A Cross on the Bay

A cross that bears a mighty sail
beyond the shade of the Bodhi tree
pulls the boat so light and frail
towards the shores of destiny

A sea of reeds and blocks of stone
endanger the integrity of the hull
and inhibit a swift and safe trip home
emphasizing the power of fate's control.

So common the catches of the fisher's bay
when lambent rays touch mountain peaks
but as the waves reflect the sun of midday
both the fish and line turn oblique.

Hang High and Snooze

To sleep 18 hours a day and only awaken to chew on some eucalyptus leaves... ahhh, now that's the life...

Yes, another eyeless animal. I didn't put much effort into the tree or background, but that is only to draw attention to the koala bear... well, it's actually a marsupial, and is a closer relative to the possum or wombat than to the bear. Bears don't have pouches, koala's do.

They don't only eat and get high on eucalyptus, they also eat mistletoe, which is as poisonous as eucalyptus. The koala has an excellent tolerance for their drugged out diet. For being stoned out of their pouch all the time, its no wonder that they only have sex once a year.

Their eccentric lifestyles are probably the result of a traumatic childhood. After only 35 days of gestation, the baby koala (a "joey") is born hairless and blind and, without the help of any parent, climbs into it's mother's pouch aided only by their sense of smell.

What the hell does a pouch smell like anyway? I bet it smells like chili... Yeah, chili cheeze burritos... Mmmmm, I think I'm getting the munchies...

Morning in the Dorm

This is an ink and graphite drawing of my dorm room back at ISU. It was the view I awoke to every moring and watched as I read my morning paper and drank coffee. This drawing is quite minimalist in style, yet captures the feeling quite well. It has an oriental equilibrium. Rather relaxing...

Catching Your Tail

Another eyeless drawing...
What happens when you get a hold of yourself?
Do you spin in circles or stand still?
Hold on too hard
and you yelp and loose hold.
Hold too loose
and you let yourself slip away.
Hold too long
and you stiffen into a fossil.
Hold to short
and you forget what you held.
Best to let go deliberately
and catch it again.

Mist covered mountain

Static to the ear and eye
mist becomes a bead
sliding from the brow.

[This was done in ink. The water and fog is a wash and the rest were felt pen.]

My Girl

Here's my girl when she was 16. She was cynical and sarcastic, a budding artist with an innate contempt for all those that imposed boundaries. Her dedication was to the creative. Her passion was the original. 

Climbing the Strings

Does anyone have any scissors? 

Typhon - The Man-Serpent

Here is my depiction of Typhon, the half-man, half-snake son of Gaia and Tartarus. This beast was feared by every god but Zeus. Gaia summonded him to avenge the deaths of the Titans by punishing the Olympians. He was a powerful warrior and even managed to dismember the hands and feet of Zeus. Hermes and Pan retrieved Zeus' severed limbs and mended his wounds. Meanwhile Typhon had grown comfortable and confident and his days as champion amongst the gods were numbered. The Fates, commanded by Zeus, had overfed the man-serpent and made him lethargic from gluttony. Zeus siezed the opportunity to crush the beast under Mount Etna. 

Blah.........

This is how I feel today... Well more accurately how I felt sometime in February of 2003. I was living in my apartment at school and partied every night. It was quite draining as you can see from the image. Everything became a long, faded blur... 

Foot in the Door

This was the sole item of my pre-publishing editorial cartooning portfolio that landed me the job at the Daily Vidette. The half circle looking thing is the northern hemisphere on a juicer. So GW is screwing the world for oil in this pic. The girl at the Vidette wanted to use this drawing, but it was too big for the scanner. 

Getting Down to Business

This may have been my first "real" colored pencil drawing. Notice how reluctant I was to abandon the two-toned style that I was comfortable with because of graphite. (note: I had used colored pencils before but they were either from the dollar store or crayola, which if you've used prismacolor or sanford, you know that the others aren't "real" colored pencils, they're just crayons in disguise) 

From Two Comes One

This is a lithograph my girlfriend made for an art class she took at ISU. She was going through a creative drought and had me draw the image to be embedded in the stone. I asked her what theme she wanted and she said "love" (she was and still is quite the sentimental romantic). So I drew her and I together. I tried to blend our likelinesses together. Her eyebrow leads into mine. My nose blends into her cheek. Only the her lock of hair seperates us. You also get the feeling that I'm whispering something into her ear... sweet nothings? words of influence? The hint of a smile leads me to believe the former. 

The Anonymous Mental Bust

Here is a mental bust that I drew with a regular number 2 pencil. I used graphite later on to darken the background. This was drawn during some class I took in college, most likely a philosophy class. Could it be Plato? Perhaps a young Socrates?  

The Minimalist Tramp

The Tramp 

He can be your long lost pal!

Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Al Sharpton! 

Good Sweet Luck on Your Finals

This never made it to print, but it was intended for the Daily Vidette. It would've been my last editorial cartoon as a student of ISU. (note: that group down at the bottom included my girlfriend at the time and my roommate siging his signature finals song that had become a hit among those of south campus. It was played on the university radio station frequently during finals week) 

You're Fired!!!

This appeared in the Daily Vidette. At the time Trump was rumoured to have been considering bankruptcy, even while his hit show "The Apprentice" was increasing it's ratings. (Note: Trumps signature hand gesture, and the monopoly guys at the board table). 

Al Sadr the All Powerful

This was published in the Daily Vidette. This was a shot at Al Sadr. At the time he was very adament about instilling fear in the west. He was quoted as saying the caption, which is funny because in the Koran that is what Muhammad said of Allah. So it was as though Al Sadr considered himself on the same level as Allah. Makes sense though, these clerics play God all the time, making decisions that cost lives and all... Quite disrespectful to the man upstairs. 

Goddamned Goat

This was published in the Daily Vidette. Now no matter how hard we all prayed, nothing was able to ward off the curse of the goat! After that fatal catch by an eager fan to help the Cubs lose that delicate momentum they had, the ball was blown to pieces in a ceremony at Wrigley field to abolish this curse of the goat.

Bush Abortion Demogoguery

This was published in the Daily Vidette. The war in Iraq was being described as a quagmire, photos of rows and rows of military coffins were all over the news, but the Bush administration redirected the attention of the public to the abortion issue. As though he was trying to remind his conservative Christian constintuency why they should support him. Unfortunately it wouldn't be to the Republican's benefit to ever actually get rid of abortion. Abortion is a useful tool to keep pro-life voters as a reliable constituency. If they were to pass legislation to eliminate abortion, then the pro-lifer's would have no reason to vote for the republicans.