John Wayne for my dad



Yesterday was my father's birthday. I drew him a pretty decent John Wayne ten years ago so I thought I might update his Wayne collection for him. I get my love of both James Bond and Westerns from my dad; although his favorite cowboy is John Wayne and mine is Clint Eastwood.

Here's a good 'dad' story. One morning, Dad was all dressed up in his long leather duster and his favorite Stetson as he was going to take his horse Babe out for a ride. My brother, sister and I had walked out to the end of the driveway (a few hundred metres) to meet the schoolbus. The bus arrived just as we heard my mother yell to my sister, "You forgot your lunch!" There was no time to go back for it, so we decided we had to go. When we got on the bus, everyone was looking very intently out the window in the direction of our house: my father, in full regalia, was riding Babe full-tilt down the driveway with my sister's lunch in his free hand. He rode up to the side of the bus, handed my sister the brown paper bag, and said, "Here you are, little lady."

I love you, dad. If I'm a good father at all, it's all because of you.

Popsicle Pirate

Sometime last year, my wife bought a little wooden pirate's face from Omer de Serres (the Quebec art supply store). The moment I laid eyes on his boring little face, I knew I'd have to take a whack at it.

So, he's done! I had my acrylic paint and hot glue out last weekend for another job. I thought he came out rather well, so here's the scoop: his face is my gift to you. Just print him off and slap him on your own face and you're a popsicle pirate too!



"What pirates? Nobody here but us Girl Guides!"