W.W.D.

I was doing some reluctant housecleaning the other day and I came across this...a photocopied image of a drawing. At first I wondered, "What is this? Who drew this?" As I studied it, it occurred to me that I had drawn it! I wondered why I had drawn it and, again, who was this person? I don't know where the original drawing is. It did dimly occur to me who this was and why I drawn this picture. It had nothing to do with who this man was...he was John Fairchild, long-time and now-deceased editor of prominent fashion magazine WOMEN'S WEAR DAILY. I recall I had come upon a photograph of John Fairchild in magazine article about him and I thought the photograph was quite dramatic and would present a good opportunity to practice drawing a portrait.The drawing is no masterpiece, but coming upon it unexpectedly, having totally forgotten it, I am pleased with how it turned out. I'm thinking now I should get back to work practicing my drawing of faces!

Frankie Stein

A doodle of Western Lit's (and Hollywood's) ur-Monster, drawn in a children's storybook style. I drew this with the defunct and much-missed vector drawing application CreatureHouse Expression.

Doodle # 4

Doodle # 3

Doodle # 2

Doodle #1

It's so odd I didn't make a comment about this drawing, even a brief description of what it was or meant. So, years after drawing and then publishing this picture, I'll add the missing brief description: this was drawn from a photograph I came across somewhere, of a young boy in India who had a deformed arm, just as I drew it here. More about him I do not know. (Comment added July 06, 2026.)

Cook's Barbecue, Part Two

These are recent finds, almost a miracle...an intact paper table menu that I well remember serving as the placemats at my grandfather's restaurant, and two package labels for the canned Cook's BBQ products they sold in retail stores and at the cash register counter in the restaurant itself. We had emptied out many boxes from our parents' garage when my dad died: we rented a huge movable dumpster from the city and simply dumped box after box. We didn't bother looking into each box, as it would have taken too much time, and most them were damaged from the elements. We only saved the few that appeared relatively free of mold, insect infestation and cobwebs, etc. We then transferred those remaining boxes to a storage facility. Last summer we decided to go through what was left, take what we wanted to keep and discard the rest or donate it to Good Will. In going through the boxes, we found these few actual remnants from our grandfather's restaurant. They could very easily have been discarded without our ever having known they were there. We found exactly three intact placemat menus, one for me, and one each for my two brothers. Providence!