Book Signing Saturday at Zandbroz

Hope to see you there! It's the hippest, coolest shop in town and I just love that they are supporting the book there. GREAT place to buy for Christmas!

Pirate Mom

It occurred to me that moms have a lot of skills that would qualify them to be a pirate captain. They are tough, they multi-task, their fiercely loyal, fearless, ingenious, good travelers with a wicked sense of humor and direction! So I'm hobbling together a book about a real pirate mom! (There were some, you know!)

Cera

A rough cover for "Cera", a proposed children's book.

This Li'l Piggy Plays the Blues

Just finished my first real work day in the new art warren here on Bunny Hill. This is a lovely workspace. Tomorrow my huge metal flat file gets moved back in, so there will be less dance floor but it'll seem more like a studio again.

My apologies to everyone whose calls and or e-mails I haven't returned over the last six weeks, and there are many; turns out breaking one's arm and remodeling one's studio in the same month sucks up one's time and energy like a spinning black hole. So, please to forgive me.

Here's my latest musical pig painting. Time for me to limp back to bed. Goodnight!

Bunny Hill Studio

Here are more photos of the new art warren on the hill. I continued to clean and organize the space. Aaron Krumvieda (pictured) did a fabulous job remdeling the studio into a truly useful and fun place. And two bunnies appeared today to give their tentative approval.

My new studio!

I'm moving back in- slowly! Forgive the messy desk, but you'll see the new, beautiful floor and cabinets that Aaron Krumvieda installed. He is amazing, hard working, talented and a great guy and I LOVE the remodeled studio he made me! Also check out the real New Hampshire river rock cabinet knobs Carroll found and my sci-fi chotchkie shelf! There's a new rabbit warren on Bunny Hill- and it's my studio!

"It Was Hungry!"

"The Krell forgot about one thing... monsters. Monsters from the Id..."
I drew this, why I don't know, on an envelope for a fan in Croatia. But I really liked how it turned out so I snapped this picture.

A long but very good day- my cabinets are in, and we bought door pulls made of real New Hampshire river stones! I love my new studio!

A Friar's Tale

Many years ago, dad did a beautiful painting of a medieval friar making the pilgrimage to Canterbury for a local church fair in Connecticut. It was just lovely. I can't approach what he did but thinking about it today I had to paint this.

"Up the airy mountain
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting
For fear of little men..."

William Allingham

Hagar in Germany

My buddy Ric Meyers brought this shot of Hagar back from festivals in Germany. Thank you, buddy!!

So it begins!

The carpet is being ripped up! The floor boards are being brought in! I am as excited as a kid on Christmas morning! The new studio is going in. Gigantic thanks to Aaron and Sheldon who are making the magic happen and my Carroll for understanding my burning need for an art cave. Yea!

It's Morning Somewhere

Looking Forward

This morning, the carpets come up! The new studio is upon us! YEA!

Stuff

Children's book Editors & Art Directors

Please check out my children's book art sampler!
http://web.me.com/chrisbrowne2/Site/Childrens_art.html#0
Best wishes, Chris

This Little Piggy

Some little piggies like country
some little piggies like the blues
this little piggy likes to rock 'n' roll
in his blue suede shoes

Elephant No. 5

A lovely day! The sun suddenly came out, we dashed about doing errands, had a nice meal at Spezia, bosc pear salads- wonderful! I even sent out a Sunday page. And I saw my beloved adolescent bunny with a new, thicker coat for winter! Nice, nice, nice.

Toon Treasury

Amazing Black Eyed Peas

i love the peas!

Rainy Day

Some days just getcha down.

Vegan Fox?

I am very fond of foxes in spite of their troublesome relationship with bunnies. Ah, well, perhaps someday genetic engineering and behavioral modification will give us a Vegan Fox. Not to be confused with Megan Fox!

Milano

My first painting in weeks- it's been that kind of month. But a good month!
There will be another book signing at Zandbroz near Thanksgiving. Also coming soon:

Paintings, Drawings and Cartoons by Chris Browne: at The Eide Dalrymple Gallery, Augustana College, Sioux Falls January 4-February 6, 2010.

Cochon

This little piggy went to Paris!

National Cartoonist Chapter Meets in Sioux Falls

Cartoonists of the Northern Central Chapter of the National Cartoonist Society met in SF on Friday and Saturday. Highlights were a book signing at Zandbroz Variety and a our business meeting at my house last night. It was fun!
Big thanks to Ken and Judy Alvine, Jeff Danz and Zandbroz, Chris Boyd at Titan Books, Jackie Beilke and many others for making this possible! Okay, now I need a nap.

Cartoonists at Zandbroz

My favorite people in my favorite store! From 2 to 4 on Saturday, Oct. 3rd, several cartoonists will be signing books at Zandroz Variety on Philips Avenue. Signing books will be Paul Fell, "Huskernutz"; Jeff Koterba, "Inklings"; Tom Richmond "Mad-Bo Confidential" and myself, "Hagar the Epic Chronicles". Copies of the Hagar book will be on sale at this store weeks ahead of anywhere else in the world by way of a special arrangement with the publisher in England! What a trip!

Bunny Topiary at Hever Castle, England

From our 2008 trip to England, a bunny topiary on the grounds of Anne Boleyn's Hever Castle!

A Bagel, A Bunny and Bigfoot

These are a few of my favorite things.

Seattle Space Needle to Bunny Hill!

We're back from Seattle! Here I am making a pest of myself on the Space Needle. We had a great time!

The best thing was, we found Carroll's great grandfather's long lost grave on Bainbridge Island. It was a great sunny day adventure, part The Waltons and part Nancy Drew! Using old town maps, following Carroll's childhood memories and GPS systems and abetted by by brother in law "Lead Dog", we searched 5 graveyards and finally found the right one. It was really something!

Bats of Bunny Hill

I sat at dusk with a grey brown bunny until the light fade. Then several small bats appeared. They were just adorable, flying in figure eights, chasing bugs. The children's book Stellaluna goes a long way to correct the negative image people have of bats. Here's a little viddy I made with my phone- you can see one clearly right at the end. There is still such magic in this world.

The Impressionists

A moment from this delightful film about the Impressionists.

Baby

Spinning Wheel

I was always on a trajectory towards being a cartoonist, but I had some odd jobs along the way.

One was being a dishwasher in a roadside grill in Wilton, Connecticut. I washed tin food trays in scalding hot water at Bob's Charcoal Grill on Rt. 7. There was no Bob. The boss was large, loud Italian man named "Papa". He spoke broken English, much of which seemed to be delivered with a great theatrical waving of arms and a basso profundo voice. I stood for hours on end in a tiny, sweltering, spider filled kitchen washing burger slime and catsup off trays in the lava-hot water. I did this for days before I realized I could use rubber gloves to keep my hands from boiling.

