DRAWING on OBSERVATIONS

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Attorney General Eric Holder named a special prosecutor to do something President Obama initially said he was against, look back to the previous administration’s possible abuse of prisoners.

I’m on sabbatical for a week. I will resume my posting duties on Monday, May 3rd. I’ll fill you in then on what I was up to while I was away and have an all new drawing. Until then, enjoy this series from the 08 election.

PS. Due to the spam issue, all comments will be held for monitoring until I return.

Ball point pen doodle reruns from the campaign of 08

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

The issues and problems are omnipresent for our new president, but I for one am comforted by Obama’s command of the facts and eagerness to engage. It’s a stark contrast from our previous chief executive.

A side note: Five of the last seven US Presidents have been left handed: Ford, Bush the elder, Reagan, Clinton and Obama, what’s more, no matter who won the previous election, we were destined to put another lefty in the White House since both Obama and McCain are left handed. Other lefty notables: Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Angelina Jolie and my daughter Alyssa. Check out this web site of famous left handers.

Ball point pen on the morning news

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Uptown Magazine

My Obama drawing was prominently featured in an article about Obama related artwork in this months issue of Uptown Magazine on sale today.

One Note: As a citizen, Barack Obama inspired me, as he did countless others, to put a sign on my lawn and open my checkbook in support of his candidacy. As an illustrator, I had no intention of creating a poster until I was contacted by the campaign and asked to do this drawing. As a professional and one of his early supporters, I was honored to contribute this piece. I’m proud to say that no copyright was infringed in the creation of, no private property was vandalized in the promotion of. no stickers, limited edition prints or T-shirts were sold. I offered it for free download to anyone who found their way here looking for a way to show their support for Barack Obama.

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Ball point pen on newsprint superimposed over engraved invitation

My heart skipped a beat when I saw a big cream colored envelope in the mail containing a very impressive 8.5″ x 11″ engraved invitation requesting the honor of my presence to attend and participate in the Inauguration of Barack H. Obama. I later found that one million commemorative Invitation were printed and mailed to supporters. I’m sorry to report this only invites me to the public events and is not a ticket. Even though I will be watching the speech from my home I’m proud of the work that I did on behalf of our New President and proud of the American people. I plan on framing this invitation (don’t worry, I didn’t draw on it).

My First Post ten months ago.

The Poster I was asked to do

It’s A New Day!

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

….this is your time. Go Vote!

The Polls opened at 6:00 am this morning, I got there at 5:58. Of those who’s name ended in L-Z, I was number eleven. It took me 15 minutes.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Most concede that Senator Barack Obama has run one of the smartest, well run campaigns in the history of our nation. If you believe the polls, he will be the next President of the United States. So, what can we expect from an Obama administration? Most believe he will deliver the cool, thoughtful approach that he has demonstrated during this hard fought campaign. He delegates to a very close circle of smart people… No rock stars here. They are loyal, tight lipped and keep their eye on the prize. On the agenda in the first one hundred days will be structuring a plan to bringing troops home from Iraq in a little over a year, develop a far reaching energy plan and provide universal health care coverage.

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Over the next few days I’m going to post the rest of the drawing in fragments. If you’re a college student and you print the fragments out, tile them together on your dorm room wall and send me a picture, I’ll give you a shout out and post the pics here on my blog.

Over the next few days I’m going to post the rest of the drawing in fragments. If you’re a college student and you print the fragments out, tile them together on your dorm room wall and send me a picture, I’ll give you a shout out and post the pics here on my blog.

Thanks for all of your kind posts and emails yesterday. It almost makes up for my writers cramp.

Over the next few days I’m going to post the rest of the drawing in fragments. If you’re a college student and you print the fragments out, tile them together on your dorm room wall and send me a picture, I’ll give you a shout out and post the pics here on my blog.

