Storm Blossoms

April 9, 2016
   Got up to stormy skies today. Didn't seem to stop the prickly pairs from blossoming though.

Storm blossoms

   Went for a walk up Old Stage Road and saw some dramatic skies overhead.

Cactus Clouds

   Also, witnessed these "mare tails" streaking the sky. Too big for jet contrails, but dramatic none the less.

Stratus Nimbus Or Cirrus Stratus No. 1

   A friend, Paul Allen, claims they are Cirrus and Cirrus Stratus. 

Stratus Nimbus of Cirrus Stratus No. 2

   Still working on "the story." Have some good reference and guidance, including this little gem:

"What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it."

—Alexander Graham Bell

Mickey Moves Up A Side Canyon In The Dragoons

April 8, 2016
   In addition to my video class on "How To Draw," I am taking two Great Courses on writing compelling narrative and "techniques and exercises for crafting a plot that grips readers from start to finish," by James Scott Bell (no relation). Amazing how little I have known about something I have claimed to do—writing and writing—every day of the week for the past 45 years. I will give a full report when I can come up for air, but in the meantime, let's look at where our one-eyed captivo is at present. Mickey Free is on the hunt for one of the Apache prisoners who killed Sheriff Reynolds and his deputy Hunkydory Holmes. Trailing Bach-e-on-al down the San Pedro, Mick soon intuits the killer's destination. He waits until the wee hours of the morning when he knows his prey will be asleep, and, hobbling his mammoth jack, heads out on foot.

Daily Whip Out: "Mickey Moves Up A Side Canyon In The Dragoons"

  This is straight out of my sketchbook. Here's the full page, done this morning over breakfast:

Daily Whip Out: "Mickey Free Sketches_04.08.16"

      I am channeling Moebius here. You know, this guy:

From "The Collected Fantasies of Jean Giraud: Moebius 2"

   I assume Moebius is a pen name? And, by the name, Jean is perhaps French? I don't know much about him, but in my humble opinion, his brilliant work has long been the gold standard for graphic novels and few, if any, have matched his superb draftsmanship and saturated colors. Any other advice, Mr. Bell?

"Keep Writing."

—James Scott Bell

"Keep drawing."

—Alexander Graham Bell

My Agent & Feeder Tube Lightning

April 7, 2016
   Juggling a couple of projects both at home and at the office. And, of course, still trying to capture the muy Mexicana images I scarfed off of YouTube a couple days ago:

Daily Whip Out Sketches: "Moebius and 'La Malquerida'"

   People often ask me how I got my True West Moments TV gig on the Westerns Channel and the short answer is I had a good agent. Here we are, Jeb Rosebrook and myself at the Tucson Book Festival last month. Jeb is a legendary screenwriter ("Junior Bonner," "Black Hole" among others) and he was actually talking to the powers that be at the Westerns Channel about a pet project he wanted to sell them and when my name came up he highly recommended me. The irony is he didn't get the deal he was there to pitch. But all this strangely led to my ten-year-gig there. Like I often say, if I saw it in a a movie, I wouldn't believe it. Ever since he has referred to himself as my "agent." Funny guy. I'm Bob Boze Bell and this has been a True West Moment.

My "agent" Jeb Rosebrook and me at the Tucson Book Festival

   Struggling with a big painting depicting Texas Ranger Frank Hamer on horseback as part of a splash-page opener. Hope to finish today. 

Frank Hamer in progress

      Meanwhile, grabbed another half-finished study and finished it before I came into work. 

Daily Whip Out: "Feeder Tube Lightning"

    This was inspired by those long feeder tubes leading to the volcanic neck known as Shiprock in northern New Mexico. The very idea that liquid lava would harden in the feeding tubes to the volcano's neck and then eons later the surface area would erode away to expose the tubes, is nothing short of spectacular to actually see. Anyway, this study started a long ways from there, but as I developed the shapes, and floated in the rocky escarpments in the foreground, that geological formation came to mind, thus the title.

Post Script

   Okay, I went home for a late lunch and finished the Frank Hamer piece at 3:30 and brought it back in. Goes down to Dan The Man for layout and final approval. Then on to Kansas City for the press run, a week from today. Great article from a spectacular new book on the toughest Texas Ranger by my friend John Boessenecker. It's interesting that for Baby Boomers Hamer gets a bad rap because he plays the heavy in Warren Beatty's "Bonnie & Clyde," when in fact, it took the veteran lawman to bring down these vicious animals that we have romanticized.

Daily Whip Out: "The Greatest Lawman of The Twentieth Century, Frank Hamer"

"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors and let every new year find you a better man."

—Benjamin Franklin

The Gringoderos

April 6, 2016
   Thanks to my friend Chris Casey, yesterday I watched the 1949 Mexican Western, "Malquerida" (loosely translated as "Bad Girlfriend"). The entire dang movie is sitting there on YouTube (it's an hour and a half, that is just crazy. How does YouTube store all of this stuff?!I know, I know, the Cloud. Well, that is one BIG cloud!) Anyway, it's long on Telenova-soap-opera-style set pieces, but interspersed throughout are some dang cool horseback vaquero scenes. And lots of giant sombreros, and I do mean giant. Inspired by what I saw, I took a crack at a character from that world this morning.

