SFG: bugs

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The word this week on sugarfrostedgoodness.com is “bugs”
arbeh
My inspiration for this drawing actually came from…me! When I was in art school (many years ago), I did a series of illustrations for a cocktail recipe book. I selected four mixed drinks, each accompanied by an illustration. I did “Grasshopper” as one of them…. and now, twenty-something years later, the grasshopper shows his face again. Still holding his namesake drink, but this time, also holding his namesake dessert cake.

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SFG: chocolate

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The extended challenge currently on sugarfrostedgoodness.com is “chocolate”
the great american right cross
One of my favorite books is “The Emperors of Chocolate” by Joel Glenn Brenner. Ms. Brenner’s book reads like a cold war novel. It is brimming with intrigue, double-crossing, espionage, technology and, best of all, chocolate. Ms. Brenner chronicles the rivalry between eccentric Milton S. Hershey and even-more eccentric Forrest Mars Sr.
Hershey, a two-time failure at the caramel business, started manufacturing chocolate in central Pennsylvania. In no time, Hershey was supplying the chocolate to 95% of the nation’s candy companies. Forrest Mars, who was carrying on his family’s candy company, manufactured his father’s Milky Way candy bars. Milky Way, at the time, was the most popular candy bar in the country. But Mars resented using his competition’s chocolate in his candy. Mars decided to make his own chocolate instead of buying it from Hershey. He visited Hershey’s manufacturing plant, along with common tourists. Forrest Mars holds the record for factory tours at Hershey.
In Spain, in the 1930s, Mars discovered a hard-candy shell filled with chocolate. He showed his new discovery to Hershey, who was amused by it, but not impressed. Mars offered the son of Hershey president, William Murrie, a job with his company. Mars needed an “in” at Hershey to get closer to the manufacturing secrets, and the younger Murrie was it. He even named his new candy-coated chocolate creation M & Ms, for Mars and Murrie.
Mars and Hershey tried to outdo each other for years. Their once-cordial business relationship turned bitter. The introduction of new products seemed to be less for the consumer and more for their enmity.

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IF: visitors

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The challenge this week at illustration friday is “visitors”
ohmygod! pins!
My family and I just returned from a week-long vacation at Disneyland in California. After going to Walt Disney World in Florida for eleven different trips, we have switched to Disneyland for the past four summers. The biggest difference between the two theme parks is Disneyland attracts more Southern Californians and Walt Disney World attracts more of these people. The Hawaiian shirt wearing, camera carrying, guide-map reading, pasty “vistors”.
When I was a kid, we only saw these types at the Jersey shore. We called them “shoobies”, because they made day-trips to the beach and carried their belongings in a shoebox. Now, they have branched out and they can be found at every major tourist destination.
The locals know they are visitors. They stand out like a bucket hat-wearing sore thumb.

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IF: captain

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The current word on illustrationfriday.com is “captain”

I wouldn't want it to get all SOGGY!
There were many captains to choose from…..Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Walker, Billy Joel’s Captain Jack, Captain Morgan, Captain Kidd, Captain and Tennille, Captains Pierce and McIntyre, Captains Courageous, Captain Janks, Captain Amazing, Captain America, Captain Kirk, Captain Marvel…
But I picked my favorite.

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Portrait Swap

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These drawings were done for a project at “The Portrait Party” blog.

Two artists draw each other from swapped photos (or in-person, if they are in close enough proximity to each other). So I drew Jeannette and she drew me. I have never met Jeannette (she lives in Boston), but I do admire her drawing ability and wit. I also like her outlook on the world.
Take a look at her work HERE.
what are YOU looking at?

Here’s Jeannette’s drawing of me.
For some reason, she thinks I’m a bully….
wicked hardcore

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IF: emergency

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We're on our way, Rampart

The adventures of Station 51 and Rampart Emergency Hospital were chronicled between 1972 and 1977 on the NBC-TV show “Emergency!” The show was a Jack Webb (of “Dragnet” fame) production. It starred Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe as firefighters Gage and DeSoto. It also starred Julie London, a popular singer in the 1950s and the former Mrs. Jack Webb, and Bobby Troup, a former bandleader who wrote the song “Route 66” and the current (at the time of filming) Mr. Julie London. Troup passed away in 1999. Rounding out the cast was Robert Fuller, a popular TV character actor in the 50s through the 70s, who had some wicked-ass sideburns! The show featured some of the worst (or best) overacting.
“Emergency!” (or as it was known in syndication “Emergency 1”) was one of my wife’s favorite shows as a kid, along with “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “Here Come The Brides“. Here are some of the memories of “Emergency!” she has collected.

oooooh! ahhhhhh!

I, personally, have only seen one or two episodes.

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