Uh Oh....

Practicing the "drawings that include the background" concept.
Originally the sky was much redder, but it was distracting.

Oranges and Lemons

Just a quick 'n' silly illo I did to try out my new painting software.
It's me vs. marauding citrus fruit.
This didn't turn out as dynamic as I'd hoped.  Then again, if this were a "real" project I'd posed for  reference photos.

"Auf Wiedersehen"

Ever heard the song "Auf Wiedersehen" by Cheap Trick?  It's three minutes of caustic bitterness, screamed to a catchy beat.  "There are many here among us, who feel their life is a joke," we're told "So for you we sing this final song for you, there is no hope!"  The song is further peppered with morbid references "So long!  Sayanara! Hari Kari!  Kamakaze! etc..."
I can't figure out if the song is serious or a parody.  It is rather catchy, considering all the complaining that's going on.

How Do You Sleep?

I heard John Lennon's How do you sleep? on the radio and threw this sketch together.
It was written after the Beatles broke up. The song oozes with contempt for Paul McCartney.*

• Those freaks was right when they said you was dead
• The only thing you done was yesterday/And since you've gone you're just another day**
• A pretty face may last a year or two/But pretty soon they'll see what you can do
• The sound you make is Muzak to my ears

Don't get John Lennon mad at you.
As I said elsewhere, I kinda like this song. His "nicer" songs like Imagine sound preachy too me. I like Lennon best when his work has a hostile, wacko bite, like I am the Walrus or Glass Onion.

*According to Songfacts:

• To be fair, McCartney had taken some shots at John in the album Ram
  
• Later John claimed a lot of the contempt in the song was actually aimed at himself.

**Another Day was McCartney's first post-Beatles hit. It's Muzak to my ears too.

Life's Been Good

Here's another draw-the-picture-before-the-song-stops-playing effort:
Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good."
Had the song been longer I'd have included at trail of damage and excess behind the song's protagonist: a spoiled, egotistical wreaking ball.
I was little when the song first came out and didn't realize how funny/satirical it was until years later.
The lyrics still make me laugh:

• "I own a mansion, [I] forget the price/ain't never been there, they tell me it's nice"
• "I live in hotels, tear out the walls/I have accountants pay for it all"
• "My Maserati does one-eighty five/I lost my license, now I don't drive.
• [Call:]"Everybody say I'm cool!" [Response:]"He's cool!"

p.s.
I cheated and added the frame after the picture was done.

Summer Samba

My Flash project is hogging my blogging time, but I found a few minutes to throw this together. That old chestnut Brazilnut, "Summer Samba" was playing (on an electric organ, no less). I had to sketch this.
This is the kind of song the easy listening stations played when I was little (and when I was in college). No new age or soft rock. You'd hear stuff like this at the grocery store too. Makes me think of back when the frozen food section didn't have doors (it was cold!). Bags were paper and didn't have handles. T.V. dinners had aluminum trays and you had to peel back foil over selected items (and wait up to forty minutes for them to heat). Soda opened with pull tabs and diet soda tasted like hairspray.

Come Together

The Beatles' Come Together came on the radio so I sketched this.
The song had a cold abandoned warehouse feel. You know broken windows and scorched walls are nearby. And a lonely, angry kid scrawls nonsense on the walls...

Creepy Ironic Trivia: The "Shhh-" drowned out by the base in the song is John Lennon saying "shoot me."

"You're so Vain"

"You're So Vain" by Carly Simon came on the radio. I was drawing. Impulsively I dropped my project and drew a super quick sketch of the song. I tried to capture song's seething contempt. It turned out okay, but maybe a bit derivative of other artists I admire.
"You're So Vain" is an unusual song. A lot of songs are about how wonderful someone is. Others criticize, but nearly always it's about being rejected by the guy ( or gal). I can only think of a few songs that bluntly call someone a jerk. "You're So Vain" is one of them.

Talking to Myself

It's been one of those weeks. I avoid whining out loud, but I do have an inner whiner of sorts that I need to keep in check.

Whiny Namowal: Some week this has been! Nothing's working out. One disappointment after another! My life is a joke.
Stop That Namowal: Aw, the Big Baby didn't get her way! Maybe you should call 911 or book your horrible ordeal on Oprah. Wuss.

Creep

Here's a quicky I started while "Creep" was playing.
For those unfamiliar with the song, it's about a rejected misfit with lyrics like
I'm a creep! I'm a weirdo! What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here...
What song does it make you think of?

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head

Another quick sketch to radio music effort. I cheated and added the frame later.
I like the attitude of the song. Things are going wrong, nothing seems to fit, but he's not complaining.

The Gandy Dancer's Ball

Here's a long forgotten number I found on You-Tube.
It's delightful (the song, not my quicky sketch.) So upbeat and catchy.
You almost want to meet Mackinac Mack and Toledo Jack and...
"Gandy Dancers" was slang for "Guys who maintained railroad tracks." How'd they afford "The biggest band/in all the land" for their hoedown?
Here's the You-Tube clip that inspired my fast sketch:

Spooky

Another "draw while the song's still playing" pic.
The song: "Spooky", by Classics IV, about the coy girl who "always keeps [him] guessing."

Owner of a Lonely Heart

Another quick "while the song's playing" sketch:
Owner of a Lonely Heart, by Yes.
I liked the song when it was popular, but now it bums me out.

Eight Things I Learned the Hard Way

1. The oven cleaner label says "wear gloves" for a reason.
2. The toaster says "warning, hot surface" for a reason.
3. An old toothbrush is a good bathroom cleaning tool, but don't store it near your real toothbrush (unless you want to know what Ajax tastes like).
4. Hang the sticky fly tape by the lamp? Wow, that should attract lots of flies. Why don't you put it right next to the pull chain...
5. The whistle on your roommate's tea kettle is a detachable cap. It will let some water trickle into that teacup you're holding, then fall off, dumping scalding liquid onto your hand and arm.
   
6. You can outwit the school bully with snappy comebacks. This makes the bully mad. When the bully is mad, you'll get pounded. (Substitute "crazy person" for bully to make this applicable to adulthood.)
   
7. Inebriated? Bad time to tweeze the eyebrows.
8. Out of acne cream? Wart remover is not a good substitute.

What have you learned the hard way?


p.s. was crunched for time when I made the picture

Skoobeedoobee

This was drawn to a jazzy instrumental called Skoobeedoobee by Woody Herman. I'd never heard it before.
This lacks the personality of my other two quicky sketches, so I wasn't going to post it at first. Part of the problem is the music. While I adore jazz from the 20s and 30s, much jazz from the 50s and 60s leaves me cold. I get a you don't appreciate this because you're an unsophisticated square vibe. Maybe that's why the bird looks so smug.

Hit the Road, Jack

Another quick sketch based on a song.
"Hit the Road, Jack," by Ray Charles (and an uncredited female who tells him to hit the road).
The song goes by quick, so I cheated by throwing in a few details after the song ended, so it's a four-five minute work instead of a three minute one.

Three Minute Night

Time's tight, but I wanted to post some fresh work.
The challenge: listen to a song and draw it before it ends.
"Nights in White Satin" by the Moody Blues was on the radio.

As I've said elsewhere, I have mixed feelings about this song. I like the dreamy melody, but when he gets to the "I love you oh how I love you!" part he sounds like a nut. (At least he doesn't say "I wanna love you and squeeze you and call you George!")
I pictured him locked in an attic, gazing out the window at whomever (or whatever) he loves.

p.s. I turned off the radio when it got to the annoying poetry part.