OMEN ANDERSON © 2009 Chris Browne

Hi. Chris here. I haven't added to this page for a month because I was injured in a fall and that complicated things for a while. Durring my down time I have started writing the narrative and laying out Omen. I figure by the fall of 2010 I will be able to show the first real draft to one or two graphic novel publishers. I have been careful to not give away too much on this blog, but I've also wanted to do something never attempted before, to share with you the whole creative process while it happens. Hope you like.

1969, Georgetown, Washington DC: A party

The three smartest people in the room were also the three smartest people in the world.
The smartest of those three was Omen Anderson. Omen, Higgs and Tova were trying to comfort their friend and contemporary, Hugo Bliss. Bliss was a computer programmer who had cut his teeth on the Univac and Colossus government supercomputer projects. He was the inventor of the lasar microphone which changed surveilliance forever and brought him to the attention of DARPA. Now he worked at AS/IF, until tonight. He was in crisis now and his life and our world were going to change for it.



Once there lived a man named Omen Anderson who made robots. He made fabulous robots that looked like animals, like dogs and cats and mice and rabbits and birds and fish. And more. They were the perfect spies.

And a great General came to Omen and said "How much money would you want to come work for me exclusively?" And Omen said, "I don't know, General... how much have you got?"


Inside the lava tube, a cowgirl sat astride a giant blue crocodile, firing handguns into the air. The crocodile heaved himself up out of the muck and fixed his eye on Dr. Omen... "We've been expecting you," he said.
Dr. Omen and General Black catch an assassin...
Predictably, Omen and Higg's daughter was a genius. Her name was Destina Olivia Anderson. But Higgs and Omen called her Tina.
In 1965 Omen created TNDCR-6, the smallest pre-nanotech robot ever made. It could detect body heat, leap and hold onto a target and could transmit encoded audio up to a quarter of a mile for 10 hours. It's most famous use was in gathering intel in Cuba and Hanoi by attaching itself to the pets of opposition leaders; rumored among them Fidel Castro's dog and Ho Chi Minh's cat.
In 2021, the year of The Great Disaster, COMRADE HUGO BLISS came to be known as the most hated man in the world because of his crimes against humanity. He apparently caused the deaths of 2.7 billion people, a third of the Earth's population) by diverting a "Near Earth Asteroid" from it's path, to strike China. Bliss himself died in The Great Disaster, which he is widely believed to have caused. Omen Anderson's friendship with Bliss decades before brought Omen under profound scrutiny in the years that followed and resulted the World Court's draconian persecution of the man in his declining years.

These pictures are "roughs", not finished artwork. It will be a graphic novel covering a large period of time for a small group of characters. (Basically the 80 years from 1952 to 2032: The Cold Ward, the Sixties and on up to the post-modern era.


"Across the gulf of space, intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic, regarded our world with envious eyes and slowly but surely drew their plans against us..." H G WELLS

Omen faces the World Court.
All robot programmers at As/If were required to wear the Brazil Synthesizer to establish a bond, record engrams and develop empathy in the new entities. These devices alone were a huge leap ahead for robotics and were as amazing as the robots themselves.

Omen on Lincoln Island
The Steam Punk Robot seemed like a novelty amid all the hyper tech bots and droids of the ASIF Corporation. But he did have a function.


Tova's escape from the USSR involved love and death.



Omen recruits Higgs Boson at the Tiptree Federal Institution for Women in West Virginia.



Brilliant, angry, dangerous nano-roboticist Tova Romanov.

Omen's ultra=loyal lab assistant, Higgs Boson.

Iann threw the Pulse grenade into the air...

Tova's nanotech knowledge opened new worlds to Omen.

The As/If Building in Manhattan.

Omen would never truly recover from Olivia's death.

When he was a child, Omen's parents took him to see the animatronic Presidents.

In the Aviary, Young Eldon Tyrrell orders the robotic birds to kill General Black.

The Doctor threw the gray composite grenade high in the air and it exploded just ahead of the mammoth...

Omen meets Teddy

Making Friends.

Omen's Parents, Olivia Batra Anderson and Orpheus Anderson.

Dr. Omen with Cardinal Sin, the first truly autonomous robotic bird.

OMEN will be my first graphic novel. I like to think of this particular work as my version of Michael Crichton for the Harry Potter generation.

A mammoth event. General Black first met Dr. Omen at the Pantheon Twin Lake Mall in Tokyo, Japan. The Doctor was controlling a giant wooly mammoth robot named Adrien. Dr. Omen's company was licensing the robot to the biotech company MEMTECH to promote their genetic research. Hundreds of people in the courtyard pressed forward to see the amazing creation. They snapped photos and waved their banners and free MEMTECH t-shirts at the behemoth's camera eyes. It shook it's massive head and trumpeted. And then suddenly, it was running towards the crowd.

"Mother Russia," Tova said. "Yes, Russia is like a mother. A mother who steals from you while you sleep, who screams at you to wake up, who drives your boyfriends away. That was my Mother Russia."

Much of the magic behind Omen’s robots was his clever “Swarm” software that allowed several bots to work together as one. Iann noticed the Doctor looking for his pocket watch. A moment later Maggie flew into the room and brought the watch to Dr. Omen.

Dr. Omen labors through the night to save Cardinal Sin, a wounded $600,000 cybernetic male Northern Cardinal (cardinalis cardinalis) complete with a high def night vision camera eye, a GPS guidance system and a quantum bandwidth transceiver.


"Iann is a cybernetic bear with a massive quantum memory and a corpus colloseum brain structure based on Albert Einstein's. Other brain features were a truncated Sylvian fissure and a wider inferior parietal lobe. The earliest version was built by Omen Anderson when he was ten years old, the summer his mother died. The early servos and clunky Intel chips and drives gave way to higher technologies as the years passed. He was Omen's hobby for years, then obsession, always best friend and eventually his personal assistant (unpaid but still the most expensive PA on the planet).

