all star break

There's this family I see each night as I run. When I started running later in the day to avoid the sauna that is the South in summer, I began seeing them near the pond. They're always there, milling around and hanging out. The mother and father acknowledge me every time while the kids mostly just go about their business. When I'm running there's honestly not a whole lot going on in my head. Well, there's the constant chorus of "oh my goodness I'm going to die, why am I doing this to myself?" but other than that, it's a quiet and peaceful time for my brain to relax.


For some reason I couldn't get this family out of my head. I kept observing, if only for the few seconds it takes me to pass their spot, seeing new things and wondering what their story might be. Something had happened to this family. They'd seen things. They had experiences - I could tell. And I kept wondering if there was enough information in those seconds of observation to inspire a drawing or two.


One of my favorite Far Side cartoons shows two mosquitoes on a human limb. One is speaking while the other one is quickly inflating with her blood meal. The speaker says something to the effect of "Quick, pull out, pull out! You've hit an artery!".


Two weeks and five drawings later, I apparently hit some sort of idea artery with this family. My wife is irritated by the constant scratching of the markers on the wood and she has made it known she'll be glad when this series is finished. Let's not tell her I just finished constructing two very large panels for my next drawing adventure which means about 50 times more scratching.