What made the job bearable was the lovely Stephanie, who also worked there, would bring me a new stack of filthy trays ever so often. I knew her and her sister from high school. She was kind, pretty and I probably worked there longer than I should've because she was there. She'd float in and float out. I'd wash trays. She'd float in and out again. A tiny monaural radio on a shelf played "In The Summertime" by Mungo Jerry and "Spinning Wheel" by Blood, Sweat and Tears.

My hands recovered and ended up drawing pictures as they always should have. I moved from Connecticut to Florida with my parents and siblings and later moved on to Sioux Falls, South Dakota with my wife and dogs and mother-in-law. I don't flip burgers anymore, I'm a vegetarian. The only trays I wash are full of paint and gesso. I draw cartoons in my house on a hill and hobble together possible children's books. Recently my old friend Stephanie, as nice as ever, got in touch with me via Facebook. I love that. Tonight I Googled Bob's Charcoal Grill and discovered that Papa, who I was so cowed by back then, passed away in Connecticut just ten days ago. He was 90, beloved by his community and family. May he rest in peace.

"Drop all your troubles by the riverside... Ride a painted Pony, let the spining wheel fly".

District 9 From Outer Space

I am almost recovered from my nasty flu-like thing which passed quickly thanks to my wonderful doctor and his nurse. The day I got sick Carroll's niece and nephew arrived for a two week visit so it was all on her shoulders while I was writhing in misery. Now, Carroll is down with the bug and I am on my feet although I still hear what sounds like stereophonic waterfalls roaring around my head. So, today and yesterday I've been the cruise director while she recoups. Fortunately these are great houseguests- quiet, neat, smart funny and they help with the dog walkin'.

Tonight we went to District 9 the new Peter Jackson epic. Amazing. Not for the squeamish. It's an action picture that makes you think and rethink. Not preachy, not a downer (to me) although in other hands it could easily have been capsized by those leanings. One of the hallmarks of good screenwriting is the arc of the character, how far the hero travels from fade in to fade out. This journey is remarkable but the other, uncharted journey here is the one the viewer makes- or doesn't- during that arc. This movie is an empathy building device. Would that there were more on "this gray and granite planet." (Okay, who can name that song reference?)

Mr. Sugar Cookie

Feeling a little better now but, alas! Now Carroll has my cold. AND we have company (luckily they are family and very nice and tolerant of our total lack of health. I really want my nephew Donny to see Zandbros, the MOST fun place in town. He will love it! Above is an attempt to paint a sugar cookie. As bad a painting as this is, trust me, the cookie was worse!

Blue Djinn

This is a genie from an idea I have about a genie from ancient bagdad who gets stranded in a modern city. Possible modern cities: Bagdad, Paris, Las Vegas, Washington DC. He can also take human form.

Speechless

I have a terrible sore throat today and some laryngitis as well. It's an alien condition for me to be unable to speak! However my family seems to be enduring the unexpected quietude well.

Apple Bunny

The gray-brown mother bunny and then her youngest, this tiny baby rabbit, came to the steps outside my studio this morning, petitioning me for sliced apples. I acquiesced. Here is my memory of the event, on a piece of cardboard.

Jealousy!

Our little chihuahua, Paikea, HATES our big chi, Mabel. Oh, well! Nobody's perfect!

In Deep

This has been a hectic, stressful week. Too much going on all at once. My best moments this week were spent watching the two baby rabbits. The younger is getting larger and fuzzy, the older is big enough that he looks like his mom. I hope they live to grow up. The world is too full of fast cars and stalking cats. And way too few bunnies.

The Perseids meteor shower is tonight, going on right now! Enjoy!

Still Life with 2 sugars

The Three Stooges Sing!

The Wild Boy of the Forest

This image just jumped out of my pen today and I think it will end up in a story called The Enchanted Florist about a young girl who ends up running a florist shop on the edge of the enchanted forest and is torn between her desire to have her own life in the world and her sense of responsibility to her forest friends. Something like that.

Night

One of my best memories of living in Connecticut was a moonlit night when I had to walk alone many miles from my parent's house on Rivergate Drive to Cannondale and probably to my little house in Georgetown. I don't remember the particulars. Had I had a fight with my parents? With a girlfriend? Those were great days of high drama in my little world. Whatever the reason, it put me on that stretch of road that winds parallel to Rt. 7, walking north.

I remember walking in the crystal air, deeply silent, the only sounds my sneakered feet and some cooing, sleepy night birds and the breeze in the drying leaves. Chestnut Hill becomes Hurlbutt Street becomes Cannon Rd becomes Seeley Rd. Old homes large and small among huge, stately trees and protected my great gray stone walls. I'd always heard that there was a sprawling estate up one of these driveways and that on one of those endless lawns was a Henry Moore statue and an Alexander Calder stabile sculpture. Everything was pale ice moon blue and black shadows. I followed the winding esplanade of trees. I've loved the company of trees ever since that night. I kept moving forward through the dark and the rustling breeze.

Occasionally a car would approach bringing with it and then carrying away it's stinging fingers of impolite light, noise and an oily smell and then I was alone again. The worst of the traffic was on Rt. 7 where at this hour people were returning home from parties of bars or restaurants or dates or perhaps from the city having stayed too long at the fair. But I was in the wooded part. There was still magic here. There were deer in the woods in those days but I rarely saw them. And raccoons and skunks as pleasant and welcome as opossums were vile.

I don't remember what put me on that road, that blue, moonlit road, that road among trees, that night. But I'm glad I walked it. I'm glad no body gave me a lift, glad I didn't call a friend or a cab. Glad I just lit out, into the dark. I hope that walk will never end. Too soon we reach our door and scuff our shoes and enter in.

Urban Sherpa

Fly Oceanic Airlines in 2010

Collection

Planet Z

We've made great progress around here. The house and the yard are coming together nicely, our health is improving. Still distractions are everywhere. I feel that the ongoing revamping of my studio will be a great boon to my spirits. I need a clean, organized space to do my work. We're going to have the room reworked with cabinets and supply shelves. I am going to get rid of my smaller desk to make more room and to unblock the beautiful window to the yard.

Harry Makes Breakfast

From a work in progress. Over the last few months I've sent a few book proposals out. Haven't heard anything. I still feel I can do this sans agents, but we'll see.

Focus

I had a wonderful day bombing around town with friend Ken. Had a GREAT vegan lunch at BuffaloBerries on Phillips Avenue. Grilled Veggie Sandwich with veganaise, Black Bean soup in veggie broth and wild rice with oranges and beans. Wow! Nice people, too.

Then bough a book on comparative religions and philosophies at the used bookstore and then on to ZANDBROS my favorite store in the universe where I discovered Geraniums in a can and a beautiful book of photos of old toy RAYGUNS that I just LOVE. But there was more! Ken and I then went to the fantastic QUEEN CITY BAKERY and bought most of their cookies and biscotti! Yum!

