CAVE MASTER, DSFDF PORTRAITS,...AND SOME MORE CHRISTMAS FUN

Michelle Burnette's Challenge for the year end for Following the Masters is to paint your favorite master artist of the past, inspiring me to render this...my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great,great, great, great, great, great. great. great, great. great grandfather... GROG PARKER!!!


Now, many of you may wonder how I knew about Grog. Well, my brother, Burney, was a marvelous geneaologist (and so much more)...and he was very, very thorough about our family history. So I'm working from some stone etchings he made. Pictured beside him is his small pet house dinosaur, Alfalfa. The little dinos were around then, but all the big dinosaurs had bought the farm and were way underground making fossil fuel for Dubai and Bahrain.

Different Strokes From Different Folks Challenge from dat big old sweetie and world-renowned figurative artist, KARIN JURICK. Karin has a year-end challenge comprised of participating artists exchanging reference photos and doing portraits of each other. What fun! What challenge!! What torture!!!
I sent in the reference photo below,and below it is the portrait that artist NANCY BLUM rendered from it.....


Nancy is a very talented portrait and figurative artist, and my portrait, I will assume, looks much like me, because, long ago, I came to the stark realization that I am no Robert Redford or Brad Pitt. However, when I did see my portrait posted on DSFDF, I took several Excedrin, 3 Sudafed, a bottle of Jack Daniel's and made a doctor's appointment.

I received Nancy Blum's photo from Karin, and, as the rules go, I had no idea whatsoever who I was painting. I went back to a few challenges and explored and dug around trying to get an ID by referring to blog profile photos (turns out Nancy doesn't have one) to have a better idea who I was gonna immortalize (or mortify) in acrylics. So here is the reference photo and my effort beneath it....


One further note on this year-end challenge....there were 180 artists participating, and the artwork displayed so far is so incredibly talented it's awesome. But, in the midstof this marvelous art emerges two portraits that extend far beyond phenomenal....and that is the exchanged portraits of Edward Burton and Akiko Watanabe. They are simply breath-taking. Please take time to check em out. Click on their names and Click Different Strokes From Different Folks.

Now, for a bit of fun....

Many of you may not know it, but Santa Claus and I are best buddies. He and I have closed up the bars in Nova Scotia many nights (which is quite an accomplishment with those 2 month nights). Anyway, he sent me some interesting photos and breaking news from the North Pole.

Last year, Santa brought a few penguins up to the North Pole, after seeing the movie, and thinking they were real cute. Turns out, they are pesky little practical jokers. As if the polar bears didn't have enough to worry about with global warming,...now they have to put up with "pranky penguins".
On a sad note, one of the apprentice "Delivery Santas" that was being trained by the big guy himself, failed to heed Santa's warning about looking both ways twice over O'Hare. May he rest in pieces.

The tragic loss of his apprentice left Santa in a big labor crunch, so he had to enlist the aid of his sweet significant other, Ms. Claus. However, it's not too clear how well that's working out. If your presents are a bit late this year,,,,what the hey....blame it on the Post Office!

Special Note...After years of collecting the funniest, most inspiring, weirdest, most awesome stuff there is, I finally found a place to put it..WINDOWS OF WONDERS (WOW). Please take a moment to check it out...it's Mind-Bloggling! Click HERE

Next blog is about the Gallery and Studio....but, from the bottom of my heart....have a joyous and meaningful Christmas. Cya down the road...James