The Big Bang Theory Expansion

A little while back I had the pleasure of painting the Big Bang Theory guys (and Penny) for someone on the other side of the world. It was such a fun project that I thought long and hard about doing another set but of course didn’t get around until now. I’m glad I waited, though, because there seemed to be a bit more focus on the girls now in the more recent episodes so the set’s expanded from five to seven!

On the show the guys all seemed fine to abide by Sheldon’s strict dietary schedule. It more or less reminded me of my college days where my brother and I sustained on fares from Texas BBQ, Pluck U, Schezwan Garden, and, of course, Soup and Burger just down the road from our apartment. It’s a good thing we had better metabolisms back in those days because there’s no way we can keep up with that diet now without consequences!

Big Bran cereal appears on Sheldon’s breakfast table only on Saturday mornings.

The Green Lantern tee is an obvious choice…since I’d just watched the movie recently.

Leonard’s cafeteria style lunch at work.

It’s just an excuse to paint Fuji water!

Raj with pizza quite possibly on Sundays after “going to the farmers’ market to ‘scam on hippie chicks’” with Howard.

Howard on Friday, which is Chinese food and Vintage Game Night.

Here are the girls in Penny’s room.

Did anyone noticed the increasing amount of Penny’s alcoholic intake in the recent episodes?

Blossom, er, I mean, Amy Farrah Fowler, on Monday, which is Thai night.

Howard’s fiance Bernadette. She strikes me as someone who doesn’t mind a salad or two with her meals.

Marie Antoinette Masquerade

Well! The time has come again to revisit the most outlandish fashion guru of our time: Marie Antoinette. I’ve done a set of her and her ladies-in-waiting eons ago and thought I’d give it a more updated version. By that I mean the usage of iridescent pigmented paints with a heavy hand. It doesn’t photograph well, but trust me, she is all blinged out. To the max.

Here’s a fun fact: Marie Antoinette never utter the words “Let them eat cake” when the Parisian mob was headed for Versailles to protest the lack of bread.

Good cops. Bad cops. These cops.

I’m talkin’ about them cops of Reno 911 of course!

Meet Lt. Jim Dangle in his short shorts for “mobility.”

Dep. Sven Jones, a smooth talker who also moonlights as a stripper.

Dep. Raineesha William, loud and proud with a juicy posterior.

Dep Clementine Johnson, the sexiest female cop on television.

Dep Trudy Wiegel, who, by all right, should not be issued weapons of any kind due to an assortment of problems: physical as well as psychological.

Sgt James Oswaldo Garcia, sexist, racist, angry and depressed cop. He should be depressed. He’s a terrible marksman.

Dep Travis Junior, a stereotypical redneck who is never seen without his sunnies and a Kevlar vest.

I’m not crazy about reality cop shows, but Reno 911! was one I never missed an episode of!

Have a Happy…

Whew! What a year it’s been! 2011 started with a bang, but not in a good way. Natural disasters and all that. But the human race is a tough stock and see how we persevered. Good on us!

I ended my year with an overnight stay at the hospital and acquired a couple of new scars but did get home in time to watch the Sydney fireworks, albeit a bit high not on the bubbly but on some lovely lovely prescriptions. There’s no better way to ring in the new year, is there?

I hope you are all happy with what you’ve created, seen, experienced, tasted, and learned in 2011 and let’s give a shout out to 2012 for all the new things to come!

 

Happy Holidays!

The Nutcracker Suite

My mother was a ballerina. It’s true! The woman could contort herself into all sorts of impossible positions at the drop of a hat. It’s unfortunate her talents chose to skip a generation because neither my brother nor I possessed the Gift of Dance. I believed I’d performed so badly in ballet class that it was suggested that perhaps an art class, where I would do less damage onto myself as well as others, should be in order. Nevertheless, it didn’t deter me from attending various ballet performances once the opportunities presented itself.

My first ballet was of course, “The Nutcracker.” Visions of sugarplum and dancing snowflakes consumed most of my childhood Christmas memories. That, and copious amounts of rum cakes.

Have you read the original version of “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice” by E.T.A. Hoffman? I happened to have a what could only be described as “sarcastically illustrated” version of this book. It pretty much distorted my vision of this beloved Christmas tale. A multi-headed rat? A Nutcracker looking as though it’s suffering from a severe case of lockjaw? Marie, the heroine, dying in bed from a fever? Merry Christmas and Have a Happy Nightmare to you too!

Yet Another Gingerbead House

I’ve been living in Oz for four years now and I still can’t wrap my head around a hot Christmas. Watching people stringing up Christmas lights in nothing but a pair of boardies and flipflops does not say Yuletide to me. Worst of all, I can’t keep any Christmas treats lying around without the ants thinking it’s theirs and coming in droves to cart it away. That means no gingerbread house for yours truly.

This year, though, I decided that my sewing skills might be adequate enough for me to construct a gingerbread house out of felt and whatever baubles lying around. Two third-degree burns and some tears later, I present to you—A Gingerbread House Fit for an Australian Christmas:

All right, my sewing skills still needs a little work, but the house wasn’t as wonky as I thought it was going to be.

Hey, ants! Try to take THIS away!

Bread Deconstructed

It’s occurred to me that the walls in my unit was shamefully barren so I devoted a week to doing something about it.

I mentioned once that I was a bit obsessed about putting everything in chart forms. That was a bit of an occupational hazard as teachers were forever telling their pupils to deconstruct the world around them in chart form. It eventually rubbed off on me.

I’d meant to do this series about 15 years ago and finally got around to getting it done. If I’m not the Queen of Procrastination, I don’t know who is.

…And Baby Makes Five

This set is for a family expecting a young ‘un so I had to do some guess work as to what the new bub is going to look like.

They’re a nice-looking lot, aren’t they? I certainly hope the family will like the little Superman-esque curl the baby’s got going on!

Breaking Bad

“Breaking Bad” is a wonderful TV program starring the excellent Bryan Cranston as  Walter White, the cancer-riddled school teacher who wanted to make sure he doesn’t burden his family with debts after he’s passed on by manufacturing crystal meth with a former student of his. Good family man, that Walt White. I’ve only ever seen Bryan Cranston in comedies like “Malcolm in the Middle” and my favorite role of his up to date in “Seinfeld” as Tim Whatley. As a gift for my friend Pacheco, who is the guru on my path to enlightenment, I’ve painted him some of the choice characters from “Breaking Bad.”

Walt and Jesse, his student and “business partner.”

Gus Fring, their other business partner.

Tuco, the psychotic drug distributor, holding his two favorite things: Gun and ice.

Skylar, Walt’s pregnant wife.

Just to shake things up a bit, Walt’s brother-in-law is Hank, a DEA agent.

Marie Schrader, Walt’s sister-in-law who also happened to be a kleptomaniac.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Pacheco!