How to use this Page

More cartoon/comic experimentation. I picked an event from this past weekend and only got around to doing these two panels. This was my second lobster boil, the first having been in Cape Cod many, many years ago.  Of course, lobster aren’t native to South Texas, where I grew up. Plenty of gulf shrimp, oysters, and [...]

Illustration in my Nu.nl cartoon style, for a campaign inviting restaurant visitors to bring along their own bottle of wine.

You're invited to Sevensheaven.nl for more imagery.

Mom…. please save the leftovers.

*One of my first digital pieces from a couple of years ago

Okay…Last printed sample for a while (I think). And this one is appropriate in that it’s just in time for Thanksgiving (in the USA) this Thursday. Created for the November ‘09 issue of ClubHouse Jr. Magazine, this is a “what’s the difference between these two images?” kind of puzzle.  So if you have a few [...]

Image via Wikipedia

Guess who’s coming over for dinner? It’s your mother-in-law. Are you excited? Well here are ten fortune cookie sayings that you might hear from your dear mother-in-law.

1.   You look like a bum. You smell like a bum. I guess you are a bum. I don’t mean to be rude.

2.   Get a job! Get off your butt! What’s the matter with you? Have a nice day.

3.   You call this cooking? What are you trying to do? Are you trying to poison me? I’ll just have some wine.

4.   Lose some weight! You look like my next door neighbor. They call him the Elephant Man.

5.   Why did you ever marry my daughter? Where did I go wrong? By the way, wash your face and comb your hair.

6.   Did you know that divorce is a seven letter word? You can use it in Scrabble or on some other occasion.

7.   I’m ill. Call my doctor! Call my lawyer! Call my psychiatrist! Just get off your ass and start calling.

8.   You’re not getting anything from me when I’m dead. I’ve written you out of my will. Now start massaging my feet.

9.   Did anyone ever tell you that you bear a striking resemblance to the picture of the serial killer that is terrorizing the city?

10. Good news! Someone is moving into your home to live with you. I’ll give you one guess.

Image via Wikipedia

Guess who’s coming over for dinner? It’s your mother-in-law. Are you excited? Well here are ten fortune cookie sayings that you might hear from your dear mother-in-law.

1.   You look like a bum. You smell like a bum. I guess you are a bum. I don’t mean to be rude.

2.   Get a job! Get off your butt! What’s the matter with you? Have a nice day.

3.   You call this cooking? What are you trying to do? Are you trying to poison me? I’ll just have some wine.

4.   Lose some weight! You look like my next door neighbor. They call him the Elephant Man.

5.   Why did you ever marry my daughter? Where did I go wrong? By the way, wash your face and comb your hair.

6.   Did you know that divorce is a seven letter word? You can use it in Scrabble or on some other occasion.

7.   I’m ill. Call my doctor! Call my lawyer! Call my psychiatrist! Just get off your ass and start calling.

8.   You’re not getting anything from me when I’m dead. I’ve written you out of my will. Now start massaging my feet.

9.   Did anyone ever tell you that you bear a striking resemblance to the picture of the serial killer that is terrorizing the city?

10. Good news! Someone is moving into your home to live with you. I’ll give you one guess.

Image via Wikipedia

Do you have a problem with sex? Perhaps you need to see a sex therapist. After a few sessions, you might become a new person. Here are fifteen fortune cookie sayings from sex therapists:

1. At work, at play, and in the bed, life has its ups and downs.
2. Keep your two girlfriends away from going to the same restaurant unless you like to live your life dangerously.
3. Remember to keep your thoughts clean and your sheets clean at the same time.
4. Go to your grocery store and buy a lot of vegetables, particularly cucumbers. You are going to have a very exciting evening tonight.
5. Two’s company, but four makes for an extremely stimulating night.
6. Despite all your cosmetic surgeries, your heart is still true. Time to bring pleasure to your new body parts.
7. It is difficult to have a moist erotic kiss if your lips are severly chapped.
8. Condemn violence, but use a condom when having sex.
9. If you have an affair, make it count for everything you got because if you are discovered, you will lose everything you got.
10. Sex is like fireworks. It can be very explosive, but can also have its duds.
11. You cannot substitute pills for love. However, they do have interesting side effects.
12. Your passion will flow like a raging river. You are under a flood watch tonight.
13. A little music and a little food will put your partner in the right mood. But a little gas will swiftly burn out the flames of desire.
14. Give your honey a great big hug. Sorry, your honey has the flu. Now your hug has given you the bug.
15. Embrace your lover, but never lock braces together.

