Blue Moon Blog

Being a social creature with a job which requires an abundance of time spent solo, I need to make sure I find ways to keep in touch with the world beyond while staying productive. Listening to music, the radio, podcasts or audio books while working can help pass the time and keep one company. And the internet can certainly serve this function, too, but can obviously be a danger. For years, I’d have to avoid getting on the phone with friends and family, as holding the handset would keep me from work or hurt my neck. Given that, a wireless headset for your phone can really come in handy.

I tried a headset in the mid-90s, but the cost was high ($450), the sound quality low, and it wasn’t wireless, so I returned it. After researching last year a good deal, I settled on the Plantronics CS-55, and highly recommend it. It’s comfy, easy to set up and use, with high sound quality. It’s changed and improved how I work, allowing me to draw while talking, or make notes or sketches during phone meetings or conference calls.

The headset unit sits on the base to charge when not in use. A single charge should get you ten hours of phone time. Though other options exist, I’ve found the band over the head works well; I’m afraid the piece that wraps around the ear would eventually hurt. The CS-55 requires a phone set-up as pictured above on the right. It may seem cumbersome, but is preferable to carrying a unit with you on your belt or some such. You can use an existing desktop phone or pick one up cheap on ebay as I did, for only $10 (the Plantronics site offers a list of models with which the headset will work). I’d suggest also getting the HL-10 phone lifter. Rather than lifting the phone off the hook manually, the lifter is attached beneath the handset, and lifts the phone for you make a call, with but a single touch of your finger on the side of the headset. The headset also features a mute button on top, which can come in real handy with interruptions that tend to pop up in the home office, like kids, etc.

Amazon.com offers the Plantronics CS-55 and HL-10 in a bundle, for under $200. Purchase it through our Blue Moon Boutique and you’ll help support this blog. Many more models can be viewed at the Plantronics site, where you can find the CS-55 or one more to your liking or needs.

Happy chatting!

The Blue Moon Crew bugged out of town last week to Chicagoland to visit family and friends, and for a day or two at the new KeyLime Cove resort and water park. I set up in advance many days of illustration blogging, so many may not have known or noticed our family had vacated temporarily the home and studio. We were elsewhere, taking a break from work and chores and school, and boy, did the girls complain about that!

Having helped develop a handful of characters for restaurants within the complex, we were pleased as punch to be invited by Dave Anderson (of Famous Dave’s BBQ restaurants) and his wife Kathy for food, drink, activities and a splish-splashingly good time at the water park and resort. Along with Dave’s family and other visitors and families, we stayed a couple nights during a pre-opening simulation period. The water park was open a few hours a couple times a day, and we were able to eat at a few of the restaurants while menus were fine-tuned. The rooms were beautiful and comfy, complete with a soap dish in the bathroom; it’s the details that count!

The water park itself is mid-sized by industry standards, but plenty nice and roomy, offering a wave pool, lazy river, hot tub and several water slides, for tube or body rides. There’s a large play area with a huge pineapple atop which dumps a bunch of water on those below every few minutes. We took a few photos from the top of the stairs to the water slides, where you can get a great view of the entire park. There are no clocks inside, so one can get lost for hours in the water park, but that pineapple dumps water like clockwork, dependable as Old Faithful, giving one a sense of time in the Lost Paradise.

The Vortex seemed to be a big hit with everyone. Here’s a shot of me and Emily spinning around like the Tidy Bowl Man!

All the lifeguards were attentive and in fine spirits. One in particular was quite the comedian, asking Mary and I “Have you found your inner…tube?” Laura and Emily loved playing in the Wave Pool, and it was nice for Dad to relax with a few trips around the Lazy River after climbing all those stairs to the water slides so many times.

I’d mentioned previously on this blog the character and logo I had a hand in developing for Sharky’s Big Bites. Unlike the other eateries and restaurants elsewhere in the resort, Sharky’s is located within the water park itself. It was fun to see the 3-D sign that was made based on my Sharky art.

Besides Sharky, I helped develop “Scoops” the Penguin and a pizza man for D.W. Anderson’s Eatery and Ice Cream Parlor and Hot Diggety Dawg. Learn more at the KeyLime Cove site, or read this informative article, which explains more about the concept behind the resort. If you’re in the area and looking for a fun place to unwind, consider a visit!

While talking on the phone, I whipped up this Digital Doodle on the Cintiq with a few Photoshop brushes, one of which is a “pastel on canvas” effect that evokes somewhat the old Craft-tint paper.

I’d done a series of comics/pop art-style illustrations for trade magazine ads and trade show animation for Sylvania bulbs, in this case a type that were used for movie projectors. A year or two later, the agency asked me to follow up with a couple additional illustrations for a lenticular postcard. You know, the kind of card where the image changes when held at a different angle. In this shot, the copy changes as our heroine is thrown in silhouette. I’ve set up an animated GIF here to approximate the effect. Simple, but kind of fun.

In approaching this poster art for St. Cloud’s Children’s Theater, I aimed to keep things simple, bold and bright. Employing a very cartoony style that seemed appropriate for the material and audience, it was fun to take my stab at this classic comic strip and stage characters. I’ve donated my time to this great theater about an hour north of the Twin Cities here in Minnesota, for this show and a couple others. View the poster for The Music Man at our Gallery, and I’ll try and post the illustration for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory next week.

This is the initial sketch I did when preparing the post on Lyle Lovett earlier this week. I was working from a variety of photos, but got carried away taking liberties and lost the likeness. Adding too many wrinkles and some sharp edges in the wrong places, I ended up with an amalgamation of Lovett and a beardless Abe Lincoln, or a suggestion of Steinbeck’s Tom Joad. Not a bad drawing, just not Lyle.