Category Archives: life

Uncertainty…and other stuff

Certainly uncertain

Uncertainty is the only certain concept we have right now.

The Coronavirus has touched (figuratively and literally) virtually every aspect of life.  Not just a certain section of life or area, ALL LIFE. When was the last time everyone in the world had the same thing in common?

If you have an example, please let me know.

I’m scared. Terrified actually. I’m not ashamed to admit it. This is scary. This is disruptive. And… it’s taking a lot of effort telling myself  it will pass. Life will be weird for a few weeks, but it will pass.

Hopefully…

That being said, I’m afraid to touch anything. I hear a cough and I seek shelter. We have toilet paper but I STILL don’t understand why that was (and is) the number one panic buy of 2020.

I, like millions of others, have a lot to lose. I suppose my anxiety (I’ve always been a bit high strung) is in overdrive simply because I’m older and I do have so much to lose. THat’s not to say someone young couldn’t feel as I do… but it’s just… real.  Really real. So much of my time is spent with the “less” real which makes the REAL real all the more real.

I’m just being honest. Being real. the few hours a day I get to make art, specifically these family portraits, are the best part of the day. I can turn my thoughts and brain off and let muscle memory do what I was trained to do. Today’s Alan Bean piece is one I’ve had in mind for a while. Great artist and great guy. If you didn’t know who he was, you would’ve never known he was one of only 12 humans to walk on the moon. Hell, he was just as shocked to get that gig as anyone.

Alan Bean was real. If I can get to even the outskirts of his real in my life, well, that’ll be an accomplishment.

Categories: art life

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A tail of a milestone comic strip squirrel

6,000 squirrels

I suppose today is a milestone comic strip.

Today, March 4, 2020 marks the appearance of the 6,000th Bob the Squirrel comic strip. No bells or whistles… in fact I only started really keeping track of the number after I hit 5,000 a few years back.

But, using modern technology (and my obsessive compulsive nature of keeping good dated backup files) I’ve dug up every previous milestone comic strip.

Strip #5,000 – June 8, 2017

Not much to say about this one… I did put together a giant GREATEST Hits show for this one. Took a lot of tape and Funtac to put that show together.

Strip #4,000 – September 12, 2014

Our wedding was in October of that year and I was keeping our plans and anxiety alive and well in the strip… and pretty much in real time. It all worked out to be an amazing day…

Strip #3,000 – December 11, 2011

I was closing in on ten years of Bob the Squirrel at this point… and I questioned if I should continue doing the strip.  I had a small, loyal fan base, but the likelihood of the strip being my only job was looking like a longer and longer long-shot. Should I quit and try something else that maybe would benefit me financially? Or did the squirrel talk me out of it?

Strip #2,000 – March 22, 2009

We were in our new house just under a year when I drew this. This was also when I was really into the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream pints. Lucy’s favorite was Pistachio Pistachio … I would get a spoon and feed it to her right out of the container. I tell Lez that she should have known what type of guy I was by witnessing that act. She had every opportunity to grab Lauren and run… 🙂

Strip #1,000 – June 20, 2006

I wasn’t sure if I should include this one… despite it being the 1,000th strip. This may sound horrible… well, it DOES sound horrible.  I sometimes forget that I was married once before… and that I had a whole other life in a whole other city. But, I did… and I have the strips to prove it.  And really, aside from a few bits of clothes and my drawing board, the strips are the ONLY things I kept from that life.

So, that’s the strip… thousand by thousand. Hope we’re all around for the 7,000th – which, barring any life complications, should be appearing November 29, 2022.

Categories: blog bob comic history ideas illustration laugh life love self-critique Show thoughts

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To my wife — on our 12th Valentine’s Day…

To Lez – on our 12th Valentine’s Day:

We’ve gotten this far… and it’s barely begun…

Every day is the same, and yet there’s something new.

I’ve come to depend on you more than I thought I ever would or could.

I take the opinions of others with the smallest grain of salt… but your opinion to me is an entire salt mine. If I can’t wow you, there’s no wow to be wow’d. You have a power that you don’t even know you have. If that pause is too long, I know I need to work harder, better or both.

The world around us is already convinced. But… one day… I will definitively convince YOU of how beautiful you are… despite your barge load of denials, eye-rolls, and subject changing.

In the meantime, I’ll let the dogs out, take out the trash and forever keep you laughing… either if it’s AT me or WITH me… as long as I keep you laughing. Good thing I’m a funny guy.

Happy Valentine’s Day sweetheart… we’re getting there.

Categories: life

SCI-FI BOB page is up and running…

100 images, spanning the entire galaxy and sci-fi genre…

One Squirrel

The SCI-FI Bob Series page is up and running… All images will appear in the gallery there. Also, images will be available for purchase… just email me an inquiry and I’ll give you a price.
I’ve set some parameters for the series… you can read them for yourself.
Also also… since I may need a suggestion or tow to get to 100, there is a suggestion form for any ideas you may have.

Categories: fun life love