Cartooning Cactus Pete

Cactus Pete was an old prospector who spent years pannin' fer gold in the desert without much luck, but the other prospectors sure did get a hankerin' fer his grub cookin'.  And so ol' Pete's fortune began to change when he started rustling up them thar juicy steaks for the local cowpokes and prospectors.



Next thang ya know, Pete was wrangling chickens fer fryin' an' a-stewin' and servin' up the bestest ding dang whiskey and the coldest beer in da whole gobdern state o' Texas, DJAAAGNABBIT!!!

Well, that was the back story I dreamt up and presented to the owner of the restaurant after he hired me to create a cartoon character and menus for "Cactus Pete's Steakhouse & Saloon".

I drew the ol' coot on the cover of the menu holding up a sizzling T-bone over an open campfire.  A friendly Saguaro cactus puts a needly arm on his shoulder and a nearby steer's skull gives an approving smile.

Can't ya just hear that coyote howlin' in the distance?

I lettered the entire menu by hand and peppered the inside with various tiny vignettes of Cactus Pete doing things like panning for gold and riding a bull.  Then printed it on old parchment paper.

Yes, I love to do 'toons.  Character creation is REALLY fun and I've come up with lots of 'em like ol' Cactus Pete.  Just need to dig 'em up from whatever drawer they're hiding in.  So stop by again real soon and I'll git aroun' to postin' em.

Y'all come back now... ya hear?

When Minimalism goes Wrong

A few months ago in Japan, I bought some T-shirts in a little souvenir shop called Fujidoll in the Narita airport terminal and walked out with them in this bag with a great graphic of a geisha on it.  Here it is months later and I can't even throw it out because I think it's so cool.  I love graphic art like this.  Lines are broken down to whisks of the artist's hand.  The strokes become mere suggestions of a body pose and swirls for clothing portray a mood.  This style works really well for fashion illustration.  It's also the same mindset a designer takes on when creating a logo... to refine and simplify a design while maintaining a style, emotion or meaning.

Which brings the line art of Ty Wilson to mind.  I was immediately impressed the first time I saw one of Wilson's posters.

He has a great knack for using only a few broad strokes of ink and spots of color to represent a scene.  It's what is left out that is most intriguing.  Who needs to draw lips to show a romantic kiss?

The thick and thin of the ink lines are important because of the way they can draw attention TO something or away from something.  They lead your eye to follow the line somewhere.

While I was browsing a few Ty Wilson samples online, I noticed something really strange about one of his pieces...  Titled "Impromptu", it depicts an art deco couple at a table sipping champagne.  She's already had a few and I guess she's knocked over her glass to tickle the chin of her handsome date. 

Apparently, he doesn't notice her glaring physical deformity, a left arm that has a right hand on it.  I have no explanation for this... and I'm left to wonder about it.  Either Ty screwed up or he did this on purpose...

If publishers are selling this print, surely somebody must have pointed it out? 
Now I'm thinking of doing something like this on my own... maybe a painting of a guy with two left feet... just to see if anyone notices!

There's a royal palace in Hawaii, a grand residence that was built for the Hawaiian royals, King Kalakaua and Queen Kapi'olani.

On a recent trip to Honolulu, I had a chance to venture off with my camera, snapping at anything that happened to catch my eye. Wandering onto the grounds of Iolani Palace, I passed through the wrought iron gates which had this royal seal mounted upon it. The seal depicts the coat of arms of the kingdom of Hawaii.  
"Ua mau ke ea o ka'aina i ka pono" translated to English is, "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness".

A long walkway leads up to the palace with an inviting grassy lawn and huge monkey pod trees. The building was very appealing in character so I approached for a closer look.

The Florentine architecture is unusual in that it has an Hawaiian twist which makes it truly unique. The openness of the lanais on two floors reflects the tropical weather as compared to 19th century buildings in Europe of the same style.

The rectangular palace is the same when viewed from the front or the back.

Built in 1882, it looks the same now as it did then as you can see from this old photo.

Fluted Corinthian columns line the facade adorned with capitals carved into curled acanthus leaves.

 

 Fine detail in the molding above the capitals.

 As well as the stairs and arches at the entrance and the iron railings above.

 Below, you can see the beautiful corbels, cornices and dentil molding on the top of the central tower.

Looking toward one of the corner towers I suddenly remembered that Steve McGarrett was supposed to have his Five-O headquarters in that upper corner room.

More beautiful design and character in the slate tiles on the turret roof.

These absolutely stunning etched glass windows are perfect examples of Greco-Victorian design, and yet, they're located here in Hawaii rather than somewhere in Europe.

Inside, the grand staircase is like a waterfall running down to a reflecting pool in a forest of koa wood.

Outside on the grounds next to the palace is where the coronation of the king and queen took place back in 1883. A lavish luau was held here to celebrate the event.

A photo taken at the time shows the decorations and another shows the actual event.

