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Bob Boze Bell's Blog – April 2010 Archive (38)

Lessons Learned At Procrastination Seminar

April 30, 2010

It was a week ago today that I spent the day in a procrastination seminar. It cost my wife $185 ("Money well spent," she told me). So, to save you $185, here are the four main things I got out of it:

• Ask yourself this question: What do I need to stop doing and start doing in order to succeed? (I told this… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 30, 2010 at 9:55am — 5 Comments

Male Bird Tango

April 29, 2010

Every spring we have birds who start pecking on our windows. I read somewhere, perhaps in Clay Thompson's column in the Arizona Republic. that these are male birds who see themselves in the reflection and think it's a rival male trying to make time in their territory and so they peck at the reflection.

This year's annual male bird tango started more than two weeks ago and one bird in… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 29, 2010 at 9:51am — 1 Comment

Billy the Kid's First Press Conference

April 29, 2010

Worked last night on sketches for the Digging Up Billy the Kid cover illustration. I have great reference—thanks to Robert Ray—of a dead guy sitting up in his coffin and giving his first press conference:

That, and the other photos led me to here:…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 29, 2010 at 8:57am — 7 Comments

The Very First Kick Off Party For Arizona's Centennial: 1912-2012

April 28, 2010

I think it's safe to say, that this will be a first. This coming Saturday we are going to start the Kick Off Party for Arizona's Statehood Centennial: 1912-2012. I am going to start this party at Pages Bookstore in Carefree. Here's the inside skinny from Pages:

Bob Boze Bell will entertain you at 2 p.m. with stories of the West and his own zany kick-off to the 2012 Arizona centennial celebration.

Seating is limited,… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 28, 2010 at 5:01pm — No Comments

Half Dead Model Models Dead Billy

April 28, 2010

One of the advantages of almost dying is being able to mock up that look when needed. Case in point: I needed a good model to help me create a cover concept of Billy the Kid, freshly dug up and holding a press conference.

Robert Ray took this half dead model out in the back, behind our office and shot off a dozen shots. This is the best dead head look of the bunch, not very flattering, but definitely half dead:…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 28, 2010 at 3:10pm — 2 Comments

How to Enjoy A Wench On A Sandbar

April 28, 2010

Got this in this morning from Chalfont St. Giles, Britain:

Bob ~ Something happen to your blog? -- it hasn't been updated for yonks, while your posts are available on the "Community" section of the TW website. No sweat, but I can't believe I'm the only one who noticed this. Incidentally, and I quote you ["take the anchor, out in a small boat and plant the sucker on the far side of the sand bar, take out the slack with a

wench, and then hand… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 28, 2010 at 9:00am — 3 Comments

Mickey Free: Headhunter

April 27, 2010

Went home for lunch and looked through my stack of 10,000 Bad Drawings sketchbooks and found this page of roughs from March 7, 2007:

This was right after Paul Hutton and I joined Bob Brink in New York to attend the annual New York Comic Con in February of 2007. No doubt inspired (or infected) by the mucho macho Manga…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 27, 2010 at 3:00pm — 5 Comments

Steamboats Skimming The Colorado

April 27, 2010

Thanks to the Googling expertese of Meghan Saar, I finally located Richard Lingenfelter, the author of "Steamboats on the Colorado". He lives in San Diego and on the phone answered a critical question for me about one of the techniques that the early Steamboat pilots used to get over sandbars. When these intrepid men, like Jack Mellon, would encounter a sandbar they had several methods for getting over them (all they needed was two… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 27, 2010 at 10:44am — 2 Comments

Belgium Westerns Fan Loves Joel McCrae

April, 27, 2010

As I mentioned yesterday, we received a ten page letter from Belgium raving about Johnny Boggs' current column on "The Ten Best Westerns You've Never Seen."