Iann stands for Independent Automatomic Neural Network. He became self aware in the Anderson-Romanov robotics lab at MIT in 1965. To say that he has emotions might be going too far, but he has demonstrated a bond and loyalty to Omen that many would envy. Some say it resembles love."

A Cleaning Bot slid into the room unobserved, made it's way to Dr. Omen's desk and exploded.

Iann couldn't carry the doctor out of the burning lab himself and the humans ran in panic as the alarms blared and the labs filled with think black smoke. He looked down at his own paws, terry cloth and cotton batting over steel fingers. Powerful, but not strong enough to carry the doctor to safety. Then he saw the giant, remote control grizzly bear standing in the lab just beyond the flames. Iann scrambled up onto Dr. Omen's desk and picked up the control unit...

There comes a time in every young robot's life when he must throw caution to the wind and step boldly out of the lab to explore the larger world first hand. Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics allowing, of course. So it was with Iann the Bear. Dr. Omen, Iann's father, lay unconscious in his burning laboratory, a crimson new moon gash across his forehead. Iann was unable to revive him- or even to drag him to safety. He had to get help. He looked up at the impossibly big armored door and simulated the chirp of the doctor's Security Badge. The door popped open with a crisp hydraulic hiss.

Iann stepped out into "the world", as father called it and thinking that, also thought this: "O brave new world, That has such people in it!" from The Tempest.

Appropriate enough, for the little bear was headed for a storm...

The Plaid Pig

He was a spy in the house of love.

The General looked around, but no one was there.

Cat and Mouse

The cat was his pet project.

After a while, General Black started to notice that the cat wasn't really answering any of his questions.

The cat dashed past the couple, the mouse holding on for dear life.

Leviathan in dock on Lincoln Island.

The Navy was happy, but only Dr. Omen knew what it was for.

Dr. Omen at the helm of the Leviathan.

"Tova was trapped now. She was trapped in the great steel fish with no hope of up or out and a billion tons of water pressing in on every side. But more than this, Omen knew Tova's every secret, in a world where her only armor had been her great and opaque mystery. And there was no going back to not knowing, for either of them. Ever again."

Tova was saved.

The spy mice.

It looked so real.

It was then that he realized: this was a war.




OMEN is about love, loyalty, robots, teddy bears, genius and wisdom. I am hoping to find a good publisher for it in 2009.









OMEN
A work in progress is about a naive, yet subversive robotics genius who falls into the hands of a secret military project. It's been said that the problem in riding a tiger is getting off the tiger. The same may be said in this story.
The question then arises: who's riding whom?

I have no publisher for this work as yet.
But until one finds me, I am having a lot of fun!

Who Ray!

This is the alien case the little gray guys left behind. The case was found by a young boy named Newton who discovered that it contained the Who Ray, a non lethal device that changes people into other people; a pen that sends you somewhere else when you click it; glasses that show you who people really are; a ring that slows time down to a crawl and a push to talk phone that lets you talk to animals. It was quite a find! What would an Earth boy do with such a treasure chest? What wouldn't he do!

from Who Ray! a work in progress © 2009 Chris Browne

Sugar Free Maple Syrup

Daschund on a Chair

I saw this at the antique fair, this sweet little dog waiting patiently for his owner. It really got me. Dogs are so good! I painted this as best I could, from memory. An exercise for "the little gray cells".

My Triceratops

Her name is Cera, but her friends call her Topsy. My first painting on the new year!

Diplomat

Good To Go

My daughter, in London, with vegan leftovers and pink hair.

I saw the rough coated bunny today, eating apples I'd left out for him. I just love these rabbits. God bless and protect these dear creatures through the winter.

Carroll in London

This is Carroll sitting in the World Food Cafe, a vegetarian restaurant in funky Neal's Yard court in the Seven Dials section of London. My daughter and I loved the food, my mother-in-law hated it, but it was a beautiful, fun day and one of the high points of the trip. I love how Carroll looked in her blue knit cap, sort of a latter-day Agatha Christie.

Chocolate Chip Cookie!

My latest cookie painting is of the wonderful chocolate chip cookie from the magical Queen City Bakery on North Weber Avenue. Just the thing to have in when the snow blows and the hot cocoa flows!

We Sing the Forest Electric

30 Below

Thirty below with the wind chill. BRRRR! We had to cancel two doctor appointments today. But oddly it is beautiful out and we really got off easy- just miles North and West a huge blizzard hit. Time to make the cocoa!

Redbeard

Red Velvet Cup Cake

More magic from the wonderful Queen City Bakery in downtown Sioux Falls!

MY Monkey!

Here is the latest in a long and noble line of monkey dolls I've owned.

My Chihuahuas think this is their doll, but they are sadly mistaken. Dogs should NOT get people dolls because they often contain non-dog-friendly substances.

And besides, THIS IS MY MONKEY!!

When I was a child I had a monkey doll named Pheobe Beegeebee. Loved her! When I was about eight I was bitten by a pet monkey tied in someone's yard on Siesta Key. My hand bled terribly in a perfect crescent. I loved Kong, Konga, Mighty Joe Young and in comics, The Golden Gorilla and Titano the Super Ape. My favorite Planet Ape was Dr. Zaius.

I loved the Kinks song Apeman and was fascinated when a genius childhood friend floated a theory about evolution and aquatic apes. My favorite crypto beast is Gigantopithicus Blacki, a huge gorilla that may be related to the Yeti. I frequented the Circus Hall of Fame as a child and would stare in wonder at the death mask of Gargantua.

I loved that we share our family tree with these strong, noble creatures with the huge hearts and long arms. They have so much empathy. Perhaps there is hope for us yet!

Biscotti!

These biscottis are so good I couldn't just eat 'em, I had to paint one! We got them at the amazing Queen City Bakery near the train tracks in Sioux Falls.

A Tale of Two Doggies

This is a street person and his beloved dog. I met them in Piccadilly in London this October. They were huddled in this doorway against the wind and cold. You could see the love between these two.

"Dogs are a blessing, aren't they?" I asked. He replied simply, "He's my whole family." I think he called the dog 'Captain'. I'm really not sure.