Bodies in Motion

Phone photos of a dance group performing doesn't yield any details. I didn't expect it would. But I did become intrigued by the images. The blurred movement causes limbs to seem to bend in odd ways. They become like stick figures, apparitions skating on jet streams.

Elton John show at the MACC

Like most technicians in the entertainment industry, the local Maui techs are a nefarious group of unique individuals. Somewhere between cowboys and pirates, they're thick-skinned, bruised and scarred, loud, gruff, and known to go wild on occasion. Here's my ol' buddy Mike who came to help load in the band gear. He enjoys annoying you all day long until you finally snap.

Summer was on the lighting crew and ran a follow spot for the show. Ever see a follow spot operator climb a spot tower in a dress?

Elton's Yamaha piano was uncovered and positioned downstage while the rest of the band gear was placed behind and plugged in.
Drummer Nigel Olssen has a beautiful flame coated DW drum kit with sub-kick extensions attached to the kick drums.
I also noticed that he had a mixing console on his riser that he personally uses to mix his own in-ear monitors. Propped up on the console he had an Oscar Mayer wiener mobile toy and a cute Ashley Force doll.

When the show began I wandered out to see how it looked from the two Grandma lighting consoles at the front-of-house. The Yokouchi Pavilion was bursting with color from the moving lights and led strips. As a smaller outdoor venue, the Maui Arts & Cultural Center offers a good close-up seat for nearly everyone in comparison to most concert stadiums on the mainland which are sometimes 10 times the size. And the weather is perfect.

I made my way through the crowd to see the pavilion at a 45 degree angle. The view was great and the IMAG video screens on each side showed the musicians up close. The glass roof glowed in various colors. The opening numbers energized the crowd with Funeral for a Friend leading into Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting.

Heading backstage I spent most of the show over on stage right and could watch Elton from behind as he played, which he did for nearly 3 hours straight. The audience blinders would wash over the people at the end of each song. All the conditions were right... weather, sound, lights, the place, the energy, and of course, the music.

Every once in a while he would stand, bow, walk around the stage or stand up on his piano bench, which just made the audience go nuts.

At the end of the show he hopped up and sat on the piano. As he slid himself off with open arms I snapped this picture of him with the adoring crowd cheering for a Hana Hou encore. What an amazing night that made the exhausting week all worth it...

The Yokouchi Pavilion and Elton John

Here at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, the 13 million dollar construction of the Yokouchi Pavilion has been completed and was recently christened by two nights of music by Sir Elton John and his band, thrilling all who came out to see the show.
The huge glass pyramid roof sparkles like a diamond in the sunlight and has literally turned the MACC into the Jewel of the Pacific.

As the chairs were carefully being laid out on the lawn for the upcoming Elton shows, I took a picture from the roof of the Castle Theater's stage house. The open walls of the structure and intimate setting among palm trees make it a perfect venue to see concerts, especially when the sun sets into Iao Valley and a full Maui moon appears above.

Stage platforms were connected and several lighting trusses filled with moving lights were hoisted up into the roof.
There's a catwalk that was constructed up in the roof which I requested for access to the lighting rig. Early on, as the catwalk was being designed, I was asked in a 'by-the-way' manner, how tall I was. A little more than 5'7", I answered. That was passed on to the architect and now when I stroll the catwalk, the I-beams clear my head within an inch. It's a cool bit of trivia that I can brag about... but those I-beams are actually pitched and I've been reminded several times how hard that metal is compared to my fragile noggin when I've strayed from the center of the catwalk to one side.

The view from up there was much better before they suspended some padded acoustic panels from the beams of the roof but it still provides adequate access to my lights and circuits.

There is a secret room that was built below the concrete floor which we call the "vault" which contains dimmer racks, amplifiers, wiring, breaker panels and 2 large conduit tubes that travel underground and connect to the (FOH) front-of-house mix position. Sound, lighting and power cables are pulled from the vault through the tubes and out to a trap door in the ground at the tented mix position on the lawn where the lighting and sound consoles are placed. Backstage, these cables get connected to dimmers and speakers.

In the photo to the left you can see the hatch doors open to the air-conditioned vault below the concrete floor located behind the stage. This is pretty cool to have quick access to equipment should a problem arise.

When dimmers and power distros are brought in for a show, the area designated for the dimmer racks are sometimes called "dimmer beach" and coils of cables will often pile up there in a very orderly way but because there are so many, they may look like a mass of spaghetti. Here's a close-up of the pasta pile for the Elton shows.

Empty road cases are stored upstage behind the backdrop.

The line array sound system is hung from the downstage corners of the pavilion and the band gear will be placed onstage tomorrow. Video screens are setup on the lawn left and right of the stage that will show close-ups of Elton during the show.

The view from the sound console shows how everything is shaping up as the sun goes down on me. Hey, that's an Elton song, isn't it?