Please don’t park on the grass!

February 13th, 2012

Creig Flessel's last drawing. Here he is with his great-grandson.

The Creig Flessel 100th Birthday Celebration was an overwhelming success! With the help of the Art League of Long Island, we had more than 200 people at the reception. Anyone arriving late found themselves parking on the grass. Thank you to all the members of the Berndt Toast Gang that loaned original art from Creig, brought down some of their own work and a sketch of Creig. Don Orehek sent one in all the way from Washington State! A special thank you to Sandy Kossin, Tony D’Adamo, Stan Goldberg for supporting the event. A very special thank you to Jeff Fisher, Joe Leonard, Janine Manheim, Helen Murdock-Prep, and Joe Vissichelli for demonstrating their own talents to the crowd. A a very, very special “Thank you” to Suzan Haeni for helping make it all possible and bringing along a birthday cake!

 

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Creig Flessel

January 12th, 2012

I’ve been lucky enough to have called Creig Flessel, a cartoonist whose work dates back to comics “Golden Age,” a good friend. Creig was the first person I met when I joined the Berndt Toast Gang. His talent was truly incredible and he was a kind and wonderful friend. The members of the group adored him so much to have deemed him the “Infallible Creig Flessel.” His professional work spanned over 70 years. From “The Sandman” in Adventure Comics, to the David Crane comic strip, and even Baron von Furstinbed for Playboy. Creig passed away at 96 in 2008.

In honor of what would have been his 100th birthday on February 2nd, the Berndt Toast Gang is sponsoring a display of his work at the Art league of Long Island now through January 30th. Some pieces have never been publicly displayed before.

On January 27th, the Gang will be at the Art league for a closing reception displaying our work and drawings of Creig and his characters.

Hope to see you there!

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Christmas 2011

December 30th, 2011

And here is my annual Christmas card. I’m glad there are twelve days to Christmas because it means I’m still on time . . . Click the image for a larger version.

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Tied

December 30th, 2011

Every Christmas I paint a tie to wear at the various cartoon related holiday parties I attend. It’s always a mad rush and I’m usually hoping it’s dry as I tie it. This time around, I practically had to hang it out the car window on the way to the Society of Illustrators party in Manhattan.

Is anyone's job safe from cutbacks?

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Auction to benefit injured artist

November 12th, 2011

I’m donating a piece of work from one of my books, “Magnets,” to an auction in Ireland. This is to assist a Russian artist who is married to an Irishman and living in Dublin. She was viciously attacked by a burglar and the attacker cut off most of the fingers from her drawing hand. You can read about her here in the Irish Times. The doctors were able to reattach her middle finger but not the others. Adams Blackrock auction house is setting up an auction to raise some money to help with her rehabilitation.

This is the piece I’m donating along with a signed copy of the book (click for a large image):

The North and South poles of a magnet with a Polar Bear in a parka at the North and Penguins in swimsuits at the South.

Polar bears and penguins explaining how magnets work!

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Tomi Ungerer

June 15th, 2011

The famed illustrator, author, architect, and even food editor (for Playboy) was back in New York after a long absence to promote the re-publication of many of his books by Phaidon Press. My daughter and I spent last Thursday evening at the Society of Illustrators listening to Tomi and the great, Jules Feiffer, talking, joking and reminiscing about their shared time in New York in the Sixties and Seventies. Tomi also spoke about his farm in Nova Scotia and the reality of raising animals. On my way home, I was flipping through one of my sketchbooks and found a drawing I thought fit perfectly with Tomi’s farm stories. On Saturday, I headed down to Phaidon’s bookstore on Wooster Street, where Tomi did a short drawing session to the delight of the children (and grown-up children) in the audience. Afterwards, Tomi spent some time signing books including two for me. His great children’s book, “The Three Robbers” and his recollections of the years he and his wife spent on their farm in Nova Scotia.

After Tomi’s talk, I handed the sketch to his daughter but at the same moment he came by and she kindly said to give it to him personally. He was very nice, with a “but you are a professional illustrator.” Later he signed my book for me and gave a rousing handshake.

You still have a chance to meet Tomi before he heads back to Europe. He’ll be in Amherst (Massachussetts) for a book signing celebrating the opening of Tomi Ungerer: Chronicler of the Absurd at Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, located 125 West Bay Road on June 19 (1 PM). It’s free with museum admission.

Here’s Tomi sketching and then the sketch I gave to him (also used on this blog long ago).

"Let's make a deal. Instead of me eating the slop to get fat so that you can eat me. Why don't you eat the slop and we can cut out the middleman?

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Team Cul de Sac

May 22nd, 2011

Fellow cartoonist Richard Thompson, the creator behind “Cul de Sac,” was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. I met Richard at last year’s Reuben Awards. He and I were listening to hilarious stories from Arnie Roth. Richard is up for the “Cartoonist of the Year” and Cul de Sac is up for Best Strip at this years Reubens.

Chris Sparks is running a”Team” as part of Michael J. Fox’s efforts to raise funds for research. Team Cul de Sac will be producing a book of drawings submitted to the effort and the originals will be auctioned off. You can find out more here and visit the “Team Cul de Sac” blog here.

Here’s my submission, influenced by the Oct. 02, 2007 strip where Danders the guinea pig explains why he hates hermit crabs.

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I’m Back!

May 20th, 2011

This has been a very busy Spring. The semester is over (I teach as an adjunct at a local college) and, hopefully, not too many students want to throw darts at my photo. So, in between some ongoing projects (more details when I can), 2×4′s and spackle, and a car restoration or two, I might have a chance to post some new sketches.

This rough sketch is how I’ve felt lately. Trying to control the Frankenclient.

Alright, alright, what's another deadline. Oh, sorry . . . undeadline.

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Yogi

April 2nd, 2011

Seems as though it was yesterday when I made the last post. Life has been occupying all my free time the past couple of months. So, at last, here’s a new drawing or part of one anyway. It’s a detail from an illustration for the Berndt Toast Gang’s upcoming show at the Yogi Berra Museum (on the campus of Montclair State University, in Little Falls, NJ). I’ll be posting more information about dates and times shortly.

A detail from an illustration of Yogi Berra.

It ain't over til it's over but it ain't started yet!

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A non-traveling sketch

January 19th, 2011

This time of year, I usually don’t have to go running out to clients or trekking into the city. So, instead of a sketch from a moving train, here’s a quick one from the drawing board. This one is done in watercolor dyes and colored pencil.

Best friends!

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