Here is one of the pages from Peter Stadlbaur of Maubray, Belgium:

Johnny picked "Fort Massacre" (the title loosely in German, above) as his number…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 27, 2010 at 10:00am — 1 Comment

Toes Were The Days

April 26, 2010

Here are a couple photos from my art class last weekend. My first class at Vision Gallery showed up at ten. Here they are getting ready to draw:

The kid with the quick wit, John, is fifth from the left front. All of them were quite willing to bail in, especially when I told them to take off their shoes and draw with…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 26, 2010 at 10:55am — 1 Comment

Clouds Everywhere You Look

April 26, 2010

One of the benefits of living on the high Sonoran Desert is looking out the front window and seeing some pretty spectacular clouds. For example, this is right out my kitchen window (although I did run out and shoot it from the driveway):

That's Ratcliff Ridge in the foreground, studded with a high stand of saguaros.…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 26, 2010 at 9:30am — 1 Comment

What The Kids Taught Me This Weekend

April 25, 2010

I'm relatively new to the art teaching profession, having taught my

first real class of students in February at the Orme Ranch School.

Yesterday I had the privilege of teaching two classes of about 20 kids

in each class at the Vision Gallery, which is on the west side of the

old-town plaza in Chandler. It's part of a program for the Chandler

Center for the Arts and since schools are cutting out art from… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 25, 2010 at 12:48pm — 2 Comments

Wanted! More Unwanted Immigrants

April 22, 2010

Lots of talk in Arizona about a tough new immigration bill our governor is considering signing. Very contentious on both sides and to hear them talk you'd think this is something we have never faced before.

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Case in point:

"For every…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 22, 2010 at 4:54pm — 2 Comments

O.K. Corral Fight Inquest Papers O.K.

April 22, 2010

Everybody, I mean everybody, has forwarded me the news about the O.K. Corral inquest papers being found. Unfortunately, the reports make it seem as if these have been missing since 1881, but that is not the case.

Here is Mark Boardman's take on the find:

"Just to be clear--this is the Coroner's Inquest, done the same day as the Street Fight. It is not the trial inquest (the so-called Earp Hearing). The originals of… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 22, 2010 at 9:46am — 4 Comments

Original O.K. Corral Inquest Papers Surface

April 21, 2010
Breaking news:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100421/ap_on_re_us/us_ok_corral_documents_5

Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 21, 2010 at 4:57pm — 4 Comments

Nuclear Stress Test & Sukiyaki Western Django

April 21, 2010

Had a routine nuclear stress test this morning. For all you youngsters who are not used to getting poked and probed (yet), it's this wonderful four-hour experience where you can't eat or have coffee for 12 hours before the test. They inject nuclear isotopes into a temporary IV in your arm, run you through a modified MRI machine, while insisting you put your arms over your head in a very uncomfortable position and not move for 15… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 21, 2010 at 4:20pm — 4 Comments

Why Is The Colorado River So Cold?

April 20, 2010

When I was growing up in Kingman many families went "to the lake" on the weekend to boat and water ski. That would be Lake Mohave. Even though it was blistering hot out, the water was not warm, but it was warm enough to swim comfortably.

But the real shocker was when we went to the river at Bullhead, just below Davis Dam, it was really cold. We were always told it was freezing cold because of the water coming out of the… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 20, 2010 at 4:00pm — 9 Comments

Finger Rock Vs. Eagle Rock

April 20, 2010

One of the questions I often get is "What happened to the Billy the Kid dig?" Well, Mark Boardman is on the trail of this wacky, bizarre story and I'm planning on a cover painting to illustrate it. Going to start roughs this weekend. Mark has been sending me a few of his observations and I was laughing out loud this morning reading them.

Also working on a steamboat painting. Got some excellent photo reference on my trip back… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 20, 2010 at 11:07am — 2 Comments

True West Moments From The Arizona Republic

April 19, 2010

Thanks to Meghan Saar and Abby Goodrich we finally have all the True West Moments that have run in the Arizona Republic up on this site. Check them out right here:

http://www.truewestmagazine.com/stories/a_true_west_moment/1465/…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 19, 2010 at 2:30pm — 2 Comments

What Color Was The Flying A Neon?

April 19, 2010

Got a question from Jerry Sanders who has recently purchased an original Flying A gas station sign (with the neon broken) and he wanted to know what the color of the neon was so he could replicate it.

Even though I used to sit outside my grandmother's house on Jefferson Street at the foot of Radar Hill and stare at my father's Flying A sign going on and off, along with my cousin Robert Jerl Stockbridge, for hours, I couldn't… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 19, 2010 at 10:59am — 2 Comments