Just Another "Plane Air" Adventure...

A window view as I leave California.

It was a three hour flight just to get back to Houston, so I figured I'd better do some sketching before I drifted off to sleep. The night before, I couldn't get the alarm clock to set and had to wait until my cellphone charged up before I could set it for 4 am. I fell asleep with the laptop on my stomach for about two hours.

Two of the sketches of five were horrible. The results of drawing in turbulence is the same as a woman putting on lipstick in a moving car...  on any street...  in New Orleans, ha!

This view was drawn as we were leaving the LA basin... with no bumps!

Copyright 2012/Ben Bensen III

A Melon-cholly Morning...

I think I'll just have some fruit, thank you!

I left quite early from my friend's house to catch a flight from Ontario airport to 'da Bayou. It was so early that no restaurants were open to serve any coffee except, "Applebee's." I didn't feel good taking up an entire booth just to have a cup of coffee, so I asked for a breakfast menu and there at the bottom of every wonderful photo of an omelet, or fruit plate, or pancake combo was the calories one would consume with any of these entrees. The only early morning offering under a thousand calories was the melon and bagel plate. It was about 950 calories including coffee.

I actually wasn't even hungry having eaten a late dinner the night before, but if I was hungry at those caloric prices, I quickly would have lost my appetite. Me thinks it not a very good marketing strategy for a restaurant, but a very good one for the dieting kind.

Copyright 2012/Ben Bensen III

Anymore Red... and I Be Dead!

The color of Naphthol Crimson and still driven to draw... What a guy!

Burnt to a fiery red, I sorta collapse into one of the museum seats and listened to a video of the story of the SR-71 and drew this picture. It is the only sketch I did throughout the tour. I sketched a few more pictures on my flight back to 'da Bayou, but that's for another time.


You know it's one thing to be mothered by all the females in our group, but when the guys started to worry about my... uh... color, then I started to worry! Thanks Scott and Doug and Keith and Guy and... well, you get the picture... whoa!

I guess I got that sunburnt!

It is only through the healing powers of 'dem wise, old Injun remedies and Sandy Batcheller's garden full of aloe vera plants that made the following day bearable. Thanks Sandy, ha!

Copyright 2012/Ben Bensen III

You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream... for Stella!

Giving his best to win, ripped T-shirt and all...

The culmination, each year, of the Tennessee Williams Festival is the "Stella and Stanley" Screaming Contest that takes place in Jackson Square in New Orleans. It is one of the lighter sides of the literary festival that last all week, the last week in March. The scream contest is opened to anyone with an easy to rip t-shirt and a good set of lungs. Contestants play Stanley Kowalski, the character played by Marlon Brando in the movie version of William's, "A Streetcar Named Desire."

You really have to be a desperate dude or pretty pissed to shred a t-shirt like this. I know, I tried and it never rips quite this way, ha!

Copyright 2012/Ben Bensen III

"Bubbles"... Where I'm At!

The weekend's work... 

I was finally able to put in some time this weekend between the baseball games, and yesterday. I am not sure about any of this and as usual, have many options that are now popping into my mind. The first step is the hardest and that is now over and the creative flow is working once again... and I'm having fun!

I am not sure how I will handle the woman and since she and the player are the central figures, I don't want the tension of them visually fighting for attention. I feel she needs to be a bit more elegant than I currently have her. The ugly green gray sun dress is just a wash to help me see where I want to go with her. I am happy with the inset renderings, but I shouldn't have completed them until I complete the swampy background, but "what 'da hey," I got into a groove and stayed there! The background is next.

My wife asked me, "Your not gonna render those horses are you?" Her question had tinges of, "You're crazy, if you do!" '

I haven't decided, yet, ha!

Anyway, I hope to get back to this today to keep the flow, uh... flowing!

Copyright 2012/Ben Bensen III