Wow, I slid right through November and half of December - part of that was FA's problems with their (now former) ISP, and then I had problems with <i>my</i> ISP. Just a jolly round of fun and games all around.

Two new items in my Scraps section. I should have something for my Gallery eventually. We'll see...

I had a story for the recent BIZMAR meme, but never got past the script stage, which was just as well:

A knock is heard at the front door to Dr Strangecheek's Secret Laboratory; her horrible mutant servant Spudgebub Oddpants answers it, to be faced by WONDER BUNNY! who starts to run past him. "Duh, hey! You can't come in here!" Spudgebub dimly cries, trying to seize her and finding himself holding her outfit instead. All the grimy insects that lurk in his pores come out and begin chanting "Woot! Woot! Shake it, bunnychops!" and other such learned and encouraging commentary.

Wonder Bunny, vaguely aware that she's feeling a cool breeze where she hadn't before, goes up to a door marked "Keep Out! Especially you, Spudge /signed/ Dr S" and opens it. Inside she is confronted by a vast auditorium full of zombies who rise to their feet (such as have them), at first roaring with hunger - and then sitting down again, grumbling, "Arrr ... duumbb buuunnny ... nooo braaaains..."

Speaking of braaains ... we next find seated in a swanky restaurant that unpleasant fellow, Jack Salem ( © Roz Gibson), preparing to partake of some nice fresh monkey brains! Straight from the monkey's head, urgh. "Just like Mom ...never made it," he grins.

And somewhere in the Assteroid Ring, our favorite Aliens are still slouched on that stolen sofa, watching the show and chirping, "Now THAT'S showbiz! How d'ya find this crazy shit?" while Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons serves them Kentucky fried Smurfs and glasses of delicious carbon tetrachloride.

Ah, well, time for a new meme obviously.

(background music: "Mythoidea" by Vangelis)

Well, aside from Mike Curtis I don't think anyone from Rowrbrazzle showed up - even Karno, who I expected, stayed home. The con itself was quiet, and passed into history without notable incident, aside from the fact that it was to be the last one held at that hotel.

Three items for the Scraps Dept. here with more in the near future. I thought about saving them for the next issue of Rowrbrazzle, but that's not coming out until later next month, by which time the theme will have become ancient history.

Not that the weather is suddenly cooler, but still. Here is one more item in the Scraps section - I leave for MFM at dawn tomorrow, or before dawn actually, which means I have to shut down all of my computers to protect them from such power outages as may take place in my absence. Those who may be reading this and attending MFM are invited to play an exciting game of Where's Trivialink? - this applies to members of Rowrbrazzle as well.

...for the next several months. Idiots who claim Global Warming is a hoax are invited to come here and walk around the block a couple of times - the hospital's emergency ward isn't that far away from here.

Meanwhile I've posted something in the Scraps area that may be of interest - my next several subs here may wind up there as well - which won't show up on the front page here.

I am also dealing with getting ready for MFM and the sudden appearance of two hurricanes in the near future. Ah well...

Two months since my last submission here - but it's not been due to lack of inactivity. Early in May I found another book of drawings by R. Crumb (to go with the several others by him in my Library), resulting in what seems to be yet another Influence for me to deal with. It won't last, of course, but there will be traces left behind, like muddy footprints left by a visiting burglar, or something like that.

In a reply on another FA artist's page, I mentioned a series of drawing I made in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Rita a few years ago, and it occurred to me that I could perhaps post them here. Unfortunately there something like 80 of the things - already scanned etc. - but still, that's a lot to suddenly drop on FA's servers in one swell foop. Posting, say, 10 per week might work, but that's ~2 months, and blocks newerr stuff. Hmm.

Hot weather coming up, yet we leave the doors and windows open to catch the occasional breeze for much of the day, a result of current economic difficulties that has had us watching the thermostat and the power bill with cautious eyes. Low humidity helped a lot, but recent rains have rather spoiled that for us. Ah, well...

...have come together during most of this past month, but mostly it's been the wind, first from the south, then the north, then south again, etc etc. Not that I'm complaining, they have been keeping the temperature down pretty well between them. With the coming the some heavy rain last week, though, the temp has gone back up toward whatever passes for normal around here - today we had to run the AC for the first time, and to be frank we should have done so yesterday.

Meanwhile I've been grappling with that strange thing called Rowrbrazzle, with reference to the 101st issue that is now, even later than usual, about to go whirling out into the Mailstrom. In the meantime I find myself drawing bunigirl pr0n in an old sketchbook, turned upside down so that I can use the back of the pages already used. Some of them aren't all that bad, with some work a few could easily wind up here or at DA. We'll see.

