No. 144: Solid Bond

Click on photos to enlarge.

This drawing, called "Solid Bond," has been donated to Animal Charity Humane Society, Boardman, to use as it sees fit for fundraising etc. It's possible that the piece will be raffled. To view, bid or buy, contact this very busy nonprofit organization at 4140 Market St. Boardman, Oh 44512 Phone: (330) 788-1064. The message of "Solid Bond" and Animal Charity is to fight animal cruelty and to educate the public on responsible pet ownership. 

  
There has been a spate of canine torture of late in and around Youngstown, Ohio.
It's not yet known if one sociopath is behind the pain, or a succession of copycat sickos.  Puppies and dogs have been hog-tied, suffocated, hanged and had limbs amputated.

It's an especially bad sign for Youngstown and its neighboring communities because the area already has a terrible reputation for homicides and other crimes. Experts are telling us that animal abuse leads to other serious crimes and, likely, prison.

Sadly, in Ohio, a first offense is a misdemeanor. No hard time, no high fine. Legislation would change that for abusive kennel owners, but for individuals the penalty doesn't get to the felony level until someone does it twice. Twice!

This drawing is called 'Solid Bond." It represents the ideal relationship between man and animal, a co-dependence. It's a very gentle image; peaceful.  We're supposed to be each others' friends.

To domesticate an animal is to cause it to feel comfortable at home; to adopt or make fit for domestic use or life; to train or adapt the animal to live in a human environment and be of use to humans.  We did not domesticate dogs and cats for any other purpose.

I think of their human predators, then, as subhuman.

What I hope to do with "Solid Bond"  is to donate it to one of the agencies in Youngstown or Mahoning County that are called upon with greater frequency to care for sick and injured (or, sadly, dead) dogs and cats. Perhaps they can auction it and raise some money.  Maybe they can use it freely for promotional purposes. It's on me, no strings attached.

There will be more on this later, so check back once in awhile.   In the meantime, watch your pets closely.   Sometimes you just can't trust people.

For more information:
http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/feb/08/animal-abuse-often-escalates/
also
http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/feb/09/animal-cruelty-cases-under-investigation/
and
http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/feb/10/dog-warden-studies-possible-ties-in-abus/
plus
http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/feb/12/by-robert-guttersohn/
An arrest is made ...
http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/feb/16/homeless-man-charged-in-puppy-deaths/?nw

No. 143: Girls And Dogs

Girls with Sam, February 2012

My kids never had a big vacation.  We went to Ocean City once, before the youngest, Emily, was in grade school. She's 20 and a college sophomore now. Kara's 23 and a nurse.
Their daddy worked a lot, had weird hours, put his money into two houses and reliable cars.
I thought I was going places but was really going nowhere, staying put, a homebody.
What my kids did have, and still have, are pets galore. Turtles, lizards, cats and -- most especially -- dogs.

Girls with Sam, 1996

I took a lot of photos of the girls when they were young, staying home and going zero and all.
Inevitably a dog would get involved in the action, tripling the cute. Every now and then a pose would present itself for a portrait.
Sam came from people in Newton Falls who were selling Shepherd-Lab puppies for $50. The 1996 drawing of Sam, Kara and Emily, above, was done on a picnic table during a summer vacation, at home.

Girls with Hank, 2000

By 2000, Sam had sadly gone and Hank had moved into our hearts. I bought him out of the back of a station wagon in a hardware store parking lot, $300 cash. He was a big, sweet chocolate chunk of Labrador retriever, so gorgeous.
Hank made his way into many photos, but the drawing above is a morphing of two or three images. Neither girl likes this picture, and maybe they are right: Kara looks like she's sprouting from Hank's body while Emily rests on his butt.
I think it's cute, even if Kara looks vaguely oriental.

Girls with Bella, 2009

Bella showed up right before Hank died: an angry tan tank of a dog, a pug-beagle mix brought home by Kara. She shelled out her own cash to buy her from a breeder, but everyone wanted her to go after about three weeks of Puggle madness, and troubled housebreaking.
I put my foot down and made sure she stayed. You make a commitment, you keep it. At least my kids got that from me.
This picture has its flaws but looks "happy." It's hung in a stairway.

