Pauline Eggleton 1928-2009

This is somber. My mother passed away yesterday, VERY suddenly. She was seemingly fine and the picture of health, and then became severely dizzy and had a massive stroke which basically shut her down bodily. The prognosis was grim and as such, she passed away at 7:45PM.

I'm really stunned and overwhelmed. I did not see this coming. That's the worst part of it. SHe had been line dancing, exercising and socializing this week. She was the picture of health for someone at her age.

I will be sort of taking a blog break here for at least two weeks. But I won't go away...

My good friend Jim Belfiore took this picture last night. I appropriated it so I am sure he doesn't mind. He thought of my mom looking at it. What's stranger? So did I. It was the first thing I saw in the sky last night. And really, like a gateway or direction. It also means, to me, the light on the Dark Side of The Moon. And what did I wake up to this morning on the radio? Two tunes from Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon. You figure it out.

All good thoughts are appreciated and with my heartfelt thanks,

Bob

Think about it this way....

I lifted this photo off the net. It's a photo of a super, massive black hole in Centaurus A. A black hole is matter crushed so densely all that is left is gravity. It's not the size of the object which can be as small as a pinhead, it's the density of the matter-and the total sudden failure of the force holding the star's volume intact- which causes the gravitational collapse of a star into a small object that sucks in all matter, and even light into it like a bottomless pit. As matter is sucked in, it becomes so hot, it emits X-Rays and brilliant gases form around the accreation disk all heating up as they spiral into the black hole's gravity well. Where it goes is anyone's guess. My good friend Michio Kaku(yes, we're pals AND he likes Godzilla) could tell you more.

Oddly, replace the terms and you have the basics of this financial crisis ongoing.

But think about this: the sheer power of this galactic eater, if coming into close proximity of earth, would suck in everything you and I know, our world, the air we breath and water we drink and gold we spend...and the atoms in our bodies with the energy being spat out in two X-Ray jets of pure energy across the cosmos.

Now doesn't that put some perspective on things like image, money, wars and financial melt-downs? As my friend John Davis says, "When it all seems nuts, look up to space, it's all there"

I just re-read all that. And to think I only ever got fair grades in astronomy and completely failed algebra. Not bad.

The Year of The Ox

Happy Chinese New Year! The Year of the Ox. The Ox represents stability and dependability.
Wow, do we need that now. By coincidence, President Obama is born in the Year of The Ox too, 1961. This is the first President I have been older than, by one year. I was born in the Year of the Rat.

For whatever it's worth, we need to think about the positive things. As George Harrison sang all those years ago, "All Things Must Pass" and they do, and we wind up the better for it. A little more downsized, but maybe that's a good thing. I decided to "downsize" myself many years ago. I have a car that gets good mileage and doesn't show the world a facade of "image", and I have a mortgage I can afford(no subprime crap, I saw the evil in that as soon as it started).
In turn, I make affordable art-the small paintings I post here and they give me great joy to make.

I also realized that being content is easier and more attainable than the illusion of being "happy" which is nice, but, transitory. And the other thing, when you expect less..or rather just to be content...you'll never really be disappointed and you'll get joy in the little things.

While I'm at it, I want to thank everyone for the nice comments on the FArmer cover piece. That one came from the heart. It's what happens when you have a publisher like Bill Schafer who'll just say "Hey, give me 'a Bob'" and that is just what I do!

New Cover...

This is a cover-30x24 inches- for a Phillip Jose Farmer collection called THE OTHER IN THE MIRROR. It'll be a Subterranean Press book in Spring. The story I did here, was for one called JESUS ON MARS in which a Mars recon crew finds a crashed alien ship in the side of a Martian valley. The imagery was astounding and immediately inspiring and I was able to do a landscape painting, and incorporate the scale of a huge spaceship, or part of it. It will be a semi-wraparound cover as well, with the diagonal fin of the ship leading around the back. I really liked the misty and ethereal feel to it...

What a busy week...

Finished up a cool cover to a collection of Phillip Jose Farmer stories...I'll post it soon...

Very exhausting week, and looking forward to the weekend. A more interesting post soon, I'm just kind of flat out...

O Man!

1/20/09

A Dragon Drawing...

Here's a cool pencil sketch I did of a dragon, in preparation for a demo section on my DRAGON'S DOMAIN book that will take people step by step into the process. I liked the idea of a portrait of a dragon, that will be done, eventually on a 15x30 canvas with background elements. Click on it if you want to see some CLOSE UP pencil work!

