political 'toon

This one was done as part of a series for Oh! Magazine (1991). At the time the first war in Iraq for the USA was about to begin. The magazine rejected it because management worried about it offending black readers. The publisher was a know-it-all young white guy, who did not recognize the art style or the content as playing off an Uncle Remus story; he had not heard of Brer Rabbit. So the point of the 'toon went right past him.

Ironically, Oh! had no black readers and few readers of any hue. So I ran it in SLANT, the little magazine I then published twice-a-month, a couple of weeks later. It was originally a black and white piece. I colorized it a couple of years ago.

Detached

"Detached" is the title under which I've written a series of short stories. The art to the right is color copy of a piece I did in 1995, developing an idea for cover art for the collection, which I thought was being finished up then at nine stories.

At this point, a decade later, four stories are completed and, alas, there are another dozen or so in vaious stages of completion. Of them I'm guessing now, perhaps three, five at the most, will actually be finished, one day. Approaching the end of 2005, one day still seems off in the distance to the author.

So, for the time being here are links to the four that I've sworn never to rewrite, again -- all featuring Roscoe Swift as the protagonist, set between 1966 and 1985 -- which are now available online for your reading pleasure. They are:

Central Time
Cross-eyed Mona
Fancy Melons
Maybe Rosebud

political 'toon

Oil War

(1991) pen and ink

handbill

pencil and ink

A Pirate Looks at 58
(1992)

painting

Documenting the Death of Rebus, No. 1
(1983)

handbill

pencil sketch

Katey at the Window (1996)

political 'toons

This was the last frame of a five-and-a-half page cartoon feature for STYLE Weekly in October of 1994. It was on the lively Ollie North/Chuck Robb/Marshall Coleman/Doug Wilder race for the US Senate. At the time that race set a new standard for combined spending on a Senate campaign.

pencil and water color on paper

This piece, a portrait of Zeke, was done for my 1996 calendar.

'toons

By keeping ordinary things like handbills, cohabitation, gambling, and other "victimless" crimes illegal, it means just about anybody can be harassed by the long arm of the law. But it's the ones with the unfashionable attitudes that feel the boot first.

This pen and ink cartoon above was created in 1983 and first published as a handbill. It ran in SLANT in 1986. It was part of a five-year propaganda campaign to fight off the city's anti-handbill laws. SLANT's first cause was to frame that same battle in a freedom-of-speech context, while claiming the pop scene depended on such flyers being posted on utility poles to exist. In 1987 the local statutes were changed. Essentially, we won.

oil study

Derriere No. 7
(2005)

handbill

This 1973 handbill promoted the art house feature film by director Alexandro Jodorowsky, "El Topo."

caricature

Doug Wilder savors his 2004 mayoral victory.

political 'toons

This little piece, in ink and pencil on paper, was done for a local publisher who, upon seeing it, turned it down. After five years this is its first public airing.

sketch: "Rebus and Zeke"

In this 1997 water color, ink and pencil piece (11" by 14") Rebus (standing) and Zeke are out on the Frisbee-Golf course.

political 'toons: faces

Virginia's two major party candidates running for governor this year are Democrat Tim Kaine (depicted above) and Republican Jerry Kilgore. Kilgore served in Gov. George Allen's administration and as the Old Dominion's Attorney General until he resigned earlier this year to work full-time on the race. Kaine, once mayor of Richmond, is The Commonwealth's sitting Lt. Governor.

Although both men's features and personalities seem to me to rather lend themselves to caricature, this time I took it easy on them. Both 'toons were done in pen and ink.

sketch: "Derriere No. 1"

This piece, done (in 1992) with water color, spray paint and pastels on paper, was the first of what proved to be a series of studies and paintings of shapely female derrieres. I've sold several prints of this one.

sketch: "Still Got Soul"

This pencil and ink sketch of author
Charles Bukowski
was done for my 2005 calendar. (The original has been sold.).
It ran with a caption under it, taken from one of his short stories:

"If you don't have much soul left and you know it,
you still got soul."

oil study: "Escape"

This is one of several sketches made of this set of steps. It was done on paper (10 inches by 13 inches) using oil sticks this summer.

collage: "The Biograph"

This piece was assembled in 1985. I used several boxes of movie memorabilia and such to make this collage called "The Biograph." The 16 mm reel turns on a little electric motor behind the plywood on which the pictures and paint were placed and covered with Roplex. It is five feet by four feet.