It was cold here in Sioux Falls this morning and cold and raining in London. I thought of these two. At the time I put some money in his cup but now with winter upon us here and there I wish I could've put them both in my pockets and carried them somewhere safe. I wonder how they'll fare this winter.

When we first moved to Sioux Falls, one year ago September, there was so much hub-bub and tsuris (Yiddish for miseries), we had boxes in the living room, in the garage and piled on the front porch. it was embarrassing! Carroll and I were always out there trying to go through and throw out stuff.

I went to great lengths to insure the safety of our four dogs, adding new fences and gates to the back yard and patching the existing ones. And then one day while Carroll and I were in the front, our little Chihuahua zipped out the front door, past me and past Carroll and started down the hill toward traffic.

Carroll saved her. But I was so upset by the fiasco that I slammed my favorite walking stick on the ground, breaking it in two. Temper, temper!

Well, when Carroll first brought up taking a trip to England, I realized it was a rare opportunity to go back to Herbert Johnston, the shop where I had purchased the stick- and maybe get it repaired. So, I had lugged it with me on the Queen Mary 2.

And that is how I found myself lost in Piccadilly Circus, talking to this man about his dog. My love for my dog was somehow connected by fate, string theory, synchronicity or gravitons to this man huddled with his dog.

So I am thankful today for the blessings in my life, two and four legged, for the miseries that have somehow missed us and for the opportunities life gives us to do some little good were we can. To lend a hand or just hold one when there is a need and a chance to connect.

Peter Beagle said:

"What is given, burns the hand, and what is gone, is gone." All true.

But the Bard trumps him: "How shines a good deed in a weary world."


We have some great charitable organizations here in town: The Banquet, St. Francis House. And I don't want to forget the Humane Society. I always try to remind people that "the best friend you'll ever have is waiting for you at the Humane Society."

It's true.

Paintings and drawings

Recent works, some silly, but all helped me in in some way.

A Missing Cartooning Lesson

You know I've never seen a book on cartooning go into the importance of erasing and it occurs to me that it's a big part of how a lot of cartoonists work. A lot of cartooning is course correction. You get the basic shape and the dialogue balloons in the right place, but then you brush it down with a kneaded eraser or an eraser bag and redraw, correcting as you go. I know it's just a little thing but I thought I'd write it down here before it leaves my brain.

Grilled Cheese

Detail from A Genie in MacDougal Alley

White Out

Feeling a little better today. Drew some, painted this, watched TV, took meds. Haven't quite got my land legs back yet.

Detail of "5"

I have not been well lately and this is the first painting I've done since my return for London. Can you tell, even the critter in the painting doesn't feel well? By the way, what is he? Bear or mouse? Mousebear? Bearmouse? The full painting appears on my Sketchbook blog.

A Happy Halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday, probably because it's all heart. It's the most creative one and it really is all for kids.

I loved making costumes, masks, cardboard robot suits. My father taught me how to make a papier-mâché mask one year. I made Quasimoto, the Hunchbach, with the droopy eye and discolored purplish skin tones.

We sat on the flagstone patio outside the family room on Rivergate Drive, in Wilton, Connecticut. We made sketches in green covered Clipper sketch pads and then measured our heads. It was sunny and the air was crisp, a New England Fall.

We sculpted our monster faces out of dark olive drab plasticine clay on masonite boards. We mixed some flour in a plastic bucket with warm water and ripped and dipped our strips of newspaper from a copy of the Wilton Bulletin. Then we applied the strips, so gently, this way and that, criss-crossing for strength.

And then we'd watch it dry and while it would dry we would sit and talk. Or pet Lucky, my dog. Or just sit. Breathe. The pines creaked in the wind, birds chattered. Mom clunked pans in the kitchen.

It wasn't much of a mask, but it's a major memory for me now that I am 56 and my dad is long gone. They say take the time, but when you spend time with your kids, you're not taking, you're giving.

Thanks for giving me that time, dad. Thanks for my best Halloween.

The official LOST 2009 trailer!

Thank God for second chances.

Van Gogh's Bunny Hill

My beloved, life-long friend Barbara Moore sent me this postcard- Landscape with Rabbits by Vincent Van Gogh! I love it!

I have just returned from a long trip, hence my long silence here on the blogs. But I am back and read to rumba! I will be posting an update on our vacation on my other blog, The History Lesson, shortly.

Good to be back!

Chris

The Nemo Cookie

I paint so many cookies, today I decided to design one! When I have time I may actually make a cookie mold and make a bunch.

The Nemo, named for my favorite anti-hero, would be a toasted vanilla bean cookie with a raspberry creme filling. It would contain no nuts or dairy of any kind. Half the thickness of an Oreo, with a crisp baked cookie (tapered like the new iPod!) It would also be wider than an Oreo.

It would feature a submerged Nautilus submarine on the top cookie amid waves for texture and grip and on the bottom, an art deco squid!

Of course I don't own a cookie company, but who knows? Isn't there room in this world for a cookie that anyone can eat and that encourages reading?

Love is Strange

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

This was a favorite of mine when I was a kid. Wish it were out on DVD! Before LOST, before The Prisoner, there were other mysterious islands run by diabolical evil geniuses. Hooray! Starring Robert Wagner, Jill St John and Peter Lawford. Be seeing you!

Portrait of A.I.M.

(An Imaginary Man)

Dum-Dum

Here is a Dum-Dum lollipop that has been floating around in my bag since my last visit to the dentist.

Castle

Another cookie painting! This one is another Chessman featuring a Rook. In the game, Rooks are strong but limited, useful but vulnerable. In other words, a tough cookie. But still, a cookie.

I talked with a friend at my syndicate today and he raved about his Cintiq tablet. My brother and I have talked about getting them so I feel I am ready to take the plunge now. They really look cool and I think it would be a great tool for some of my work.

We went to see CHICAGO at the Washington Pavillion in town, our first musical since we got here. Kind of a milestone for us to do that because we have been in Sioux Falls ONE YEAR THIS WEEK! They say a man's home is his castle... that may be true. I'm happy that we've landed just exactly where we should be.

