February 13, 2007
Robert Ray came in and fixed the server problem this morning. For some reason, both Meghan's and my computer reverted to an old server number and refused us access. Shades of Hal from 2001, which by the way, seems so antiquated now. I remember being in a theater in Tucson (1968?) watching the Stanley Kubrick futuristic flic and reflecting on how strange and unimaginable that date seemed from that time and place. It's also ironic that it's the year of 9•11, so the bottom line is none of our most inspired imaginings can fathom the actual ridiculous future (see quote below).

During my outhouse push several weeks ago, I did this one, forgot about it (and didn't send it to Jeff at the Westerns Channel!). It's a pretty good example of outhouses being constructed right over a creek. Oh, imagine the environmental impact statement on that puppy!



Here's two more fire studies for the Top Secret Project. Sweet cliff effects on the top one. After the fire, our lone scout rides "the black." Did several versions of this (see directly below). May use them all. Very sooty. Like the early morning effects.



Frederick Sackrider Remington came out to San Carlos in 1888 and sketched the natives over the shoulder of soldiers. Here the Yale Cowboy is, sketching over the shoulder of Tom Horn. And yes, that's Beauty, the Apache maiden who figures so prominently in our story. This is a scratchboard and I tried to capture Remington's style of rendering. Check out the forged signature at bottom, left.



Meghan, Robert Ray and I had a pow-wow this morning to finish the prototype. Dan Harsbherber did a pass at layout and style yesterday and we are going to incorporate some of his slick tricks (wonderful cactus drop caps). I'm going back out to my studio to finish the last five images, and then we are going to lock it down this afternoon, send a pdf file to the Top Secret Writer for his approval. We go to New York a week from today.

And speaking of which, I just got word that Stephen Colbert is going to be at the Comic Con we are attending.

We have a new poll up. Check it out right here and go cast your vote:

Where do you often purchase items when you "collect the West?"

a. Auction Houses
b. eBay
c. Other online auction site
d. Craigslist
e. Antique/Collectible stores
f. Antique Shows
g. Friends

Onion Headline de Jour
No One Admits To Fart Joke

"The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future."
—Frank Herbert