ImpBoy Hitched

Walking down the banks of the River Styx I came upon this little ImpBoy.
He told me the Harpies stopped him on his the way to the Calgary Stampede and hitched him to a post.
Since the Harpies didn't bother to tell him why he was hitched to a post on the beach of the River Styx Impboy was finding it all a little undignified and was kind of embarrassed.
I decided to tell him a story about me, the Calgary Stampede and Muhammad Ali but since he wasn't in the mood to listen he just sat and sucked on his tail.


A little piece from the theatre of the biographically absurd and the Brownsnake Sketchbook.

IF TWIRL - Eddy Rides Maelstrom

The word 'twirl' immediately put me in mind of a story and illustration that kept my minds eye spellbound for weeks after having read the story as a child.
Therefore as part of the background I've embedded the beautiful pen & ink maelstrom (whirlpool) illustration by the artist Harry Clarke from Edgar Allen Poe's story 'Descent into the Maelstrom' included in the 1919 publication Tales of Mystery and Imagination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maelstrom-Clarke.jpg
This image relates to a job I had after graduating from the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary Canada. To cut I long story short, after helping film a TVC for the Calgary Stampede, I ended up with a press pass that I used quite freely by spending a couple of days taking photos of the rodeo through the rail of the infield fence. This drawing recalls that time.
The twirl relates to the bulls movement as it tries to throw the rider off it's back. A bull may twirl or spin in circles. It may whirl and then reverse its direction of spin. If kicks out as well it's a harder ride and if the cowboy stays on for a full the 8 seconds the ride receives higher points. Maelstrom here twirls, whirls. spins, leaps and kicks to get that dang cowboy off.

'Eddy Rides Maelstrom' is from the Snakeskin Sketchbook series of drawings.