Sound and fury

I can't believe I've had 400 things to say.

More accurately, I can't believe I've had four things to say, repeated an average of 100 times. They are these:

1. Illustration
2. Open-water swimming
3. The San Francisco Giants
4. Pontification on vital matters about which I know not very much

So really, this blog has been item 4 — in 400 variations.

That's not how I planned it. This was supposed to be a blog about my illustrations, but two things happened:

• I couldn't shut up
• I've seen other illustrators' illustrator blogs and, though I like the art, I wanted more than "Here's a picture I drew."

I may still create an illustration-only blog, if only to compel fecundity in my work and maybe dislodge some subdural projects. I'd write just a wee bit — I promise! — about process.

Each of these shawn, DRAWN®™ posts, by rule, must accompany an illustration, primarily mine, which has forced me to cobble art fast. But pictures have taken a backseat to words.

Some weeks I've had nothing to say — but that hasn't prevented me from saying so anyway. Thank you especially for reading those.

Four-hundred posts have generated another 10 percent — 40 posts — in draft form. Some, you'll be happy to know, will remain in draft until I finally click "delete." They comprise:

• Malformed Giants posts in which I thought the Giants were going to fail spectacularly and they turned it around, and vice versa. I'm the fickliest of fickle feckless fans.
• A post in which a client — actually, the child of a client — asked through channels to have me remove the post, however laudatory, because it mentioned the client's CEO's name. As if he was Yahweh or Voldemort or something. I wrote a post about how I didn't get that at all.
• Anniversaries that coincide with editorial cartoons I drew at the time. They are at once interesting and depressing, because they remind me of a door I shut on myself 25 years ago. I have one half-done post about Manuel Noriega as he was ousted as dictator of Panama. But that notable anniversary has passed, and who cares about/remembers Manuel Noriega?
• A "Where Are They Now?" post of people I knew in childhood, which I quickly realized would be a horrible violation of people's privacy, and I've already mentioned people's names — in the best light — without formally asking permission. Besides, what a lot of work that would be. I was motivated by the fact that you and I can find people long lost to us through the miracle and treachery of social media.
• Various posts about news events in which my knowledge was poorer than usual.
• Posts that won't see daylight because I realized they weren't my stories to tell — including one in which I praised highly someone I have known and work with, who politely insisted I do not publish it.

All of which means, dear reader, some drafts will eventually become official posts. So you can plan around them, prepare for:

• A post about our dog
• Swims and swimmers I know
• An ode to my Lake Natoma, presented in a novel way
• A rant from long ago about the insanity of promoting one's freelance work online
• Good and bad logos I come across

In other words, prepare for tales told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Maybe 400 more? Thanks again for your patient attention.