We ran those back to Bunny Hill and walked the dogs. And then back out into the world where I took photos of the beautiful Potato Man Sculpture in McKennan Park and Ken and I talked about cartooning and cartoonists and life and we solved all the world's problems- it was great! And finally we made it to Rainbow Sportscards and Comics where I loaded up on several of the new Green Lantern's "the Blackest Night" series (zombie superheroes!) plus some Hellboy comics which I love. It was a terrific day! And now, may flights of angels see me to my bed...

Three Dog Walk

It's lovely here in Sioux Falls today- I spent much of it in the yard, Spring cleaning. I also set up our hummingbird feeder. I'd never seen a real live hummingbird till we moved here and they are magical.

The dogs kept me company while I worked- the three of them have a cameo appearance in the picture above. This is a 2 page spread for a proposed children's book about a little boy named Harry who starts to help out around the house when his mom gets sick and learns something about just how much moms do. It was inspired by of all things, the 12 labors of Hercules!

Mustard and Soy Sauce

Here are a couple of packets I nabbed at the Golden Bowl, one of my favorite places in town. I can always get something vegetarian there. I got out yesterday and grabbed Syncopated Comics and the new FLIGHT anthology at Barnes and Nobel in the graphic novels section. Good stuff! And the Coraline 3-D Blu-Ray disk- just AMAZING! Best 3-D ever. The little bunny has a sidekick! An even SMALLER bunny, a sort of a microbunny or bunnette! They are SO cute together. We saw the little bunny on our patio this morning! Love them!

New Sketches

First Men From The Moon

A new children's book idea! Inspired by today's anniversary, so you could say it's forty years in the making! Best, Chris

Exclusive Missing NASA Moon Landing Footage

Forty years ago today, man first set foot on the moon. Fortunately the famous missing moon video has turned up just in time for the celebration! Enjoy! CKB

The Long and Winding Road

We had our first "normal" day in months. We were both feeling well enough to get out and have a little fun, shopping, running errands, lunch and hanging out, then home, a game of Scrabble and walking the pooches on Bunny Hill. Really nice and a long time coming. And the bunnies are back! Hence, The Long and Winding Road. Painted in gouache in my sketchbook.

The New Bunny

The New Bunny

Catcher In The Rye

This is a very quick painting from a photo of my beloved daughter, A. The photo was taken on the White Cliff's of Dover in October of 2008. She is strong and smart and caring and deep and full of life, complex, challenging and beautiful throughout.

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be." ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 22, spoken by the character Holden Caulfield

Rodan's "The Thinker"

Inspired by the Rodin show at the Washington Pavilion- and old Japanese monster movies. Love 'em both!

Flyover

Hi, all! Here's the latest version of FLYOVER, inspired by looking up in my backyard and seeing this low flying plane through the tree branches. Your kind comments encouraged my to work on this more. So, thank you!

The New Bunny

I saw this newborn the day we got back to town. You can't believe how small he is. I fudged the color for contrast, the real bunny is umber and ash colors and the bricks are brickier in real life. This is my first attempt at oil pastels. I read that Chris Van Allsburg uses them so I had to find out. They are tricky to use! Best, Chris

New July 6th: Three new sketches of the little one. Carroll and I have deduced that this is the soul survivor of the recent bunny tragedies: a nest of seven bunnies was destroyed accidentally by our lawn service several weeks back. An eighth bunny was carried off by a cat. This seems to be the last of that clan. When I see him or her, the mother bunny is always a few yards away, watching. This bunny is so small and perfect it seems like an earthbound angel. I pray to St. Francis to watch over this and all the little creatures of the earth that seem to bookmark our better moments and bless our days.

New July 14: I sat a few feet from the new bunny a few days ago. I sat on the bench and she sat in the grass, munching. I make no attempt to go nearer. I feel blessed to share the afternoon silence with her. Zazen on Bunny Hill!

Return to Bunny Hill!

We've added a beautiful brick path to Bunny Hill, and a jellybean shaped patio at the top. Some boulders and stone steps too. It all came together so well, thanks to Carroll's vision and a great team from Lipitzki's Landscaping. Even the bunnies seem to approve! Best, Chris

Children's Books

Dad loved working on children's books. He illustrated two books written by Mort Walker: Most and The Land Of Lost Things. I think I caught the kid's book bug from him. So now I'm redesigning my home studio around the idea that I will devote a good chunk of my non-comic strip time to the writing and drawing of children's books. Some of my efforts have appeared on this blog; As soon as I place my first book I will post the news here. Meanwhile, thank you for your kind words and support. It helps more than you can know.

Regina Spektor's Fidelity

This is just lovely work. This classically trained Russian came to NY a few years ago and brought much needed magic with her. Her new album, FAR will be out a week from Friday.

Hang On!

This is a sketch for a sculpture I plan to make in the Autumn or Winter if all goes well. The Whale is saying "Hang On!" to his hitchhiker and around the base will read: "Life Health Family Faith" in English and Spanish. Whatever challenges we face, Hang On is sage advice and I think this sculpture will be a nice, oblique reminder of that. The finished piece will probably be bronze or painted, weather treated resin, 18 inches long by 12 inches high and 10 inches wide on an oval base. Edges will be kept smooth so kids can touch. I'd love to have it all done, cast and colored in time to submit it for consideration in next year's Sioux Falls, Sculpture Walk. That's the plan anyway! CKB

LOST - Destiny Found

"Welcome to Los Angeles International Airport and thank you for flying Oceanic Airlines..."

On Bunny Hill

I love these bunnies. We are having a brick pathway with lighting put in around the edges of Bunny Hill, but we are taking great pains to protect the bunnies as we work. Look at the face on this baby.

Rolo

My brother Bob and I LOVED these things when we were kids. Little chocolate bongo drums filled with caramel. Good stuff!

Peter Rabbit

Here he is, back again, a little older but no wiser than he was 107 years ago.
I've given him a new coat to replace the one he famously lost: plus a dandy hat and cane
from a Bond Street clothier. Enjoy!

(with apologies to Ms. Potter and F. Warne)

Home Again, Home Again

I am back from a week in Los Angeles. I learned that I do not like Los Angeles. The cars go way too fast, the people swear too much and too loudly and worst of all IT"S NOT HOME! But we had some fun anyway. My sister in law and her hubby took us to the planetarium! The one in Rebel Without A Cause and Invaders From Mars and it was fantastic! We also had some great vegan and vegetarian food thanks to daughter Ashley and her myriad friends.

But then Carroll's health started going downhill and we ended up trekking home: for 18 hours, three airports, two layovers and five wheelchairs. The basic pain and hassle combo plate. Hence my self portrait above on a giant Band-Aid!

Well, now I'm running out to do errends including springing the dogs from doggie jail (err, spa!) so, more later.

