published cartoons: Jan. 4 - Municipal Property Assessment

published cartoons: Jan. 3 - Tobermory Lighthouse

I'm not making this up... at least the part about a model of the lighthouse being erected at a mall in Toronto. I used the image of the big tub harbour lighthouse from local artist Sue Allison series of paintings featuring are lighthouses. She's a terrific painter, and I like her stuff. I showed her my cartoon and she said that it wasn't the Big Tub lighthouse. I showed her painting to her since it was right there in Owen Sound's Artist's Co-Op since my wife works there and Sue was there the day I dropped my wife off at work before heading to The Sun Times. She (kind of lacking conviction, I thought) agreed it could be the same lighthouse in my cartoon) . Sheesh! It's just a cartoon, Sue... and I'm a cartoonist, not a skilled painter. Anyway, I really like this one and I hope you do, too. P.S., Sue liked it as well.

published cartoons: Jan. 2, 08 - Happy New Year

I've actually never talked to Callaghan, let alone met him, but he's a funny guy... and I mean that in the best possible way. Maybe someday we'll meet. Hopefully not in a collision at the corner of 8th St. and 2nd avenue. Maybe we'll get together for a bbq or a picnic or a cup of coffee someday... or maybe not.

Published Cartoons: Dec.28, '07 ... Day after Christmas

What do I need to say about this one... other than "Been there, Done that." What about you?
By the way, I wanted to pick some local author to mention in the cartoon so what better choice than Liz Zetlin who was Owen Sound's Poet Laureate in 2007, and who had a regular feature in the Sun Times featuring other area poets. Good on you, Liz!

Published Cartoons: Dec.27, '07 ... Debit Card Security

I scanned this from the actual newspaper clipping, as I seemed to have lost (or "temporarily misplaced" if you're an optimist) the original drawing. Oh well... "lost" happens sometimes. The cartoon sun will still rise the next morning..... won't it?

Published Cartoons: Dec.21, '07 ...Outstanding Canadian Young Farmers Award

As I was getting this ready to post, I thought of the old joke... "I'm out standing in my field." Oh, yeah.... what field is that?" "The one out behind my house."
Anyway, seriously, congrats to the Koelens for winning this national award. Thank god some people are still interested in pursuing the farming career and that they're not biochemists working in some bioengineering factory somewhere in Toronto, New York, or Hong Kong.
If the image looks familiar, and you're old enough, yes, I borrowed an image from the old cartoon series "The Jestsons" and just played around with it a little.

Published Cartoons: Dec.20, '07 ...Marine Simulators

Published Cartoons: Dec.18, '07 ...Owen Sound infrastructure

"The few grinches" in question would be Mike Harris, Ernie Eves, and the rest of the provincial Tories who took the province down the garden path several years ago. I knew it would take a long time to recover from these sanctimonious robber barons and the recovery is still going on. With the state of almighty capitalism in today's world, it may take a lot longer. Anyway, best wishes Mr. Macmanaman and other civic officials... as well as workers and the unprivileged in clawing back any sense of fair and just treatment you had worked so long and hard to get in the past.

Published Cartoons: Dec.14, '07 ...Tanglefoot wins award

As I mentioned on an earlier post, Tanglefoot is one of the amazing musical acts that is at least partially made up of local musicians. It was nice to see them get this national recognition. I wish them all the best... Although I hope they keep their prices down when they play locally. Of the band members I only really know Steve Ritchie, and only from a few brief conversations, but he seems like a genuinely nice guy and he sure is a great entertainer. Hope 2008 and beyond is amazing for you, Steve and Tanglefoot!
And while I'm on the topic of local music... I have been listening to some more Bryan Leckie lately. This guy is an awesome singer/songwriter! I hope he won't be offended, but he sounds quite a bit like Bob Dylan, only I think I prefer Bryan. His lyrics are really cool, and his melodies are more rootsy and jazzy than Dylan's... and his voice is better... but then whose isn't? But this is not a put down on Bryan's singing... anything but... when I say he sounds like Dylan, I'm talking about Dylan on a very, very good day.... maybe the voice Dylan will be given in Heaven. And Leckie always has some top notch musicians in his accompanying band. Anyone who has heard Bryan or owns any of his CD's is in on a true buried treasure. Lucky you. And if you don't own any of his stuff, then try to get it. Here's a tip: Bryan runs an Owen Sound Printing business called "Instant Print" and the store's on 3rd Avenue East. He also carries some very cool notepaper. Drop by and say hello.... See if you can buy a CD while you're there. And here's some great news... I hear he's working on a new CD!!!

