The Human Canvas - "It Puts the Paint-Pen on the Skin..."

"..Or else it gets the rubbing alcohol."

Or something like that. 

I wrote it down as SOON as it was said. 

But that sketchbook is at KVCR.

This is my goddaughter, Kalynn. 

We had just heard, "Hey. Give Mama your crazy eyes." 

I THOUGHT her Mom had been talking to her, 

but just in case, she got 4 crazy eyes. 

Well, 8 I suppose.

Then Kalynn started quoting Silence of the Lambs.

Kalynn has graced these pages before, but 

it's always been a picture of a hand. Generally speaking, 

it's been HER hand. She's been cranking out 

WONDERFUL pieces like what you see 

below for some time now.

I was back in Kentucky recently, 

and was SO glad to be able to make it over 

to their house one afternoon. At one point, I was 

talking about the way I can get some subtle blends out 

of certain Sharpie combinations. 

She stuck out her arm and said "Show me."

This happened once a long time ago. Same exact thing. 

Except I was working with blue tones, 

and this is what we got.

For the demo on Kalynn 

I went with a simple, but wonderful 

combination of colors I've been using for flames.

And I went with a familiar drawing as well.

This was, after all, meant to be a demo. 

I wanted to make it quick, but still have it quite nice.

So - about 4 minutes later...

...There we go.

Then we got to what WAS intended for this particular visit. 

I realized Kalynn is right-handed, and since I am too...

We could draw...

On each other...

At the same time.

Kinda like that Escher drawing. 

Ya know?

We DID try to be drawing on each other at the 

same time - at least to keep the original intent intact...

But to get some spots, 

we just had to break away and turn.

For the most part though, 

we continued with the original intent,

And I couldn't help but smile 

when the pieces started to form. 

I mean, not only did I start to get a smile...

I got a smile. 

A Wal-Mart happy-face smile.

And while the piece Kalynn drew was very organic, 

mine was somewhat planned out.

I wanted to recreate a moment. 

A special moment from about 16 years, 

11 1/2 months earlier. 

I had gotten a much anticipated call 

one evening while I was at work at WKMS. 

Middle of a music show. 

Couldn't leave. 

But I was able to write down the important stuff...

And often when I jot down a note, 

by the time I'm off the phone, the area around it 

will end up looking a bit like a wooden sign. In this case, 

looks like a sign going behind a cute wittle bunny. 

Awwwwww.

Oh. 

OH! MY! 

Okay. So I guess we have 

a sign going INTO a wittle bunny.

This is a gag that may be lost on today's generation. 

But at one point in the not TOO distant past, a little 

bunny would lose its life, so the folks in the lab 

could see if YOU were bringing 

in some NEW life.

So that's what I drew. 

That's just how it turned out. 

And I gave out to Valerie (Kalynn's Mom). 

Sure Dave. Give a cartoon of a rabbit getting impaled to a person not even out of the maternity ward yet. 

I don't know what's wrong with me sometimes.

But she kept it. Still has it. It's buried in a trunk with a 

bunch of Kalynn's art. This is safe enough.  It lived on 

top of her fridge for maybe 9 years.Soon enough 

though it'll get brought out and placed side by 

side with a photo from today.

I really can't wait.

And the results of THIS day - 

HAD to get them all layed out next to each other. 

And that little red mark? That was another demo. 

A quick one showing how you can use the thin AND thick 

parts of the pen - almost like calligraphy. Except when 

she said, "YAY, I have a snake on my arm now," 

it got just enough accent to become a snake, 

and not just a little squiggle.

I love you Kalynn. You so TOTALLY rock!

Happy birthday!