Amazing puzzler? Not so much.

I took last month’s jigsaw maze, glued it to some heavy paper and cut out on the jigsaw lines. The cutting was much more difficult than I had expected, and I had to re-glue a lot of the pieces.



Then I solved the puzzle, but since the cardstock was too flexible I couldn’t get it flat enough so that the pieces would lock together very well. Oh well, knowledge gained for the next project.

Peek a boo

My first "guest post"

The kid's got talent. Might not be in the Sunday papers at this rate, but he's onto something...

More fun with effects

Played with the effects options again in Photofiltre. This one's called "twirl" but it could be called "acid feakout." Makes solving just a little bit more challenging.

Emboss me!

Did a quick-and-dirty maze (trying to keep the sweat off while drawing in the car today; no worries, I was parked in a lot). Played with visual effects just a bit, using a "flatten-emboss" feature, and then a "puzzle piece" function.

Print it on heavy stock paper, cut the pieces, then give to your kids to assemble and solve!



Thanks to Captain Beefheart for the blog title, from the song Debra Kadabra, played with the Frank Zappa band. His lyrics are WAY OUT, as usual:

Make me grow Brainiac fingers
But with more hair
Make me kiss your turquoise jewelry
Emboss me!
Rub the hot front part of my hair
with rigid unguents

Happy Birthday Lisa!

Okay, so I'm a little late, and I have lots of room for improvement in the portrait department. For now, here's my humble first attempt at your lovely face (and spirit).

My future's so bright...

Finally, the sequel to the "Glasses" drawing.



Kinda funny: I walked 30 minutes on a trail into the woods, and surrounded by nature scenes, I decided to draw...my sunglasses case. If you've drawn one leaf you've drawn a million.

World's simplest puzzle

I was going to title this "His 'n' Hers" but that sounded a bit lewd. It's just nice when things fit together, and the temporary satisfaction of completion is achieved. Jeez, now I'm getting clinical. Anyway, go in one puzzle piece and come out the other, and you're done. No subtext here. Really.

I have yet to read this

Ah, the book I've always been looking for! But where does it open?

More junk food inspired art

This started while I was eating a rare (I swear!) meal at KFC last Monday. Drew the shape of the plate freehand (a bit carelessly, I admit), then started designing a pattern around and behind it. I don't know if "Life Tastes Better" with KFC, but I kinda like this result.

Maybe Europe next?

Traced a map, drew the maze over it, and then with an image editor (Photofiltre) darkened up the lines and filled in the states with colors.



Hint (?)
You don't have to go through every state to get to Florida, but you're sure to undergo some climate variation along the way.

Crosseyed, angry or surprised?

Another one from the "olden days" (the 80s), when I was working with felt pens. No hidden meaning behind this one, just started with some circles and ovals and came up with something strange.

I prefer crullers, how about you?

I was listening to Dr. Susan Jeffers' "Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway" on CD in my car today. To make a point about the power of gratitude, she used the phrase, "Focus on the donut, not the hole." Right up the road, I saw...a donut shop! When the cosmos speaks, it's good to listen. Tastes pretty good, too.



Highly recommended; friendly service:
www.sesamedonut.com/index.html

"If you have only two alternatives, choose the third."

I read a very interesting article (pamphlet? manifesto?) online this morning, currently titled "The Revolutionary Pleasure of Thinking for Yourself" (http://deoxy.org/rst.htm) which got me thinking along these lines:

One key to close, another to open.

An exercise in "scaling up." I haven't had that much practice sketching a smaller object, so considering that, not a bad result. One didn't seem enough, so I turned it and came up with another.

From "lock" to "unlock"

Another one...not so sure I'm getting anywhere with these

Made another 3d maze freehand. I hoped to incorporate a pattern to add visual interest, but the need to create a path that works from start to finish kind of overrode that. These things really bog me down, time-wise, so I think I'll take a break and just do some regular old sketching for a while.

What's bugging you?

One from the archives, drawn the same year as these songs were released:
The B-52s "Private Idaho," David Bowie's "Ashes To Ashes" and John Lennon's "Watching The Wheels." Interesting year.

I titled this one Bug In The Fairway.

No rulers allowed

I drew this freehand, so it went faster and with less smudging than previous ones. I am now certain that I've exceeded my drawing ability from those college days of long ago, and that feels good.

For the next one, I'll try to incorporate a design or pattern. Hmm, any ideas?

Eyeyiyie!

Funny what a late-night conversation with your ten-year-old son can inspire you to sketch. I might have to expand on this concept sometime (groan).

Another work in progress...

Taking another shot at a 3D-in-space maze, but this time without graph paper or rulers. Good result so far! Getting better at "turning corners," which is maybe harder to draw than it looks. One would think the year of mechanical drafting at community college would've left me better at this visualization thing. Maybe that's why I'm "drawn" to this, because it's so challenging.