Image via Wikipedia

Do you have a problem with sex? Perhaps you need to see a sex therapist. After a few sessions, you might become a new person. Here are fifteen fortune cookie sayings from sex therapists:

1. At work, at play, and in the bed, life has its ups and downs.
2. Keep your two girlfriends away from going to the same restaurant unless you like to live your life dangerously.
3. Remember to keep your thoughts clean and your sheets clean at the same time.
4. Go to your grocery store and buy a lot of vegetables, particularly cucumbers. You are going to have a very exciting evening tonight.
5. Two’s company, but four makes for an extremely stimulating night.
6. Despite all your cosmetic surgeries, your heart is still true. Time to bring pleasure to your new body parts.
7. It is difficult to have a moist erotic kiss if your lips are severly chapped.
8. Condemn violence, but use a condom when having sex.
9. If you have an affair, make it count for everything you got because if you are discovered, you will lose everything you got.
10. Sex is like fireworks. It can be very explosive, but can also have its duds.
11. You cannot substitute pills for love. However, they do have interesting side effects.
12. Your passion will flow like a raging river. You are under a flood watch tonight.
13. A little music and a little food will put your partner in the right mood. But a little gas will swiftly burn out the flames of desire.
14. Give your honey a great big hug. Sorry, your honey has the flu. Now your hug has given you the bug.
15. Embrace your lover, but never lock braces together.

I really hadn't planned on turning her into such a flapper-type character but she insisted on it, and who am I to argue with a sweet innocent ingenue holding a bloody dagger in one hand? So here she is, the second in the Murder Mystery series. I'd watch your step if I were you ... :)

Murder Mystery: The Ingenue cards and matching products are here at zazzle.com!

I've needed to practice drawing characters and faces as they're a huge weakness where my overall drawing is concerned, so when I received a special request to draw some for a Mystery Murder project (more on that later!), I jumped at the chance. I'm a huge fan of detective, criminal investigation and murder mystery stories anyway, whether on paper or on the screen, so this was tons of fun to do!

So here's the first one, the Mob Boss. Once I'd scanned it in I felt it was a bit too light and perhaps had too delicate a touch for the subject matter, so I played with levels and contrast on photoshop and this was my final result:

Better, I think ... off to work on the next character now :)

Mob Boss cards and products at zazzle.com

I've needed to practice drawing characters and faces as they're a huge weakness where my overall drawing is concerned, so when I received a special request to draw some for a Mystery Murder project (more on that later!), I jumped at the chance. I'm a huge fan of detective, criminal investigation and murder mystery stories anyway, whether on paper or on the screen, so this was tons of fun to do!

So here's the first one, the Mob Boss. Once I'd scanned it in I felt it was a bit too light and perhaps had too delicate a touch for the subject matter, so I played with levels and contrast on photoshop and this was my final result:

Better, I think ... off to work on the next character now :)

Mob Boss cards and products at zazzle.com

Yesterday:

pork shoulder from costco
browned in skillet w/onion (salt, pepper)
crock pot with 1/3 jar mojito sauce (leftover)

Served with rosemary bread, asparagus from farmer's market—but the asparagus was TERRIBLE! Bitter. Inedible. Wah.

Tonight:

leftover pork, shredded
sauteed onions & red/orange peppers (peppers on sale)
heating up pork in onion pan
serve as fajitas w/ rest of mojito sauce.

Snoopy’s is a popular, laid-back restaurant on the north side of Padre Island, just outside the city. My father wanted to go out there for a fish sandwich and beer, while I had my favorite: fish and chips. I was expecting to see a plethora of spring breakers there, but most of the crowd was [...]

Tonight I made Pad Thai for dinner. A few months ago my friend Sunaree who is Thai and her husband had my husband and I over for dinner and she cooked Pad Thai for us. I have to tell you it was the most amazing and delicious experience. I didn't take a photo of dinner as it was the first time we had dinner together and I thought it would be rude. The food was incredible and the presentation so colorful. Her husband loves her cooking too and is her perfect match.

Yesterday Sunaree brought me some rice noodles and I tried my first hand at it. I bought a sauce mix ( I know, not very original) however I am going to try making the sauce on my own when I have more time. I only have about an hour in the evening during the week so cooking quickly is often a must. My husband and I had seconds and we'll both have some left over for work tomorrow. Yum!

This is the closest photo to what Sunaree served us for dinner that night (an exceptional photo of Pad Thai I might add!). Pim used a few different ingredients than Sunaree did and I used a packet of sauce picked up at the store which my husband and I both found quite good. I also substituted the shrimp for chicken and left out the egg as we are watching our cholesterol which is a good thing but fresh shrimp with this meal is incredible. I'll save the times to have it with shrimp when Sunaree is doing the cooking. Visually, hers looks so much more vibrant.

I can't say enough about Sunaree, she is an amazing cook and so sweet too, I can't wait until she cooks for us again. After all, why have a copy when you can have the real thing! :)

My review of Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple's Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep (ill. by Brooke Dyer) is up at Book Buds. Also, Jules reviews the same title over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast as part of a Bear roundup. (I swear, for those of you who remember Middle School, I did not call Jules and ask, what are you reviewing today?)

A super-duper, gigantic congratulations goes out to Don Tate whose picture book story was accepted by Lee & Low. To watch Don dance and to congratulate him, head on over to Devas T. Rants and Raves.