"Daily Whip Out: "Angel Fiero's Big-assed Brim."

   All of this due diligence is to bone up on all things Mexicana for our reprise of the Mickey Free-Apache Kid story, which The Top Secret Writer and myself are banging into shape for the August issue of True West. Although a fictional account of the hunt for the Apache Kid, I think you'll recognize more than a few of the characters.

   Mr. Fiero is known as "The Angel of Death." He is Doroteo Arrango's muscle in the highly mobile band of outlaws who infest Chihuahua. They are now expanding their brand of hostile takeover capitalism to the neighboring state of Sonora. It is Angel who presides over executions and excels at the summary dispatching of problematic situations. The son of a cotton broker who was murdered on the streets of El Paso when the boy was only nine, Angel has no patience or love for gringos. When he meets Horn, Young and Free, this is the exchange:

Fiero: "So you are the notorious Chingaderos."

Horn: "I believe they call us the Gringoderos."

Fiero: "Trust me, the Sonorans are just being polite. I am not."

Daily Whip Out: "A Mexican Vaquero of Old Sonora"

"To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest."
—Pema Chodron

The Trickster With The Sidewinder Gaze

April 5, 2016
   If you want to unsettle an Apache, have an owl land on a branch near where they are sleeping and give a few hoots.

Daily Whip Out: "Giving A Hoot."

   It's an omen of death and is not appreciated. In many ways,  Mickey Free, accepted all this superstition at face value, which did him no favors when it came time to make rational decisions. Fortunately for him, he was rarely put in rational situations.

Daily Whip Out: "Mick On His Mammoth Jack"

He had a sidewinder gaze and he crossed the border near Naco and headed south across a broad plain.

Daily Whip Out: "Mick Rides On"

Three days later, he was high in the Sierra Madres at a point near Divisidaro, overlooking Copper Canyon.

Daily Whip Out: "Mick Looks Down"

Somewhere, out there, the Apache Kid is waiting.

Daily Whip Out: "Chomping at The Bit"

A cranky red mule being ridden by a red-headed Irish-Mexican raised as an Apache. Now there's a country-western song waiting to happen.

Daily Whip Out: "Mick Rides Into Los Muertos Just Ahead of The Storm"

   Unfortunately, Mickey is confronted in a cantina by the future son-in-law of the "Mad Russian" and kills him in self-defense, which brings out every trigger-happy Rurale in the entire state of Sonora and Chihuahua.

   Mickey eludes the Mad Russian’s elite squad, but he is caught with his pants down and is disarmed and taken to the hoosgow in the mountain village of Opodepe. The local Alcade sends a rider to Magdalena to inform  Emilio Kosterlinsky they have captured Mickey Free, the outlaw who shot his son-in-law at Los Muertos. The Alcade puts a double guard on the small jail. “Be careful and diligent," he tells the two civilian jailers. "He is a notorious coyote and will no doubt resort to his usual tricks."

   Even the ending was a trick. He was the trickster, after all. 

“The Apaches are pure democrats, each warrior being his own master.”

—John C. Cremony, as quoted by Paul Andrew Hutton in his new book, “The Apache Wars”

Three Gringos Ride Into Mexico

April 4, 2016
   Three gringos ride into Mexico: Mickey Free, Tom Horn and Jim Young. Like most Americans, they are brash and loud and prone to violence. What could possibly go wrong?

   Looking through field glasses, Tom Horn tries to ID their pursuers. "From this distance, I can't tell if they're Mexican Rurales or Mexican bandidos. Either way, we've got problems."

Daily Whip Out: "Trouble On The Back Trail"

   Both Mickey and the Apache Kid saw omens where others simply saw campfire visitors.

Daily Whip Out: "Vaquero, Smoking On The Edge of  Darkness."

   The problem with seeing omens and signs is that they tend to intrude everywhere, even in the clouds. Especially in the clouds.

Daily Whip Out: "Big Bear Cloud"

   Everyone at San Carlos knows Big Bear practices bad medicine and to see his visage in the clouds is a very bad sign. But to see Big Bear AND the woman you love in the same cloud troubles even the most level-headed of warriors.

Daily Whip Out: "Big Bear Plays Dirty"

"The first and great commandment is, Don't let them scare you."
—Elmer Davis

Deep In Zig Zag Canyon

April 1, 2016
   Everyone here is talking about why Donald Trump withdrew from the race and some of the theories are quite ridiculous, but all I can say is, "April Fools."

   As Free, Horn and Young (possible title: "Free, Horny & Young") rode deeper into the canyon, the smoke grew thicker and shrouded the walls. 

Daily Whip Out: "Deep In Zig Zag Canyon"

  If those canyon walls and sky look familiar, it's probably because I spent the day yesterday with longtime studio mate, Ed Mell:

Ed Mell clouds

   And it's hard to hang with the talented bastard without wanting to emulate his wonderful techniques. He's evidently doing pretty well with these puppies because he has this ride:

Ed Mell's cherry Pantera

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it emotionally."
—Flannery O'Connor