We feel very lucky and very blessed.

Creme That Egg!

This may be the best thing ever. I love this beyond words. Does that make me a bad person?

Gummi Bears

I found these sugar free Gummi's in the bottom of my bag. Too far gone to eat but never too far gone to paint!

Hummingbirds!

Your fortune

...and mine!

Cartoonist Picnic!

We attended a cartoonist picnic gathering at a park right near our house today and it was GREAT! Very fun and talented people, great breezy weather and conversation and everyone put up with my silly and long stories of my misspent youth. And great homemade cookies! Yea! Thank you to all the Sioux Falls cartoonists, my new friends- you ROCK! Chris and Carroll

Old Tree

This is a very rough drawing of a tree. I LOVE trees. My ancestors were Celts and before that, Druids.

Tree worshippers. They had the right idea. Trees are divine.

This tree figures prominently in a book I'm laying out, about a little boy who gets stuck, up in a tree. In the finished artwork the tree won't be outlined in red. I promise!

Sugar Free

This is a Murray's Sugar Free Chocolate Chip Cookie. Not bad! But given my druthers, I'd opt for Pepperidge Farms version of the same thing.

We had a nasty dog fight here today, a territory & food dispute between our 2 males (6 year old Scotty and 20+ year old Terrier mix!) It ended with the elder dog going to the animal hospital but amazingly he seems okay now.

I am making huge progress on my studio and also have found old sketchbooks and some vital (to me at least) missing children's book artwork that was lost in the big move West. So it's all good!

Special thanks to all of you, for your kind words about my paintings and sketches. You have kept me sane (certainly saner than I would have been) this past year.

Thank you!


Chris

Fortune

Here's another cookie painting. Nice to have a model who can sit still. Although cookies don't seem to stick around long after the session.

I finally saw The Dark Knight tonight- what a wonderful movie! I love how it all suddenly pulls together at the end. Just lovely writing, directing, acting. Not for kids, though.

Just Think

If they had had modern anti-depression drugs back in 1890, Vincent Van Gogh would still be alive today.

Elephant and Castle

I love this song by great indie band The Age of Rockets. Great music to paint by!

Ironically, I was once in love (from afar) with a waitress (and friend) from the Elephant and Castle restaurant; but I never told her. Darn!

"Take every opportunity, because one day they just stop coming along!"

... John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire.

Werebaby

Had a great day. Friend Ken and I hung out at Kaladis and then went to Rainbow Sports Carts, a comic book shop in town. It was fun! Got my comic book fix!

Empty Glass Bottle

This was fun to paint and took less than an hour as opposed to my Black Book painting that took a week.

Love is here to stay

George and Ira Gershwin were working on the film The Goldwyn Follies when George suddenly died of a brain tumor. The last thing George wrote was the melody of this song, which Ira completed after his passing.

Few people realize it's really about Ira's love for his brother and a bond that survives all challenges; even death.

The more I read the papers
The less I comprehend
The world and all its capers
And how it will all end,
Nothing seems to be lasting,
But that isn’t our affair;
We’ve got something permanent---
I mean, in the way we care

It’s very clear
Our love is here to stay
Not for a year
But ever and a day

The radio and the telephone
And the movies that we know
May be passing fancies---
And in time may go

But oh, my dear
Our love is here to stay
Together we’re
Going a long, long way

In time the Rockies may crumble,
Gibraltar may tumble
(They’re only made of clay)
But—our love is here to stay.

More Cookies

Here are more paintings of cookies. A Milano and a Chessmen Rook. Yea, Pepperidge Farms! I used to live in Wilton, Connecticut, not far from where these are made and they really are wonderful. And fun to paint. My blood sugar this morning was 122. Ha!

It's raining on Bunny Hill, but lots of birds outside, beautiful cardinals, robins and crows. They are loving the newly mown short wet grass, revealing worms and slow moving locusts. Smorgasbugs!

More paintings of cookies here. Enjoy!

Work in Progress

Part of a work in progress. It's fun to get to use my watercolors on Hagar. Wouldn't I love to do a graphic novel about Hagar! The comic strip format doesn't give you the chance to develop character or story arcs. And I'd love to do 2 page spread battle scenes! Wouldn't that be fun? I actually have an outline for a sort of 7th Voyage of Sinbad graphic narrative.

Maybe someday!

Lost Dance

Toad Ya So

Women, be wise: they're not all princes. Many are just toads; some are worse!

Détente

Why indeed can't we all just get along?

The Bigger Chill

Carroll and I just came back from an amazing road trip that would've made a fabulous movie, sort of a sequel to The Big Chill.

Here's the pitch: The Bigger Chill

An extended Baby Boomer and Gen X family and friends gather in a lodge near Mt. Rushmore to relax and regroup for the last 4th of July before the elections. Humor, angst and reflections on the meaning of independence (an co-dependence) abound.

Fireworks, of all sorts, explode.

That said, we really had an amazing time. I like a little personal growth with my vacations- although I think it should be used as a spice, not as the entre.

Our main event was to take the 1880's steam train to the side of Mt. Rushmore and see the fireworks there on the third of July. That was terrific!

We also saw Mt. Rushmore in the daylight and it is so much more inspiring and amazing in person than it is in day-for-night shots of Martin Landau chasing Cary Grant over Jefferson's philtrum in North By Northwest.

We also went to Deadwood, visited the Crazyhorse monument, drove through the Custer State Park and saw buffalo, burros, deer, antelope and prairie dogs!

After our lodge adventures, family members departed for New York, Florida and California and Carroll, Tom, Patrick, Alicia and my brave mother-in-law Luvy, pressed on thru Wyoming into Billings and Bozeman, Montana.

Unbelievably beautiful country, especially Paradise Valley, where A River Runs Through It was filmed. Wow!

