64 SQUARE MADHOUSE

11" x 17"

#2B pencil, Pentel brush pen, Faber Castell brush in hand:book sketchbook

“Chess holds its master in its own bonds, shackling the mind and brain so that the inner freedom of the very strongest must suffer.” - Albert Einstein

I used to play a lot of chess. More accurately, I lost a lot of chess games. Even though I only played for fun I always felt bad for the opponents I'd beaten, and felt bad when I lost. I don't know what the correlation is between chess and madness, if there even is one. I do know that drawing is a more enjoyable compulsion for me. Was Einstein correct? Maybe he was just a weak chess player!

BARDO OF BEING BUSTED

11" x 17"

#2B pencil, Uniball pen, Pentel brush pen and Faber Castell brush in hand:book sketchbook

It's that moment in between. The criminal thinks he's getting over. He's high on a big score. Easy street!

Then suddenly that knock on his door. Yes, there is a search warrant. He's suspended between the big score and a long stretch in jail. It's a weird place for his consciousness, but it can prove fruitful for his spiritual progress.

THE FARMER AND THE CONGRESSMAN

11" x 8 1/2"
Uniball pen in handbook:sketchbook

A man in a fancy car rolls up to a farmer in a field and asks 
"If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"

The farmer looks at the man, obviously a city slicker, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?" The farmer thinks it over, it's a huge herd so he accepts the bet.

The city slicker parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system to get an exact fix on his location. From there he feeds the data to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

Within seconds he receives an email on his Smart phone that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his phone and, after a few minutes, receives a response. Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the farmer and says, 'You have exactly 1,423 cows'.

The farmer is astonished because the city slicker's figure is exactly correct. He says, 'OK, I'm a man of my word, take a cow.' The city slicker selects one of the animals and begins to walk away.

'Wait,' yells the farmer, 'Let me have a chance to get even. Double or nothing that I can guess your exact occupation.' The city slicker agrees readily.

'You are a Congressman for the U.S. Government,' says the farmer.

'Good grief!' splutters the city slicker, 'You are exactly right, tell me, how did you deduce that?'

'Easy,' says the farmer, 'give me back my dog, and I will tell you.'

"No guessing required.' answered the farmer. 'You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about cows.

SUBWAY TOKEN

11" x 8 1/2"

Uniball pen, Pentel brush pen and Faber Castell brushes in hand:book sketchbook

If you didn't have one you hopped the turnstile. Oh no, I never hopped or sprayed. Ok, I never tagged.

THAT INNER VOICE

11" x 8 1/2"

Uniball pen, Pentel Brush pen and Kuretake Fude brush in hand:book sketchbook

People who think they know everything tend to stop thinking. They will tell you there is no such thing as magic, supernatural phenomena or intuition. Not the two detectives who went to interview the forensic psychiatrist at the Oregon State Corrections Facility for the Criminally Insane in Salem, Oregon though.

It's the same building where the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was filmed. The place had an even weirder vibe in it's real life function than in the movie.

The detectives were investigating the murder of a young woman whose body had been carved up and stabbed 27 times, then staged in a ravine choked with blackberry bushes. During the course of their investigation they had developed a credible suspect and were about to interview him when the Chief of Detectives requested they go over the case details with the state forensic psychiatrist before contacting the suspect. Profiling was in it's infancy at the time and the Chief felt that talking to the psychiatrist would help them get inside the suspects head. Although the detectives were more interested in corroborated evidence that would prove a fact rather than dabbling with psychology, an order was an order, so they went up to the facility in Salem to meet the headshrinker.

They went passed the outer barbed wire fences,in through the front door of the foreboding facility, and walked down a brightly lit long hall to the reception desk where a bespectacled man stood smiling. The dude liked like a drawing of R. Crumb. They told him they had an appointment to see the head doctor whereupon he smiled and hissed at them through his foul looking teeth "Please hand me your weapons."

Of course. Security purposes, and all.

As they both obediently reached their hands to their hips to hand over their guns the thought hit them suddenly and simultaneously as they looked at each other: That little voice inside their heads said "Huh?"

Just then an orderly came running down the hallway toward them screaming "No, No, Stop, he's a patient."

In this facility for the criminally insane all 52 patients shared the distinction of having committed the most brutal and mind bending murders. None of those run of the mill ground ball crimes of passion with these guys. And part of their rehabilitative treatment was to build their self esteem so there were no prison uniforms or jump suits issued to them. Everyone wore civilian clothing. It was tough to tell the inmates from the staff. Perhaps in time some of the staff went insane too. Who knows?

But on that day the detectives learned that psychopaths or sociopaths are both intelligent and clever.

And that you should always listen to your inner voice.

MUMBAI, INDIA

18" x 24"

Mixed media

This is the cover I did for a book by Tara van Dijk. I worked on it some more after it was published and made an alternate night time scene.

PROBLEM OR INCONVENIENCE

11" x 8 1/2"

#2 pencil, Pentel brush pen and Kuretake Fude brush in hand:book sketchbook

I reached up into the bathroom medicine cabinet that hangs directly above the toilet. The seat lid was up. As I lifted the prescription bottle by it's child proof screw cap it came off and three months worth of medicine flew in three directions. On the floor, in the bathtub and yes, of course, into the toilet!

Standing there in disbelief all I could mutter was "I can't believe this!" I repeated this several times using the F word and the S word. It didn't help.

Julie came in, sat down and cleaned up saving more than I thought could be saved. We discovered that I had placed the wrong cap on the bottle the last time I took a pill.

She hugged me and said to always remember when things like this happen ask yourself if this is a problem or just an inconvenience.

She's amazing and I more than love her.

STUDY OF ROCKWELL

11" x 8 1/2"

#2 pencil, Pentel brush pen, Faber Castell brushes, Kuretake Fude brush and white China marker in hand:book sketchbook

Norman Rockwell is one of my favorite artists. His illustrations are masterpieces. This is a study I made of of one small section of a larger painting he made in 1941 entitled Strictly A Sharpshooter

ROCKWELL STUDY

11" x 8 1/2"

#2 pencil, Pentel brush pen, Faber Castell brushes, Kuretake Fude brush and white China marker in hand:book sketchbook

Norman Rockwell is one of my favorite artists. His illustrations are masterpieces. This is a study I made of of one small section of a larger painting he made in 1941 entitled Strictly A Sharpshooter

CHRISTINA GUSEK HAT

CHRISTINA GUSEK HAT

11" x 8 1/2"

#2 pencil, Pentel brush pen, Faber Castell brushes and Kuretake white ink in hand;book sketchbook

Drawn from a photo of artist Christina Gusek. I have been reading about and studying Rembrandt and they way he used to dress his models in robes and hats. This is a preliminary drawing in my sketchbook for a painting in the future.

SNOW ON THE SANTIAM PASS

11 1/2" x 16"

#2 Pencil, watercolor and Faber Castell brush in Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook

Julie drove her Dad and I back home from Bend, Oregon today and there was plenty of snow on the ground over the Santiam pass. It's a steep winding road and she proved once again what a great driver she is! I don't recommend sketching from the back seat though. Thanks for the wonderful visit Aunt Linda Cofer, Mel, Greg Cofer, Susan Jensen, Diana DeLand and Don.