February 23, 2010
Last night, Mad Coyote Joe invited Deena, Kathy and I to a "soft opening" of a new restaurant in Cave Creek called Cody's (it opens to the public tonight, but a soft opening is a trial run to work out the bugs and get a buzz going). Joe helped them with the menu and the restaurant is in the old Fandango's location (across from the location of the legendary Mineshaft in west Cave Creek). The placed was packed and we had a fine old time and were treated royally by the staff. Had the salmon and Southwestern clam chowder and we enjoyed a very nice bottle of cabernet.

I Can't Believe I Actually Drew It




A nice scratchboard of Tule, the wild woman of Santa Fe in the old days. Very nice effects, all done with knives, of course.


The Verga Rider? Or Not?



When I taught at Orme earlier this month the school had an art show in the library and I brought along several paintings, including this one of Mickey Free returning to San Carlos at the end of the graphic novel story. I named it Verga Rider because the sky is filled with falling rain that doesn't reach the ground, thus verga.



When I showed this painting at last October's art opening at the Overland Galleries in Scottsdale, Deena's friend, Patricia, came over to me and said, "Do you know what verga means in Spanish?" No, I told her, I didn't. Evidently, it's slang for penis. So, I told the new owner, Jeb Rosebrook, to be careful when telling Spanish speakers the name of this painting. Still, I have to admit it works either way.

"When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at the college-—that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared back at me, incredulous, and said, 'You mean they forget?'"
—Howard Ikemoto