Tag Archives: life

Bob and Rachael Ray – a one-sided love affair, part one

(via rachaelray.com)

Rachael Ray, celebrity chef, guru and overall dynamo,  has been the object of Bob’s desire for over a decade.

As Bob likes to say: “Rachael Ray is awesome. I love the fact that she’s pint sized. I love that she smiles a lot. I love that she can take ingredients and MacGyver it into dinner in less than 30 minutes.

I love that even though it seems like she’s not real, she is real. I love that she’s goofy in a very smart way. I love that I can turn on the TV at pretty much any point of the day and be able to find at least one show she’s on.

I can always count on Rachael to be there when I need something familiar.”

But where and when did this all begin?  We’re going to have to go back a long way.

The beginning:

February 13, 2006 – When Bob met Rachael.

To be fair, I myself have always had a soft spot for Rachael Ray.  When I was a student at the University at Albany in the early 90’s, she was working at a gourmet shop not that far from where I lived.  Of course, I didn’t know that until much later.  As a freshman art student I never did any gourmet grocery shopping, but I did frequent the shopping plaza where that store was.  I’d like to think we crossed paths once or twice.  If she saw me then, her path may have crossed the street.

It was hard to miss Rachael in the early 2000’s.  The strip was about four years in when I decided that Bob needed a celebrity crush (don’t we all?).  Rachael was an easy choice…not much explaining was needed.

A one-sided love affair was born.  A love affair that, at last count, has spanned 12 years and 102 strips.

February 16, 2006 – When ego begins to match perception.

Bob heard nothing from Rachael in 2006.  He was determined to change that the following year.  To that end, he commissioned me to paint her a portrait.

February 13, 2007 – always a critic, even when it’s free.

He waited and waited and waited… nothing. Not so much as a mention or a cease and desist order.  But squirrels are stubborn.

Coming tomorrow: A glimmer of hope and ultimate disappointment.

Categories: history Rachael Ray

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10 MORE things you didn’t know about Bob the Squirrel

Been a while since Bob bared (or is it beared?) his soul to the world.  Maybe the world wasn’t listening… considering all the other things there are one can’t help (or is forced) to listen to.  Here is a list of 10 MORE things you may not have known, written by the fur ball himself, about Bob the Squirrel.  (The first ten can be found here).

1. I brush my teeth three times a year whether they need it or not.

2. Sometimes I just want to be left alone… just so long as someone KNOWS I want to be alone. Because if no one knows, what’s the point of being alone?

3. The day after Frank got his Master’s degree in art he began to draw me better. It was only for that day, but man, what a great day that was.

4. I don’t really long for being back in the wild. I have nothing to prove by dodging cars in the street.

5. I will love Rachael Ray until my tail is old and grey. You may have known that before this list but it bears repeating.

6. People in public will often call Frank ‘Bob”. They never call me ‘Frank’. Frank says he appreciates that but I can tell it’s killing him inside.

7. When Frank was on the verge of ending the comic strip in 2012, I was scared. I mean YOU try getting a job with only one thing on your resume.

8. I’m extremely selfish, but only when it comes to me.

9. I don’t mind the monotony of our daily life… just so long as it’s not the same every day.

10. I’d be nice to be the most famous squirrel ever… or at least a half inch taller.

Categories: bob cartoon comic garage cleaning Uncategorized

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picture of the hard part…

See this picture?  This is a picture of me on a Saturday night.  But, it could just as easily be a picture of me on the other six nights.  Or mornings.  Or a really weird and dark afternoon. If you were standing in my backyard (hope you called first… just standing there without me knowing is trespassing) this is what you’d see.

This stuff is hard.  And parts of it never get any easier.

Mechanics get easier: the prepping, the inking, the scanning…I’m damn near robotic when it comes to that.  Getting to the mechanics… that the bit that never gets easier.  The staring at a notebook.  The premise that doesn’t fit the characters.  The paralyzing fear that I’m going to plagiarize myself (also known as repeating myself). That dialog that is not good.  That idea that, even with adrenaline needles stuck in it, just doesn’t want to live.

I’m not stating that to get credit or sympathy… but it’s true.

I took this picture because I wanted to see what the hard part looked like.

Odd…I thought it would look different.

 

Categories: art blog bob photography process

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