The art ran as a spread that bled off the right and bottom.

Newsweek Magazine Senior Art Director Dan Revitte asked me to draw him a picture of these financial "weapons of mass destruction".  I gladly obliged. Here's the illo and a few outtakes.

My sketches were done in pen, washes and charcoal. The wash helped me stay focused on the mass of the monster figure and qualities of lighting that we had discussed. The final illustration was a hybrid of a few of sketches.

I log into my colourlovers.com account every couple of weeks and wallow in color combinations. Here's a palette I just made this morning. I started out sampling colors from a jpeg of one of my paintings. I fiddled with a few of the colors in that image but the needs of the colors quickly asserted themselves and I fell into this muted primary thing that has hot little zing.

To the left are a few other palettes I've created. There's definitely a trend and consistency there. What does it reveal about my personality? With an infinite choice of color I still end up in similar waters.

Years ago, I bought a tweed jacket and my wardrobe (such as it is) still carries the scars. There were a few flecks of maroon in the tweed and as a result I have grays and maroons, dark reds and anything else that could reliably harmonize with it. This was back in the days when I wore ties on a fairly regular basis. Hard to believe, I know!

Anyway, back to colourlovers: Once you have an account you can create colors and palettes and then use the palettes in simplified patters if you want to waste more time.

You have to just get over there yourself and let the bugs bite you. If so, you may want to check out a group started there that I call "ici". It's just a place to share color shop talk and inspiration. I'm hoping that eventually the membership gets skewed toward illustrators of the Drawger-ish persuasion,

A view inside through Leo's vinyl critters which has sprouted legs!

Friday night, Alan Witschonke and I ventured out in the gloom and rain to The New England Gallery of Latin American Art (NEGLAA) in East Boston to attend the opening of Leo Espinosa's show entitled "LIMBO". The bright lights and colorful art inside were a joyful contrast to the soggy weather.

There was an appreciative crowd which included a few other artists, illustrators and designers. I even had the pleasure to chat with Leo's sister who told me of the long curly hair he sported in his wild carefree youth! The food was excellent and well appreciated. I am glad that someone whose artistic touch is so assured and captivating has found a collaborative opportunity at NEGLAA to explore, through his unique graphic language, what it feels like to straddle continents and cultures. Perhaps, all good artists straddle the line and live in a kind of Limbo where the personal is public and where the mundane experiences of life can signify and shed light on larger mysteries.