This week, all I could think of for this topic was “too much coffee” and “marionettes”. And then I went to see the musical “Carnival” at the Kennedy Center and that did it, I was only going to get puppets this week! Here you see the puppet, Carrot Top’s, arms are wired so Michel, the puppeteer, can control them better (like Muppets).

This is the final scene of the book, “The Love of Seven Dolls,” by Paul Gallico. Mouche is about to leave the theatre for the last time and Carrot Top stops her after tossing GiGi out of the booth. Why? Well, you’ll have to read the book. The movie, “Lili,” and the musical “Carnival,” are somewhat based on this book, but unlike those highly sanitized versions, this wonderful book is very dark and the ending is complicated.

Yep, it’s one of my favorite books.

Edit: Whoops! Just realized I spelled the French wrong. Should be “Capitaine Coq et sa Famille”. Serves me right for doing it from memory…

Last week was one of those weeks where I just wanted to crawl under a rock. I guess I just couldn’t get that image out of my head.

Soooo this illustration is a little goofy. I think it’s also heavily influenced by a very strange combination of “Pan’s Labyrinth” and Larry Shue’s “The Nerd” (don’t ask). That said, I have absolutely NO idea what is going on here. If you know, please tell me?

Anyway, this is a bit of an experiment – I’m trying to do a little more fantastical stuff, loosen up a bit, and experiment with organics in the medium. It is entirely digi-painted using the Photoshop “sponge” brush.