"Money Laundering... I'm Once Again, Guilty!"

At least, it is clean money!

Good morning, all bodies. It's a Thursday, the last time I checked.

Once again, I'm guilty of money laundering. You'd think by now I would have learned my lesson, but to my surprise and horror, as I walked out of the parking lot to meet some friends, Pat and Bobby Zeller, for breakfast at Russell's Marina Grill, I noticed my wallet was no where in sight.

LIke a good New Orleanian, ( and after a momentary panic! ) I decided to not let relying on the "kindness of strangers"... or friends, ruin the possibility of a great breakfast and good conversation.

I had been ensconced for over four months in St. Francisville working on a film project, and all I could think about, every morning at breakfast, was eating at my favorite place in New Orleans for breakfast. 

"I'll worry 'bout 'dat, lay-dah, I thought to myself."

And I did, until we returned home late yesterday evening. In between innings of a horrible Cub's performance, I raced around searching for the ever elusive wallet, and found it somewhere between the seventh and eigth inning... 

IN THE WASHING MACHINE!

I'm so embarrassed. A special thanks to Bobby Zeller, who completely believed my story, and treated Tee and me to breakfast. I owe you one, Pat and Bobby!

Second cup...!

Copyright 2015/ Ben Bensen III

"Like The Ice Cream Parlor Days"...

Opps!

“If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” ~Yogi Berra

Good morning Wednesday... and everybody that's doing Wednesday, today.
Third cup...

Last night, after dinner, I really wanted to spend more time with Therese. She's always so distracted with school "goings on" and I, now with my continuing storyboard saga. It's been pretty much this way since I returned home from St. Francisville. Tee actually started a batch of clothes in the middle of dinner.

Amongst other things, I am still messing with mom's "estate" such as it is. And every now and then, we run, unexpectedly, back into Brian's life, which sends us into an immediate funk. But, at this time, needing her attention, I said, "Let's go into town, after dinner, and get a ice cream cone and then, go to Magnolia Park, for a walk.

I reiterate Mr. Berra! "“If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” 

When we arrive at the little diner that sells ice cream cones, it was closed.

"Who the hell closes their restaurant on a Tuesday?" I mumbled in frustration.

"Let's just go to the store and buy some ice cream," my wife said.

"No, that's not the point. I wanna spend some time with you, like the ice cream parlor days," I replied. 

"We can buy all the ice cream in the world and still sit at home eating it in our distractions!"

So, we thought and thought of where we could buy a simple ice cream on the Northshore. Not the swirly kind in one of those sugar cones, but real ice cream in those huge brown pointed kind of cones. 

We drove about ten more miles to a place where we thought there might be a some true ice cream, but it, " Ain't Dere No More!" to quote a popular post Katrina patois.

We continued for a few more miles looking for a legit ice cream parlor. In the process of our search, we got away from home to spend some quality time together. She opened up to talk about school, the kids, the pressures and other assorted topics like where are we headed and what are our goals for the future. We, also, had a few good laughs, too. 

We ended up at a place in Mandeville where I thought, for sure, there was a Baskin/Robbins, but "NOOOOOOOOO!"

"Ain't Dere No More!"

These are the times when I really miss living in New Orleans, a town that never sleeps. It took us almost an hour, but, we finally found a TCBY store and decided a frozen yogurt would have to suffice.

And it did. And, I got my wife's total attention, for awhile!

Thanks Yogi, you were so right!

"My Storyboard Movie Trailer"...

I've been working, as a storyboard artist, on a feature film for the past four months, so I decided to post part of a version of my "movie trailer" entitled,
"Parting Shots." This film has...

Intrigue...

    High speed car chases...

   And, of course, lots of local color and scenic landscapes!

Dirty Laundry...

Romance, 'cuz ya gotta bring the babes in somehow!

And, has lots birds... ornithologists will love this part!

Of course, plenty sex, if the ashtray is any indication!

