My friend/customer likes to challenge me. He thinks I can do things with my pencils that I am never sure I have the ability to do. We talk, I sketch, we talk some more, I revise, we talk some more—and that’s all before I begin the drawing.

I’ve shown you some of this in progress, beginning with this messy sketch.

When the very complicated and unforgiving fire truck seemed to be the easiest part, I KNEW I was in for a challenging rest of the drawing.

With time was running out, I set a deadline for finishing, and began on those little boys, working from almost impossible-to-follow photos.

After I had the boys drawn, I scanned it and sent it to Friend/Customer, who said the larger boy looked fine, but he didn’t like “the bend” of the smaller boy, whose head also looked too small.

I wanted to say, “Then why did you send me a photo with him bending?” Instead, I embiggened the little boy’s head and unbent him.

He said it looked good, then texted that Mrs. Customer thought the bigger boy’s cheek looked too chubby. How she could see this is a mystery to me. However, she knows the boys, and I trust her judgement.

The difference between a chubby cheek at this tiny scale is the width of one hair. THIS is the reason that one should never try to draw a face smaller than an egg, and I don’t mean a hummingbird egg. The boys were supposed to be drawn from the back, but the supplied photos show a tiny amount of faces. (Why am I unable to say, “NO, I CANNOT DO THIS!”?)

That tiny adjustment was accepted. Friend/Customer asked if I was going to put anything on the lower third of the drawing, and I replied, “Nah, I’m gonna quit and sign it now.” (Of course I was just kidding around, but wanted to poke at him for putting me through this stressful, make-it-up, mind-reading exercise.)

The grasses and wildflowers were also very challenging, because I had no photo for this completely fabricated scene. It was a large piece of real estate to cover with the tiny point of a pencil, but being the professional that I am, I soldiered on. When everything was planted and landscaped, I scanned the drawing yet again and sent it for approval.

The next plan is to print this out and experiment with color. I will put red on the firetruck, yellow on the sunflowers, and something on the boys’ tee shirts, most likely blue. Friend/Customer asked if I could do it on a copy first so that they can approve this non-erasable addition before it goes onto the original.

If the practice piece passes muster, I will add the colors. Then I might just go have a cigarette.* Stay tuned. . .

SIMPLY HOME

The show hangs until December 29. You can see the show at CACHE in Exeter, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, because as you know, everything looks better in person. The hours are posted on CACHE’s website. (Scroll down to see the hours.)

2025 CALENDARS AVAILABLE

*Take it easy. . . I’ve never smoked in my life and never will.