July 14, 2007
Got a rave review from a professional artist I know about one of the endurance of the horse paintings I did. Unfortunately, it's the one we didn't use!

"Finally had a chance to get over and take a look at your sketches on your blog site, since I haven't had a chance to do that in a while...scrolled down and WOW!! The stuff you did of the cowboys ridin' outta the picture was awesome!! The version you did in silhouette is just plain killer...lots of action and color, the cleaned up version is nice too, but really like the one on the left. You sure can handle the red well, that's hard as hell and my hats off to you!"
—Jeff Prechtel



And speaking of those paintings:

Riding To The Right
I noticed that in your sketches, horses are always moving from left to right. Is there a reason for that, or is it just a coincidence this week?

As a silly aside, I once saw Donald O'Connor interviewed, and he said that most dancers, when they do a full spin at top speed, spin to their right, while he spins to his left. He said that when he interviewed with Gene Kelly to do "Singin' in the Rain," he was hired on the spot. Later, when he got home, he suddenly remembered he forgot to tell Kelly that he spins to his left and worried he'd be fired once Kelly found out. A tad later, the phone rang, and it was Kelly with a worried tone. He asked, "Which way do you spin when you dance?" Turns out, he was "worried" because HE spun to the left too and assumed O'Connor spun to the right and figured O'Connor would turn down the job once he realized that Kelly "spun the wrong way." We know now that it all worked out fine. But...the next time you're watching any Gene Kelly flick, note that with rare exceptions, he does in fact spin to his left! And it's rampant in "Singin' in the Rain" when he's with left-spinning O'Connor.

Anyway, I give you that boring "True Dance Moment" because I'm curious as to whether, like dancers, artists "lean" in one direction or the other in terms of profiles of persons (always the left side of the face?), the direction of action (left to right versus right to left?), which side of the canvas the trees or sun or people always appear on, etc.
—Deborah Lee

Thanks. Great dance story. Never knew that. The reason these horses are all going to the right is that the feature in the magazine the piece is on starts on a spread, then continues on the next page (to the right). So, we are anticipating them turning that way, the momentum is going to the right.

Worked all day on lining out The Top Secret Project. Here's some lightning sketches, literally:



Will Shetterly and Emma Bull are on their Western World Tour and here's their itinerary:

http://www.tor-forge.com/Tour.aspx?Tour=396

Classic Onion Headline de Jour
Family Feud Continues Years After Game Show Appearance

"You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with."
— Dr. Wayne W. Dyer