Month: October 2007


No Pitch This Week, You Can Come Out Now


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Hi Folks, I’m not trying to “cel” anything this week. Here are the next 6 KKs from 12-19-1938 to 12-24. This week “Pop” is the centerpiece of all the gags. There is a radio reference in 12-24 to the “Vox Pop” NBC sidewalk interview show of 1938-39. That’s why the old dog is named “Voxx”.  Here also is the next ep. of Lane Allen’s Diary: Lane finds out he’s been followed by a mounted forest ranger, of course the girls all make fun of him for being scared. Expressions are good.

Posts will be scarce around here for a couple of weeks, Cathy and I are going on a painting trip. I won’t tell you the details until we return, but suffice to say, it’s something brand new for us and we are somewhat trepidatious. Wish us luck and the good Lord willing, I’ll be posting at ya again real soon.

Keep On Pitchin’ and Crestline, Ca.


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Here is another cel from “It’s ‘The Cat'” for your gift-giving consideration. This image of the cat’s shadow about to jump to the top of the fence has beautiful night-time colors (not very well represented in my photo), and is 12 field in size. It’s $100.00 including the original drawing that it was traced from, hand-inked of course. I will have some more images of cels for sale next week.

In the comics, we have the Kat episodes from 12-12-1938 through 12-17. Mostly spot gags this week, I like the 12-17 strip which uses Proverbs 6:6: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard..observe her ways and be wise.”  Krazy pronounces it “slugga”.

Lane Allen’s Diary this week introduces Oliver, a wheelchair bound member of the Octopus society who does his detective work through a spy glass. This reminds me of “Rear Window” and Nero Wolfe.  Come back next week to see what was chasing Lane.

Cathy and I were the guests of the Tudor Pines Lodge and the Mountain Beautiful organization in Crestline, Ca. last weekend. Crestline is a beautiful mountain town near Lake Arrowhead. Our friend John Stillion of Mountain Beautiful organizes home tours through Crestline a few times a year to raise money to plant daffodil bulbs in the spring. John always does an incredible job of organizing the event and seems well-loved by the citizens of Crestline. Artists are invited to paint outdoors at some of the homes on the tour to lend color and entertain the public. This time Cathy and I set up our easels near the San Moritz Lodge and painted a 1910 Cadillac, and a “Woody” station wagon from the 1930s, classic cars placed on display by local collectors. They were colorful subjects and we met a lot of nice and inquisitive people. One tourist said that watching us, inspired her to paint. It’s a good feeling to think that you might be starting someone down their own art path. We just love to visit Crestline, there are so many beautiful homes, lakes, pine and eucalyptus trees, jays and grey squirrels to paint. The little towns of Blue Jay and Twin Peaks are very close by, we’ve stayed in Twin Peaks in previous years in a great little lodge, the Bear Creek I think it’s called. It’s hard to say where the most beautiful painting sites are, in the mountains or at the seashore, especially Crystal Cove state park. Grab a paintbrush everybody, and we’ll see you out on the trail!                                                           

Keep Pitchin’ and Huntington Beach


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Howdy y’all! Here are two more cel set-ups for sale from “It’s ‘The Cat'” just in time for the holidays. They are both large 16 field cels with colorscan backgrounds, and each set-up is matted and includes the pencil drawings that went with them.  The Three Blind Mice wind up to throw a brick and the Cat falls through a cloud: only $100.00 apiece, if you buy more than one, they will be $75.00. Team up with your friends and save! By the way, if there are any special cels you want from the film, just let me know and we will make them available.

Cathy and I spent Friday and Saturday in Huntington Beach, didn’t see any of you blog readers there. Everyone that DID come had a great time. We spent much of Saturday making paintings of the Beachfront Cafe near the Art Center. At the opening on Saturday, Cathy and I struck up a conversation with a lady who wanted to start an art career after she retires from her current job. The exhibition opened with Cathy’s painting of the Cafe included. Well some time went by, and lo and behold it sold! The buyer turned out to be that nice lady we had the conversation with earlier in the evening. She liked us and Cathy’s painting. So, be friendly to folks you meet at a gallery opening, they may buy your art! On Friday night, the $25.00 a head opening went very well. Cathy did a painting of the old Brewster’s Ice House (since 1945) in Huntington Beach at the suggestion of a local we met the previous week when we were doing paintings of the pier. We did sketches and took some digital photos of Brewsters. Cathy put “Brewster’s Ice House” in the show with a painting she did of surfers called “View From The Pier”, and her study of the pier itself, called “Ruby’s on the Pier”. It was a great opening, our friend Michael Situ took first prize for a Harbor study he did which made Huntington Beach look like Amsterdam! Some time went by and a “red dot” meaning “sold” appeared on the “Brewster’s Ice House” painting that Cathy did. The buyer turned out to be (who else) the local(s) who suggested that Cathy paint the ice house. By the amount of folks giving the ice house painting the once-over, more than one Brewster’s painting could have sold!  So when participating in a “Plein Air Festival”, pay attention to the tips on subject matter that the locals give you, they may wind up being your customers!

The KKs from this week range from 12-5-1938 to 12-10. Garge is starting to repeat himself, this “spy” sequence appeared earlier. It is re-drawn here to good effect, I like the disguises in which KK, Ignatz and Offissa Pupp cloak themselves.  In 12-7, Krazy almost looks like he belongs to the “KK”-K! Also as in previous strips, the principal characters have many doubles. Lane Allen’s Diary this week has some good mood stuff and silhouette drawings, building up the suspense as Lane and Mack square off. Note the spooky tree in the last panel. More “It’s ‘The Cat'” cels on sale next week! Keep checking www.itsthecat.com for other cel set-ups.

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