As is my annual tradition, here is my latest caricature of Jim Garner, and once again in his role as Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files. Though I've drawn him many times as Rockford, it seemed only fitting this year as 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the premiere of The Rockford Files way back in 1974. Not too much to add here, but creating this year's entry was a very frustrating experience for me, as I had to learn how to do the colour work using a new program since I no longer have access to Photoshop. Just over a year ago I had to replace my old antiquated computer with a new ..read more

It is exactly one week ago that I heard the devastating news that a longtime friend of mine through Facebook, Ian House, had passed away. It’s been difficult coming to terms with that or even knowing what to say, but I’m going to try and sum up my thoughts here rather than on Facebook, as Facebook posts are such fleeting things and Ian’s memory deserves better. I had first encountered Ian House more than ten years ago back when he had started a Facebook group page devoted to Classic Television Shows of the 50s through 70s. Somehow I had stumbled upon that page and joined, as it was well run ..read more

        For this year’s tribute to James Garner, I’ve drawn Jim alongside Jack Lemmon in their roles as two former U.S. presidents in the 1996 comedy, My Fellow Americans. Interestingly, the film had originally been planned as another vehicle to reunite Jack Lemmon with his frequent co-star, Walter Matthau, but Walter had to bow out of the project due to an illness at the time. So Jim was brought in as a replacement and it may have worked out for the better, as the two portrayals seem slyly based on President George Bush Sr. (Jack’s cranky Russell Kramer ..read more

 I kept it simple for this year's tribute to my favourite actor, Jim Garner, just drawing one more caricature of him as Jim Rockford from TV's The Rockford Files. However, I thought I'd also give you all some insight as to how I go about creating one of my celebrity caricatures. As I've noted in past articles, I don't rely on just still photos to draw my subjects, preferring instead to study and sketch them from video so as to get more of a sense of their overall design and inner life and personality. But additionally I will go back and pause on a few freeze frames in order to study the ..read more

 Generally speaking, I had not intended to use this blog for political talk, but I'm finding that it's my only real outlet at the moment because I have been suspended for another 30 day stretch on Facebook, my 5th such 30 day suspension since last February. I think it's wrong for Facebook to silence users for expressing their conservative views, all the while allowing those on the left to have free rein despite many of them being far more incendiary in their speech than I would ever be. At any rate, I've decided to make a few points about the trucker convoy that has made its way across C ..read more

I have been periodically re-posting on Facebook this article from Free North News that appeared in October 2020. Since that time, at least a half dozen of the items on the list of this purported Canadian "Game Plan" have now transpired, one of the most odious being this vaccine passport that debuted here in Ontario yesterday, with many other provinces about to introduce one also. We have also been hearing a bit about Universal Basic Income (UBI) being rolled out on a trial basis at some point in the near future. At this point, I don't think this purported leaked memo can be easily dismiss ..read more

  As is my annual tradition, I always like to salute my favourite actor, James Garner with a new caricature on the anniversary of his birthday. Many times I have based it on his TV series, The Rockford Files, but I also like to acknowledge some of his film roles from time to time. This year, I decided to draw Jim from his 1966 epic racing film, Grand Prix, a film I've enjoyed numerous times over the years. But the main reason for this choice is because I'd also like to pay tribute to Jim's co-star in that film, the beautiful Jessica Walter, who has sadly just passed away in recent weeks ..read more

"Our Lady of Perpetual Lockdowns", Mayor Crombie has decided that we cannot have any joy this year ..read more

 Remembering the great Marty Robbins on his birthday today. I was fortunate enough to get to meet Marty backstage after his performance at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa back in 1982. I was there with my Mom, as we were both huge fans of Marty, and he was so gracious in chatting with us for about 15 minutes or so, even giving my Mom a kiss on the cheek! He was quite taken with my caricature of him (I painted up two originals so I could present one to him as a gift), and he even asked us if we'd like to watch his second show from the wings backstage, which we took him up on for sever ..read more

Mostly on this blog I talk about the things I like, particularly entertainment from the past that I admire. Only occasionally do I get political on here, but this is one of those exceptions as I think it's too important not to address. Within the last couple of weeks a situation happened to a friend of mine that very closely resembled what I too had experienced in my last year or two of teaching college until my resignation in 2015. (Perhaps I'll finally tell that story in the near future). Cristy Maltese is a veteran of Disney feature animation, having most notably painted backgrounds for ..read more