2006 – This one I did for the cover of one of my books …
To the best of my knowledge I have never ridden my bicycle home from The Cocky Rooster Bar …
That is because I DO NOT not own a bicycle …
But I may have ridden someone else’s bicycle home because I just discovered that my barn is full of bicycles and I don’t have a clue as to where they came from …
… as for New Year’s Resolutions
Drawn in 2004 …
Randy Hoofard is a good friend of mine and we spent some time together in more than one honkytonk or beer joint …
We once took 2nd and 3rd place in a “beer belly” contest at “The Midnight Rodeo” in Lubbock, Texas and while neither of us won 1st place I believe that we did drink for free the rest of that night and even collected a “cult following” of some of the bar patrons.
Once in Fort Worth a half a dozen biker types decided to take my spot at the bar when I was away … to which Hoofard replied “that’s my buddy’ chair” … the biker type replied “what are you going to do about it” … to which “The Hoof” replied … “I’ll bleed all over you” … we drink for free the rest of the night!
He never did get that job with Microsoft though ….
2003 Cartoon …
This caption has been used more times than Madonna …
I’m pretty sure Ace Reid was the originator of it!
then came 2002 ….
For my good friend’s birthday greeting …
Instead of drawing him another one each year I just send this one to him again …
… and from 2001
This was a fun year and was also the year that Sam (wife) and I got invited to attend and perform at the “The Texas Inaugural” in Crawford, Texas and we had the opportunity to meet President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush … also got to meet Ted Nugent that evening as well …
So a bunch of us put together a basket of items and presented them to President Bush that evening … this was the cartoon that The Cartoon Cowboy gave to him … probably all boxed up in a warehouse somewhere? Like you see in the movies.
… and the year 2000
This was the first year that I did The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo and was fortunate to meet a lot of fine artists, entertainers and all around good people.
A.W. Erwin had vacated his spot at San Antonio that year and was kind enough to put in a good word for me and I took over his spot that year …
I had also met Jeff Gore, Jean Prescott and Buck Reams, some fine guitar pickers …
… funny where inspiration comes from sometimes.
This is also I believe the debut appearance of The Pic-A-Dillos.
From 1999 … MORE TO LOVE ….
… had a Great Aunt Vera and Great Uncle Duney who ran Angora in Real and Edwards county many years ago and while this cartoon was not drawn to represent them it did later remind me of them.
… never saw Vera wear anything but boots, men’s khaki pants and men’s shirts … and she was tough.
John Wayne used one of Duney’s horses in the movie “The Alamo” and later offered to buy it from, but Duney wouldn’t sale … a few weeks later the horse died from some rat poison that had got into the feed bag at the feed store…
Duney was also a tad superstitious … if he saw a black cat on the way to work he would turn around and go home … course some folks may call that lazy?
From 1998 – “BOB WILLS IS STILL THE KING”
This is one I did in 1998 and while at the Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock that year I had the pleasure of meeting Bob’s daughter Rosetta Wills and she gave me her stamp of approval on this cartoon.
It has been a favorite of mine and many others, especially those who understand and love the music called “Western Swing”.
From 1997 – What Makes You Think The Romance Is Gone?
This was a popular cartoon for me in 1997 …
Notice the fellow in the chair is reading his copy of “Rope Burns”… I think “Rope Burns” is only published electronically now … but I could be wrong … http://ropeburns.org/
This was about the time I had my dog Bingo …
So with 2014 coming up it means that I have been drawing cartoons now for going on 18 years … so I thought I would do a little chronological posting to show where I started to where I am now ….
I didn’t always do a New Years’ cartoon so I have just selected one from each year …
Here is one I did from 1996 … I copied a lot of the style of Cowboy Cartoonist Bud McCauley when I first started …
…really like his work.
This a cartoon that I did in 2001 at The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.
It is a cartoon of a good friend of mine Rick McCumber who is one helluva Silversmith and Western Artist.
Check out his work at ….
… another one from the cartoon series from 2007
POPEYE would have made one hell of a MMA fighter … jsia
… Strong to the finish!
… another from my 2007 cartoon character series.
How many times did you see “Bugs Bunny” get pummeled with a baseball bat and still get up and walk away …
… but I guess Bugs was part of “The Greatest Generation”
JP Rankin "The CARTOON COWBOY" 