Kara and Corleone, 2010

Hank lived a long 13 years and when he was gone, Bella was alone and I was lonely. I wanted another big dog in the worst way and had always wanted a German Shepherd.  Emily waited eight months and unloaded $500 on Corleone; she sent Kara to the breeders to pick him up.
It was love at first sight.
No one really asked, "Dad, can we keep him?" like the drawing says. That was never in question, as far as I'm concerned.
This drawing was actually re-drawn (or drawn over) late in 2011. Kara is impossible to draw; none of my sketches really capture her.  This version looks better than the original -- though Emily says her sister looks "like a corpse" here.
The women here are a tough crowd.

Emily and Corleone, 2010

I have better luck drawing Emily.  The drawing above is appropriately titled, "The Gift."  This drawing is universally loved in the household. Really it needs no further description.

All of this brings us back to Emily, Kara and Sam, drawn in February 2012 from a photograph that I'd hidden away after his death. Again I had the worst time with Kara, and even Emily.  They're squinting in the sun, and Sam's tongue is tickling Emily's face.

 
It turns out that this drawing really was completed by Emily. She took hold of the pencils and eraser and worked over the eyes and hairlines, added the eyebrows and made the faces look less flat.
I was impressed, and pleased that my tuition costs are paying off: She's studying art education at Kent State University.
Tonight, she taught me a little something.

Buy your kids a dog, or four. There are no sweeter memories.

Bella'n'Corly, Mascots and Memes

Click on us and we will grow on you.

I have two dogs, Bella and Corly. I know this comes as a complete surprise to everyone.

Bella, the “puggle” or pug-beagle mix, was here first. She's 4. She's a Twinkie with feet.

Corly the German Shepherd is her younger brother. He's 2. He's a horse, of course.

Each dog has a personality as unique as their weight (a difference of about 60 pounds).

Aren't they beautiful? Yes, yes they are.

Bella, a small dog who is dangerously close to being a dreaded “yip dog,” compensates for her size by being loud, fast and hard, extra crafty and deceptive. She’ll snuggle, and when you’re not looking she’ll steal your socks and hump your pillow. 

 

Corly, who is really too big for a house dog, is more low-keyed.  Playful and mild-mannered, but just dangerous enough to take seriously when he’s demanding attention. His favorite toy is his sister.

Bella’s the brains, Corly’s the brawn. Together they are the perfect pair.

Alien

I try to convey their personalities when I draw them, and when I fill in the blanks on their own Facebook and Twitter pages.  That’s right, their own.

All words by Bella'n'Corly

Dog owners know that they can’t predict what’s going to happen with their beloved pets on any given day. That’s part of the fun.

So, why give dogs a voice and spoil some of the intrigue?
Well ...
I thought a natural extension of my art and their commentaries would be creation of Bella’n’Corly memes. The four here (so far) are simple pen and ink renderings washed with watercolors. They’re meant to  illustrate expressions of happiness, curiosity, anger and indifference.

Four basic dog faces, I’d say.

Quadrophenia

An internet meme is a concept that spreads through the online community: videos, pictures,  a word or phrase. These may stay the same or may evolve over time, such as the four that I have created. Bella’n’Corly, then, seek to market – hopefully virally, by internet – all things Tom Wills Productions. They are the team mascots, if you will.

They will occasionally show up here, on Facebook and Twitter.  Hopefully you will laugh and smile, or pause and think, and maybe even cringe and wince every now and again. Hopefully they will remind you of my other (more serious) art, and you will check it out.

I’m lucky that I understand my dogs, and they understand me.  Through them, you might get a better understanding of us, and how we see the world.
Or, just giggle at the color cartoons of goofy canines. Arf bark yip.

Bella'n'Corly memes are Tom Wills Productions, 2012. For information contact hankbonesman@embarqmail.com or willstom01@gmail.com

No. 142: The 'WTF' Music

Tom Waits by Tom Wills, January 2012

 
'Black Wings' by Tom Waits. Is it a song about God or the Devil?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i3cEdaM6y4

No one at my house likes Tom Waits 'cept me.