We climbed to the base of Devil's Tower with our Melinda Dillon look-alike friend Alicia. I only had to send one set of Hagar work from the road during our ten day trip and managed to keep up with e-mail, sort of, via my iPod Touch (I love that thing). At Wall Drug, I met a 6-Foot Bunny and a Jackilope!

If anybody out there doesn't love this amazing country, I encourage you to hop in a car (or hybrid) and go see it. The people are great, the history and the wilderness are so inspiring and breathtaking.

I love America! We're very blessed.

This trip was made possible by my brilliant wife's Carroll's vision, Patrick's Road Warrior epic driving and the heroic efforts of many family and friends to leap out of the box for a week or so.

So how did it end?

Patrick drove us for something like ten hours on the last day, from Billings back to Sioux Falls.

When we finally arrived at he foot of our street we discovered the city had BLOCKED IT OFF WITH BARRICADES and a fresh slick of sticky black oil!

We could SEE our house- but couldn't get there!

Exhausted, we had to check in to a hotel in our own town. But my the next afternoon we were cooling our heels in the backyard at Bunny Hill where several new bunnies appeared. More babies!

GOOD TO BE HOME!

Mr. Gray

Here's a screen shot from tonights Twilight Zone episode, The Parallel.

Isn't that Mr. Gray in the background? What an intergalactic ham!

Dove of Peace

Great news! I've seen 2 bunnies on the hill. One large male and 1 medium probable female. It bodes well!

Okay, this is not the real Dove of Peace, it's a Dove Bar. But it'll have to do for now.

Bunny Watch

I haven't seen the bunnies in about a week and now I am worried about them. If I'd just see one I could feel that the other's are safe somewhere, but not seeing any of the four of them for so long is ominous. What could have happened to them? Cottontails have about a one acre range so where are they? I'm especially concerned about the baby bunny we saw last week.

I'll post more about this, especially if I see one of them. This is really bumming me out. Chris

Cookies

Out of life's school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols (1899)
German philosopher (1844 - 1900)

I feel the same way about cookies.

Top to bottom: Sugar-free shortbread; Oreo; Archway Windmill.

Veg Out!

Detail of my new painting, Veg Out!

"Could this be the un-met friend?"
...from The Year of Living Dangerously


.

The Age of Rockets

Inspired by wonderful Indie band The Age of Rockets, now touring America with MC Chris Is Dead (not me, another Dead Chris). Click the title above to go to their MySpace page. MySpace and The Age of Rockets? Sounds like a movie!

Swan and Rose

For my beloved friend Swan and her beloved daughter, Rose. Two amazing women in a long line of amazing women, continuing to illuminate, educate and improve the world with every breath they take.

Gravity

Freedom

The Secret Library

I added a little more color, shadow and depth. I also added a black mask to this and posted that version to my sketchbook blog. I love painting these little cozy womb-like environs.

Children's books have many safe little realms like this: Peter Pan's hollow tree, Narnia's coat filled wardrobe, James' giant peach.

We are creatures of comfort. We need cozy! And ice cream!

In The Secret Library, watercolor

This is as far as I got today... some watercolor, some color pencil.

Hmm. A skull and a crystal ball? What are these foxes up to? What is the little book the little fox is reading? Homework? A play by Lillian Hellman, perhaps? Maybe it's an underground comic (they are underground, after all!)
And what is down those stairs behind that secret panel?

I hope you're liking seeing this picture grow. On paper as in life, we never know what we will find when we set forth. The Earth curves under us, tempting us forward.

More soon! Chris

In The Secret Library, pencil

First pencil! Click for larger view.

Who are these foxes, anyway? More soon... Chris

Sequel: In The Secret Library

I had such a good time painting "Down In The Hole"- and got such nice letters and feedback from y'all, that I am doing a sequel painting, "In The Secret Library". Here is the first sketch, scrawled on the endpaper of a Sudoku book... I will post more as it develops.

Thanks! Chris

Down In The Hole

Darker, moodier, spookier, as promised!

"All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites." Marc Chagall

Irish Patchwork

My favorite hat, from Hanna Hats of Donegal, Ireland
No two are alike, just like people and isn't that the way it should be?

Carroll gave this to me and not since Linus loved his blanket has a person loved a clot of cloth like I love this hat.

Work-in-progress

This is far, far, far from done. It's going to get real dark, moody and spooky. It started out to be a mole but now he's looking more like a badger.

Inspired by the great James Taylor's song "Down in the hole"

Camp Hazen

This was my first published drawing. I was 11. I sat in the woods at Camp Hazen and drew this chapel in pen and ink. It always bothered me that the rock at the foot of the tree looks like a cabbage. Somehow this drawing ended up being used on the camps brochures and Christmas cards. My folks were so proud. It's not a very good drawing, but it's a very good memory for me.

Poor wandering one

This poor, dear little bird flew into our window today. He lived only a short time...

I called my vet, then the Humane Society, then Animal Control looking for someone who could help him. Although to late for this little creature I did speak to a good soul at the Great Plains Zoo who told me that Dr. Dayton Williams here in town will care for a wounded bird. Good to know!

"Poor wand'ring one!
Though thou hast surely strayed,
Take heart of grace,
Thy steps retrace,
Poor wand'ring one!"
Mabel, in The Pirates Of Penzance


"Now cracks a noble heart.
Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."
Horatio, in the finale of Hamlet

Small Wonder

Paikea, my best friend and confidant.

Fossil Record of Bunny Hill!

I found this rock in the yard today with a thin organic looking strip running through it. The stone was cracked from the freezing weather and the stripe extended an eighth of an inch under the surface in a "u" shape. What do you think? Worm? Plant? Twizzler from the Pleistocene?

Click image to enlarge!

Mary, Mary

Mary is a thoughtful, empathetic little girl in a Christmas story I'm writing. The title of this work is top secret!

Butterfly House

Last week we had visitors and we took them to the Sertoma Butterfly House here in town. Beautiful! What an amazing place! These beautiful Jungle Blue Morphos and Yellow Swallowtails, etc. live only days or weeks at most but they are amazing, transcendental living poems. They remind us that life is brief and precious and occasionally beautiful.

