Milagro de Monterrey Art Exhibit

Just a quick announcement about an upcoming event at our Arriba Arte Studios located inside Tres Rebecas at 117 W. Mistletoe. We'll be having an art exhibit featuring the original art from the Milagro de Monterrey picture published by Raining Popcorn Media and which I illustrated. 

The exhibit will also include several new pieces based on unused sketches for the book. There'll also be a brief lecture/demo on the process that it took to make the art. Copies of the book will also be on sale. 

The event is scheduled for Saturday, May 4th at 2p.m. I hope you can join us at our family friendly, Arriba Arte event. 

For more info please go to our Arriba Arte Studios Facebook page. The link is below.

 http://www.facebook.com/ArribaArteStudios

RBBBC Red Unit Circus Band 2001

The above photo was taken back in 2001 when Pammy and I last toured with the circus. All the clowns would stand around front and back track as the band members were introduced while "mimed" playing their particular instrument. There were a lot of band members to "mime" and it got repetitive for us. We thought about what we could that was more fun and creative. The we got the notion of making an over-sized  band member program and as each member was introduced we'd walk up to them look at the program, listen to their riff and rate them. It was all in fun and I think the band enjoyed it too. That's Ken Husky on bass. I'll have to dig it out but we still have that program prop.

Friday Roundup

Interesting week here at Rancho Ramirez. We'd promised the kids a ride on the river taxi so we took it on Monday. It was a beautiful, relaxing ride. Saw a lot of art along the route. Pretty cool.  The fish were o.k. A little bit of a let down. They look better from the street. We ended up having supper at the Josephine Street Cafe a couple blocks from where the river taxi ride ends. We had originally gone to a Mexican food place I'd heard a lot about and wanted to try. Walked in and didn't see a lot of people sitting. It was dinner time so we should have taken that as a sign. We were told there would be a twenty minute wait for a table. Not sure why but the host told us they were understaffed that evening too. A sign of bad management. Pammy walked by their grill to get a peek at their food and didn't like what she saw and I agreed with her so we left. The other place had great service and food. Happy ending! Yay!!

We also went to a Pow Wow this past weekend. Pammy had seen a banner for it and wanted to go check it out. That was very cool. I'd been to one many years before in the summer of 1993. I was in Baraboo, Wisconsin attending the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Clown College. It was Saturday night. Everybody who had money and transportation was out on the town so that ruled me out. I decided to go for a walk. Not much to see but then I hear music. Out in an open lot were all these people. Native Americans sitting in a circle and beating on drums as they sang. Around a bonfire were a group of dancers in colorful, feathered costumes dancing to the music. There were plenty of spectators too. Some joined in the dance so I did too. This time around it was indoors and was just as fun as the other one.We ran into a friend there whom we hadn't seen in a very long time. Serendipity at a Pow Wow. Cool.
The costumes and singing and dancing were great. The indoor venue was good but I think it was meant to be an outdoor experience.

There was a Doc Ed show this morning at Kindred Elementary School on the southwest side of town. It was for a group of 100 kindergarteners. I'm really enjoying this particular show. It's just more fun. At their age there's only so much science they can take so you have to make it extra fun. Silly. I love it.

Karston the Texas Blind Salamander puppet was a big hit with the kids.Still trying to define his character a bit more but he's almost there. It's an important detail. There is no comedy without character. Think about it.

I spent some time at our Arriba Arte Studios working on a pastel still life of a bowl of "caldo de res". Up until today I hadn't been able to spend much time there for various reasons so I was very glad to finally have done it. I'll be there tomorrow as well.

And speaking of tomorrow...well it's pretty close to being that here. So, have a great weekend. Buenas noches amigos!

Saturday Night Doodles

I missed out on drawing from Batman Saturday night but I did most everything else. On Batman the Penguin framed Batman and Robin into appearing as if they were criminals. Lost in Space had a duplicate John Robinson from an anti-matter universe trying to switch places with the real one. "Requiem for Methuselah" was the title of the Star Trek episode about an Earth man who is immortal having been Leonardo Da Vinci among other famous historical figures in his long life. Stories like that always appeal to me because they're sort of time travel like, about someone who's seen and lived history that spans the centuries. 

I'm happy to be sharing a piece of my childhood with my kids and making new memories too. A good Saturday night with my family.

Slapstick Theatre- Sanford and Son Intro

Sunday Morning Matinee- My Strange Grandfather

My Strange Grandfather from Dina Velikovskaya on Vimeo.