Monday, May 5, 2008

Scuffy The Tug Boat Found!




Two thousand years ago (I think) when I was a wee one, my favorite Golden Book (do they still publish Golden Books?) was "Scuffy The Tug Boat". I loved the story of Scufy slipping out of the hands of his little boy and heading down the stream, river, port, and finally out to sea. He eventually gets returned to the little boy and the safety of his bathtub for a most satisfying snap, happy ending! I read it over and over (these were the days when children read for amusement) and loved the illustrations. Fast forward to 2008- I go out Friday mornings to paint en plein air from about 7:30AM to about 11AM after which I head for campus to teach an acrylic/oil painting class (I'm in tall cotton on Fridays!) Well... last Fri., I and another painter were out at the Sacramento Rowing Club on the shores of the Port of Sacramento. Imagine the Shock and Awe (where have I heard this term before?) I received when I spied Scuffy there!!!! Wow!!!!! He's grown up now, retired, and tucked snugly amongst the river reeds by the club's boat house!! And....the owner of Scuffy came by to chat with us!!! He's grown up as well, and is a very nice man. I got his cell number so when this Friday rolls around, and I go out to paint Scuffy again, the nice man will let me climb aboard and give Scuffy a hug and kiss!!!!! Shock and Awe indeed!!!!!!

7 comments:

Frank Gardner said...

Nice design and colors in this one david.

David Lobenberg said...

Thanks Frank. I rarely finish on site, and I tweak colors in the studio. I do, however, want to finish more paintings en plein air AND tweak colors simultaneously. On site, I have a strong tendency to try and copy the colors that I see. I guess this is OK some of the time but not all of the time.

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

That is so kickin' awesome! You get to snuggle with Scuffy! A testament to how great being an artist is. You get invited everywhere like you have magical powers. I love the Tugboat paintings!

David Lobenberg said...

Isn't it great Mary... sometimes just because we are drawing or painting, we get access to places. I remember showing my sketch book to someone at the Port of Sacramento and being allowed on board a refurbished WW2 liberty ship for FREE when they were charging to climb aboard! I did a few sketches, got their office address and later sent them a copy of one of the sketches.

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

Hey, I've been here before and I knew it as soon as I saw Scuffy!
Funny post and also kickin' paintings of Scuffy.

David Lobenberg said...

What can I say Mary?... I'm 61 feakin yrs. old and still have fond memories of Scuffy. I'm an avid reader. Maybe the Scuffy Golden book had some influence.

dilip sarkar collection said...

hello david. those drawings are really very nice. could you please give me some tips to traw like that. my e-mail id is dilip_jbl@yahoo.com

regards

dilip