The Secret Library

I added a little more color, shadow and depth. I also added a black mask to this and posted that version to my sketchbook blog. I love painting these little cozy womb-like environs.

Children's books have many safe little realms like this: Peter Pan's hollow tree, Narnia's coat filled wardrobe, James' giant peach.

We are creatures of comfort. We need cozy! And ice cream!

In The Secret Library, watercolor

This is as far as I got today... some watercolor, some color pencil.

Hmm. A skull and a crystal ball? What are these foxes up to? What is the little book the little fox is reading? Homework? A play by Lillian Hellman, perhaps? Maybe it's an underground comic (they are underground, after all!)
And what is down those stairs behind that secret panel?

I hope you're liking seeing this picture grow. On paper as in life, we never know what we will find when we set forth. The Earth curves under us, tempting us forward.

More soon! Chris

In The Secret Library, pencil

First pencil! Click for larger view.

Who are these foxes, anyway? More soon... Chris

Sequel: In The Secret Library

I had such a good time painting "Down In The Hole"- and got such nice letters and feedback from y'all, that I am doing a sequel painting, "In The Secret Library". Here is the first sketch, scrawled on the endpaper of a Sudoku book... I will post more as it develops.

Thanks! Chris

Down In The Hole

Darker, moodier, spookier, as promised!

"All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites." Marc Chagall

Irish Patchwork

My favorite hat, from Hanna Hats of Donegal, Ireland
No two are alike, just like people and isn't that the way it should be?

Carroll gave this to me and not since Linus loved his blanket has a person loved a clot of cloth like I love this hat.

Work-in-progress

This is far, far, far from done. It's going to get real dark, moody and spooky. It started out to be a mole but now he's looking more like a badger.

Inspired by the great James Taylor's song "Down in the hole"

Camp Hazen

This was my first published drawing. I was 11. I sat in the woods at Camp Hazen and drew this chapel in pen and ink. It always bothered me that the rock at the foot of the tree looks like a cabbage. Somehow this drawing ended up being used on the camps brochures and Christmas cards. My folks were so proud. It's not a very good drawing, but it's a very good memory for me.

Poor wandering one

This poor, dear little bird flew into our window today. He lived only a short time...

I called my vet, then the Humane Society, then Animal Control looking for someone who could help him. Although to late for this little creature I did speak to a good soul at the Great Plains Zoo who told me that Dr. Dayton Williams here in town will care for a wounded bird. Good to know!

"Poor wand'ring one!
Though thou hast surely strayed,
Take heart of grace,
Thy steps retrace,
Poor wand'ring one!"
Mabel, in The Pirates Of Penzance


"Now cracks a noble heart.
Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."
Horatio, in the finale of Hamlet

Small Wonder

Paikea, my best friend and confidant.

Fossil Record of Bunny Hill!

I found this rock in the yard today with a thin organic looking strip running through it. The stone was cracked from the freezing weather and the stripe extended an eighth of an inch under the surface in a "u" shape. What do you think? Worm? Plant? Twizzler from the Pleistocene?

Click image to enlarge!

Mary, Mary

Mary is a thoughtful, empathetic little girl in a Christmas story I'm writing. The title of this work is top secret!

Butterfly House

Last week we had visitors and we took them to the Sertoma Butterfly House here in town. Beautiful! What an amazing place! These beautiful Jungle Blue Morphos and Yellow Swallowtails, etc. live only days or weeks at most but they are amazing, transcendental living poems. They remind us that life is brief and precious and occasionally beautiful.

Carry On

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

T.S. Eliot

Moleskine Sketchbook Madness!

Today I got the nicest note back from a person at the Moleskine company in Milan, Italy today. And good news! They are not made of real moleskins! Or any other leather! Yea!

To celebrate, I ran out to Barnes & Noble and bought a large plain notebook Moleskine pad and drew the above drawing/painting in it. What can I say? I dig moles!

Listened to, but not heard

Rough for a magazine cartoon, sketched on a Sudoku puzzle.

Thundersnow!

It's snowing again! Very beautiful, but enough already!

Ambient or trance music is the best music for snowfalls, by the way. Terry Riley's A Rainbow in Curved Air or Frpp and Eno's Evening Star. Man does not live by Flaming Lips alone.

The sun is shining and yet the snow is hammering down. Last night we had thundersnow. Thundersnow?! I didn't know that existed! Sounds like something Piers Anthony would cook up!

Hello, Old Friend

I just loved this moment. The snow has receded and Duncan was on Bunny Hill when he ran into an old friend he hadn't seen since Thanksgiving- his old blue rubber ball. He kissed it hello and then pressed his head against it and gave in a little roll.

"It's very clear... our love is here to stay."

An Elephant's Memory Book

This is a possible children's book character I've had bouncing around in my head for a while: a sophisticated pachyderm, raised by a wealthy matron as her adopted child.

Shamrocks

St. Patrick used a shamrock to teach about the Trinity: "three divine persons in the one God". I love that! These shamrocks were given to us by a dear woman we met named Teressa. They have thrived beyond our wildest hopes and might be transplanted into my window box after the thaw. They also proved to be a patient model. How shines a good deed in a weary world!

Good werewolf weather!

We thought we were done with the snow but early this St. Patrick's Day morning we got snowed in! By nightfall this mist crept in turning Bunny Hill into a scene from "House of Bunnystein". But spring is around the corner, you can feel it in the air. Here comes the sun!

