Drifting

"We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness. It was kind of solemn, drifting down the big, still river, laying on our backs looking up at the stars, and we didn't ever feel like talking loud, and it warn't often that we laughed—only a little kind of a low chuckle. We had mighty good weather as a general thing, and nothing ever happened to us at all—that night, nor the next, nor the next."

- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Huck and Jim, Chapter 12)

Many of us spend our summers drifting. Driting down in the water (pool, river, water park). Drifting off to la- la-land in the hammock. Or drifting off to another world with a good book, in a cozy chair under the gentle breeze blown by our all-too- important air conditioners. Hence this tribute to Huck Finn....

I realize that Jim was a man and not a bullfrog, but I didn't want a serious looking illustration, something more light-hearted. Enjoy.

American History Unfolds

Since the election of George Washington as President in 1789, the USA has had 43 different people fill it's highest elected government office. While being considered a "melting pot," 42 of them have been Caucasian. Obama's star role certainly stands out, breaking a 200 year traidition and possibly shattering the trend. Only time will tell, and a lot is riding on Obama's performance (more than just his ancestral heritage).

Here, I've roughly tried to make turn a paper-doll chain into the stars on the US flag. Seven stars are "blank," with many hopefuls waiting to continue the chain. I have subdued my interest in painterly effects in this sample, choosing the geometric symmetry from my illustration program to help render the paper-chain more accurately.

The message here is more of a personal reflection and observation than any politcal lean I have, an illustration generated simply to make one think.