CARTOON SAMPLES

The other night we saw McGee do something he hadn't done before. It seemed to be some form of courtship dance. Well, having grown up in the 70's, it called to mind an earlier time when a dapper, well-dressed young man strutted his stuff!

These "field trips" inspired two cartoons. One is of an owlet with a picket sign protesting the practice of mowing the tall grass by the city of San Marcos. The second cartoon came after we sighted both a coyote and a roadrunner while waiting for the owls to appear. And being a big fan of the Warner Brothers cartoons, this was an obviuous one!

Been watching the new owlets at Molly's place. Also caught some of the Royal Wedding telecast the other night, and was amazed by some of the hats the ladies wore! So I decided to have one of the owlets try one on for size...

At Jill and Gary's place, Elf (the youngest of the clutch) ended up in their backyard after the sun came up. That's not a good predicament for an owlet, so Gary donned the gloves and went and got the wee one (with an amazing degree of gentleness). The owlet was brought into their spare bathroom, where a wicker box awaited. I imagined Elf had a grand time in there, and had some great stories to tell the siblings once back in the owl box!

Last year the Mayor of San Marcos declared March 25th to be Molly & McGee day! So here is my drawing to commemorate this auspicious day.

For a while, there was an unwelcome visitor who was harassing Sydney--an unknown male owl who was waiting until Mel went off to hunt, then going inside the owl box to try to claim Syd as his own. I thought Kanga might adopt this, or other subtle means of discouraging this rival's behavior.

With all the owlets hatching out all over the place, I imagined that any rodent in his/her right mind might be looking to get out of town using any means possible.

Well, let's just say it is a happier day for some groundhogs as opposed to others. (Don't worry--this little guy makes it back into his burrow in time!)

Owlivia's egg #6 became Angel1 within seconds of being laid. Some things are just not meant to be. Fly free, little one.

Eggs are popping out all over the place! In fact, it might be tempting to think that some of these ladies don't quite know when to quit...

It's a new year and it brings with it some new friends. Here we meet Willow and Sydney, engaged in a little gossip. If you ever wondered what the ladies do while they go out on their evening flyabouts, here's your chance to find out!

On the last day of broadcast, right after Carrie flew off I saw a movement of shadow on the IR camera from inside the box. I figured it was our favorite spider Glowz saying goodbye to his friends. With a nod to one of my all-time favorite books* as I was growing up, here is an arachnid adieu.

* Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White

This is one that was long overdue. I had done a drawing of every owlet to commemorate their hatching--except for one. The youngest one from the second clutch (Jody) was born while I was on vacation, and before I had gotten a chance to do the drawing after I got back, she sadly passed away. So I never got it done, despite having imagined in my head exactly what I wanted to do. Frankly, I was so saddened by her loss that I had a little trouble even drawing Jody or Kelly.

However, when Carlos asked me for an original to donate for silent auction at the picnic, I knew this had to be the one. I thought it would be very appropriate, because it was for the San Marcos foundation that was trying to make good homes for the wildlife in the area.So here it is!

This was a bit of a departure fro me, because to have it be an original and in color meant I had to apply color to the original, and usually I do that in Photoshop. But I used watercolors, and I think it came out very well. And now it resides with Deserthart, who put in the winning bid at the auction. I can't think of a better home for the drawing, or a better way to show our love for our dear, sweet Jody!

After Carrie's hanging upside down from one talon the other night, she may be keeping a tighter grip on the patio from now on!

Molly finds a new way to use food (and some impressive hardware) to coax Carrie out of the owl box.

(Gee, can you tell I drew this one while at work??)

Ashley took to flight and had a little landing mishap. But as you can see here, she's safe and sound!

I have been familiar with the concept of the "Rainbow Bridge" for many years, but this summer the concept has been of particular comfort to me. So in this rendition, I attempted to capture my feelings about this beautiful sentiment and apply it to the case of our beloved, departed Jody.

I was just looking at Ashley this afternoon, and marveled at how HUGE she was getting! The thought crept into my head--is she going to be able to get out of the box when the time comes?!?