How The Irish Saved Civilization!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, you! Love, Chris

Little Red

These little red Cardinals kept me (arguably) sane this first winter in South Dakota, so I have put one of 'em in a suit and tie and made him the executive v.p. of inner peace for Bunny Hill studio.

Mr. Bun

Bunny Hill Studio

Antique bunny sign above the studio door...

My light table desk with Mr. Natural lamp...

...and my FAO Schwarz bunny guards the Fax/copier.

I'm making progress in my Bunny Hill Studio!

With cardinals and chickadees at the window, squirrels and rabbits on the hill and dogs at my feet, this is the best studio I've ever worked in! Yahoo!

It's 26º out but toasty inside. Just 4 days till LOST! CB

Special Delivery

Just discovered in the garage, my old mailbox from my first house in Florida. I had a white cat name T-Bird, I lived next to a filmmaker and across the street from a senator, I was dating the love of my life, my future wife and I was pretty happy with the way things were.

My wild days were over (although I didn't know that then) but I was still enough of a hippie to paint my mailbox. The little red house was an echo or ache of my little cottage back in Connecticut and the rocket ship was for Florida and because I love rocket ships.

It's not exactly the magic mailbox from The Lake House, but it's an ingot of my personal history, my shambling trail from there to here... and the road winds ever on.

Love Poem

I loved you once, nor can this heart be quiet;
For it would seem that love still lingers there;
But do not you be further troubled by it;
I would in no wise hurt you, oh, my dear.

I loved you without hope, a mute offender;
What jealous pangs, what shy despairs I knew!
A love as deep as this, as true, as tender,
God grant another may yet offer you.
...Alexander Pushkin

Happy St. Valentine's Day, you.

The Visitors

Here are the most recent visitors to Bunny Hill: a pair of cardinals and Rocky J. Squirrel.

The office is in great disarray due to major revamping of everything (listen to my podcast, LIVE FROM BUNNY HILL- episode 2 for more about the big mess!)

But the studio is just about up and running now. The phones, FAX, scanner, web cam and computer all work, I have flat files for my Strathmore paper and bins for my art supplies. My old metal Pottery Barn desk looks out on Bunny Hill. I hope to get a second desk so I can keep the artwork and the computer apart.

Valentine's day is looming! Hope it's a good one for y'all!

Best, Chris

A Little Magician

This little magician will figure in one of my future projects. More of him later...

The Iron Fish

Hagar's Helmet FOUND!

We found my helmet! Since we moved here, it's been an Easter Egg hunt looking for all our stuff in the hundreds of boxes that travelled west with us. Well, today Carroll found my helmet that I wear (occasionally) for public appearances. I am going to wear it when I speak at a school near here in March, but then I am going to not book any new appearances until after my birthday in the summer. I'm getting inundated with requests, which is nice, but I just can't do them all! Best, Chris

Sunny

Sunny, my amyrilis, is doing fine! But how much should I be watering her? Anyone know? I'm just guessing.

Steppin' Out

My friend Ken Alvine, my wife Carroll and I were honored to have lunch with Sioux Falls Mayor David Munson this week. The Mayor is a great guy and we all had a great time at Minerva's Restaurant.

We had nice weather the last couple of days so our icy hill and driveway have returned to normal, freeing us to escape from the house today.

Chili today, hot tamale!

We had vegetarian chili tonight. Carroll made the chili beans and I cut up the peppers and onions, etc. stopping occasionally to snap photos for future watercolor paintings. What is prettier than peppers?

Far out, Man!

I just discovered something called Photobooth on my new Mac Leopard system that resulted in this psychedelic shot. Do I look like an aging hippie? Well, aging ex-hippie. Nothing new to report, just worked like a dog all day (while the dogs slept like a cartoonist, so that's fair). Looking forward to Cloverfield! But it'll probably be next week or beyond before I can break free to see it. It's going to be -10º on Friday. If I could escape into the Phantom Zone that day, I would. Ah, well... keep on truckin'! CB

My Amyrilis

I've planted an amyrilis and named her Sunny. Every day I mist her and turn her so that she will grow straight and tall. She is not as playful as my dogs, but on the other hand, she does not bark. Caring for a plant is calming and centering. It appeals to the zen side of my brain and probably to my inner Druid (my ancestors worshipped trees, you know). Well, it's been a long day, full of stuff, the latest bead on a string of similar days. And so to bed. And flights of angels see thee to they rest.

The Snow Dragon

When Chance and I were little, living in South Orange, New Jersey, our parents had little more than their imaginations to make Christmas come alive for us.

One Christmas we came outside to discover they had made a beautiful snow dragon on the front lawn and decorated it with food coloring. Only a couple of photos still exist of the snow dragon but it is a memory more precious than gold to me. There were dragons in the earth in those days... and wizards too!

And two of the best were Joan and Dik Browne.

Lost Weekend

Our plans for a great evening out were dashed. We've been looking forward to tonight for weeks... we really needed a relaxing night out, away from the constant unpacking, cleaning and trips to storage. But our plans fell apart like dominos when illness struck last night. In the words of Curly, "I'm a victim of circumstance!" Ah, well. Better days ahead.

Great oaks from tiny acorns grow...

I still haven't got my scanner working, but I snapped a photo of this painting I did a while back of an acorn I found in the driveway. Seeing this painting today made me miss my old house on Siesta key. But, I love our new place, too. The heart is a fickle thing!