And humor. A kick in the pants is second only to fart jokes, I've read.


Just gotta have a "kum-ba-ya" sing-a-long moment, too!



And, last but not least, a happy ending... if it ever ends, at all!

Copyright 2015/Ben Bensen III

" A Throwback Thursday Thought"...

Guess you better slow that Mustang Down... Sally!

Good morning, everyone. I was looking for something to post for TBT while having breakfast. I found this sample piece in one of my photo files. About ten or twelve years ago, my rep was constantly after me to embrace the computer more than I was, at that time.

This is a sample done in Photoshop with just three pieces. I turned a pic of the San Gabriel mountains into a purple mountain majesty at sunset, a red Mustang that I turn to blue, and a woman I found on a porn channel kissing you goodbye. 

The woman was totally naked. 

I changed everything on her from the original pose and then proceeded to put clothes and accessories on her. I was pretty proud of my accomplishment. My rep got me a potential job with this digital painting, but I thought the art director had no idea what it took for me to complete this piece.

He wanted a price on doing an educational slide show in the digital style. I told him he was crazy. My rep didn't appreciate my comments, but I can't even imagine creating this kind of reality for any more than two or three pieces. 

He wanted like about a hundred.

So, why is this a throwback in addition to a gratuitous plug for my digital acumen? Well, clothing the woman, which was quite fun to do, reminded me of my sisters, especially my older sister, Adele, playing dress up with the Betsy McCall doll. I remember her cutting out that month's fashions from the McCall's magazine and folding those tabs over the cardboard replica of Betsy McCall. 

Talk about a simpler time!

Second cup...

Copyright 2015/ Ben Bensen III

"Pulling Up... In Just The "Nick" Of Time!"

The feeling is enough to give one vertigo!

I always enjoy promoting the art of, what I consider to be, great American illustrators. If you've been around me and Facebook all these many years, you've probably noticed that I enjoy posting and writing about past illustrators that have touched my life in so many ways. Jack Leynnwood, Craig Nelson, Leo Monahan, Mike Machat, Bill Robles, Chris Hopkins, Bart Forbes, Mark English, Keith Farris, Barron Storey, Bob Rodriguez and many, many others have been subjects of my blogs. 

Another one of those greats, is aviation artist, Nixon Galloway. On a C-141 flight to DC, Nick asked me if I was interested in a collection of his watercolor prints from his client, United Airlines. I received the entire collection, except on of his award winning paintings entitled, "Barnstorming".

About six months ago, I got a call from Alyce Heath from the SILA office. She had a professor and professional musician, who teaches at the University of Colorado in Boulder, interested in using one of Nick's paintings for his cd cover. He actually saw the piece googling barnstormers and landed on my "Graphic Gumbo 3" site where for months I was highlighting, in a low rez, all the printed works of Nick Galloway and reposting them on our Air Force Art site... just to keep the site active.

Say what you will about those tree hugging, dope smoking "liberals" there in Boulder, but the professor, Mark Rush, knew and respected the sanctity of the copyright law to track me down to receive permission to use Nick's piece. Problem now was twofold. To find the digital artwork that I had which would be useful enough to sell, and to find someone who could receive the fee for the usage of the piece. After a few old phone numbers, I was able to get Nick's wife contact info from Nanette O'Neal at ASAA (American Society of Aviation Artists ) and had a nice conversation with Marilyn Galloway. She was familiar with,"Barnstorming" but told me that she hadn't received any money from the many galleries that supposedly are housing Nick's prints. Sad...

So, I called some of those places only to realize that they wanted their "cut " of the action. Now, I was also the employ of Mark Rush, who was just trying to do the right thing. Through some emails and some phone calls, we settled on a price that was amenable for both parties. I told him that I had a digital print at 300 dpi and that unless he wanted to pay more at a gallery for a print, this scan should suffice. ( Which also brings to mind, the problem of usage. That is, if you own an artist's painting or print, do you have the right to reuse it for profit, like using it for tee shirts, coffee mugs, light switch and electrical covers, posters, labels, or whatever! ) I spoke to his designer and was assured that the scan I had would work beautifully.
I called Mark to assure him that the check would go straight to Mrs. Galloway and I would send him a receipt for the transaction.