For the greater part of last year we had a fair-sized hornets nest over the front door without having any problems with the buzzing critters. Perhaps it was due to their familiarity from the start with our coming and going, or perhaps due to my confronting them early on with a choice of leaving us alone or getting the hose. Anyhow it was all cool, and I don't think the Elderly Parent was ever aware of their presence, even though he passed under the nest many times during the year. They were black hornets, which probably helped as they tend to be better to have around than the more irritable reds. The nest was presently vacated back in December and soon came down.

This past Sunday, while in the kitchen I noticed one of this year's generation of black hornets crawling fitfully inside the window. Now, the kitchen window is in two horizontal parts: the top is fixed and the bottom moves up to let in outside air through a metal screen, and it was in the lower section that the hornet had trapped itself. The screen was torn in several places at the bottom and this was where the hornet had gotten in; it was now angrily going back and forth at the top where the screen was intact. After a few minutes of this I left it to its own devices, assuming that it would eventually make its way to the bottom and freedom.

Well, y'know, it didn't. It was still there the next morning. Seeing how things stood, I got a glass tumbler and a flat object, and opened the window enough for the hornet to climb over the frame onto the upper window where I trapped it under the glass and released it outside.

A bit later I returned to the kitchen to find a hornet, perhaps the same one, buzzing angrily inside the same window, pacing back and forth just as before. This time I went outside with a screwdriver, pried the screen from its place (with the hornet still clinging to it - I shook it off and it went away on its business) and replaced the screen upside down. This way, any hornets that got in will find their escape route right there before them.

A couple of days later and no more hornets in the window. It worked, I guess.

I'll eventually repair or replace the screen. Ah, well...

Argh, it's been four months (FA says five) since I lasted posted anything here, though it's not been for idleness on my part. Unfortunately, much of my activity has been directed to other matters, mainly due to the occasional hurricane visitation and so on. Now that a new year and a new president are impending, maybe we can start some things going around here. Such art as I've been able to scribble, mostly in the past couple of weeks, are either directed to good ol' ROWRBRAZZLE or otherwise intended. No doubt by next year I'll have some more stuff to load up FA's servers with instead. We shall see.

Well, here we've managed to survive the Great FA Downtime, and I must say [a certain other site] was hardly even a fair substitute in the meantime. Many thumbs up to the FA Crew for getting things back on track in the face of corporate lethargy and incompetence and the unwanted attentions of Murphy's Law. The first couple of days back were rocky - I had six items set aside for FA's return, and I managed to upload one yesterday but it took almost an hour and I found that I had it uploaded three times, among other annoyances; tonight I finished shipping off the remaining five with no trouble at all.

I may have to do something of a celebratory nature, like actually lay some money down for these guys. Maybe when the piggy bank recovers after MFM.

OK, I managed to coast through April & May without posting much of anything, and no journal entries either.

This past weekend was marked by the complete cession of phone - and therefore intarweb - activity for reasons that remain obscure, though the problem was apparently cleared up in minutes on Monday morning. I survived my disconnection rather well, I think.

In celebration of this epic event, I've posted four items here, three recent, in my gallery to show that yes I'm still here. I scanned an additional three items, including a one-page comic, but those are destined for the next issue of Rowrbrazzle instead.

Among other things, I set up a membership at a Certain Other site (whose initials are DA), mainly so I can see other folx' stuff there, but I'm not sure if I'll actually post anything. We shall see.

As I observed in the first image post of the day, my Adventure with Super Sculpey ended poorly - the original piece was simply a flat rectangle with an image scratched into one side. Curiously encouraged by what I'd read elsewhere, I decided to build up on it, using very thin layers of SS and baking it again. Well, the operation was a success - I have a better grasp on the process - but the patient probably felt like dying, the end result being so moronic-looking that I was tempted toward committing euthanasia. The addition of acrylic paints brought out further problems; however, I'm not entirely discouraged - it seems SS will be handled in the form of 3D art instead (I may salvage it to use as a pedistal). For a model, I have the left hind leg of a Barbie which would be enough of a challenge I hope.

Meanwhile, I notice that a greater part of the drawing I've been doing lately has been with pencils, something I keep returning to again and again. It could be due to its resemblance to the airbrush, with its fine textures and shading and layers, though the fact that it's rather more easily correctible may be a factor as well.