Oh and I sent My Triceratops to a big publisher via a friend I saw at the Reuben Awards (hi, David!) I'm hopeful about that and I am already working on a sequel! I have faith!

Silver Maple Seed

Butterfinger

Butterfinger, James Bond's least known arch-enemy.

Folksinger

Sobek

Sobek, the crocodile headed god of ancient Egypt, a favorite deity of Amunhotep III, a man centuries ahead of his time. Fearsome in appearance, but worshipped as the "repairer of evil deeds", one of the most complex avatars to leap from our early collective unconscious.

Tova and Alexa, a story from "OMEN" my graphic noel.

Tova and Alexa

Tova’s suite was in the renovated Grammercy Park Hotel. It was stunningly beautiful, modern and timeless, like Tova. There was a running waterfall in the Great Room. Tova and Dr. Omen sat on either end of a white leather couch. The coffee table was a distressed white washed antiques steamer trunk capped with a slab or clear crystal. Tova filled the two wine glasses with deep red burgundy and handed one glass to Omen. In the corner on a white pillow bed, Tova’s large German Shepherd sat, like the sphinx and watched them, carefully.

“What’s your dog’s name?” Omen asked.

“Oh, you like dogs? I’m not much of a dog person myself. I rescued her, from my lab. She was a test animal, marked to be destroyed. I managed to get her out of Soviet Union when I come to United States of America. Poor thing. A month in quarantine. Terrible. But what can you do, right? She’s a good girl. I love her.” Omen extended his arm towards the dog and clicked his fingers, whistling.

“Don’t do that. She doesn’t know you, you’re new and frankly, she doesn’t like men much. She bites” Omen’s arm went down and he returned to his wine. He turned and looked at her artwork, several small paintings from the Soviet Impressionist School. Lovely work: workers in a field on a collective farm, an old woman selling flowers in a town square, a young woman kneading bread, surrounded with large bread loaves. On the divan were several chochkeys. One was a foot tall, detailed in gold and gems.

“I love this statue! It’s an Indian god, is it not?” Omen said, carefully holding the small, heavy statue of a four armed human with an elephant’s head. Tova stepped forward and took if from him, placing it tenderly back on the divan.

“Yes, it’s Lord Ganesha. The Hindu god that removes obstacles from the path of the righteous. It belonged to my sister.”
She handed him a silver framed photo of the two sisters at a street fair, smiling for the camera. “It reminds me of her. I miss her.”

“Do you stay in touch?” Omen asked. Her smile faded, replaced with a curious passivity. “I buried my sister in Leningrad two years ago. She had an insurmountable lung disease. It doomed her. It also fired her passion to defeat death. She saw death as an evil entity. Her personal nemesis.”

“I’m so sorry. She sounds like a wonderful person.”

“She was. My best friend, mentor... sometimes boss.”

“Really? You worked together?” Genius sister, Omen thought. Good genes! Tova refilled the wine glasses and took a deep breath. She paused and looked at Omen, sharply, keenly. She was deciding something. And then she told him a story...

“My sister was Alexandreya Maximov.” She paused for effect, “You don’t know the name. I know, you’re only familiar with Linus Pauling and Jonas Salk. In Soviet Union she was very famous, very celebrated. She was a brain and spinal cord surgeon and a pioneer in the Soviet stem cell and transplant research. Our weekly dinners together led us to realize that our areas of expertise overlapped in a most auspicious way. Her goal was brain transplantation, a fringe science surgical gateway to immortality. She had conquered every obstacle to her goal but one, the millions of tiny nerves that must reconnect to the host spinal cord. The surgery was and would always be impossible. We always joked that through my work, nano technology and micro robotics, maybe there was an answer waiting. Then four years ago all our phones at the People’s Deep Scientific Research Laboratory were being replaced with fiber optics and I had the most revealing conversation with the tech who was installing my new phones. He was a big, heavy Ukrainian bear who smelled like domestic beer and borsht, but very nice and funny. So from that conversation I had an epiphany. The telephony system had the same problem. Too many wires carrying complex messages. The answers was in a modular interface that made the connections simple and clean. We needed a corollary for the human nervous system. A year of intense work later we had the Cybernetic Interface Module. A Module would attach to the donors brain stem and another to the new host’s vertebrae in a near zero xenon flash vacuum operating room. The actual transference, the moving of the brain to the new host could be done in 40 minutes with a single skilled surgeon and a robotic assist.”

“This actually worked?”

Our success rate was about 30 percent. Mortality was high and of course classified. But considering we were doing the impossible, it’s not so bad.”

“That’s incredible!”

“Well, mostly we worked on moneys and dogs. I know. Animal experimentation, it’s a real bummer as you say here. I hope I haven’t ruined your image of me forever.”

“No... you and your sister trying to crash the gates to immortality!” Omen was impressed. And besides, he liked her. He was liking her more all the time. Here was a beautiful outlaw former Soviet scientist as smart as he was and just as crazy. Maybe more.

“Yes, that’s what we thought. But... there were unforeseen consequences to our success. Alexa attracted the attention of the Politburo, and after that, the Komityet Gosudarstvyennoi Biezopasnosti, like your CIA. Hard-asses, rubber headed killers with tunnelvision. Never a good thing for a scientist. She was to be transferred to Red Five.” Tova could see Omen didn’t recognize the term. “Omen, Red Five was our Super-Soldier program. Much like As/If or DARPA, but with a bit of an edge...”

Oh, Omen thought.

“Anyway, Alexa had less than a year to live. She was miserable and now she was going to be shipped off to Petrograd to live her final months making Soviet youth into better killing machines. She came up with a novel plan. Maybe the most daring plan of escape ever attempted by a human being.”

“Escape?” Omen was intrigued and Tova loved that she had piqued her interest. But she looked at the near empty wine glass in her hand. “perhaps I’ve said too much. This is all classified. Beyond classified. It was our secret, something we cold tell no one... I still can’t. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have started down this road.” She stood and Omen followed her up. He noticed that she was leading him to the door so he grabbed up his tweed overcoat and patchwork hat and went along. He’d made her uncomfortable somehow. He felt bad about that.

“It’s a story for another day. Maybe when I know you better.” Omen’s puzzle champion mind flipped the few clues over and over like the shiny primary colors of a Rubiks cube. What was he missing? Her sister had an escape plan. But she also was dying. How far can you run when Death is at your heels? And then he thought...

“Did your sister live to see her breakthrough work on a human?” Tova’s eyes flashed and locked on Omen’s. Had he guessed? Damn. She had said too much. Get him out of here, now. She opened the door. “Uh, more or less, yes and no. It’s hard to say. But she saw enough to know that her original thesis had great value. And maybe here work will live again, here in the Free World. In any case, she eluded her enemies and she found a kind of peace. She’s happy with her decision.”

