free-range chickens

Six weeks ago, after returning from a trip to Florida, my next door neighbor volunteered to pick me up at Austin Bergstrom Airport. Since my plane was delayed for a couple of hours, she went to a nearby garden center and bought some Rhode Island Red baby chicks (a wild moment of impulse shopping). I had a box full of them at my feet for the drive home.

Who knew chickens are so entertaining? They are about 2 months old now, with most of their adult feathers. I'm so glad I was able to talk my neighbor into building the coop on the opposite side of her house, away from mine. Cluck luck.

my deer friend

This is the first time this deer has ever made herself this comfortable. She stands in front of my porch, looking at me, waiting for carrots. It's kinda creepy sometimes. I swear she's going to knock on the door one of these days.

This deer is 3 years old and has been coming around here since she was a fawn. Last year she had her first fawn. A week or so ago, she had her second season fawn. I've been calling her Mommy Deerest. I haven't seen the baby yet, but it should be soon. That's when it's time to pay close attention to where I walk. Deer are well-camouflaged, so you don't always see them in the shadows of trees. When there are fawns around, the mothers are very protective and dangerous. They stand on their back legs and hit hard with their front hooves. I should whistle while I walk.

Kinetic yard art. This deer is just like one of the family pets. She is always is my yard. Yesterday I made tortillas, for the both of us.

Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge

What do Bostonians call this bridge? The formal name sure is a mouthful of words.

the canyon

Part rock formation, part modern skyscraper, a cityscape that melds into the natural landscape.

I tried something different; watercolor and ballpoint pen. It was very liberating!

underneath Boston

Northbound through the Thomas P. O'Neill Tunnel. It's like driving through a science fiction novel. Wooosh!

arm tattoo

I was commissioned to create a full arm tattoo. I've never designed tattoos, much less an entire arm. It's amazing how intricate the designs can become. This is a rough drawing with approximate proportions.

left - back view

right - side view

windows

I don't know if it was some kind of a Big Brother complex I was having, but there seems to be an extraordinary abundance of windows in Medford Massachusetts.

fishbowl

For more than 30 years I have boated, fished, swam, and explored the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill is tragic.

Some of the fishes of the Gulf of Mexico include Bonita, Spanish mackerel, blacktip shark, speckled trout, sand trout, kingfish, redfish, gaftop catfish, vermillion snapper, grouper, croaker, ladyfish, skipjack, rockfish, sand trout, wahoo, barracuda, cobia ling, sheepshead, sand shark, pilot fish, dorado dolphin, pompano, yellow fin tuna, tiger shark, flying fish, mullet, snook, nurse shark, red snapper, pinfish, sunfish, blowfish, ribbonfish, flounder, sail fish, jackfish, black drum, white drum, tarpon, marlin, manatee, sea lion, porpoise, sea turtle.

after the rain

Brushpen with Photoshop colors.

window seat view

Traveling from Boston to Austin. I'm the person who insists on a window seat and then has to make a few trips to the restroom. And I come back to my seat with a fresh cup of coffee. And then I have to wake up the seat mates to get out again. Shouldn't there be some kind of ejector system built into the middle and window seats so we don't disturb the aisle seat person?

The flight was long enough to sketch and ink this drawing while flying. Luckily, I pencil'd in the colors for later reference. The landscape changed from rolling farmland of Pennsylvania, to wooded mountains of West Virginia and Tennessee.

sunrise thunderstorm

When the storm rolled in at sunrise, the sky glowed like a fresh bruise. Yellow and orange, deep green and blue. It ominously foreshadowed what came next...lightning and booming thunder all around. The bolts were searing white with electric blue edges. I sat on the porch and sketched this after the power went out. This happens often during storms. Who needs electronic technology when there's Nature's light show?

the neighbors

We have a huge deer population in the Hill Country. For several years I've been feeding and befriending a family. This mother and her yearling come by every day for handouts of carrots, apples, and corn tortillas. She comes up to my porch and peers in the window until I bring food. They are highly entertaining and often downright funny. This deer is pregnant, so it will be interesting to see how she reacts to her ever-present yearling when the fawns arrive. I don't get close enough to touch them, nor do I give them names. But I do love observing them from a few feet away.

radio head

While painting at my out-behind-the-barn studio, I notice that my radio looks like a face when its cassette mouth is open. I guess it's good to be easily amused.

blooming aloe vera and zebra succulent

I sketched this a couple weeks ago. Now, the bloom stalks are about 2 feet tall. I have quite a collection of succulents and cacti, many of them are blooming now.

New Bedford, Massachusetts

Nine years ago I read the Moby Dick novel with rie Anderson performed her multi-media "Songs and Stories of Moby Dick", I attended not once, but twice. First was the kick-off of the tour in Dallas. Months later, a friend and I flew to New York for the final night's performance of the tour. I was hooked on reading about the great whaling era in New England.

So on a recent visit to New Bedford, I could really feel the history of the town. I've dreamt about it too. Ahoy there, Matey!

If you're curious, have a look at Laurie Anderson's website. She has been an ongoing creative inspiration to me for many years.

earth oil

I drew this several months ago but decided I didn't like it. I still don't like it but it looks like a situation we're faced with in the Gulf of Mexico. And possibly beyond.

Spring flowers

It's Spring Time!!! Brushpen and Photoshop.

abandoned treehouse

This tree is no more than 200 yards from my house. I walk past it and sometimes stop to look at it. I've never climbed it but would definitely have been up there when I was a kid. Back then, I loved making forts and hidden 'secret' places in the woods of Virginia. I revered nature in the early years, as I always will.

Ogunquit, Maine

Perkins Cove lobster boats. When I was in the 5th and 6th grades, I lived in Virginia. Our American and Virginia history teacher would set aside lecturing of Fridays to let us draw pictures from the history book. For some reason, I feel like I'm back in that class while drawing these New England sketches.

Lobster!

These lobsters were so delicious and fresh that they needed no butter. Twin lobster lunch for $19.99 at DiMillo's, the floating restaurant and marina.