Carry On

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

T.S. Eliot

Moleskine Sketchbook Madness!

Today I got the nicest note back from a person at the Moleskine company in Milan, Italy today. And good news! They are not made of real moleskins! Or any other leather! Yea!

To celebrate, I ran out to Barnes & Noble and bought a large plain notebook Moleskine pad and drew the above drawing/painting in it. What can I say? I dig moles!

Listened to, but not heard

Rough for a magazine cartoon, sketched on a Sudoku puzzle.

Thundersnow!

It's snowing again! Very beautiful, but enough already!

Ambient or trance music is the best music for snowfalls, by the way. Terry Riley's A Rainbow in Curved Air or Frpp and Eno's Evening Star. Man does not live by Flaming Lips alone.

The sun is shining and yet the snow is hammering down. Last night we had thundersnow. Thundersnow?! I didn't know that existed! Sounds like something Piers Anthony would cook up!

Hello, Old Friend

I just loved this moment. The snow has receded and Duncan was on Bunny Hill when he ran into an old friend he hadn't seen since Thanksgiving- his old blue rubber ball. He kissed it hello and then pressed his head against it and gave in a little roll.

"It's very clear... our love is here to stay."

An Elephant's Memory Book

This is a possible children's book character I've had bouncing around in my head for a while: a sophisticated pachyderm, raised by a wealthy matron as her adopted child.

Shamrocks

St. Patrick used a shamrock to teach about the Trinity: "three divine persons in the one God". I love that! These shamrocks were given to us by a dear woman we met named Teressa. They have thrived beyond our wildest hopes and might be transplanted into my window box after the thaw. They also proved to be a patient model. How shines a good deed in a weary world!

Good werewolf weather!

We thought we were done with the snow but early this St. Patrick's Day morning we got snowed in! By nightfall this mist crept in turning Bunny Hill into a scene from "House of Bunnystein". But spring is around the corner, you can feel it in the air. Here comes the sun!

How The Irish Saved Civilization!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, you! Love, Chris

Little Red

These little red Cardinals kept me (arguably) sane this first winter in South Dakota, so I have put one of 'em in a suit and tie and made him the executive v.p. of inner peace for Bunny Hill studio.

Mr. Bun

Bunny Hill Studio

Antique bunny sign above the studio door...

My light table desk with Mr. Natural lamp...

...and my FAO Schwarz bunny guards the Fax/copier.

I'm making progress in my Bunny Hill Studio!

With cardinals and chickadees at the window, squirrels and rabbits on the hill and dogs at my feet, this is the best studio I've ever worked in! Yahoo!

It's 26º out but toasty inside. Just 4 days till LOST! CB

Special Delivery

Just discovered in the garage, my old mailbox from my first house in Florida. I had a white cat name T-Bird, I lived next to a filmmaker and across the street from a senator, I was dating the love of my life, my future wife and I was pretty happy with the way things were.

My wild days were over (although I didn't know that then) but I was still enough of a hippie to paint my mailbox. The little red house was an echo or ache of my little cottage back in Connecticut and the rocket ship was for Florida and because I love rocket ships.

It's not exactly the magic mailbox from The Lake House, but it's an ingot of my personal history, my shambling trail from there to here... and the road winds ever on.

Love Poem

I loved you once, nor can this heart be quiet;
For it would seem that love still lingers there;
But do not you be further troubled by it;
I would in no wise hurt you, oh, my dear.

I loved you without hope, a mute offender;
What jealous pangs, what shy despairs I knew!
A love as deep as this, as true, as tender,
God grant another may yet offer you.
...Alexander Pushkin

Happy St. Valentine's Day, you.

The Visitors

Here are the most recent visitors to Bunny Hill: a pair of cardinals and Rocky J. Squirrel.

The office is in great disarray due to major revamping of everything (listen to my podcast, LIVE FROM BUNNY HILL- episode 2 for more about the big mess!)

But the studio is just about up and running now. The phones, FAX, scanner, web cam and computer all work, I have flat files for my Strathmore paper and bins for my art supplies. My old metal Pottery Barn desk looks out on Bunny Hill. I hope to get a second desk so I can keep the artwork and the computer apart.

Valentine's day is looming! Hope it's a good one for y'all!

Best, Chris

A Little Magician

This little magician will figure in one of my future projects. More of him later...

The Iron Fish

Hagar's Helmet FOUND!

We found my helmet! Since we moved here, it's been an Easter Egg hunt looking for all our stuff in the hundreds of boxes that travelled west with us. Well, today Carroll found my helmet that I wear (occasionally) for public appearances. I am going to wear it when I speak at a school near here in March, but then I am going to not book any new appearances until after my birthday in the summer. I'm getting inundated with requests, which is nice, but I just can't do them all! Best, Chris

Sunny

Sunny, my amyrilis, is doing fine! But how much should I be watering her? Anyone know? I'm just guessing.

Steppin' Out

My friend Ken Alvine, my wife Carroll and I were honored to have lunch with Sioux Falls Mayor David Munson this week. The Mayor is a great guy and we all had a great time at Minerva's Restaurant.

We had nice weather the last couple of days so our icy hill and driveway have returned to normal, freeing us to escape from the house today.

Chili today, hot tamale!

We had vegetarian chili tonight. Carroll made the chili beans and I cut up the peppers and onions, etc. stopping occasionally to snap photos for future watercolor paintings. What is prettier than peppers?

Far out, Man!

I just discovered something called Photobooth on my new Mac Leopard system that resulted in this psychedelic shot. Do I look like an aging hippie? Well, aging ex-hippie. Nothing new to report, just worked like a dog all day (while the dogs slept like a cartoonist, so that's fair). Looking forward to Cloverfield! But it'll probably be next week or beyond before I can break free to see it. It's going to be -10º on Friday. If I could escape into the Phantom Zone that day, I would. Ah, well... keep on truckin'! CB

My Amyrilis

I've planted an amyrilis and named her Sunny. Every day I mist her and turn her so that she will grow straight and tall. She is not as playful as my dogs, but on the other hand, she does not bark. Caring for a plant is calming and centering. It appeals to the zen side of my brain and probably to my inner Druid (my ancestors worshipped trees, you know). Well, it's been a long day, full of stuff, the latest bead on a string of similar days. And so to bed. And flights of angels see thee to they rest.