Once, maybe, his music was tolerated by those close to me when he placed piano, strings and horns in a bluesy haze behind his gravelly voice.  That'd be from 1973 ('Closing Time') to 1982 ('One From The Heart'). Even then, during my college days, my friends thought I was nuts for choosing Waits over Wang Chung.

CLICK on all photos to ENLARGE

Time passed.  Things got strange between 1983 ('Swordfishtrombones') and 1993 ('The Black Rider'). Production and sound went from grand and sweeping to minimal and even primitive.
Tom then took six years off to refine his loss of refinement. The results were 'The Mule Variations,' 'Blood Money,' 'Real Gone,'  'Bad as Me' (this year), and more.
His music is the soundtrack to both dreams and nightmares. No one else can make me laugh, cry,cringe and wince at the same moment.
Check 'em out: http://badasme.com/albums/

"He's not the kind of wheel you fall asleep at."

The voice now sounds like a chorus of blenders inside a cement mixer, and those instruments have been replaced by clangs, clanks, found instruments, guitar scratches, unidentifiable noises and layers of crud. You have to listen hard for the piano.
It's the 'WTF' Music at my house.
"WTF are you playing?" "WTF is that?" "WTF?"
And yet somehow they are beautiful.
Songs are here: http://badasme.com/songs/

"I don't need no make up
I got real scars
I got hair on my chest
I look good without a shirt."

ALICE

© 1992 Jamla Music / 2002 Anti, Inc.

It's dreamy weather we're on
You wave your crooked wand
Along an icy pond
With a frozen moon
A murder of silhouette crows I saw...
And the tears on my face
And the skates on the pond they spell Alice

I'll disappear in your name
But you must wait for me
Somewhere beneath the sea
There's the wreck of a ship
Your hair is like meadow grass
On the tide And the raindrops on my window
And the ice in my drink
Baby, all that I can think of 
Is Alice

Arithmetic Arithmetock 
I turn the hands back on the clock
How does the ocean rock the boat
How did the razor find my throat
The only strings that hold me here
Are tangled up around the pier

And so a secret kiss
Brings madness with the bliss
And I will think of this
When I'm dead in my grave
Set me adrift and I'm lost over there
But I must be insane
To go skating on your name
And by tracing it twice
I fell through the ice 
Of Alice
There's only Alice 

 How can you not think these words are beautiful?

FISH AND BIRD

© 1992 Jamla Music / 2002 Anti, Inc..
They bought a round for the sailor

And they heard his tale

Of a world that was so far away
And a song that we'd never heard
A song of a little bird
That fell in love with a whale

He said: You cannot live in the ocean
And she said to him: You never can live in the sky
But the ocean is filled with tears
And the sea turns into a mirror
And there's a whale in the moon when it's clear
And a bird on the tide

Please don't cry
Let me dry
Your eyes

So tell me that you will wait for me
Hold me in your arms
I promise we never will part
I'll never sail back to the time
But I'll always pretend you're mine
Though I know that we both must part
You can live in my heart

 

Wow. I mean, really. 

Plus, he's funny:

"All the donuts have names that sound like prostitutes."
"The sky turned black and bruised and we had months of heavy rain."
"Come down off the cross, we could use the wood."
"I know a girl, she been married so many times, she got rice marks all over her face."
"She was sharp as a razor and soft as a prayer."
"I stay in a place called 'Rooms'... There's a whole chain of them."
"I've lost my equilibrium, my car keys and my pride."
"She just goes clank and boom and steam."
"God's away on business." 

Loads more here: http://badasme.com/wit/

Tom Waits by Anton Corbijn. Strong contrasts.

Bringing you back to the drawing first requires a nod to a book.
My pencil work is drawn from one of the amazing photos from a lengthy collaboration between Waits and photographer Anton Corbijn. Here's a link to the book, "Waits/Corbijn -- Photographs 1977-2010." http://www.antilabelblog.com/?p=3797

I was tempted to stop right here, with just the blacks and whites.

