somewhat froggy.  We are uglier and more primal than we think.

I hope you all are having a nice holiday season, when we take time to see the beauty in those around us.

Oil Painting: Mangoes

This is a 16" x 20" oil painting of two mangoes.  These were originally painted for the second story in The Book of Bartholomew in which some kids get stranded on a deserted-island.  The question is what to do if there isn't enough food?  Thinking of what food might be found on an island, I opted for mangoes.  After all, I had to eat them when I was done painting them. I used red mangoes because there is murder in the story.  The pink background was a moment of inspiration.

Oil Painting: Boiling Frog

This is Boiling Frog, an oil painting based on the phrase "like a frog in boiling water."  The phrase refers to the fact that frogs are cold blooded and can, if you desire, slowly be brought to a boil without realizing it.  I find it an appropriate symbol for the world's current predicament, as we seem to have fallen on hard times without recognizing the warning signs.  I painted this piece for The Book of Bartholomew.  In the third story, Bartholomew falls in love like a frog slowly being boiled in water.

Oil Painting: Corn, Beans and Kale

Looking back I see that I have not posted the final image of Corn, Beans and Kale from the first story in The Book of Bartholomew.  This is a 16" x 14" oil painting.  Bon appetit!