Welcome to the new 2022! Wait, was there an old 2022?

After having to dismantle my studio when Covid hit and the boys moved back home from college, I have been waiting for the time to once again have my studio back in the house.  That time is now!

The boys have just moved into an apartment together and now their rooms are empty.  That will give both me and my wife our own rooms.  Patrice will have a place to sew and do puzzles and I will have my studio back.  It has been hard to be truly creative in the garage where the dust flies regularly and there always seems to be something in the space I had made.  So, last Monday I started moving back into the house and getting the studio back together.

2022 is looking up!

Every year at this time, I will draw a picture of the big man himself, Santa.  This year I drew it as I was waiting for the Redlands Christmas Parade.  As I was drawing, a family with three little girls came up and set up their viewing spot next to us.  They were having a great time getting ready for the parade to begin.  Time went on, and my drawing continued to advance from sketchy lines to something resembling the man himself. Finally, I finished the drawing as the last sunlight faded from the sky.  Then I thought, well, why not.

I approached our neighbors and said to the girls, "If you can tell me who's picture this is, you can have it."

The parents looked at me with a bit of shock and trepidation.  I smiled at them and turned the picture around.

"It's Santa!" all three exclaimed with big smiles on their tiny faces.

I smiled and nodded and handed the picture to them.  Each one looked upon the drawing with pure joy on their faces.  Their parents thanked me repeatedly and wished me a Merry Christmas.

Now I can't show you a picture of this year's Santa drawing, but the look on those little faces makes it my favorite one ever.

Once upon a time, well, no, this isn't one of those stories.  But it does include a throne.

You see, last month, I received a phone call from Morgan (instagram.com/morganclae/), a family friend.  Morgan is a very gifted lady who sings, plays piano, writes music, and directs music videos in Los Angeles.  It was in the later function for which she contacted me.

Morgan: Uncle Rick, can you help me?

Me: It all depends.  What do you need?

Morgan: I'm shooting a video in a couple of weeks, and we need a throne.  Can you make one?

Me: Uh, sure, I guess.  What's your budget, and what look did you have in mind?

I'm not going to go into all of the conversation, but I agreed to build it for them at a reasonable price.

Now I have always been a handy guy.  I can work on my house and make it look okay, but building a throne for a video is a different thing altogether.  So, I broke out my computer and created a rendering of my version of a throne.  We went back and forth a bit on the design as you would with any project. Once the plan was approved, the construction began.

It took about four days to build, and I must say it came out well.

The production went off without a hitch, and the princess ascended the throne.  Don't you love happy endings?

Before you are two drawings from two different times in my life. I drew the picture of Priscilla around 1999 and the one of Hermes about twenty years later. What I like about the two is it shows how far I have come as an artist. I drew both drawings from photos, which were done during breaks while working for employers.

I have to say I like both of them, which is rather odd for me as I usually see things in my drawings I wish I had done differently. I like the loose drawing style in the image of Priscilla, and yet I also enjoy the bold and more confident hand I now have in the drawing of Hermes. As I said, I like them both.

Which one is your favorite?