Ironically, an Airline Called Delta Can't Seem to Get Me to Greece.

I fly a lot, but this was new to me: after sitting out on the Tucson runway for about twenty minutes the pilot informed us that we were too heavy. I will admit to looking askance at the passenger next to me at this point. Given our weight, we could not legally take off in the current winds. Almost immediately I thought to myself, "Well. We'll probably have to return to the gate to dump excess fuel." But I know nothing about the actual mechanics of air travel, so even I didn't assume I had the answer.

Twenty minutes later, we returned to the gate to dump excess fuel. Apparently the Tucson airport only has one fuel truck or something (keep shootin' for the stars, Tucson!), because we then waited a half hour just for the crew to arrive.

Long story short, I'm supposed to be checking into my hotel in Athens right now, and meeting my wife. Instead I am enjoying lunch at an Atlanta airport-area mexican restaurant, which is every bit as good as it sounds.

Could be worse. I was originally rebooked on a flight that would've required I stay in Atlanta for TWO DAYS. Not that I don't like Atlanta. But, Zeus willing, I will be taking a circuitous Athens-by-way-of-Amsterdam-by-way-of-Minneapolis trip later this afternoon.

But enough of my whining, right? I'm still going to Greece, and you're probably not, currently. So here's a page from my sketchbook featuring a woodcutter and some patrons of the Surly Wench pub.

sketchbook: LIONS

sketchbook: DRAGONS

sketchbook: GIRLS

Zoo Trip

Alaska Again

Okay, so I know you don't come here looking for photos of my recent trip to Alaska. Or maybe you do. If you do, go here.

But I don't want to drop the subject entirely without showing a group who came to see an evening teen/adult program I presented. They arrived wearing homemade Boov t-shirts and brought me one as well.

I present them here, along with some of the librarians who made my trip possible.

Click to enlarge.

And for those of you who're wondering when I'm going to get back to posting some art, here are some people I sketched while sitting in a Seward, Alaska coffee shop called The Sea Bean:

Nick Cave

Every now and then I try my hand at caricature, usually just while sketching in front of the television. I don't have any particular gift for it, and I really admire those who do it well.

Tonight I was watching some Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds videos with my wife, and suddenly got the urge:

These don't usually work out this well on the first try. Then again, Cave's face is a bit easier than most. I might as well be bragging at having drawn Groucho Marx.

Preliminary Magic

Thought I'd show a little process from one of the Magic card images below: Oona, Queen of the Fae.
I stared with a couple rough poses, but decided to send Wizards of the Coast something like the basically symmetrical, frontal view at the bottom. She's something of a goddess, so I thought the image should have sort of a religious icon look to it.

Anyway, Wizards didn't like it, so I started playing around with different poses...

...and we eventually settled on the image below.