My church put together a Lu'au banquet last night, complete with hula dancing from the local halau, and authentic Hawaiian food...minus the pig. I even managed to stuff my vegetarian-self. Oh, the food was good, and so was the dancing and the music. There were even door prizes! And I won a pound of Kona coffee, Vanilla Macadamia flavored, no less.

But I'm rather confused by the coffee, as I've always been confused by Kona anything. During my time at the coffee shop, customers would always go on about how cheap Kona coffee is in Hawai'i (no, they're not including airfare to actually go to Hawai'i in their logic), and one person tried to convince me that Kona is cheaper at the grocery store. I know at the grocery store, it's only 10% Kona, and the rest is a mixture of...well, I'm not sure what the other 90% is that goes into cheap, exported Kona coffee. But I know that my authentic, straight-from-Hawai'i Kona coffee is also only 10% Kona, and the rest is "a blend of the finest arabica beans from around the world." This reminds me of the ingredients labels that just state "natural flavors," or "spices," but this is a 90% mystery.

So, Kona coffee on the islands is only 10% Kona...grocery store Kona is only 10% Kona...and the 100% Kona is about $50 per pound. This seems misleading...

Now, the really good coffee, which is also about $50 per pound, depending on how the weather's been, is Jamaican Blue Mountain. Dang, that coffee is good. Not a drop of bitterness - you can drink it straight.

Anyroad...working on the cover for the TurboDieselRegister magazine. I'm so excited...although I messed up the headlight...whoops. Hopefully, with some gel pen and strategically placed marker, I can fix it and no one will notice when it's pasted on the front cover of a magazine...yeah, I'm dreaming on that one!

I love trucks, and this one is no exception:

Now with a background!

Commission list, for those who have been asking :)

This is up-to-date as of 19 April, and includes the ones I'm working on right now. If you don't see your name, please send me an e-mail at diesel.artist@gmail.com. Some of these are going to be completed out of order due to the forums as well as demand. It's all organized in my hand-written notebook, but this list is as the requests are made. Hope it's not too confusing!

1 Michael P - working
2 Dave L - working
3 Eric A - working
4 Dustin - hmm?
5 Mike G - working
6 Kizzy
7 My uncle
8 Doodah - Complete
9 YamYZ250
10 MR4WLR
11 Kalkhokm (I hope I didn't spell that wrong)
12 My aunt
13 Tara
14 K5Cruz
15 Cummins6Speed
16 Diesel_Nuts - offshore, awaiting pic when he returns :)
17 Megaram
18 CumminsFan04
19 LDLawrence
20 Jbarker - awaiting photo ref
21 Countryboy88
22 99Cumminsho
23 iker42 - working
24 Ducktape
25 Niedhogg
26 IBCummin
27 DieselFanatic
28 Charles L
29 DiezelChick
30 David
31 Jason C
32 Josh - whenever he gets done with fixing it up :)
33 TqMnster
34 RamDriver15
35 Revolution DSL
36 MikeD
37 Crystal Mae
38 Dracula
39 BigDsCummins
40 Blackdiesel
41 bcollin3
42 energinerbuzzy
43 BossHawg 600
44 SmokinDiesel
45 Corey556
46 Luvnacumns
47 Kizzy (for her father)
48 MacG
49 Willysrule
50 Jason_cotten
51 kmkdiesel ??
52 CumminThru
53 Smoke'em
54 Crankous
55 Ezra

Crikey. That's quite a convoy - y'all're makin' a girl very happy! Now if I can just dump the regular jobs LOL

Also, if you'd like your name bumped up on the list, please e-mail me. I apologize for the delay in getting these out. When I started this, I had one job, and now I have two...both full-time. And a third keeps weaseling its way in...yeah, I'm way too nice to people who need help.

After working 80 hours a week for the last couple of weeks, I get a break! So I drew last night.

The '37 Ford dually, with a partially done cab:


And an '07 Ram with custom bumper, wheels, tires, and probably filled with goodies under the hood:

No more antenna! First I have a CD player that needs to be replaced, now I have an antenna that's so bent up I can't get any reception out of it, and it wasn't staying screwed in, either LOL

As much as I love driving with the windows rolled down, it's better when there's music to listen to :( I have a replacement CD player, I've just been exceptionally lazy and haven't picked up the mounting hardware/electricals for it. And now I need an antenna, too LOL

Past week was crazy with work. I logged 80 hours! Thanks to Easter, this week I'll only have 75 ;) Trucks are still trucking. I'm in the midst of the '37 Ford dually and the company logo. The logo's on version IV at the moment - I'll have fun things to look at later tonight...or early tomorrow morning, whichever way you want to look at it!

Today was pleasantly hot. Summer is definitely heading to Tucson! I've already pulled out the tank tops and straw cowboy hat.

Happy Resurrection Day!

So I went from this sorry mess:



to this!


Truck hasn't changed much. I pretty much knew off the bat what I wanted to do with that! And I think the sign is fixed well enough that it looks like the truck is tearing through it...I hope...couple more versions to do before I submit to the company, then on to the next project :)

...need to learn how to make REAL paper.