Present tense, Omen noted.

“You said your sister died in Russia...” Tova looked down, irritated and shrugged. Her hands were around his neck, but she was pushing him out the door.

“No, I think I said, I buried my sister in Leningrad.” Omen blinked. What did that mean?

Tova suddenly lurched forward and kissed Omen with a full, burgundy flavored kiss. She was trying to misdirect him. And he didn’t care.

“No more questions, tovarisch. Dosvedanya, Dr. Omen.”

And then he was out in the hallway. He walked to the alcove of the elevator. He pressed the down button and as the doors opened with a “Bing!” he heard another sound. It was coming from Tova’s suite. It was the sharp, low barking of her dog.

Cherry Pop Tart

Berry Yogurt

My Triceratops

A work in progress about a boy and his dinosaur. The dummy for this book is almost ready to show art directors and editors. The writing is going well too. I have to get ahead on my comic strip work now, so I won't get back to this for a bit. I am hoping that by July I will have a good, clean, working studio set up at last.

This has been a great week for Carroll and I. A lot of work, but a lot of forward movement!

Cowboy Bob Rides Again!

Cowboy Bob had many jobs and learned many things. When he was young, he was a Post Office rider assigned to the Northern plains territories. One day he had an argument with his horse, Pegasus and she threw down her saddle and quit on the spot. Cowboy Bob respected her wishes, but he still had to deliver the mail. So he roped the largest Jackrabbit in all of Dakota and finished his deliveries, not at a trot, but at a hop! That's just the kind of a cowboy Bob was. There wasn't much that could keep him down.

Homeward

We shall not cease from exploration,
and the end of all our exploring will be
to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.

T. S. Eliot

Triceratops

FROM MY NEW WORK IN PROGRESS!

SleepOver

I had a great time helping judge the Toonie Awards in Okiboji! Were you there?

Hagar's Earth Day

Today's Hagar cartoon was draw on a Macintosh computer with a Wacom tablet. The bunnies are all South Dakota bunnies!

Fried Egg Sandwich and Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin

The fried egg sandwich was not mine, it was Luvy's- I just said, "Oh, lemme photograph that!" and the muffin was mine and it was wonderful- from Queens City Bakery.

Studio

Rough for Studio

Easter Monday

I saw several bunnies today. It did my heart good. God bless and protect them.

Bird

First Dragon of Spring

A small, wingless Cornish Rex Dragon, found snoozing under some broken pottery on the hill. A sure sign that winter is over! We've also seen bunnies, robins and one shaggy raccoon.

5th Avenue

Painting of a 5th Avenue candy bar. Another dreadful, long day. But I had to take a moment and paint this. The original is life size. Now, to bed, to sleep, perchance to dream.

A Bookish Fellow

Don't know where this little fellow came from. Looks a little Willie Wonka-ish. Actually I believe I was thinking about this great character that appeared on the signs and bags of a great bookstore in Westport, CT back in 1969 called The Remarkable Bookshop. That was the bookstore that gave me my love of bookstores!

Prelude in C# Minor Op.3 no.2 by Rachmaninoff

Beloved, dark, achingly sad Prelude in C# Minor played by the mysterious Icarus.

Miss Potter

This is my favorite movie of the past several years, for obvious reasons. Love! Art! Bunnies! and seconds chances. I highly recommend this lovely work.

Rough Coated Bunny

Here is my little rough coated bunny that I see now and again. It was a beautiful day in Sioux Falls and Carroll and I saw the St. Patrick's Day parade in front on the Phillips Avenue Diner. I also got to buy sketchbooks and toys at ZANDBROS! My favorite! And I finally got to see my show hanging at the gallery! That was fun. A lovely day and more coming. I have faith!

I'm back!

Hi, friends and family!

I'm back. I was in the hospital for five days. Five expensive, fun busting, plan blasting days. Here's why: the leg infection from our trip to London suddenly bounced back last week followed by a nasty red rash all over my body. It made my too round stomach look like MARS: The Angry Red Planet!

I couldn't believe that I was being admitted back in the hospital. But the doctors, nurses and techs were great at Sanford and they have pretty much fixed me up. Thank God! My only suggestion box comments for the hospital, softer towels and blankets please! And some water pressure in the showers!

My diagnosis was twofold: the infection was the infection but the rash was a reaction to the original antibiotic. It happens, I'm told.

I'm still weak and beat up but out of pain and able to sleep and work again. I hate being sick! Now I am playing catch up on all my work and e-mail and all of your nice notes and messages so forgive this wide reply- I'll get to everyone in person, in time.

Now, you've heard of the perfect storm? Here is the perfect buzz kill! Here are the events, plans and occasions that my sudden illness blew out of the water:

Friday: The day I got sick was the Reception for my FIRST gallery exhibit of paintings, a joint show with my friend and artistic hero, Carl Grupp. At 5:00 when I should have been sipping champagne, I was sipping real pain and being wheeled to my room.

Saturday: My wife, mother-in-law and I were supposed to leave on a vacation to California where we would have then partied and road tripped with my in-laws. Plane tickets, limos and dreams were cancelled, 5 vacations ruined. But wait, there's more!

Tuesday: Was our TWENTIETH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. Oh, there was also a freak ice-snow storm, so we weren't even together for a second. THAT was the worst.

But as Nietzsche said, "what does not destroy me makes me stronger".
I'm glad to be back, alive, healing and reading all your great, supportive notes. Thanks!

More soon,

Chris

Bunny Chill

Two bunnies chillin' on a COLD South Dakota night! Warm up the Lava lamp! Throw another multi-colored log on the fire!

Bad Boy Bunny

Who is that bad boy bunny, hanging out on street corners, smoking dried carrot greens? Drawn for an upcoming Sioux Falls cartoonist event. Big shout out to Jacki!

Happy St. Valentine's Day

Love is blind
And often dumb
But seldom lame
As a rule of thumb

A warren buffet

I will have my first local exhibit of my paintings early in March. Details soon!

Tri Cycle

From "My Triceratops" © 2009 by Chris Browne

Some of my paintings will be appearing at a local art gallery in March and April. A few sketches, watercolors and some of my cartoons for Playboy. Several of the pieces have appeared in this blog like Evening Bunny, Where Do The Bunnies Go, and The Player. I'll post more about it when I know more. Fun!

Fringe

Cera

Triceratops as Pets

Advantages:
Vegetarian
Will fit in garage
Conversation starter
Sweet disposition

Disadvantages:
Those horns
Potty training
Chases cars (and catches them)
You really need two or they get sullen.

from My Triceratops © 2009 Chris Browne, a work in progress.

