The Stickiest Thing I Saw Today (File Under: Ceating with Photos)

So I have not been able to keep up with drawing all of the beauty of humanity that surrounds and astounds me each day, I apologize to you and humanity.

I do have drawings, they are just waiting to be tweaked. I seem to have become behind at most everything and I am getting better and better at procrastination. Ask my chess friend, I just made my first(possibly suicidal) move in our game since like June.

Yesterday I made a snap decision. I grabbed my camera and I decided to just take pictures of some of things I have wanted to draw for you!

I hope that helps while I catch up on my art.

To begin, I have the house with the best fence ever. This fence is homespun and it is constantly growing, becoming more confining to the 4 X 7 foot plot of yard it protects.


I got lucky, because there are usually some nice, smiley elders sitting out in the yard, guarding the fence.

As you can see, one side of the fence is standard chain link, The other three sides are pure wire, rope, and various sticks. Some sticks are from nature, some from household goods, some from sports equipment, and some are unidentifiable from the sidewalk.

There are always new sticks being added in between existing sticks, and they have even started laying some flat across the top of the fence.

What makes me smile the most is that so much work is being put into protecting a couple trees and a lot of crabgrass. Those trees and that crabgrass are very important to someone. What's not to love about dedication?

The Frankencheesist Thing I saw today: Monster Challenge!

Oh this week has flown by! I have another monster submission waiting in the wings. You people are awesome!

This installment is by Jeremy Couturier
I actually bought a drawing of his on etsy.com, it is a timeless piece portraying an epic battle. Take a peek. I think Chuck Norris will win! Todd questions my where my loyalty lies. What do you think will win?

Jeremy says: This familiar trio has decided to ham it up for an opportunity to be in the monster challenge!


Boy howdy! They certainly have. And they look great doing it, still scary.

I bow to your talent, Jeremy. Thanks for sharing some monsters with us!

The Frostiest thing I saw today: Monster Challenge!

This is the first of 2 new contributions to the Monster Challenge! Hooray!

Sarah describes how here monster came to here:

Attached is a sketch of a monster that I saw the shape of in some frost on the inside of a car window. He's kind of messy since I had to draw quickly before the window defrosters melted him! Really, I saw this shape and I thought, that kind of looks like a face, a kind of creepy but cute monster face. He doesn't have much of a story beyond that, but maybe he will become a character in some future drawings or something.


And people wonder how we can live with the winter! There is so much beauty and inspiration in all of the seasons.

Great work Sarah! I encourage you to visit her blog to see how she is so creative in so many ways.

I have another entry to post tomorrow! Please come back to check that out. Also, if you have a Monster waiting for you to create and to contribute, I encourage you to do so!

The Murkiest thing I saw today: Monster Challenge!

I chiseled out this monster, Murk, because of the cloudy, wet, dense air that has taken over my city the last two days.



I like to think that Murk is lurks somewhere out there in the foggy abyss salvaging dity snow piles and luring in the misty air. Or maybe he is out to get us all! AHHH!

I hope that it is sunny again tomorrow and that Murk goes back to the Pacific Northwest or his den in the sky to rest.

The Cryptid-iest thing I saw today!

Here is another great submission to the Monster Challenge!

This one is called "Daydreaming at Work Monster", or "Wishful Thinking" and it was created by Jen.



Jen is a graphic designer and amateur cryptozoologist.

While I did not confirm this, I believe this is actually Jen is a prior life, or maybe on the weekends?

Great work! Bravo!

I hope to see more monsters. The people who have contributed thus far have enjoyed the activity, so if you need a boost to your day, take a bit to scratch out a creature!

The sing-a-long-iest thing I saw today.

Saturday night, and friend and I were visiting a burrito place in Dinkytown. Dinkytown is adjacent to my employer and alma mater; as well as the alleged haunt of Bob Dylan and myself when we went there (years apart).

Like any college neighborhood, the place was packed with and staffed by twenty somethings.

While my meal was prepared, a beloved Weezer song came on, and we all started singing along.

That's me in the maroon shoes.

It was fantastic! Everyone kept about their business and we all carried the tune at the same time.

Aw yeah. "That'll be $6.75" All right. "Did you need extra sauce?" Feels good, "No thanks", inside.

If we started a choreographed dance number it would have been just like a sketch on the muppet show!

The Forearm-iest things I saw today.

I was wondering if this post does not really fit into my own blog premise, or if it is something that will only entertain me, but I keep thinking about it, so here goes....

Walking out of a building the other day, I thought I saw a young woman who was an amputee. It looked like she did not have the lower half of her right arm

My mind started whirring, "Huh, it is rare to see a young woman missing her arm. I wonder what happened. She is so young. I hope she was not in the war or in a terrible farm accident. Maybe it was a genetic thing. Wow Genetics are amazing, it is a miracle all the things they can do these days to work with genetics.... "

But my quick train (trains?) of thought were stopped when I realized at second glance that she did have two full length arms.


Oh, never mind, mind.

Then I was thinking, "What an interesting optical illusion, I totally did not see evidence of her full arm. Good thing she was not in an accident. Speaking of accidents, I have been meaning to draw a bike on bike accident I saw....."

My thoughts stopped because within 10 feet of the 2 armed woman, I passed by:

This time I made several glance to confirm that this young woman was missing her right forearm and hand.

My mind was blown, so it took another 10 feet before I started speculating about her story.

Did the Universe send the first woman as foreshadowing for the second woman?? Should I be learning some lesson here? Is it just coincidence? Should I try to reach Art Bell?

The perfect matchiest thing I saw today.

Look who else was climbing Crazy Horse:

This cute very elderly couple (I am guessing mid-80's) wearing totally matching outfits!

Yeah, I am not very good at drawing elderly people, so just bear with me. Imagine some more wrinkles and their bodies a little frail looking.

These two were walking arm and arm through the woods in their darling matching duds. Insoirational love and commitment!

Crikey! The awkwardest toy I saw today.

We saw this at the Reptile Gardens (a nice spot if you like animals by the way, not a cheeseball as you might think):

There was no stingray in the Ocean Dive playset.

RIP Steve Irwin. I feel bad that this toy is still on the market, but perhaps you would want it that way?

The instinct-iest thing I saw today!

My darling and I hitched the overnight Megabus to Chicago over the long weekend. Good times!

On the bus trip down there were some kids sitting across from us. Like most of us aboard, they slept through the trip, they even slept through the rest stop. But when the Mom got back on the bus and opened a fresh bag of chips, the sleeping little girl knew just where to reach:

So cute and hilarious. Her little person knew to grab at the goods even while she snoozed!

More to come from Chicago!

The Dutch-est thing I saw today!

This homeowner knows how to brighten up the block:


Tulips fill the whole little yard!

It is like a mini-field in Holland!

All they need is a windmill and some wooden shoes.

The Twiggiest Thing I Saw Today!

Today the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board Department of Forestry brought us a new tree for our boulevard!

It is a "Greenspire" Linden.

The old one caught some tree disease and was removed about a year ago. Great turn around City of Minneapolis!

It is pouring rain right now, I hope that helps it grow strong roots here!

I hope it likes the neighborhood. I hope it does not get spooked by the upcoming May Day Festival.