The drawing, like Corbijn's black and white photo, also is a study in contrasts: Facial hair, creases, stubble, denim and stripes --all added in stages. There is so much detail that I asked myself 'WTF' about an hour after I'd begun.
America, it's good to say 'WTF' every once in a while. We should do it more. It'll test you and those nearby. Keeps everyone on their toes.
And, it's a good time for Tom Waits, of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who had his highest debut ever with 'Bad As Me.'
Seems I am not alone.
Good as that!

Tom Waits by Tom Wills is for sale.
Inquiries: hankbonesman@embarqmail.com or willstom01@gmail.com

Corleone recognizes that voice.

No. 141: On Fire

Edward Van Halen is "On Fire: by Tom Wills, February 2012.

Click on each picture to enlarge.

 This image of Edward Van Halen is one of the few that I intended from the start to be a painting. My concept was for him to be on fire, a nod to “On Fire,” the last song from the first album back in 1978. That was 11^th grade for me, and that first Van Halen record baked a lot of us – thwarting our maturity for the 34 years that followed.

Ed has what guitar aficionados call "Brown Tone." It's hard to replicate.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6z-nxAYhGw

So, a painting. “On Fire.”

Except, it’s not a painting.  It’s a colored drawing.

But it’s not a pencil sketch.  It’s pen and ink.

Granted, I penciled in the outline and shading, and then went over the lines with drawing pens and black ink.

I also used a black ball point pen, a really cheap one, for some shading.

"Do it 'til you're black and blue."

Next, I erased the shading and painted over the faint shadows that remained. The paint? A kiddie Crayola set, $3 at Walgreens.

A little White-Out was used on the right hand.  Hey, I’m an amateur.

"Don't draw the line .."

It’s a drawing for a painting of a drawing.

 
My fear was that he’d turn out a comic book superhero, given the color scheme.  Perhaps he did, anyway.

I did the flame colors first, starting with the head, and then the body.

Guitar, pants and shoes followed.

The most time-consuming part of the process was the color wash for the background: Blue, black, purple and green. All mixed together in Dixie cups.

I drew details over the whole thing when the paint had dried. The hair and face got overhauled.

So, it’s a drawing for a painting of a drawing. Talk about mixed media.

Ed Head.

Van Halen is back in 2012 for a new album and tour. The 34-year immaturity cycle is ramping up again, as it seems to do every five or six years.  I’m hoping Eddie is still on fire, and that he and David Lee Roth go out loud and large.  I can’t wait to be 17 again, even if the boys in the band and I are now in our 50s.

"I heard you missed us. We're back!"

I have had this record for 34 years.

Edward Van Halen is "On Fire"

This illustration is for sale

For inquiries: hankbonesman@embarqmail.com or willstom01@gmail.com

No. 140: Sleeps With Angels

Tom and Corleone, January 2011

I love to watch my dog sleep.

More honestly, I enjoy watching him fall asleep.

There is a window between full-on and completely off that is both brief and mysterious.

He stretches out first, and then those big brown eyes  take a few rolls around the room.

Everything quiet? All in order? Can I see the door?

Am I dominating a sufficiently inappropriate piece of real estate at the end of, or in the middle of, someone’s bed?

The eyes get very heavy.  So heavy.

Like a stone.

Flutter. Twitch.

Fight it.

Close.

Nose gets a little dry.

A long sigh.

Ear flaps down.

Out.

This is a living example of peace on earth.

It takes about seven minutes.

Sometimes I will sit there with him, or lay next to him.

That’s when I notice how, somehow, every hair is in place, as if combed by a woman before bedtime.

How I wish I could fall out of reality so quickly.

How I wish my mind could unspool itself from the day to day like that.

They say dogs don’t have a conscience and don’t care about time.

Horse shit.

They know good and bad, right and wrong. They have only mastered, unlike their masters, how to put their conscience to bed.

This particular model also comes equipped with  an internal clock that wakes me up every morning at 6 a.m.

I draw most of my stuff early in the morning, or late at night, because I am usually wide awake.
Keep me up at hankbonesman@embarqmail.com or willstom01@gmail