One thing I've always like about Heywulf's (Ken Fletcher) art is the humor behind much of it - always a story of some sort, so that there is a meaning of some sort worth digging for (I could be wrong of course ;P) . Another is the background and general scenery have a sense of being long lived in by folks who have somehow learned how to do so with using it up or abusing it to the point of unliveability. It's like a favorite hat or a comfortable old pair of slippers, familiar to the touch. Of course his casual drawing style seems to have fallen out of style, not being the harsh, hard-edged anime method so beloved of so many these days, but as I have never cared a whit for fashion,I think I can live with it. Meanwhile I keep a weather eye for any stray issues of his various self-pubs, Brixois and such like, as may come athwart my path, as seldom as that may be.

Regardless of the weather elsewhere, Spring seems to be in the air here - temperatures up in the 70s (in Febrauary?), and this mroning your humble host did go forth barefoot to gather the Sunday newspaper to the owl-like cries of lust-crazed Mourning Doves, roosting on the branches of the big Arizona Ash, its branches and twigs covered with swelling buds, the ground below spattered with guano.

So naturally I started clearing up some stuff here, mainly moving a number of items to the Scraps section where they were originally meant to be posted. This is MY guano, I guess.

Since Tegerio (AKA Dr Phlogiston) has stopped posting for Lent and quite rightly so, it has apparently fallen upon the rest of us to take up the burden, or something like that. Here is yet another take on the strange and terrible tale of Zandar Skonk and those buffalo - which has been mostly deleted from his site so if you missed it the first time around you're out of luck. But only until you get a copy of that CD.

or the first post of 2008. I'm inclined to suspect the latter. Two images accompany these words, and as this is an election year we're probably going to wind up feeling a whole like that tree in "Itch."

Only January and already we're in the throes of Spring Cleaning - years of accumulated stuff is being shuffled into different piles, some to stay, others to be passed on to other hands or otherwise discarded, and about time. I'm not so sure about Feng Shui and the circulation of Chi, but I find that when I can freely circulate through my spaces I not only feel generally better but I tend to do more or maybe even better artstuff.

I saw this over on tegerio's journal (originally from Homewood) and am tempted to fill it out for my own fursona, whose phiz you may see hereabouts.


What is the name of your fursona?
Alverdo Bogardus. (Al waves)

Where did the name of your Fursona come from?
First name from a distant relative, last as a "latinized" version of Bogart.

What species is your fursona and why did you choose that species?
A Hooded Skunk. Why? It's hard to say after all this time, aside from the sheer mystery of the unknown lives of the Mighty Striped Ones

What color is your fursona and why?
Black & White. "There are no shades of gray, only black and white." - Diana Fossey

What is your fursona's personality and how does this compare to your irl personality?
Inquisitive, tends to wander in and out of places without being invited; always FINDING things, usually useless to himself but sometimes valuable to others. Is he much like me? (I keep finding people's driver licenses, credit cards, stuff like that, which I turn in).

What is one item your fursona owns that is significant to you irl?
That blue canvas carrying bag slung over his shoulder, which has a real-life counterpart.

What is one thing you thing you would say to your fursona if you could meet?
What is one thing your fursona would say to you if you could meet?
I don't think either of us would have much of anything to say - skunks are not known for vocalizing, and neither somehow am I. Probably just wag our eyebrows at each other and move off in different directions.

How has your fursona changed over the years?
His appearnce has, a bit. His muzzle is shorter and less pointed, for one, and his fur patterns stabilized.

How long have you had this fursona?
Since very early in the 90s, I suppose.

Would you like to be more like your fursona?
Living as I do on the Third Coast, all that thick fur would be murderous during the summer months (which covers most of the year). I'd probably wind up having to keep it trimmed down with an electric razor, and I have other things to do thank you. The neighbors would talk too, though I could just put them off by saying that I'm a contract worker at the Johnson Space Center (which I'm not).

Now tag three other people you would like to learn about.
Dr Louis Rowzee
Abel Tandy Haskell
Georg(e) Krebs
being three ancestors of interest, the first being a French Huguenot physician of the early 17th century who fled first to the Netherlands and then to Canterbury, England; author of a treatise on mental disorders and much later a pamphlet on the subject of drinking clean water (when no one drank water if it were possible to avoid it). The other two from the 19th century simply popped up here without a previous address.

I've come to have a liking for the ballpoint as an artistic drawing tool, as can be seen by the past few postings. The Taral Wayne influence,as it were.