An ad agency working on the Obama campaign called me a few weeks ago. They saw my drawings over words and my drawing with words posted here and asked if I would be interested in doing a drawing for a campaign poster. They wanted a portrait of Barack Obama made from a list of issues most important to the Senator written out to form the portrait. I employed this technique once before when I was so frustrated with the media coverage I thought it an appropriate way to show the subtext. But that drawing was done for this blog rather quickly and designed to be seen 6 inches at 72 ppi (pixels per square inch) this would be viewed much larger and needed to be much more detailed. That means many many more words,.. so many in fact, that at 72 ppi, I could only show a small fraction of the drawing here, otherwise it wouldn’t read as words.

Over the next few days I’m going to post the rest of the drawing in fragments. If you’re a college student and you print the fragments out, tile them together on your dorm room wall and send me a picture, I’ll give you a shout out and post the pics here on my blog.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

For those who are worried about my sanity after the first two days of the convention, fear not. I eliminated the talking heads yesterday by watching the convention on C-Span… I enjoyed the unfiltered evening without screaming at the television, and I got a good night sleep… and oh yeah, our nation made history by nominating the first African-American as a Presidential Candidate.

Last night the Democratic party kicked off its four day convention to nominate Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden to lead the party in this falls election and become the next president and vice president of our nation. The delegates were treated to a speech by Caroline Kennedy; a Ken Burns tribute film to the Lion of the Senate, Ted Kennedy; a speech by the 76 year old senator, who recently suffered from a malignant brain tumor but made the journey to Denver to endorse Barack Obama; what I thought was a great speech by Michelle Obama; and capped off by Michelle and Barack’s adorable girls teleconferencing with their daddy from Kansas City….. but I couldn’t help notice that there was a subtext to the proceedings… especially if you were watching CNN….Get over it already!

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Ball point pen on my email update

It’s official, Obama selected Joe Biden as his running mate. I’ve stated here that Senator Biden wouldn’t be my first choice… Time will tell if Joe can be a disciplined candidate and stay on message.

I got my first notice on my Blackberry, via email, at 9:56 am. I signed up for the text message, but the texting didn’t work as advertised and the media had the story well before me.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

You here a lot about balancing the ticket, but maybe Obama would be wise to choose another youthful, ivy league educated candidate in Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Biden’s undisciplined manner has made him a favorite among the media, who are always hungry for a quote, but I’ve always heard that the cardinal rule for picking a running mate is do no harm. Might a loose canon bring more harm than good?

Thoughts?

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Senator Obama’s political views may be 180 degrees from Ronald Reagan’s, but like the former president, Obama has studied the stage craft of a winner.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

If it’s Sunday, it’s Meet The Press… Never has a slogan been more apt, for my household and for millions of Americans, it was simply a part of our routine. Tim Russert had no equal. His was the only can’t-miss-show on television and his absence will be missed by everyone who cared to be informed. He was 58.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

The VP watch is the only game in town. Lets take a look at some of those on the short list. Up first, former Virginia Governor, Mark Warner. Obama would like to sure up the South and those Appalachian voters who aren’t getting the Obama vibe. Warner is a moderate Democrat who might help Obama appeal more to centrist voters.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

No, It’s not Matthew Broderick…todays doodle is of David Plouffe (pronounced Pluff), the campaign manager for presidential candidate Barack Obama. Plouffe is credited with the strategy that won Iowa and prolonged the primary season past Super Tuesday. The idea was to esablish an early presence in states where their opponent (believing the race would be over) had no organization. That strategy yielded twelve consecutive wins after super Tuesday and produced the margin of victory that would never be relinquished.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Leading off, Political consultant, David Axelrod.

Axelrod is credited with implementing a strategy that encouraged grassroots participation, involving the people and giving them a stake in the campaign. Encouraging bloggers and using the internet to build an army of donors contributing a hundred dollars or less, Obama’s grass roots fund raising soon dwarfed the small number of deep pocketed contributors in other campaigns .

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Congratulations to Senator Obama!

Yesterday in my post regarding the passing of Bo Diddley I linked to some footage of him performing his self titled song released in 1955. That was before Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream Speech, before the end of Jim Crow laws, before civil rights legislation, and before Barack Obama was born. The camera pans several times to the audience showing white kids bopping to Bo’s rhythm and blues, but in the last few seconds (about 5:17 in) the camera pans to a … Continue Reading