Well, life always seems to get in the way of living.

I received the check about two months ago, and it sat in my computer bag for that amount of time. But, just yesterday, while my client was away for half of the day, I decided to take care of this excursion by calling Mrs. Galloway and telling her the whole story. She seemed really grateful and wanted to know if I wanted a share of the check. 

"No, Marilyn, I said, "this warm, fuzzy feeling is worth all the money in the world, right now!" 

We talked some more about the past good times with the Air Force Art Program and the many great trips Nick was privy to, and the great art that came from it. It seemed to me that she was in need of some company and wanted to spend more time chatting. But, after thirty minutes on the phone, I was a bit anxious that my client, who, by now, had returned, would not look favorably on my phone distraction.

"Hey Marilyn, it was great talking to you. Take the money and party at some Manhattan Beach restaurant with some of your pals... or, pay bills. The checks in the mail, lady!"

Copyright 2015/Ben Bensen III

"Poolside Thoughts"...

Sitting at a restaurant overlooking the hotel pool, I noticed a middle aged woman well passed her "body building years" seated in the shade of umbrellaed table watching her ten or twelve year old son, I assume, splashing alone in the pool. Thoughts raced in my head, concocting scenarios of a lone mother and child.

Where was the father? MIA from a foreign conflict? A deadbeat dad running from his own realities? A marriage gone horribly wrong? A woman hoping to save her marriage with a pregnancy, or, simply, a working weekend where the father was upstairs catching up on his paperwork?

It took me back to the crazy days of my advertising career, when we would skip town and visit anywhere, for any reason, just to get away. For me, it was to get away from all nighters, deadlines, and wrestling with my own demons in addition to being a good husband and father. I am sure my wife had her many reasons for a getaway trip.

Like most kids do when there's a chance of a party in a pool, our son's first thought, besides where the next baseball game would be, was where's the pool. Many times, he spend a good portion of his pool time alone splashing around and begging me, or his mother, to return to the water to frolic. The few times we would return home to join my brothers and sisters at a local hotel, Brian was in heaven jumping off the high dive attempting to catch a nerf ball thrown to him as he leaped off the diving board into the water.

He would play this and other games of skill, with my family, in the water for hours.

Brian was an only child. I never felt bad about that, having been the eldest son with five other siblings. With my own business, usually working at home, I had the unique opportunity, unlike many fathers, of spending many hours enjoying his company. It wasn't until one day well into his adolescence, he told me how lonely he was as a child.

It never occurred to me.

Having lost our son to a mental illness, I see things that remind me the bittersweetness of life. Like the mind of an artist, who never stops observing, I am constantly being thrown into an emotional abyss by the everyday scenes that remind me of our lives together. It has been two years, now, and I am slowly learning to cope with it.

My thoughts meander and, as I finish my breakfast, I return back to earth.  It was then, that I noticed the mother, once seated with her coffee, wrapped a towel around her waist, and walked towards the pool to be the little boy's only playmate.

Going for a ride on the woman's back, splashing around and giggling, it all seemed enough for him... for now!

Copyright 2015/Ben Bensen III

"Wouldn't It Be Nice?... It Is!"

From the stump of an old oak tree...

I found this a few weeks ago in the town square in Zachary, LA by artist, Burt Fleming. Apparently, the citizens funded the project to honor all veterans. The eagle is carved out of the trunk of a large oak tree. I decided to wait for the appropriate time to post it.

I think today is an appropriate time... Happy Independence Day! — at Zachary Historic Village.

Copyright 2015/Ben Bensen III