The Snow Dragon

When Chance and I were little, living in South Orange, New Jersey, our parents had little more than their imaginations to make Christmas come alive for us.

One Christmas we came outside to discover they had made a beautiful snow dragon on the front lawn and decorated it with food coloring. Only a couple of photos still exist of the snow dragon but it is a memory more precious than gold to me. There were dragons in the earth in those days... and wizards too!

And two of the best were Joan and Dik Browne.

Lost Weekend

Our plans for a great evening out were dashed. We've been looking forward to tonight for weeks... we really needed a relaxing night out, away from the constant unpacking, cleaning and trips to storage. But our plans fell apart like dominos when illness struck last night. In the words of Curly, "I'm a victim of circumstance!" Ah, well. Better days ahead.

Great oaks from tiny acorns grow...

I still haven't got my scanner working, but I snapped a photo of this painting I did a while back of an acorn I found in the driveway. Seeing this painting today made me miss my old house on Siesta key. But, I love our new place, too. The heart is a fickle thing!

Ice Devil

Don't want to sound like those people who think they see deities in their pancakes, but this face appeared by my studio door. Ice is no friend of mine!

My new writing partner

This character showed up at my window a couple of months ago and I have decided to add him to the staff as a writing consultant. He's great. He never talks back, he thinks everything I say is funny and he works for peanuts. You can't beat that!

Back in Business!

We've been in Sioux Falls for one month and we still can't find almost anything. Among the missing are medical records, art supplies, cables that make computer printers and scanners go, and almost all of our clothes. But the flip side of that is, every day is an Easter egg hunt! Carroll found my big computer the other day (it was in the garage under a dog crate!) which is good news for me because all my children's book scan art and texts are on it. Whew! I'm back in business!

Our new house is beautiful and we love it! But there is a learning curve... Who knew you had to blow out your sprinkler system to get ready for winter? I haven't been near winter for 30 years and I never had a sprinkler system till now. Duncan, our Scotty LOVES the cold weather, but the Chihuahuas are giving me nasty looks when I walk 'em.

We're having lots done to the house, expanding a room for Carroll's mom, tiling the living room and securing the yard so the pooches can't escape. It's all great, but man are we tired! And we haven't had time to visit much with our new friends & neighbors, but they have all been very understanding and supportive. The kindness of the people we've met here has been humbling and gratifying. There are still good people in the world- lots of them!

Watercolor

It's hard to paint cute lil cartoons with a CIRCULAR SAW buzzing in the next room! Sigh...

Doodle For Hunger Event

Capuchin Food Pantries annual Doodle For Food event will be Oct. 25th at Tavern On The Green in NYC. For info click the title above to link to their page. Here are my contributions, drawn in Crayolas! Best always, Chris

Crayola

A cup of Crayolas at my beloved Chutneys Restaurant in Sarasota!

Never Swat A Fly!

UP!

We are all going places. We think we are going uptown, downtown, left, right, East, West and we are, to be sure.
But we are all also travelling either UP or DOWN, a little bit each day. What a trip!

Oscar

I'm moving soon and I will miss my friends and neighbors a whole lot. Here is one I will miss especially: Oscar! He has been visiting me almost daily for years. He doesn't say much but is surprisingly eloquent. I will miss his insights and his aura.

Well met

This is how I met a dear friend: I was 18, standing on a ladder, painting a huge mural for the Wilton Youth Project. Louise came in the door with my friend Peter. I could tell he'd been drinking, and it was snowing out, so I offered to drive them home. I drove Louise home first, then Peter. I liked her right away. We were in love for a while and after that I never really recovered. I spent years putting my heart back together. But we were always friends, forever.
She's gone now, way too young, much too soon. We were well met, star-crossed. Her hair looked like copper wire. Her laughter spun like ice in a glass.

Here Be Dragons

From a work in progress! I have been house hunting in South Dakota so I have been away from my desk and blog- sorry! But today I checked my Google Blogalytics and it says that LOTS of people are reading my blog in Austria and Germany! I love that, but I don't know why it's happening! It doesn't tell me who you all are- but thank you for reading my blog! Gutten tag! Chris

Betty The Yeti

© 2007 Chris Browne
Hi there. I've shortened the Betty The Yeti posting for now but I'll happily send a PDF file to any interested editor! I'd love to see her find her way into a book someday. Remember- "Save the Yeti, Save the World!" Best always, Chris

Sleeping Dragon

I love dragons. This one turned up in a sketchbook, a little different for me. Sort of angular like Ben Shahn's work. Or Antonio Fransconi. Love their work!

The Dragon's Egg

Instant Karma

Actually, I changed the name on the label and I added a little dancing fox and other stuff but basically this is a watercolor of my tea bottle from our lunch at Whole Foods earlier this week. Well, Picasso once said "Art is a lie that tells the truth", so I guess I can get away with this. The tea was good!

Sugar Free

I haven't had a chance to really listen to Paul McCartney's new ablum yet but I love the title, Memory Almost Full.
And one song I know I love is My Ever Present Past. Truer words were never spoke. CB

Mr. Spaceman

And yes, he's got the Who Ray! (Click title above for Who Ray!)

Cold Duck

Vegan Dogs

A very rough painting, from a work in progress.

Pancakes!

Best in town!