A Prayer for Spring

Her New Hat

Andrew Wyeth

Andew Wyeth arguably the greatest of his family of painters, has died. Last year I went to New York's Museum of Modern Art just to see his great work Christina's World. I was shocked to discover that they had this masterpiece placed haphazardly in a small L-shaped hallway connecting two larger exhibit rooms, surrounded with several unmemorable works by a smattering of lesser known artists. Even in this small, ignoble setting it was not the central or featured piece. It was very disturbing to see such a major and magical piece of artwork treated this way by people who presumably should know better.

Presumably. Ah, there's the rub. For Modern Art is more about Modern than it is about Art these days. Too bad. But Andrew Wyeth did the work, just as his father and son did. Art is it's own reward.

Here is my painting The Black Rabbit, in honor of Wyeth's passing.

Friend

Painted from my memory, that most unfaithful servant. A dear and missed friend.

Iann Steps Out

There comes a time in every young robot's life when he must throw caution to the wind and step boldly out of the lab to explore the larger world first hand. Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics allowing, of course. So it was with Iann the Bear. Dr. Omen, Iann's father, lay unconscious in his burning laboratory, a crimson new moon gash across his forehead. Iann was unable to revive him- or even to drag him to safety. He had to get help. He looked up at the impossibly big armored door and simulated the chirp of the doctor's Security Badge. The door popped open with a crisp hydraulic hiss.

Iann stepped out into "the world", as father called it and thinking that, also thought this: "O brave new world, That has such people in it!" from The Tempest.

Appropriate enough, for the little bear was headed for a storm...

From Omen © 2009 Chris Browne

Louis Bunwell

Famed Edwardian bunny philanthropist and entrepreneur.

Chihuahua Dreams

My darling Clementine

I love these things. This one sat on my desk too long and finally all I could do with it was paint it. I wish they made a sugar free version!

Iann the Bear

"Iann is a cybernetic bear with a massive quantum memory and a corpus colloseum brain structure based on Albert Einstein's. Other brain features were a truncated Sylvian fissure and a wider inferior parietal lobe. The earliest version was built by Omen Anderson when he was ten years old, the summer his mother died. The early servos and clunky Intel chips and drives gave way to higher technologies as the years passed. He was Omen's hobby for years, then obsession, always best friend and eventually his personal assistant (unpaid but still the most expensive PA on the planet).

Iann stands for Independent Automatomic Neural Network. He became self aware in the Anderson-Romanov robotics lab at MIT in 1965. To say that he has emotions might be going too far, but he has demonstrated a bond and loyalty to Omen that many would envy. Some say it resembles love."

Iann disappeared at the time of Omen Anderson's reported death.

from OMEN © 2009 Chris Browne; a work in progress.

Cardinal Sin

Another rough from OMEN. Who watches the watchmen? In this case, Omen sends his robot spy cardinal to the General's house to discover the truth.

Trapped

"Tova was trapped now. She was trapped in the great steel fish with no hope of up or out and a billion tons of water pressing in on every side. But more than this, Omen knew Tova's every secret, in a world where her only armor had been her great and opaque mystery. And there was no going back to not knowing, for either of them. Ever again."

from the first draft of "Omen" a graphic novel.

"Omen" graphic novel rough

Here is a sketch for my graphic novel "Omen" . Omen involves fringe science during the cold war in the sixties; robotics, remote viewing, spies, destiny and tragic love. Omen is the name of the protagonist, a brilliant inventor and visionary, pressed into service to save the free world.

Pictured here is Omen's opposite number, former partner and nemesis, Tova Romanov.

The Workshop

I know I have too many books in the works, but here is a graphic novel I hope I can develop. The protagonist is Omen Anderson, a scientific genius who goes to work for a secret military research and development group much like DARPA. It's a double blind cautionary tale whose motto might be: "You can't outsmart the smartest person in the world; only he can."

In this rough, we see Omen trying to revive his creation, a wounded $600,000 cybernetic male Northern Cardinal (cardinalis cardinalis) complete with a high def night vision camera eye, a GPS guidance system and a quantum bandwidth transceiver. The bird survives (this time).

Click image for larger picture!

Cadet Bunny

I found Cadet Bunny feeling sorry for himself at an antique expo here in town. I said, "On your feet, Cadet! You're moving out!" He now is stationed over my desk where he is in charge of children's book idea recon. He occasionally spies a real bunny in the yard beyond the window. If he has feelings for those bunnies, I don't know. He's pretty tight lipped (they're stiched!)

Merry Christmas!

Wee Beastie

Painted on a scrap of cardboard. Oddly similar to this other critter from my sub-conscious mind. Maybe there is a viable colony of them!

Where do the bunnies go?

I always worry when I haven't seen the bunnies on Bunny Hill for a while. And then they appear, suddenly, magically, just when all hope seems lost. We've had a couple of snows now and dodged one blizzard (that seemed to hit everywhere but Sioux Falls). And we have more snow coming overnight tonight and more over the weekend and next week. So I will worry anew: Where are my bunnies?

Maybe, like these two Eastern Cottontail Yuppies, they are on their way to a last minute Christmas party for anthropomorphic woodland animals! I can hope.

Rocket

This is another rough sketch for a possible graphic novel (or more likely novelette, give my monkey-like attention span) about Newton, a clever Earth boy who finds a cache of alien future-tech toys and memorabilia. Sort of what you might find if Kal-El's missing luggage ever showed up!

Astra

Here is the heroine of my work-in-progress, A House In The Stars. Her name is Astra.

Last of the Lifesavers

Sooner or later, we all need a Lifesaver. I married mine.

Book: An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory

Danny Gregory's book An Illustrated Life is out and I recommend it highly. Lavishly illustrated, featuring revealing pieces by the various showcased artists, this is a must for any serious artist. One of my favorite things in this book is the keyhole stuff: peeks at the artists' workspaces, with sketchbooks piled in bookshelves or on floors.

The artists featured are wonderful, R. Crumb (his presence single handedly means this is not a book for kids), Everett Peck, Elwood Smith and more... the art is beautifully reproduced, the colors rich and vibrant.

This book is nothing less than a creativity charger. A minute of leafing through this fabulous book equals an hour of motivated drawing. Along with The World of William Joyce, The Invention of Hugo Cabret and The Annotated Alice, this book quickly made my "books for a desert island" list. My only regret is that I'm not in it!

Enjoy! Chris Browne

Christmas Cookie

Rainbow Zen

I had a great day. Carroll and I got out for a bit, shopped at a greenhouse, had a nice lunch. Meanwhile great things were happening on the homefront: our great electrician was able to remove the kitchen island that has bugged us since we got here. The kitchen now seems huge! Also, we are having a wet bar that we never used turned into a pantry that we really need and that is going to be great. So after several weeks of just feeling awful, the joy of just a nice normal day! There's no place like home.

Charlie

My first attempt at painting Charles Henry, a dear dog friend.

White Rabbit Walking Stick

Here is an imaginary walking stick I drew in England when I couldn't find one I liked.