Published Cartoons: Dec.13, '07 ... Owen Sound Oil Spill

This is the second cartoon I've used featuring our very own town crier, Drew Ferguson. This, I'm hoping is obvious, is not poking fun at Mr. Ferguson. It's just a joke about City Council wondering about how to inform residents about certain issues of public concern. As far as I know, they didn't consider using the town crier.... I just made that up. My aim is to 1. make you laugh, or at least crack a smile; 2. draw attention to local stories; 3. satisfy my urge to draw; and 4. make a little extra cash... not necessarily in that order..... the order varies from day to day.

Published Cartoons: Dec.11, '07 ...Grey Highlands Chamber of Commerce

It just makes sense to me. It seems like whatever issues they are having are Lilliputian in nature. But then what do I know. I don't live in Markdale or Flesherton, nor have I ever been on a Chamber of Commerce. But the story of their possible merger did generate this image to me, so I just went with it.

From the Vault: Nov. 07... The alternative Faces of Farming calendar

As you may have already seen, I had a cartoon published Nov. 30 about "The Faces of Farming" calendar that featured one of our area's farmers for one of the months. If you haven't seen it, it's elsewhere on this blog. In that cartoon, I featured a disappointed bull. So for this cartoon, it occurred to me that if you change one letter in "faces" you get something that farm animals (and my cats) are very good at. I hope you are not offended. This is high end potty humour, I think.

Published Cartoons: Dec. 6, '07 ...No Idling bumper stickers

What can I say? I think we all need to turn our engines off once in a while. Don't you?

Published Cartoons: Dec. 4, '07 ...School Bus Cancellations

Well, the Christmas holidays are almost over, as I post this, and the kiddies will be going back to school. And I'm sure the whole issue of whether to cancel school buses because of inclement weather will become an issue again. As much as I enjoy sending the wee ones (well, they're not so wee anymore) off to school... so I can have the house more to myself... I think it's best if the school board and bus drivers err on the side of caution.
And don't get me started on "The Weather Network", the so called weather experts with Canada's most reliable weather forecasts. If these fools are number one, then who's #2??? The ones that are always predicting tsunamis, falling fireballs from Mars, or Armageddon??? As one of my sons said one day, "What other job could you have where you could be wrong so often and still keep your job?"

Published Cartoons: Jan. 2, 2008

I haven't got all the ones from 2007 posted yet. But since it's a new year now, I thought I'd post this one. Callaghan is the other person who gets editorial cartoons published regularly in the Sun Times. Truth is, I haven't actually met him, or talked to him, but I thought this cartoon was a funny idea that also reflected back on just some of the local issues from the past year. Some day I'll have to ask Callaghan to come over and join me in a cup of tea. He'll probably say that I must have a really large tea cup that would fit both of us into it. This is an old joke. One that I can remember that was on a collection of cartoon bubblegum cards that I once collected back when I was 8 or 11 years old.

Published Cartoons: Nov. 29, '07 ... Sludge

Awhile ago schools, mostly thanks again to Conservative cutbacks begun in the Harris reign, sold the right for a Soda Pop company to have exclusive monopolies in the school. Now we're reading about the possibility of high school sports teams being sponsored by companies. ... So I just tried to think of a product that would have silly connotations if sported by, say, a football team.
When I was in high school I was on volleyball and field lacrosse teams, and I sure wouldn't want to have had some corporate name and logo on my uniforms. But then that was in the 60's. Things have changed, it appears. ... Oh, and by the way, thanks again, Mike Harris, your legacy continues!

Published Cartoons: Nov. 27, '07 ... Sludge

It seems to me that the sun's getting brighter and some farms are smelling worse. Thinning ozone accounts for a brighter sun... but what's making some farms stink at record levels? Perhaps it's the sludge, which according to the newspaper article is made up of lots of stuff, including human and medical waste. Nice, eh?

Published in November: The Faces of Farming

There was a real calendar put out and one of the months featured a photo of a prominent, youngish, area farmer. The photos in the calendar are pictures that apparently would be found sexy by women farmers... or city dwellers, too, I imagine (based on the reaction by my wife to the photo that was in the newspaper article). Thankfully, the calendar is not hanging anywhere in our house. But maybe someday there will be a "Faces of Cartooning" calendar. Now that could be pretty funny.