August 10, 2005
Trouble in bloggersville. Tried to post yesterday morning, but kept getting "errors" box. Passed off to the expert Jason Benefield, but even he couldn’t break the jinx. He finally got it fixed by changing FTP passwords late this morning. Lots of catching up to do, so let’s go:

Went down into the Beast yesterday around two. Got to Armstrong-Prior at three, signed 20 artprints, spilled some iced coffee, met a woman named Gretchen who makes custom paper from jeans (I’m not making this up). I’m going to order some custom paper next week (with my own watermark, just like King James!) for some of my new art ideas.

Left Armstrong-Prior at about 3:45 and drove up to Arizona Art Supply on Indian School. Sky getting very dark and ominous looking. Bought more gouache and watercolor paper ($150 something, biz account). Ran into legendary artist and sculptor Robert Miley who's designing a big, controversial sculpture down at Central and Roosevelt utilizing melted down weapons. He said he’s worried about heat (or bullets) from the NRA.

Went by Dan Harshberger’s studio at 4:15 and dropped off artprints on CD. Dan is designing the art poster for the CGII show next month.

As I waded up the Dreamy Draw in my Ranger, past Squaw Peak, I mean Piestewa Peak, I noticed the dark storm straight ahead had those spooky, floating tentacles that telegraph extra-nasty weather. Turned out to be dangerously true as two people died. One, a local cowboy, tried to run his truck and horse trailer across New River and the water took him 100 yards downstream. Rescuers found him with his seatbelt on, the truck and the trailer, all upside down in the water. The horses amazingly survived (they were in car seats. Not really). The other fatality occurred up at Seven Springs where the big Cave Creek Complex fire was last month and sure enough, with the vegetation gone, the water roared off the hills and swept away a small kid.

Ended up at El Conquistador for T. Bell’s going away dinner. It was mole night so we had the special, and several beers. Kathy, Bill Glenn, Jake the Snake, Deena, Debbie and Betty Radina and Kenny showed up. Big time laughs ($111, plus $20 tip, split with Mother Radina and Kenny).

Got some more of the new artwork for the book to show you. "Nekkid Fandango" is the one I had great hopes for, but missed on (see image above, left). This is Curly Bill and a pard forcing the natives to dance nekkid for an hour. Doc vs. Ringo (see image, right) is based on Parsons’ account of the two gunfighters squaring off on Allen Street. That’s the Grand Hotel in the background (the three story building) and I couldn’t resist the ice cream sign. The actual name of this painting is: “The Pissing Match” but I didn’t include that in the book. More tomorrow.

"Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding."
—Agnes Repplier