Anyroad, I have a convoy of trucks to work on today:
-All Jacked Up logo
-Parker's '37 Ford dually
-Anderson's '08 Ford dually hauling his new boat
-iker42's 2nd gen (sorry, hon, I didn't write down the year, but I'll fix that!)
-Doodah's 2nd gen (which will be modded more soon, so this is the before picture)
-Desert Mafia logo (there was an interesting bit where the company "died" so I put off the logo...and I guess they're "back" now...I'm confused and I'm just going to get it out of the way and let them argue over it LOL)
-Vallier's '94 Ram 2500 for TDR Magazine :) It'll be on the cover this summer!

Lots of work to do - good thing I don't have to be anywhere until 9p, and even that's tentative.

My roommate and I are performing a science experiment using aluminum foil and tonka trucks. More later haha

...a 1937 Ford pickup...wandered over to eBay...my big mistake. I somehow drifted over to Dodge and started drooling over the old Power Wagon. Then I switched gears to Ford and found a HOT 1967 GT 350 ooooh, I want one. And then I found an early 80s Bronco...which I didn't need to find, cuz it's cheap and gorgeous and runs and the interior is MINT!

Right, back to the artwork. Bulleting a truck through a sign is quite a challenge. But at least the 37 Ford is coming together. I just need to fix the wheel and then i can probably start in on the marker paper.

Long work day tomorrow on the artwork. I wish I could upload something tonight, but the computer that goes to the scanner is gone with its owner til tomorrow and there's no way my gargantuan desktop is getting all the way over there! I should just upload the cell phone photos =P

Although I guess it'll be changing as soon as I get the new photo LOL



Trying to emphasize the reflection...I even uprooted a tree to do so!

Reading this makes me wonder if life really is too long, or is it too short? This woman went far with her artwork - I hope I can go far as well.

I have new user icons! I think the world just froze. ...actually, the computer just did. Huh. Well, I was going to put another icon up, but PS had some issues =P Just the fact that I have new ones after two years is still amazing me haha.

I'm awaiting a photo ref for a requested background for this:



Other than that, it's complete :) I really like how this one turned out!

I need to go over this so it scans better =P Almost done!

Why do I have to work tonight? At least NBC'll have them posted later =P

Videos!!!!
http://www.nbc.com/Knight_Rider/Ford/

Yes, it's dorky, but I love it. And, no, I don't care if it is a new 'Stang, it's still a hot car!

Commission list, for those who have been asking :)

This is up-to-date as of 19 February, and includes the ones I'm working on right now. If you don't see your name, please send me an e-mail at diesel.artist@gmail.com.

1 Michael P
2 Dave L
3 Eric A
4 Dustin
5 Scootertrash35
6 Bick44 - no photo ref at the moment
7 Spooled05
8 Mike G
9 Kizzy
10 My uncle
11 Doodah
12 YamYZ250
13 MR4WLR
14 Kalkhokm (I hope I didn't spell that wrong)
15 My aunt
16 Tara
17 K5Cruz
18 Cummins6Speed
19 Diesel_Nuts - offshore, awaiting pic when he returns :)
20 Megaram
21 CumminsFan04
22 LDLawrence
23 Jbarker - awaiting photo ref
24 Countryboy88
25 99Cumminsho
26 iker42
27 Ducktape
28 Niedhogg
29 IBCummin
30 DieselFanatic
31 Charles L
32 DiezelChick
33 David
34 Jason C
35 Josh - whenever he gets done with fixing it up :)
36 TqMnster
37 RamDriver15
38 Revolution DSL
39 MikeD
40 Crystal Mae
41 Dracula
42 BigDsCummins
43 Blackdiesel
44 bcollin3
45 energinerbuzzy
46 BossHawg 600
47 SmokinDiesel
48 Corey556
49 Luvnacumns

Crikey. That's quite a list of vehicles.

Also, if you'd like your name bumped up on the list, please e-mail me. I apologize for the delay in getting these out. When I started this, I had one job, but then things happened and I've had three jobs for a bit now.

March, just so y'all know, will be an exciting month, and this summer will be even more exciting. All I'll say, is some of you might recognize a magazine cover when it comes out later this summer ;) It'll be a different truck, but y'all will recognize the art, I hope!

Can the jobs just not need me for a while? I've been called in every night this week by both part-time jobs, staying until 1am every night, on top of the day job, and all I want to do is draw trucks!

...which is what I'm doing today :)

Finished G1625S - just need to fix up the scanned image and post it.
Working on this week:
- Michael's '37 Ford pickup dually, with a stack! Sketch is still ongoing, but I think I just need one more round of tracing paper and it'll be ready for the coloring

- All Jacked Up might be interested in a logo...and I went ahead and started making one, just for fun. So even if they don't want to use it, I'll have a really cool-looking '08 Ram 3500 barreling up toward the viewer oh, yeah.

- Eric's '08 Ford dually pulling his boat

- Desert Mafia...but I started an argument between the co-owners whoops

- Scootertrash 35

- Bick 44...except that I have no idea what his truck looks like...could be interesting

- Spooled 05

Anyroad, that's the round for this week :) They better all get done this week - I feel bad for working so much that I can't do these like I could when I started this whole thing!

Line work ready to go:



Original photo ref had the owner in it...I thought it'd be more fun for the guys on the forum if I put a cowgirl in there instead =P I mean, really, I don't know any guys who would complain about that LOL