The recurring character who appears in many of these more recent images is one Emily Polechatte, who has been gradually developing in interesting ways. So far she's appeared in one multipage comic that wound up in ROWRBRAZZLE a while back - which I may post here sometime.

I was going to post an informative interesting entry here but the servers went kaBOOM or something, and now I've forgotten what I was going to write.

I also have some artwork finished but not scanned, so that's right out as well.

Ah, well...

After noting for years that the mighty pen of *Taral Wayne*,art ghod, has long been usually of the ballpoint variety, I thought I try using one myself with intriguing results. There still remains the matter of coloring and/or filling in the blacks, but I rather like the more flexible lines the bp allows me. Also, what little I did in the way of artwork (margin scribbles on my class notes in HS and college) was done with just such a pen.

Spent the past several days in the unartistic activities involved with Spring Cleaning (it's spring someplace, Australia?), resulting in my having more room to maneuver indoors.

Looking at my Gallery and Scraps pages, a certain mood of discontent comes over me. Part of the problem is that when I first started this page I didn't know how to put stuff in the Scraps section, so Scraps materials wound up in the Gallery instead. In the near future, this will change. As soon as I figure out how.

I have two things about the site, which is otherwise a nice one:

1) When I first log on I have to hit CTRL+ twice before the font is large enough for me to read without placing my nose on the monitor. The same when I open a linked page in another window.

2) When I'm visiting someone's, or even my, Gallery or Scraps pages, I find myself looking at a thumbnail-sized image with a "Full Size" link underneath. Why not go straight to the full size right off? The index pages already have the thumbs; by doing away with this useless extra page, I imagine FA would save a massive amount of space and bandwidth.

I fully expect to see action on these items, based on the lack of comments here (no readers?),when the Gulf of Mexico starts to boil like the Lake of Fire. Ah, well...

and didn't get around to posting anything here - not that there's nothing to actually post, I just this minute finished pencil-coloring an item of skunpr0n which may someday see light of day or whatever passes for such on this site.

A good part of my time has been taken up with,among other things, putting together some stuff for the next issue (#95) of that curious atavistic endeavor Rowrbrazzle,and much of that was text rather than art. Which means I've been drawing skunkpr0n instead of working on Rowrbrazzle stuff.

The item abovementioned is the latest of a series on that subject, drawn in a sketchbook hand-made by the famous artist and musician JW Kennedy (known here as Tegerio),which I received from him almost 1-1/2 years ago and which is only just now reaching its midpoint. Ink,color and plain pencil,markers, even a try at watercolor (wrong kind of paper, it wrinkled up a bit). I may try airbrush, which is not so wrinkly if done properly. YES I must SPRAY.

Starting the month while part way through MFM and going on from there, I was finally moved by inquiries from certain persons to post some more Freya Crescent (from Final Fantasy IX) material that I've had sitting around. I was overdue for posting something here anyhow.

I'm not strictly speaking a FF fan artist, but after being introduced to this odd yet compelling character by way of a flood of dreadful Freya pr0n posted on Fchan, reading up on the game's story line in general and her role therein in particular, and going to the extent of buying a copy of the FFIX soundtrack on eBay, I can see why there's as much interest in her as there is. I don't have the game, nor do I play games though. There may be MOAR. We shall see.

Starting off by posting two items that were originally supposed to go somewhere else - the Freya Crescent was for a Freya thread at Fchan, and the Hamster piece was meant to be sent to the goons behind Supermegatopia as a sadly delayed homage of sorts. However, here they are and her they stay, I suppose.

Speaking of Fchan, I was also going to celebrate Ted Sheppard's birthday (30th July) by posting scans of the covers of the various self-pubs he's issued over the years that I have, but with one thing or another I never got around to it. Anyhow, Happy BD, Shep, wherever you are.

Since no one's apparently reading these things (places his thumb on his nose, waggles his fingers and cries Boogabooga!)

Ahem.

I finally posted something in the Scraps area, which I hope to repost in a more completed form in the Gallery in due time. We'll see. I almost posted another item, a Sandy Cheeks refrigerator magnet design, but found I had an incomplete version here so will postpone that treatuntil later.

Hi de ho, back again. I just posted an other item, still being worked on, and as I was pushing the last button, I finally noticed (a bit too late) the submit to Scraps option. Tricky, you guys, but I'm on to you now.

Not much else, aside from tidging myself to DRAW MOAR, not necessarily pictures of the Mighty Striped Ones, but just to get the pencils (and pens and CorelPhotoPaint and PhotoShop and so on) in action.