My Pirate Uncle

For all my nieces and nephews. ARRRGH!!
With love,
Cap'n Redbeard

Orpheus Kelly, Kid Wizard

Orpheus Kelly is an eight year old kid from Brooklyn. He has problems with bullies, gangs, a girlfriend, his teachers, his siblings and his parents. But his life suddenly gets much more complicated when he is given all the powers of a Medieval Guild of Sorcerers for safekeeping. From a work in progress. © 2007 Chris Browne

The Green Train

Raspberry Bunny

The Carrot Garden

This is one of several pieces I've donated to ART FOR ANIMALS, an auction for the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. Click the title above for info about the auction! Lots of great stuff there and a good, good cause! Love, CB

(The auction will be on Saturday, May 19th, from 7 - 10pm., at Jivamukti Yoga School: 841 Broadway, 2nd floor, between 13th & 14th Streets, just south of Union Square In Manhattan, New York. $10 at the door to get in and well worth it!)

Walk the Walk

"You talk the talk,
you talk the walk,
you walk the walk."

With a Little Help from Our Friends

This is another special drawing I donated to ART FOR ANIMALS, an auction for the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary.

(The auction will be on Saturday, May 19th, from 7 - 10pm., at Jivamukti Yoga School: 841 Broadway, 2nd floor, between 13th & 14th Streets, just south of Union Square In Manhattan, New York. $10 at the door to get in and well worth it!)

The Night Pig

Subconscious at work! I have no idea what the story is here. I just starting drawing this little pig nose and the rest of this just happened. It looks kind of like there's a story here somewhere. What is the pig burying (or digging up)? Is he reacting to the owl in the tree hooting? Or something else? I don't know! You tell me! Best, Chris

Guitar Solo

This is out of my head, not from real life. It's a study for some background detail for a larger magazine cartoon. But I kinda like it and I haven't posted anything in a while, so here it is!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pepperidge Farms sugar-free! These things are saving my life.

Water, clipboard, pad

Party Animal

This is a cartoon I recently sent to Playboy. Can you guess the punchline?

Candy

Sugar-free, of course!

Seaglass

An image from a book I made for a friend long ago: a man falls asleep on a beach looking up at the moon. His soul floats up to the moon and he discovers it's a hole in the sky, and his world is a green bottle on another beach, in another universe...

Heart Chakra

Strange news! I am thinking, just thinking, about putting one or two paintings or sketches from my blogs on sale at Ebay. I've never done this before. Best wishes, Chris

Asian Pear

Friends were over a few nights ago for Scrabble and pizza. In addition, they made this incredible salad with Blue Tick dressing. Afterwords I discovered an Asian Pear had somehow survived the melee. I granted the pear safe passage in exchange for it's posing for this picture.

My Left Hand

According to my right hand. My left hand has voiced no opinion about my right hand. On the other hand.

Drawing Book

THANK YOU! People are checking in to see my blogs from all over the USA and Europe and parts of Asia! This week, folks popped in from Stavanger (I've been there! It's lovely!), Zurich, Innsbruck, Berlin, Medellin, Beijing, Chongqing, Sioux Falls (I'm going there!), St. Paul, Stamford, Del Rey, Pheonix, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Lilo (!) and Sarasota (my town!) THANK YOU ALL! It means a lot to me. More soon! Best, Chris Browne

A New Leaf

Valentine's day is the happy new year of the heart. Time to turn over a new leaf! Love, Chris

Baby Let Me Follow You Down

Artist, songwriter, musician, pirate king and friend, Eric Von Schmidt passed away last week. Hugely talented, he was a force of nature. Wasn't that a mighty storm?

Snaps for my Peeps!

Yo, dogs! It's Grammy night! Snaps! Fight the power! Straight up, rat on!

Who Ray

It's my own invention. It's non-lethal, but it reveals the inner self of whoever you zap.

The Last Straw

My other hat. Too beat up to wear in public, but very comfy for walking the dogs around the backyard. Original 7 x 10".

My Hat

This is my favorite hat. It's a Scottish cashmere Gill cap made by Lock & Co. Hatters of St. James Street in London. When my writer's block is in full bloom, this hat seems to help!

A Box of Acorns

This tiny painting didn't quite work but close enough that I wanted to share it. Well, I'm off to the dentist now. They're going to give me a crown, and I'm not even royalty!

Tivoli Radio

This is a wonderful desktop radio, beautifully made and a joy to listen to. My father had a similar, if clunkier, radio on his desk, made by the same inventor. Artists need their tunes!

The Tooth Fairy at Home

This drawing was inspired by the kind comment Colleen made to my Personal Demon post. Thank you, Colleen!

Apple

I just love painting a little still life like this. It's very relaxing. I just zen-out! Thank you to all the nice people who've left comments about my work. Make sure you leave your e-mail address so I can write you back! By the way if you need to drop me an e-mail it is: chrisbrowne2@mac.com Thanks, y'all! Chris

My Personal Demon

C'mon, we all have them. Well, this is one of mine!
I wasn't feeling well last night- I'd spent the afternoon in the dentist's chair and I was wiped out. So I turned in early while my family watched the Gator game. I sat on the edge of the bed and painted this before I crashed.

Hound of the Hedges

My version of this mythical creature from The Circus Of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney. I'd love to illustrate this book. The best version so far was by Boris Artzybashev. Speaking of great books, I recommend One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way by Robert Maurer. It's wonderful- the perfect book to begin the new year with.

More Little Cowboy

Here's another drawing of my little cowboy character. Here's a little trivia- this character is inspired by my big brother, Bob. When we were kids he loved cowboys like I loved spaceships and King Kong. So he's been bubbling up in my sketchbooks lately as a possible children's book character.

Counting Crow Box

A gift I painted for my mother-in-law.

Time Flies!

Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus -Virgil
And so another year ends. To the escape pods! Party!

"The wise know how to use time and space perfectly; they lead free and harmonious lives. Fools are enslaved by time and space; they are busy running around all day. Wise or foolish, the difference is obvious."

Nemo

What if Captain Nemo didn't die in on the Mysterious Island? Here is an image from an imagined lost chapter of Nemo's life.

Peppermint

Almost Christmas!

Hot Sauce!

Fruits and Veggies

A balanced (or juggled) diet! This is an image for another children's book idea I am cooking up. Or is it a cook book? Or both! Time will tell (but I won't!)
Best, Chris