The OH NO! Original Art Auction

Hey, remember the video I posted a week or so back? For Dan Santat's OH NO! Original Artwork Fundraiser? Well, the auctions are now under way. You can see my entry here, then here to see the rest. There is some really cool artwork to be had, stuff from Tony DeTerlizzi, and Dan Yaccarino. I may bid on a few myself...get a load of the Wilson Swain one, and the Scott Magoon one! Super cheap original artwork--and all for a good cause!

Colossal Schedule Failure

Remember like three posts ago, when I said I was going to start doing the blog posts early in the morning? Well, scratch that, they return to the old, late night schedule tomorrow. I've been doing five posts a week for over a year now, missing only two or three days. I should never have messed with a winning formula. Chalk today's missed post as a learning lesson.

Early mornings...what was I thinking?

Sgt. Snookums: Patrol Cat part 8

And now back to our story....almost

Oh boy, this is exciting--it's an all text day! I'll get right back into the "Sgt. Snookums" story tomorrow. I'm trying to change a few things here on the site. Nothing you'd notice, really, just my schedule for when things get posted. Since I started, I've always done the blog post at the end of the day, the last thing before going to sleep. I'm now going to try to do it very early in the morning.

I've been a full-time freelancer for five years now. One of the trickiest parts of freelance work is defining and controlling your schedule, especially when you have young kids at home. I've tried a lot of variations on my workday. Late nights, really late nights, and even the famous flipped schedule of sleeping during the day and working at night. They've all worked out to some degree, but I'm still trying to find the perfect schedule. I'm going to try the extremely early morning approach now. I may fail miserably.

I'm changing up my schedule because I've got a HUGE new project coming up. It's been in negotiations for the last four months, but it is finally going to happen. The contracts are signed and sent, when I get them back, I'll announce it here. I'll give you a hint: It was born on this blog. Any guesses?

See you Monday morning.

Grand Canyon Intermission (Day 4? of 2--last day)

Today is the last day of the Grand Canyon watercolors. Some of these didn't get finished in time (when the raft leaves, the raft LEAVES.) The average time for one of these paintings was about 30 minutes--the detailed ones (Havasu, Deer Creek, etc.) were closer to 45 minutes. Some of them, like Dinosaur Beach (below) were more like 15 minutes. It's fun to paint under the clock, it makes it into a game. And, unless you have a really long trip scheduled, it's the only way to paint on-the-spot in Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon Intermission (Day 3? of 2)

I had a chance to clean these up a little more than yesterday's (I'll go back and adjust those.) I actually still have a few more. Blogger only lets me post five at a time. What do you think? What's your favorite so far?

Grand Canyon Intermission (Day 2 of 2)

Oh boy, it looks like there isn't room to fit them all in today--I'll have to commandeer tomorrow's post to fit the rest in.

These are little thumbnails, click on them to see them full sized (some are bigger than others.)

Grand Canyon Intermission (Day 1 of 2)

Hey everyone, we're going to take a two-day break from Sergeant Snookums. Why? So you can see some pictures of my awesome trip through the Grand Canyon! Here's me above "Rattlesnake" campsite (I think?) on the trail to the "Tabernacle." (that I'm sure of.)

Look at that chocolate river! Tomorrow I'll post a whole bunch of on-the-spot watercolors I did, then Sgt. Snookums will resume. I'm sure you're all dying to know what happens next. Will they eat the tuna? What is Q-Tip's mysterious story? How does Sgt. Snookums reach the gas pedal? All will be revealed...or will it?