Star House

This image has been in my head for years and now I have a story to go with it. With luck, it'll be a children's book manuscript soon. I based this house on a heroic little cottage that made a very brave journey thru the streets of Sioux Falls and now lives happily just down the street from me.
See? Art imitates life! And vice versa.

Here It Comes!

The holidays? The new administration? Socialism? Choose your allegory! But choose wisely!

For me, I just love monsters. I grew up watching Rodan, Mothra, Godzilla, Gorgo, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Giant Behemoth, The Amazing Colossal Man and others ford urban portages and fling cars. I lived to hitch a ride with my bro Chance to Bill's Smoke Shop to read Tales to Astonish and Famous Monsters of Filmland.

Even now, I yearn to see a retro-engineered mammoth, I lull myself to sleep imagining Cloverfield sequels and I can frequently be found eyeballing tin wind-up robots at Zandbros here in town.

That inner child we boomers all harbor? ...Is one tough little monkey!

Winter Chill

I lowered my blood pressure almost 20 points today with zen breathing! Hence the "chill" herein. This was a VERY rough sketch I did long ago but I kept going back to it and adding colored pencil, washes, finally gouache. It's still not quite right but I think I can let it go now. Sometimes you just gotta do that!

Votive Candle

It's almost Thanksgiving! One thing I am thankful for is, I had a chance to work with some wonderful children and teachers in a local Headstart program this month. It was one of the best experiences I've had. Children are a blessing straight from heaven and it was good for my heart and soul to be around them.

I'm also thankful to all my doctors and the nurses, the techs and the staff of Sanford Hospital who got me back on my feet recently. I am grateful to one and all. What a great hospital, by the way! Happy Thanksgiving to all!

A Genie in MacDougal Alley

Click for detail- there's a lot of it! I painted this tonight and really enjoyed it. It reminded me of old Twilight Zone episodes. My favorite genie is the one from Thief of Bagdad. This one has a little Lord Ganesh in him and I like that- my favorite Hindu God moonlighting as a genie in Greenwich Village. Lord Ganesh is the "remover of obstacles" among other things. Speaking of which, my leg is feeling somewhat better.

White Rabbit

Alice followed a rabbit and ended up in a strange and disorienting world.

Last week, so did I. I had some pain in my leg following my return from London and ended up in hospital for several days. An ice storm prevented even family from visiting for much of my time there and it became a lonely, frightening endeavor. However, I was very impressed with the doctors, nurses and techs at the hospital. Their care and kindness made this somber chapter bearable. I seem to be on the mend, but I have a ways to go. Not quite out of the woods yet. But I am out of hospital.

Carroll bought me this adorable painted iron rabbit. It's six inches tall. I had to paint it.

Outside my darkened studio window tonight, the wind howls and the unseen snow flies.
Soon the whole world will be a white rabbit, always late, always running, always pursued, never found...
Winter is a-coming in.

5

In Richard Cavendish's The Black Arts, he describes the numerological number FIVE as the number of "creativity, sexuality and madness". Whether you believe in numerology or not (I don't) it's interesting that these three modes are linked anywhere. But then when you think of Picasso, Hemingway, Dali and R. Crumb, you can sort of see how they might be.

Reality (Check)

ToDo list for my inner child:

Organize Army of tiny tin robots (Check)
Perfect Dog-to-Human Translating helmet (Check)
Fix the matter transportation pods- get the bugs out (Check)
Adjust jet pack so the rockets don't sear my calves (Check)
Fix volume control on iTelepathy unit. (Check)
Leave Post-It note on Fax-Time Machine to remind me to fax me back who won the election. (Check)
Call vet! Make sure the Triceratops has all her shots. (Check!)

© 2008 Chris Browne

White Cat

This morning over coffee I painted this Carousel Cat that sits in our dining room. It's full size on an iron stand but appears to be a resin or fiberglass cast of the original wooden cat. I've always wanted to do a painting of this piece and today the planets aliened and here it is. I originally was drawn to the piece because I had a wonderful white Rex cat named T-Bird and this looks just like him. I call the painting White Cat but the title is a little deceptive because there is no white used in the painting: if you click the image to enlarge you'll see what I mean. The only white is the unpainted space around the image. Still the illusion works I think. Hope you like! CKB

The Warning

Hi! I added more color and detail today. Another painting straight from my subconscious!

Funny, but I am analyzing the clues in this as if someone else painted it. The box? I guess the little boy and girl pig are moving in, like the couple in The Uninvited. Maybe they found the Ouija board in the box. The painting seems to be of long ago residents- perhaps ancesters of the girl, seeing as how the ghost seems to be addressing her. The little boy pig doesn't seem to see the ghost! Is he wondering if Ms. P is hallucinating? And the ghost- what of those chain's he's wearing, like Marley's Ghost in A Christmas Carol? Oh wait, those aren't chains- they're sausage links! And what exactly is The Warning? Hmmm...

I enjoyed painting this after two weeks away from my watercolors and desk! But I hope the mysteries herein don't leave you... (wait for it!) ... disgruntled!

Goodbye, New York!

My wife, my stepdaughter, my mother and I left Brooklyn's Pier 12 on the Queen Mary 2. The ship is so big it was as if one of the skyscrapers had broken off of Manhattan and floated out to sea! Even of the roughest days at sea we hardly felt the sea roll. Is a steel island moved if the sea complains?

Here we see my mom-in-law, Luvy, watching the Brooklyn Bridge slip into the distance. This is how our adventure began. Fun, drama and mystery lay ahead...

more of this soon!

Trans-Atlantic Bunny!

Carroll and I recently took a 6 day cruise from Brooklyn, New York to London, England aboard the Queen Mary 2. It was fabulous! And the adventures that followed in England were even better.

We brought with us our daughter Ashley and my mother in law. Now that we are back, I will start posting photos, art and stories from the trip shortly. In brief, a pleasant time was had by one and all!

A Special Thank You

...to everyone who has read my two blogs, but especially to you kind people who took time to e-mail or add comments. It means the world to me and has really helped me through some very low points.

So thank you all, but special thanks to Pascal, Colleen S., Tace, Stacy C., Trenton Gal, Deanna N., Rebecca, Larry L., and Anonymous in SRQ (I know who you are!)

You are all very kind, my unmet friends- I hope to meet you all someday to thank you properly, but for now, just thank you.

Best wishes, Chris

Claudette and Sebastian

Here are Claudette and Sebastian. Thrown together by fate, they soon fell in love. But love's path is not an easy journey.

Rocket Clown

I have no idea where this came from. I'm exhausted, a little down and stressed, so I guess this is a rocket to my happy place (although the Rocket Clown looks pretty stressed, himself). Tough week. Better days ahead! I have faith.

Cast Iron Pig

Yesterday, I stopped by my favorite shop ZANDBROS in downtown Sioux Falls. I bought this cast iron piggy bank. I just had to paint it.

