The Hobbit

Rough sketch.

In honor of yesterday's announcement that the film version of the Hobbit will begin shooting in February of 2011, this weekend I painted a scene from the Hobbit that tells of the dragon Smaug coming to claim the dwarf treasure kept in the Lonely Mountain. Above and below are photos showing the step by step process from sketch to completed painting. It was fun.


Pencil drawing on canvas paper.

Painting background and dragon.

Beginning the foreground.

The finished painting.

Friday Roundup

That's me with the Faz family at a book signing. I'm still waiting to hear news on the dvd release of the film. I checked out the film website today but couldn't find anything regarding a dvd release date.


Well, the week flew by as expected. It always seems to get very busy this time of year for us making it a challenge to enjoy the holiday season. Pammy and Rey have been working on the ten gingerbread houses that are needed for a fundraiser for the San Antonio Metropolitan Ballet which is coming up in a week.

I'm still working on putting the final touches to the "Hansel and Gretel" set pieces. My son, Jose, and I spent the afternoon roughing up the wood for the cage to give it a well worn look. I'll be working on the oven in the next few days to finish that up too. I've got two weeks left to complete the work so that the pieces can be used in rehearsals at the Jo Long theatre at the Carver.

Doc continues to get his groove with the new show: "Doc Ed: History of a Rock Star". I'm still waiting on the final word regarding my contract for the new year. It looks to be good news but I'm waiting to see it in writing before I become giddy about another year of financial security. Oh, and Sarah at the Aquifer Authority ordered another duck pan (it's magic prop), toy truck with sound effects (part of my tools of the trade) and a new Chadderbox which is a portable, compact, sound system.

One last thing. I saw a documentary this evening that I wanted to let you know about. Here's the link. It was on POV on PBS. http://www.pbs.org/pov/ballad/

Hasta manana.

Picture, Picture

Above is a photo of a marionette I made for a puppet theatre in Dallas, Texas for "Rumplestiltskin". It's the young girl who spins gold for the king with the magical help of Rumplestiltskin. I made a total of six marionettes for that production. I'd get up at four in the morning working till 7 a.m. and then leave an hour later to go paint a mural for the day at a housing project. I mailed two marionettes at a time as soon as they were finished. I had such a tight deadline that I didn't have a chance to take any photos of my work. Fortunately for me our neighbor at the time who was a pretty good photographer snapped the one you now see.

Doc Ed Update

The latest stop on the "Doc Ed: History of a Rock Star" 2010-2011 tour: Coronado Village Elementary.


My favorite part of the show is, quite naturally, the silly part. I, get paid, for doing- that. Cool!


The tools of my trade.

This week Doc Ed paid a visit to the good folks at Coronado Village Elementary in northwest San Antonio. I did four back to back "Rock Star" presentations for the fifth graders and I have to say I think I'm finally feeling comfortable enough with the material that I can start tweeking it a bit. For a while the emphasis was to make sure I remembered all my lines and blocking and smooth out transitions and so forth. Now I can focus a little more on playful aspects of the show that really helps keep the kids engaged in the presentation.

Wednesday with The Blues Brothers

Hansel's Hoosegow

Things are really shaping up now. The set pieces for "Hansel and Gretel" are coming together nicely. Pictured above is the cage where the Hansel is locked up till its din- din time for witchy poo! The construction part is essentially complete. All that remains now is to shape and carve the wood to resemble tree limbs. Once that's done the paint job follows. Stay tuned!