I’m not back!
It seems that every year about the time of my birthday (I’ll be 61 on the 29th), I start this blog up again. I miss blogging and interacting with the Internet community, but family difficulties and the incredible workload I have right now make posting with any regularity impossible. So this is not Olduvai coming back, it’s just me looking at this site, getting tired of seeing that same mammoth and feeling the need to do something. So here it is.
Not that I’m unsatisfied with them, but I tend to fall out of love with my own images very quickly. I’m sure I look at them more critically than anyone else, and I’m always thinking of ways I could have improved them. This little digital piece is an exception
click here to go to my Flick’r site.
If I looked long enough, I’m sure I could find a few little things to change, but it doesn’t matter. I love the feel and atmosphere. I want to be there.
Most of the illustrations I do are for publication. You always have to bear in mind that any image you’re working on will end up being ink on paper, and whether it’s done with pigment or digitally, big areas of black will only work - if then - when done by top-end presses on very high quality paper. I started this painting knowing all that and still couldn’t bring myself to stop and paint something more “useful”. Because of the family difficulties I mentioned, I haven’t sat at a campfire in years. I will again. Until then I think I’m going to make this little digital piece my screensaver.
I can’t use this image for the original purpose, but it did bring back memories of a poem I wrote as a teenager 40+ years ago. I can’t remember it all, but the last two lines are…
“Imagination’s endless paths
My mind at peace to tire,
All past adventure known again
To sit before a fire.”
November 19th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Happy Birthday! My son shares your birthday, he will be 28 this year. Really like your campfire picture. Hope family problems alleviate and you have time to find a campfire to stare into and poke with a stick.
November 20th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
We do need to get you some campfire time, don’t we?
November 21st, 2007 at 2:59 am
Nice to hear from you again. Wonderful picture!
November 22nd, 2007 at 8:50 am
Great to see a new post. Happy birthday, and let’s hope next year will be easier for you!
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Great to hear from you. Happy Birthday from Sean W. and family. He has your email printed and in a clear page protector. Good luck in the coming year.
November 24th, 2007 at 1:09 am
Yes, that IS a nice image. Happy Birthday, Carl! It’s good to see a post from you.
November 25th, 2007 at 8:42 am
Thanks for sharing this picture with us! Looking for to see more of your inspiring work!
Greetings from Austria and late birthday wishes!
November 29th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Happy Belated!
That piece just feels like camping in Ontario. I can smell the burning wood and cold crisp air.
Aaaaaand, now back to city life. *sigh*
-Glendon Mellow
November 29th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Thanks for the wonderful picture and happy belated birthday. I hope you get dome campfire time soon.
November 29th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
“Some” campfire time. Stupid fingers.
November 29th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Carl!
I’m glad to see a little movement in the water here, and I hope your birthday is treating you well.
All the best,
Christopher
December 1st, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Happy birthday, belated or not. That’s a beautiful picture and reminds me of camping in Ontario.
I knew you were around because I see your illustrations popping up in books and articles; but it’s nice to hear you checking in. May you have many more idyllic camping nights.
December 2nd, 2007 at 12:55 am
Oh, darn. Late again. Well, happy belated birthday! *Shimmy*
December 3rd, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Hello again! I just rediscovered you after a couple of years’ absence. I’m still in New Mexico, trying to get the taste of the Bush administration out of my mouth so I can get out into nature again. Best wishes, bro’.
December 6th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
A belated happy birthday to you, Carl. I’m glad to see even one post a year here. I hope your future has many nights around campfires. Good long talks around it with friends.
December 13th, 2007 at 12:04 am
This is very late, but Happy Birthday! It was a real treat to see a post here. I love the evocative picture. Along with everyone else, I hope your family troubles work themselves out for the best sooner rather than later.
