Category Archives: Illustration

This is a collection of the various paintings, drawings, and pieces of fan art that you’ll find scattered throughout this site.

The Dead Flower

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Dead Flower post“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
~Albert Camus

– – –

I was reminded of this painting, based on a photograph, by an unlikely figure: Facebook.

We all have a profile and engage in it’s meticulous, brilliant distraction. Over the past several weeks, I’ve plucked the crust from my eyes each morning and reached over to quell the grating sounds of my alarm clock – which would also be my phone. Usually there’s a recommendation from our social media overlord to reminisce and share an old memory – I’m guessing they’ve been pulling at your nostalgia-strings too. The catch, at lease for me, is that the past twelve months of my life have been, mildly put, troubled.

Facebook’s algorithms have yet to filter out the job losses, financial woes, marital strife, and death. It’s hard to fault an equation for hoisting my life’s misery back upon me, even as I scramble to escape the sense of demoralizing defeat, but there it is, like a mirror, holding your failures as a civilized man right up to your face.

Today, thankfully, brought a different narrative. Rather than a friend-turned-enemy or a recently-deceased compatriot, I was reminded of a painting I’d made and quickly forgot about. I made a simple picture of a crisp, lifeless twig; I was satisfied. The canvas of the earth shifts during the winter time; colors turn from vibrant to monochrome. A very good and close friend, deeply religious, often speaks of God’s divine design, proclaiming that “the colors of His palette never clash.”

I certainly couldn’t be described as a religious or faithful human being, but my friend is right. The colors of the natural world do not compete for glory – they sit side-by-side in exquisite harmony, promoting a sensory experience that is indeed “miraculous,” and can easily be described as “heavenly.”

And now I spread my gospel to you.

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Tombstone & Tianya Milagro

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Tianya - Big Nose Kates postThere’s nothing more dangerous than a beautiful woman packing attitude…and pistolas.

Everybody knows Tombstone from the movies. A few folks are lucky enough to travel through the desert valleys of Southern Arizona and lay their own eyes on it. It’s a small town, and one’s liable to miss it if they blink. It’s a bit of a theme park now, a mixture of pageantry and bravado, with an entertaining contingent of leather-clad bikers who walk the boardwalks side-by-side with entertainers dressed in 19th Century Western attire.

The West was won and the mining operations eventually slowed down. There are no Apaches in the hills to threaten the camp. The barges that ran north along the San Pedro River are just about forgotten, and the short-line railroads that carried the ore North to the Union Pacific line have been decommissioned. Daily reenactments of the famous “Shootout at the OK Corral” and a healthy flow of live music and adult beverage have prevented the town from turning into a wax museum.

Tombstone attracts a certain kind of person. Eccentricity is a prerequisite for anybody who’d move to a town and wear 1880’s period clothing for a living, adopt the language & mannerisms of frontiersmen and women, and exist under the punishing heat of Sonoran Desert summers. It also takes a certain kind of madman to spot the pretty girl in the saloon and hand her two pistols and insist she hop up on the bar for a photograph.

But that’s what Tianya did. She was performing with the Cochise College Dance Club, and that attractive specimen – fair skin in the sun-drenched thoroughfare, belly-dance threads, all hips and legs – turned a lot of heads. She finished her shot of tequila, plucked those pistols from his mitts and, with a puckish grin, hopped up onto the bar. She takes to the spotlight quite well, and the world is most certainly her stage.

To my own lamentations, the photographs didn’t turn out well enough to publish; the saloon was crowded and the light was pitifully low. Rather than scrap them entirely, it made a lot more sense to paint the scene instead. This would be the result of those efforts and, if I’m to toot a high note from my own little horn, it captures her spirit quite well.

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January 14 – Farewell, Alan Rickman

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01-14 Alan Rickman post

“Film sets and theatre stages are all far poorer for the loss of this great actor and man.”

~Daniel Radcliffe

– – –

I didn’t expect that I’d be doing this twice in one week. We recently lost three incredibly influential artists beginning with Lemmy Kilmister, who passed away on December 28th at the age of 70. Two days ago we said farewell to another iconic musician, David Bowie, whose final album was released days before his death. Today I opened my eyes and read the news about Mr. Alan Rickman, a remarkable talent in both the theater and on the silver screen. I understand that the wild popularity of the Harry Potter series has cemented Mr. Rickman as Severus Snape for an entire generation of moviegoers. To me, he will always be Hans Gruber.

Terrible sequels aside, Die Hard (1988) is a fantastic film, with technical innovations and a thoroughly entertaining plot. It was one of the first R-rated films I ever saw, too. The forbidden fruit of violence was deeply appreciated by a much younger version of myself. I was too young at the time to concern myself overmuch with the biographies of the actors. I was all about the action, the adventure, the story. This particular film has proved to wear well with age, too. I watch it a couple of times a year, I’d say, and it has yet to lose its luster. As a matter of fact, it may just have a seat at the top of the all-time best Christmas movies. But that’s just me.

Reading through biographies and obituaries today, it appears that he lived a scandal-free life. was well-loved by his colleagues, and was incredibly generous with his heart and with his time. He will be sorely missed.

As with Mr. Bowie, I have decided upon an illustration of Mr. Rickman in my favorite role (and one of his first major film roles).

Farewell, good sir. I know what I’ll be watching tonight.

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January 11 – Farewell, David Bowie

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David Bowie post
“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.”

– – –

I couldn’t sleep last night, rolled over, and saw the news on my phone.

I suppose that age hardens some people. I’m certainly not one of them. As it happens, I find myself growing increasingly sensitive as I move forward. When bad news hits the airwaves, the wind gets knocked out of me. I find myself unable to explain exactly what it’s all about. David Bowie died yesterday, and the world woke up today and learned about it. Like a lot of you, I’m sure, I spent my entire day revisiting old records. And it dawned on me earlier today – for the first time, maybe – what a real impact he had.

From everything that I can gather, he wasn’t in the business of collecting enemies. If anything, he was wholly magnetic, and drew inspiration from everything. If you were to sift through the endless hours of live concert videos online, he was a thankful performer, eternally appreciative of his audience. He was always quick to smile, make jokes, laugh. That’s the kind of weirdo we all need in our lives. Color, personality, passion, and laughter.

My knowledge is not encyclopedic. I was never a super-fan. I just knew that he was out there, and we occasionally collided. I watched “The Labyrinth” for the first time when I was twenty years old; my girlfriend at the time couldn’t believe I had missed out. Quite frankly, neither could I, especially after viewing it. He was the soundtrack to the 1980’s that I remember, “Let’s Dance” appearing in a collection of film soundtracks and inspiring a parade of imitators. His work on the “Lost Highway” soundtrack, collaborations with Trent Reznor, and appearances in goofy-ass movies like Zoolander – I’m confident in assessing that he had fun with his life. Whatever it is that he figured out, I hope I get there, too. It’s terribly depressing to know that he’s gone, but what a fun ride it must have been. What a fun ride it was for all of us.

Rather than a photograph today, I sat down to make an illustration in memory of the departed.

I think I’ll get back listening Seu Jorge, that Brazilian fellow who did all the acoustic Bowie cover songs in Wes Anderson’s “The Life Aquatic” soundtrack. If you haven’t seen the film or heard the music, I would recommend hopping online and giving it a listen.
Good night.

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