Thanksgiving Day 2011

We have all been uniquely blessed and are uniquely thankful.  While at the same time our thankfulness is collective. Let us continue in life hopefully and faithfully in harmony with the thankfulness we focus on and honor today.

In a world rich with blessings we are greatly rewarded in countless ways and know that every treasure is really a gift and a reflection little of our own efforts. Our true rewards are from something higher and grander than we can know. We celebrate, we cherish, and we honor our life, our love and our God. We are happy. We are amazed. We are thankful this incredible day.

Thanksgiving 2010

    

the subject CARTOONS

“Why so serious?”  The question Heath Ledger’s Joker asks of Christian Bale’s Batman in the most recent “Batman” adventure film is something to consider. Life is grim enough and we need a good laugh or at least to see the irony of all things as an essential of survival. There is always a bright side and the cartoonist is looking for that thing that amuses even in the bleakest times and subject matter. There is a season and time for all things and humor is found in most situations especially when viewed with a little distance.



Barack & Wright






  The cartoons on this blog are originals from my archives and they range from the editorial to the simply absurd. They go back as far as the nineteen eighties and some are contemporary efforts.  I’m hoping you will be amused and able to take something from them. The worst thing that anyone can do is over analyze and often to even analyze is pointless to this art form. These “Toons” should speak for themselves as hopefully they speak to you. Enjoy,embrace, connect with them on some personal level…and at best even “LOL."



The Young Stanley Kubrick



The Artist's Ideas





"Beelze-Bubba"

  













          





Bush and Bin Laden

  

Death Mourns the Passing of a Butterfly

HALLOWEEN Twenty_Eleven

Jamie Wyeth_"Self Portrait as Pumpkin Head"

It is a season of many marvels and wonders; of macabre and timeless tales. The season to dream, to celebrate, to scare is now.  Oh autumn! Oh Halloween! You are a joy to all. Certainly your sounds, tastes, climate and aromas are distinct. For many you are the best of seasons and Halloween the best of holidays. Who could argue as the grand masquerade begins in defense of any other. We enjoy it in both its strangeness and its familiar. We truly enjoy as we shiver from the spooky and the chilling in the air.

It is the images of Halloween that stand out in our minds, the visual. The first thought of Halloween is always a visual thing and every-thing is possible. As long as we dream it is the autumnal that ignites like no other. The imagination runs free as we look outward and ultimately express the inner self. Whether witch or warlock, devil or angel, lycanthrope, vampire or Frankenstein’s Monster. We can be whatever we choose on Halloween Day as long as we play in the cherished charade.

If it were possible to sum up the spirit and wonder of Halloween in a single tale Washington Irving’s “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” would probably be the one. It possesses every element of the season. The image of the Headless Horseman is among the most striking in fiction. The Hessian soldier in search of a replacement for his own cannonball removed dome haunts our psyche.

The mystery, fun and thrill of the prank are within Irving’s words. It has been read and told for generations and lives on with no loss of charm. It has inspired films, plays and songs. The above Nineteenth Century painting captures the dilemma of the story’s protagonist; Ichabod Crane, precisely. Enjoy the image and enjoy your haunting this Halloween.