Change is Coming, but Work is Here Right Now

"Yes we can", "Change we need", "Change is Here"....yes, yes...all great...happy, happy...but, with all this change having come and with more on the way, I'm sure most of us still have a job to do that isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So, it's back to work.

Whew....I'm calling it a night after a long day of penciling. How do I know I had a long day of penciling? (other than the pile of pages next to my table right now?) I've found when I pencil that my right hand (I'm left handed) plants itself on my head between my forehead and hairline. So, when I've spent a day penciling like I have today, the right front side of my hair sticks straight up from my hand being in it all day. The higher it sticks up, the more I worked that day. And tonight, it's sticking STRAIGHT up.

I'd show you what I did today. I really would. And, I could blame it on work in progress or the client not wanting me to show it off or contractual stuff but...I just haven't scanned it yet and I'm too tired to do it tonight. So, I'll scan it in tomorrow. And then I can tell you I can't show it to you for contractual reasons :)

The job today was a new book for the Jake Maddox series of books for Stone Arch. The story deals with an emerging track star in middle school and, if my memory serves me, is the thirty fourth book I am doing for Stone Arch. I did find this nice POST from a school librarian through Stone Arch's own BLOG. Apparently they are pretty popular. Good thing, since I really enjoy working on them and don't want to stop anytime soon. The current contract will bring me to book number thirty six and I am in talks to sign another four book contract which would bring me to a nice round forty. I figure if I can hit fifty, that's a nice respectable number of books completed for someone who always wanted to work on children's books.

So, no new art tonight but I have been playing with and idea that my friend, Rob Kelly, has been doing. Once a week, he digs through his archives and posts a piece from days gone past. So, I may break open the old portfolios, stick my hand in, and see what I can pull out. I think that's a great idea and would be a lot of fun.

Oh, and the new thing I learned last night, which still blows my mind....did you know that if you plug a pair of headphones into a microphone input that the headphones actually become a microphone! Crazy! I read it online and figured, nah, there is no way this will work. But, I gave it a try and it actually works really well. Now, I just need to think of some applications where I can use it. Last night, I took a pair of the big old can headphones and wrapped each ear cup around the belly of my acoustic guitar. And, it worked. It recorded the guitar just great. It may have looked funny, but it worked. So, I'll have to play around a bit and see what I can come up with.

OK, off to watch a little hockey and then off to bed. I hope you had a great day.