Strays part 1

Even with life's little interruptions this one took longer than it should have. It's mostly due to how important to me it was to get it right and how unsure I was that I was doing just that. I've fussed with it all I can and it's time to let it go. If it misses the mark... I can only hope I came close and I'll keep trying to build upon what I've got.

Strays part 2

Capturing not just likeness but the real spirit of someone is always important to me and was even more so in this piece. Which makes it harder when you haven't seen someone in seven years and have a couple of small photos from his funeral service brochure. I don't think I could ever truly convey how good a guy Raphael was to know even if this had exceeded my wildest dreams.

One last note, I really struggled with the idea of censoring the  cursing. I'm not big on the idea and I know Raphael wouldn't have been either. That said, I have a son that comes across my stuff often enough and wants to look at his puppets online here and, after he repeated one of these four letter based goodies that he picked up from another school mate at school (at his teacher no less), I caved. I figured those who already know could live with it. Sorry, Raphael.