Got the sad news this morning (8/17/10) that the third owlet Kelly had passed away in the night. So I imagined her being welcomed to her new home by all the baby owls that have touched our hearts--the unborn from the first clutch (Dudley and Unnamed) and Punk4 and Punk5 (from the mating pair Owliver and Owlivia). She should should be in very good company!

Here's a cartoon showing the third addition to the second clutch: Kelly!

Here's a cartoon showing the newest addition to the second clutch: Carrie! It seems she shares her birthday with a certain cartoonist/web host, and it seems there is a bit of a resemblance. but maybe that's just my imagination...

IThe first owlet of the second clutch--hatched in the wee hours of the morning on August 7th, 2010. I believe that Glowz the Spider served as midwife. It was a wonderfule event!

It's McGee, our own super-Dad, hunter extraordinaire, and possessor of the finest pair of legs in the raptor world! Here's a tribute to not only him, but to all the fathers out there who are overseas or right down the block. Whether they are in our faces or only in our hearts--Happy Father's Day!

It seemed a slam dunk that on Mother's Day I should pay tribute the one of our favorite mothers--the celebrity mom Molly!

This was such a sad day. A bit after noon some sad news came over from another owlbox community (Owlivia and Owliver and the little punks) that their youngest owlet had passed away. It hit everybody hard, because we of all people know how much these little babies can come to mean to us. Someone made the suggestion that maybe I make a drawing in tribute, much as I did for our own Dudley (number 004 of the series). I immediately dropped everything and got right to work on it, and this was the result. I received so many expressions of gratitude, to which I would say that it was the very least I could do.

I was truly impressed with the way in which our community reached out to help that other group. So may went over there to express their sympathies. I think it was at that time that I really realized just what an incredible group of people I was in the company of.

Sadly, another of the owlets passed that evening. Nobody really ever knew why, but many suspect that they may have eaten a poisoned rodent. Lesson here for people: PLEASE don't use pesticides to eradicate rodents! This is what can happen, and it happens a far too often. Use mechanical traps, or better yet--put up an owl box!

Bizarre story on this one. This was actually intended to be the second strip of the subscription series. However on Easter eve, and just as I was putting the finishing touches on it (after about 7 straight hours of work), something happened in the actual owlbox involving a bunny and some distress noises. I missed seeing it, but I went on just after, and it was clear that a lot of people were upset by what they had witnessed. I contacted Carlos right afterward and expressed my concern over showing McGee hunting a rabbit after this. He reassured me that people would get a kick out of it, but maybe we should make it available to everyhone so as to provide a little comic relief. So I did, and I got an overwhelming positive response. A lot of people told me this was the perfect balm to help soothe their frayed emotions. Whew! (I am almost certain that Charles Schultz never had to deal with such decisions as these!)

When Carlos and I first discussed the possibility of a comic series, we were thinking single-panel format like everything that had been done to date. But I wanted to try for a multi-panel. And so Molly Yoga was the first of those. Such is the beauty of an eCOMIC--I wasn't locked into a single, rigid format. Rather, I could allow the joke to dictate the format. Some jokes are best told with a single panel. Others need some set-up before delivering the punchline. It truly opened things up for a wider range of material.

And just about a week to the day after Max hatched, along came Wesley.

A few days later Austin arrived. Some folks puzzled over the cowboy hat--I just thought with a name like Austin, he should be like a sheriff in an old-west town. Plus he just looked adorable in a cowboy hat.

A couple of days after the first drawing, Pattison hatched. So I wanted to chronicle his arrival. It posed an interesting challenge (the first of many): how to convey emotion and personality to creatures that couldn't open their eyes for the first two weeks? For a cartoonist, the eyes are the window to the soul, and these little darlings had the drapes closed!

Here was the very first cartoon I ever did of Molly and the family. It was the day after Max was hatched that somebody in the chat room remarked "these owls are so funny! Someone should be sketching them!" That made the little light bulb go on over my head, and I immediately dragged out some paper and got to work on it. The next morning I posted this drawing to the chat room, and the response was overwhelming. Then we were off to the races...

(and thankfully I have yet to have any threatening contact from the legal department of a certain popular pizza delivery restaurant--knock on wood)