At first I painted it in watercolor in my Moleskine pad but the paper was resisting the water. So when I came back to it, I tried gouache and this is the result. I love painting with gouache and I always forget to. But the colors are so rich and powdery- like a jelly donut!

Oh, great! Now I want a donut. Who's the cast iron piggy now?

Cellar Full of Noise

Here's my first study for my next painting, Cellar Full of Noise. I'm juggling three other jobs today so it'll be a while till I get to this one! Chris

The Bear

I think this may be done- maybe! This is a gift for a close friend who loves science fiction, tech toys and a certain fox. I hope he like this! Click the image above to read the book titles, author names and to see the toys up close!

Best always, Chris

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Amazing, amazing book! An inspiration.

The Bear Returns

I finally got to work on The Bear some more. I put the books on the shelves, added some depth and texture. But the bear has a ways to go before he rests (or hibernates).

Laura Geringer

Laura Geringer is leaving HarperCollins Children's Books after 28 years. Her imprint at the company for the past 17 years has been greatly responsible for for the success of such luminaries as my hero William Joyce (Dinosaur Bob, The Leaf Men, A Day With Wilber Robinson). Her imprint has sold more than 50 million books. She is also a wonderful author in her own right.

My Black Book

This week at our storage unit I found my old Little Black Book from when I lived in Connecticut. Wow. Talk about a time machine! I flipped through the pages...

Lovers and friends, some still out there somewhere, too many lost in time or space, all older, some gone on. If other books contained as much drama, comedy, romance, wit, passion and intrigue, well... more people would read!

I decided to paint it. Seemed simple enough, a black rectangle. But it took a week to paint. I painted it 200% up, first under painting to get the shades of gray to black right, then hours and hours of painting the layers of cracked black leather texture. Finally the lettering which I did in gold opaque watercolor, which I think goes a long way to sell the illusion.

"Art is a lie that tells the truth" or so said Pablo Picasso.

Click image to enlarge.

Aranciata

This is the best stuff! Like Orangina. We had this at lunch yesterday at Food & Fermentations downtown. Great, relaxing place and I was able to find several vegetarian friendly things there.

Bunny On The Wall!

This has been a loooong hard week of work, stress, more work and more stress. But I looked up from my desk and what do I see but a baby bunny on the wall! And suddenly everything's okay. These little creatures are a true blessing. Fuzzy little tranquilizers, with no side effects!

This Perfect Day

Today at our storage unit I found this in a box of papers about to turn into mulch! I painted this, a romantic picnic with a robot, in hopes of getting it published in Heavy Metal magazine. I don't think I ever showed it to them.

It was a bad period for me, my mother was very ill and my life was spinning out of control. It was nice to find this today, nice to see something so peaceful and whimsical came out of that terrible dark time for me.

Click image to enlarge!

I Will Follow You Into The Dark

I wish I had drawn this! The illustrations are by Monkmus and the song is by Death Cab For Cutie. I just felt this was a perfect fit for this pro-bunny, pro-sketchbook blog. Lovely stuff! Makes me want to draw.

On Bunny Hill this morning, I saw the baby bunny eating the apples that Luvy set out for them. It was really nice. Thank you, Luvy!

My Dog Walker

Red Owl

The Bear

Here's the first layer of watercolor for my new piece, "The Bear" (aka "The Bruin").

The bear is a book lover and the shelves are filled with science fiction and fantasy books and toys. (not visible here yet). But he is listening to his current book as an audio file on his iPod Touch, a device that would itself seem like sci-fi gadgetry a few years back. Life imitates art! And vice versa.

In the bookcase nook is a portrait of the bear's friend the fox (recently seen in paintings Veg Out!, Salon) and The Secret Library.

A lot of these animal fantasy paintings I've been doing take place underground in warrens, sometimes with roots or rocks poking in, but even this one has rounded walls, I guess showing that unconsciously I am thinking of this place as a subterranean safe place- a womb with a view!

Road Trip! The Bigger Chill

Hi, friends,

Here's a photo from The Bigger Chill, the amazing road trip we just got back from. You can see many more photos from the trip at this link. Here pictured are two of my favorite people, my brother-in-law Eddie aka Lead Dog and my wife, Carroll.

The photos at the end of the link are downloadable. It was a great group of smart, funny, loved people and we had some great adventures and saw some wonderful parts of America: parks, monuments, towns, people. We are all so blessed!

Chris

Limonata

Our first evening home from our trip we had dinner at Food and Fermentations on Phillips Avenue. It was wonderful. Everything was great and the atmosphere was perfect. At the end I purloined this empty can of Limonata to paint and here is the result, so far.

Potion

I'm having a hard time finding a place to buy Strathmore 3 ply PLATE paper (aka Series 500 plate) locally or on-line. I buy in sheets, packages of 25 or 50 at a time. If any one knows where I can buy this please let me know! Thanks! Chris

Beloved Chihuahua

Evening Bunny

Baby Bunny in pencil

Two Bunnies

Good to be back from our trip to the Black Hills and points west! I've missed my bunnies!

This watercolor was painted from sketches and video of an amazing day on Bunny Hill, June 2, 2008, which I now call BunnyFest '08. We saw five bunnies, including a ridiculously cute baby bunny that hoped up and down the patio steps. The moment I drew from for this painting happens halfway through the video.

Wonderful

There is something so healing, so soul restoring about seeing one of God's creatures up close. The world is still a magical place, with many wonders in it. I feel very lucky and blessed to live where do, to have such good friends and family and to be visited by these dear little fuzzy ground angels.

Duncan's World

Here is my beloved Duncan considering his domain. The Chihuahuas think it's their yard, but its Duncan's world and we are all just visitors.

Good Evenings

I had a lovely evening yesterday... Ken Alvine and I spoke at the library. Great young people and several local artists came out. Everyone was very kind!

Can't upload tonight- my computer is in the shop! Tonight my wife, motherinlaw and I snuck out and saw the new Indiana Jones movie, I loved it! (your mileage may vary).

Saw more bunnies today, munching on the newly cut lawn. Love them!

Best,

Chris

Return to Bunny Hill

Bunny on the Hill! The bunnies are back. My universe is in balance again. Uncle Bunny, the male gray cottontail is back. Yea!

Star Nosed Mole

When I was 17 I wrote a three book novel called Broken Ash Tray. It was never published but it had to do with critical events between humankind and God on an alien world. My idea was that if God is everywhere, he must be having dealings with alien races and what would that be like? My influences at the time were poet-novelists Richard Braughtigan and Ray Bradbury and of course, Jules Verne.

I loved writing the book and one of the key images in it was a giant robotic drilling machine called the Star-Nosed Mole. So here is an image from that early and unpublished work. Hope you like.

Subaquatic