December 20th, 2007 at 5:57 am
Hi George (or Carl?),
Is Carl Buell another person or just your credit for illustrations? Anyway, i stumbled on your site from my research and I think you’re illustrations are fantastic. I’m an illustrator myself and does information graphics.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:40 am
New artwork from C. Buell for a new fossil -48 Ma- old ancestor of the whales!; even-toed ungulate Indohyus. Great discovery and great and beautiful life-reconstruction !!
http://www.neoucom.edu/audience/about/departments/anatomy/AnatFaculty/media
December 28th, 2007 at 11:03 am
Even though you are “not back”, it’s still good to hear from you!
Hope your birthday went well, and that you have many more as well.
December 30th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
hello carl,ive been wanting to contact you for over a decade now,i sold the cafe in 2005,i live in bishop now 2773 sunset rd ,bishop ca 93514,happy new year,happy late birthday-miss you from the 9o’s,love your art-RANDY MARTIN
January 17th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Happiest of birthdays, Carl. I’m glad to see you stirring here, and the artwork is gorgeous as always. I can smell the marshmallows roasting.
Hope things ease up a bit for you and your family soon. Thank you for taking time out to give us a little more of your incredible talent to enjoy!
January 18th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Good to see a sign of life from you here.
Alhough I’ve seen you image of the Indohyus!
What “Chrismas present” the article by Thewissen and his collegues and your illustration!
Best wishes for this 2008!
January 27th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
carl it’s me your cousin ( i known everyone claim to be family) but this is a nice website. I told some of the teachers about it. Stop by soon.
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Hey! I’ve had your site bookmarked for ages, so glad to see a new post!
Happy birthday!
March 30th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Beautiful picture. It looks so peaceful.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Wow, what wonderful art.
What a depressing blog. “Look on my works, ye mighty…”
July 21st, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Infrequent posts are better than no posts. Hope to hear more from you as you have the time/desire to write here. Recently discovered your blog and work and am so inspired. It’s wonderful to experience art that is both very beautiful and instructive. Best Wishes.
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Would love to have a t-shirt with your illustration of Charles and the large ground finch for Darwin’s 200th birthday! That’s how I found your artwork, which is beautiful–by googling Charles Darwin birthday.
Have you considered having Cafe Press or some such company print some t-shirts with your artwork for February 12th?
February 9th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Carl! Remember me? I met you in Flagstaff in the late 1990s, when I was a grad student peddling stories to Hank at Flagstaff Live. Saw one of your Darwin pics on a blog and linked to this site. Technology! How are you? Looks like you had a birthday … well, a while ago. Hope you enjoyed it. And I hope you see this!
Anne
PS The Abert squirrel you painted is stunningly framed and frequently dusted, in a place of honor on the wall of my study. I promised!
May 8th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Wow, stunning breathtaking stuff. I am a Veterinarian, undergrad Zoology degree from Northern Arizona University, and have a major thing for late pleistocene megafauna. Never seen better representations, ever. Do you ever sell prints? Do you draw freehand, scan in and then finish in Photoshop?
June 4th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Thanks for “coming back” to us. We all miss you and wish you’d do even more with this blog though I admit life and family can certainly take a lot of time up. You do what is most important to you and makes you happy. Great image here. I printed it and it came out beautifully!
August 2nd, 2009 at 6:09 pm
that is a beautiful illustration. i love how the campfire light disappears into the silhouette of the woods.
August 2nd, 2009 at 6:22 pm
love your work, i’m an illustrator too and hope to have a body of work like yours someday. thanks for sharing your work and your tutorials. if you have time you can check out my art project cool anime art t-shirts. thanks.
August 2nd, 2009 at 6:28 pm
i can understand falling out of love with your images after you’ve labored over them for a long time, but every time someone encounters your painting for the first time they will fall in love with it for you.
August 7th, 2009 at 11:08 am
[...] Carl Buell painted another one that took my breath away the first time I saw it. Go see it. (I’m asking permission on this one; it may take a little whilel) [...]
November 29th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Happy Birthday!