Recap Postscript: Spruce Moose + VAA Redux

A few more addendums to the recent updates on extracurricular activities from over the summer. Also I now have an excuse to post this shot from my studio overlooking the early morning light, which is dwindling fast...  more below the fold!

Once again I was captured for a promotional picture while wearing another character from Heathcliff. My host newspaper ran a feature article on the front page spotlighting Spruce Moose. And yeah, this shot was right before a show & tell for another class - posted about below - so I was as fried as it looks in the picture.

Speaking of whom, I dropped by the Forestry & Fire folks to snag a handful of copies to hand out at that same classroom presentation (more on that below), and got a bonus treat to see some of the new swag that everybody was sporting around the office, along with checking out a life-sized cardboard cutout of the character.

Also here is a link to directly download a copy of the comic book, and stay 'tooned for another installment with a possible follow-up commission this time illustrating a poster of Spruce explaining the importance of maintaining a defensible space around the cabin in case of another close call like we had this season: Special thanks again to all the firefighters who kept our literal neck of the woods safe.

Another exciting piece of news is that after years of a hiatus (following years of teaching) I'll be making a special return engagement to fill in for next summer. teaching a couple cartooning classes at the Visual Art Academy. This'll give me the opportunity to test-run a few more ideas gleaned from the CCS summer workshop, so I'm super excited.

On a related note I had a wonderful time at two guest artist gigs on the last day of the 2025 season, which reminded me of how much fun these gigs are - though it is nice to take a break. And the feeling of seeing all the hard work on the walls from the students was so rewarding inside, it really meant so much, as much if not more than my own pages I posted up above of Sprucie (sets of which are now adorning all the statewide office lobbies).

Lastly I wanna give a shout-out to Chad of Tundra fame, for being such a good sport and putting up with me over the years. I told him the caption for this image was gonna be something along the lines of "trying to diplomatically ask why my application to the National Cartoonist Society was declined and how come he blocked it." Which as it turned out he hasn't been a due-paying member for years, so my suspicion as to the real reason for the rejection was simply on account of not being syndicated funny enough. At least that's the critiques I get from the cats.