Friday Roundup

Pammy laying down the law at the Silver Spur for their show, " If You Build It They Will Laugh" in 2009.

Just a quick update to start things off. Tamara's upcoming gig fell through so Pammy wont be busy wrangling flamenco dancers next week. Oh, well. That's show biz. We've got a meeting set up with the good folks at the Edwards Aquifer Authority to begin brainstorming ideas for the "Doc Ed Early Reader" presentation. Once it's up on it's feet and running it will be the third presentation we will have written for them which is cool. Not bad for our little company.

I'm still working on an illustration project for Raining Popcorn Media( actually three) but the Houston Metro project is the big enchilada right now. Mmmmmmmm, enchilada. That particular job will take about a month to a month and half to complete my part. In the meantime we're trying to make time to work on some new comedy material and I'm slowly plugging away at writing and illustrating my own book about supernatural creatures. Things will be pretty busy between now and the time our kids are back in school. But today is my birthday so that means today we get to play a bit. All work and no play...etc,etc.

Making Funny Faces

Celebrity portraits I made for use as samples at the parties I worked as a caricature artist. I tried my hand at political cartoons but I found it more fun to draw celebrities and the average "Joe" .

I've always enjoyed drawing caricatures but not the kind that you do in three minutes at a party (though I've done that before) but the kind that Mort Drucker popularized in Mad Magazine and those found in editorial cartoons. It's portraiture with a twist that appeals greatly to me and is the great equalizer(second only to the Grim Reaper) because you can caricature anyone. You simply have to look at the op-ed page to see caricature used in a powerful way. Editorial cartoonists are the modern day court jesters. Even to this day, the pen is mightier than the sword. Power to the people y'all!

National Latino Family Expo

Happy Wednesday to all. I've just confirmed that I will be plugging the Milagro de Monterrey book at the National Latino Family Expo at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center Sunday, July 11th. It's an event sponsored by the National Council of La Raza and features 200 exhibitors, games and much more. It's free and open to the public.

I can be found at the Scholastic Publishing booth at 4p.m. and again at 4:30 p.m. and then I'll be at the Tres Rebecas booth at 5p.m.

Basically I'll be doing a presentation, much like the ones I've done for students, on how the illustrations for the book were developed and finally painted. I'll bring along a bunch of sketches, manuscripts, proof sheets of the book plus the actual paintings too. Below is a link to the event. It should be fun. See you there.


http://www.nclr.org/section/events/conference/2010_national_latino_family_expo

Excercise in Silliness

I grew up obsessively devouring Mad magazine, with my parent's blessings, long before I got most of the jokes and it has influenced my art and taste in humor. I love parody and clowning. Clowning as I know it, is mostly parody. My favorites were the movie parodies Mad did so well and the above image is a go at that type of humor.

This is only the first page and I'm still working out the end to this sequence. Just about the time I felt good enough to submit a sample or two, Mad went belly up. Bummer. Mad came to be during a time in history similar to ours in quite a few ways. Perhaps it's just a matter of time before we see a "Mad"- like magazine arise to fill the void in the 21st century.

Happy Fourth Of July!

I wanted to share a couple more sculptures I've done. That's an early attempt at sculpture and, considering it was my first, it didn't come out too badly.


That's Christy McDonald posing with another likeness I made for her.


I'll be enjoying the typical fourth of July feasting later today challenging my slowing, aged, metabolism with lots of brisket and beer. As we celebrate our nation's independence I hope we do our best to be nicer to each other and take better care of the world we live reside in. I leave you with the eloquent words of Chief Seattle who put it so much better than I ever will:

" All things are connected like the blood which unites us all. Man does not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."

Men In Tights

Myself as Harlequin, Jenni Tooley as Princess Leonide disguised as Phocion and Charlotte Akin as Leontine in the new Theatre Company production of Marivaux's "Triumph of Love".


Having never been in a sexy French farce I couldn't pass up the chance. In it I played the part of Harlequin, which was another excellent opportunity for me as actor and clown. This was in Dallas back in 1998, a year before Pammy and I did advance work for the Circo Osorio and two years before we toured as part of the 131st edition of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus.

It was presented in a black box theater in a small venue that had audience members within a foot or two at times. When your that close to the spectators it's kind of like being on film and you have to tailor your performance for it even in a farce. It was fun and I learned a lot but I don't miss the tights. Oh, and in case your wondering, the program consisted of several pages but they were all printed right- side up.

Programs 101

I wanted to start the post by showing you a well made program for the Flamenco show Pam stage managed this past week. It consists of eight pages (not including the front and back cover) printed on a slick, semi - glossy paper that's stapled together. The budget for the entire production came from the producer, Tamara Saj. It was pretty impressive to see it come together.

This next image is from page four of the program showing the ads displayed within the program as well as the cast and crew listing. The rest of the program is balanced with ads and show info including photos and bios. Not too shabby.

And now for something completely different...

Above is the front cover of the program for the Magik Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of "Romeo and Juliet". The program consists of a single 8 1/2"x 11" sheet of typing paper folded over in half across it's length and that's it. The front is crammed with artwork, sponsors for the show and the synopsis. Were it not for the fact that there are some major backers to this play listed on the cover one would think they were operating on a shoestring budget. The NEA grant alone should have covered a least a couple more pages.


This next image is the worst part of this program. I've folded over half of the program so that both the inside and cover page are seen simultaneously. This will require magnification (which you can do by clicking on the image) in order that you see that the text on the inside is upside down. Amazing, aye? I wonder how that happened? First impressions mean a lot, even in theater.

Finally, a link to the Tamara Saj website for a final thanks to all involved in the production. The curtain finally closes. A class act all the way.

http://www.tamarasaj.com/tamarasaj/GENERACIONES.html