CHANGE is in the air...I can feel it....it's coming...

More Mars! It's Cold Enough!!!

Mars Lift Off (oils, 8x10, $SOLD)Martian Mists (oils, 8x10 SOLD)


See, I am still doing small works! In between the larger commissions now. Energy is low and distraction is high. But, here they be. One sold outright as it was sorta promised awhile ago. I'm also doing two covers with Mars as the theme. I start thinking Mars is my planet!

Andrew Wyeth RIP

Well, here's the third this week...Andrew Wyeth, son of the great N.C. Wyeth and father of one of my faves, Jamie Wyeth, passed away in his sleep last night at 91. We can't say he didn't live a long, good life and leave us with a legacy of amazing work over many many years. I think I'll pull out my Wyeth books and page through them in a bit....

Ricardo Montalban and Patrick McGoohan: RIP

Well, SF loses more greats. Ricardo Montalban passed away at 88 today in California. He forever immortalized the role of Khan Noonian Singh in STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and of course, the original episode "Space Seed" from the series. I can say I worked on a film with him: he was a voice of one of the Council of Elder Ants in THE ANT BULLY. And of course, Patrick McGoohan who's known to most SF and genre fans as THE PRISONER the old series from the 60's that was so ahead of it's time.

Both will be missed for their sheer presence on screen.

And another cover....

Another nicely complete cover. Alice Lewis did a fantastic job on the type on this one. It so harkens back to the late 60's, early 70's it's kind of a nostalgic rush. This one is available via NESFA Press at www.nesfa.org.

New Lumley Book!

Here's Desert Isle Design's stunning work on a new Brian Lumley cover of mine coming this Spring from Subterreanean Press. Judging on the fact most of the titles of Lumley's he's done have sold out, better grab this one now: http://www.subterraneanpress.com/

The Travel Channel, Recession, etc

Just some random thoughts. I was watching THE TRAVEL CHANNEL. What's amazing is what a vicarious experience it can be to travel via a TV channel. There are some amazing things to be seen but who wants the experience of lost luggage,cancelled planes, airport security,bad water, worse food, possible terrorists... and costs-especially now?? It's why I'd never want to go on a cruise...I can't stand boats and I'd probably get sick!

I have resigned off of travelling this year. Far anyway, or at least out of the country. I turned down some Artist Guest slots only because I didn't want to travel or organize myself to do so. Locally, for me, there are some fine museums and cities like Boston, and New York which have some amazing things to see.

But watching the Travel Channel, why the need to actually go someplace? I found this a pretty amazing realization just recently. Artists travel in their minds. This is sort of the basis for alot of good sci fi art, and even astrological paintings.

The Dreambeast....

A painting in oils, for a Mike Resnick collection. In this, the crew of a spaceship is hunting the mythical "Dreambeast", a monster that lives near a black hole in space. Mike was fairly vague on his description. He said it was "roughly round with a reddish tint". Okay so I ran with this and wanted to imply a cross between a tadpole and a dragon. Lots of fun to paint and it came together in short order, which made the publisher happy!!!

BUSY 2009

It's been busy. I found myself in a log jam of having to do two covers by the middle of the month. One is coming nicely, and the next one has been concepted and looks to be fun. The holidays got me a little "behind" in work. They always do. I mean, who feels like working on them or near them. Lots of socializing and fun over those two weeks, and a few day trips.

So, I'll post more soon but I may be busy. And I am always on Facebook, so if you have an account there, say hi!! It's total madness but, I'm getting the hang of it!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!! FLY HIGH!!

This is a picture from Japan, it's called the Zeppelin NT. On New Years in Japan there is apparently a singing contest aboard the gondola and they sing out the old year and in the new one. Sounds pretty cool to me. This photo was taken by my good friends Ikkie and Shoji Hasegawa from their home in Tokyo.

It reminds me to reach for great heights in this new year. It reminds me we are all on one planet-no "us" and "them", it's "WE". Change is in the air. We have a new, energetic President-Barack Obama-and, this is something to look forward to. 2008 was a terrible year, for almost everyone on the planet. We bid goodbye to it, and let it go. We may have felt the pinch in different ways but we all felt it. Personally, we gave happily to some charities because I believe in Karma and what goes around, comes around. I feel some optimism, we need it. So here's to this New Year. May it be a better year for everyone on Planet Earth.

And I promise more small works here, this year was a busy year for me!

Oh, quick note-I'm now on Facebook, if you know the link, I'm easy to find!! Yet something else to keep up on. Ah the internet is so much fun!