Explosion

Oilfield drawing of ‘One of Those Days’…

Fifth in a series of oilfield drawings

W  hy is common sense so elusive? Danger should, you’d think, be obvious, but our concept of it evolves.

Compare our upbringing to how we’re raising our children. Today nobody in their right mind would let a child sleep in the rear window deck of a moving car (it was fun though).

What is it that keeps people from taking even the simplest precautions until they’re forced to? I guess people just don’t see the need until it affects them personally.

When seat belt laws arrived in the 70’s, dad’s farming neighbors had big reactions. They considered it as their God-given right to fly through any windshield they saw fit. Personally, I couldn’t understand what the big deal was; to a kid, it made perfect sense. FULL DISCLOSURE: This kid, me, also did some mighty stupid things, so I’m not calling anyone out, I merely observe).

Had I been at the above scene, you probably wouldn’t have noticed me, because I’d be the small dot vanishing on the horizon.

Update…

This scene is a compilation of several photographs given to me by longtime Pencilneck ® Platinum Member Alex Michaud.

“I’ve got some photos I’d like you to look at!’ Alex said.

“Oh…uh…great!” I said, nervously.  

I get asked several times a month to ‘have a look at some pictures’ by fans, clients, well-wishers, and others who, out of an honest desire to help and chip in, think they have the perfect picture for me to draw…but the whole idea is fraught with peril.

The big problem is that reference photos have very specific parameters, and some of the qualities that make nice photographs are often the exact opposite of what I need for reference.

Most pictures of a pet or departed family member are, typically, useless to me as an artist. Either the resolution is too small, or the light is bad, the texture is grainy, or it’s blurred or any number of things…and the problem is that one doesn’t want to look like an ass when letting folks down. They’re always excited about the possibility of having me be commissioned or even of ‘donating it to the cause’, as it were.

And I cringe at the idea of being one of those highbrow-lowlife artists who poo-poo everything, so I take the time to look at their pictures.

But in all honesty, after the initial impression confirms my fears, my mind is racing furiously trying to come up with nice ways to let them down, and Alex is such a dashed good guy that I hated the idea of hurting his feelings.

Whew!

However, his pictures were terrific!

The scene was impressive and fit the stuff I was already doing and was from an area not too far from The Colonel’s hometown. They were likely taken with an old Brown camera, as the resolution on the photos was astounding (35mm? Phfhfhf!).

“I only have one request,” Alex said “See the guy in the buckskin jacket? That’s my dad.  If you can use these, can you make sure to put him in somewhere?”

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