Summer's Great!

My wife is obsessed with Sesame Street and The Muppets. We rented the first disc of Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days, using Netflix. I guess I didn't realize there was a difference between Sesame Street and The Muppets. I just thought they were the same thing, so my wife educated me. My favorite skit was "Oklahoma." I can't wait to watch this stuff with our twins, but I know Amanda is looking forward to it even more than I am.

Last Four Days...

Amanda was putting on her hoody in the car and some how got the hood caught across the front of her face. It was quite entertaining.

Poor Emma...

Let's get caught up...

Here are my visual journal entries from the past few days, which I actually colored. How about that?

My father-in-law also asked me to draw a wine label of his twin brother and business partner, in a similar fashion for what I did for him.

Here's a bit of the process for his twin brother...

Memorial Day Weekend

[18cm x 18cm - pen, watercolor on sketchbook paper]

They were her maternity jeans. They are about all she wears nowadays. Also, if you were wondering, Ben is a pseudonym.

[18cm x 18cm - pen, watercolor on sketchbook paper]

An old entry from a few weeks back.

[29cm x 21cm - pen, watercolor on sketchbook paper]

Entertainer

Dang it! Switch "kids" and "cats" around. Crap.

My Mad Photoshop Skills

Okay, I've got no "mad Photoshop skills," but I'm getting better.

It's hard to tell, but I took my cat castle drawing from yesterday and used the top to create the new blog title. The sky didn't go that far to the right, so I had to extend it by using other pieces of sky and blending them together. Pretty cool, eh? Well, I've never done it before.

My other mad skills... I took yesterday's castle drawing, which was just a tad too big to fit on my scanner. I scanned the bottom and top and and photomerged them on Photoshop. Yeah. Crazy stuff. Check it out.

Now if you were thinking of buying this, you might ask yourself, "What would this look like framed?"

Buh-Bam!

"What about a thicker black frame?"

Che-Pow!

"Okay, but what about a gold frame?"

Clickety-ker-pow-pow!

"Well that's cool and all, but what would it actually look like in my kid's room?"

 

Makes you want to buy it, doesn't it? Maybe? Just a little? Well, check out my Etsy page sometime anyway. I'm trying to bring it back to life.

My mad Photoshop skills are due in part to the hilarious tutorials, "You suck at Photoshop," by Donnie Hoyle. You'll have a laugh and learn a little too.

Cat Puke Thoughts Continued...

Am I crazy? I don't think so. Case Closed.

Cat Barf

Science Fairs, Birthdays, and Visual Journals

Part of my wife's job is to take pictures for school events and I go along with her sometimes. On Saturday we went to a Science Fair and I doodled while she took pictures. The drawing below is a combination of a couple judges rolled into one.

We had planned beforehand that we would eat at BD's Mongolian Grill afterward because my wife had a birthday coupon for a free meal. I was starving and couldn't wait till we got there, so I drew about it.

I've been holding onto the drawing below for a while. I finished it at the end of January, but it was a gift for my dad. I finally saw him today, a month later, and was able to give it to him, so now I can post about it. Below is the finished piece and some of the old pictures I used for reference.

I'm the kid in the red jacket and that's my dad with the beard. In the background is a coup my dad built for homing pigeons that he raised. I don't have many memories of it, but I always enjoy hearing him talk about it.

Next, is my second visual journal for the week. When my parents visited today they gave us this thing called, "Zoom Groom" for brushing our cats.

My wife brushed Chin with it and the amount of cat hair that came off was insane! If you have a cat, buy a Zoom Groom.

Curious Cats...

 

Finally got the Internet fixed today. My wife and I didn't know what to do with ourselves for those two days. We were lost.

Snow Day

No school today, so Chin and I watched out the window for a while as everyone tried to clear their driveways and sidewalks.

Time for a new banner. Not my favorite, but I think I'm going to try and change it once a month to work on my graphic design skills.

Foaming at the Mouth

My wife figured out it was due to dishsoap because she insisted on smelling the cat's mouth. I thought she was a little crazy, but the kitten smelled breezy fresh which helped us figure out what happened. I'll try not to doubt her methods again.

Gray Foster Kitty

Foster Kittens

We are a half-way house for single mom cats and their unplanned kittens. My wife talked me into doing this years ago with the Humane Society and we have had almost 50 cats come through our house. Some needing meds, socialization, or growing until they weigh at least 2 lbs (Those were some very small kittens.). It was great, but we took a break for the last year and a half as we put the house on the market. Now we have the house off for a month, so we decided to have a group come through. We have three new kittens with ear mites, all needing to put on a few pounds before they can be adopted. It's great fun.

Our cats, that always live with us, have had to do a little adjusting. Emma's trying to make friends, but all her growling is a little intimidating. She's starting to share her toys under the door, though. That might just be a trick to get one close enough to grab and eat.

The kittens are actually very cute, and not quite a demonic as this one looks.

Chin!

My wife and I went to Barnes and Noble for our date night last night. I drew a couple quick sketches and water colored at home.

I also did one of my two visual journals for the week.

The licking sound of a cat in the dark of the night can be one of the most annoying things in the world for my wife.

Hanging with the Family...

 Some drawings I did while up at my parents' house for the last couple days. My brother had his birthday on the 29th too. My brother, my wife, and I played "Wheel of Fortune" on the Wii. Tons of fun.

Messin' around...

Just a couple doodles from the weekend.

Not much snow today, but lots of wind. Best to just stay inside.

One post for November...

It's been a while. I've got no excuses. Here are a couple things I did this past week. Since I have finished my last sketchbook I've finally started the one my wife made me for our one year anniversary.

Icing...

It's been a while...

I will continue to tease my wife for her wimpy burps because I know good ones are in there.

I actually drew this a couple days ago, but just got around to posting it today.

More cats driving robots. Don't know why. Sorry for the junky scan, but the paper was too stiff to get it to sit completely on the glass. Tried playing around with the masking fluid to create a shiny metallic look, but it just ended looking not right. Live and learn.