The Man, The Legend.

Click to view the strip larger!

    Back when I was attending Carson-Newman University, I had the privilege and pleasure of being taught by many great professors. One of these fine individuals was William C. Houston. He not only taught many of the courses I attended, but I also was lucky enough to have him as my advisor. This past Spring, Mr. Houston retired after teaching at Carson-Newman for 38 years.

    Mr. Houston is the kind of person who really invests in people and really goes the extra mile to help them out. He is also known for being pretty hilarious. As a very small way of thanking him for his great impact on my education, career, and life, I made him this comic strip that refers to one of his more widely known ongoing jokes.¹

   The tale goes roughly something like this, while at some sort of faculty get together or while sitting at lunch, many other professors were discussing how much they had to grade and how much work it was. One of them, whether out of genuine curiosity or sarcasm said something to the effect of, "How do you grade your classes?" Mr. Houston responded something like, "I just walk into the classroom. Look at all the paintings and say, 'NEEDS MORE BLUE!' and leave."²

   Of course, I can't tell the story as well as some. And he may have actually said, "More Blue!" in the story. But ever since then students, alumni, and teachers alike will occasionally comment, "Needs more blue," or shout it across the campus lawn when they see him. The whole thing stuck. Some fellow classmates and I even named the weekly art blog we used to run, "NEEDS MORE BLUE."

   So there's the story. Now maybe the comic strip above is even funnier? Be sure to check out the grand artwork of William C. Houston sometime. And THANKS MR. HOUSTON! God bless, everybody. Talk to you soon!

¹ That's a lie. It actually refers to two inside jokes, one classic sci-fi film, his love of music, and his own artwork. You can see more of the second joke in great photography by another fine individual, Michael Alvis. 
² I think he only graded this way on rare occasions.

This is a cross-post with philipabuck.com

Group Alumni Exhibition at Carson-Newman

As some of you may know, many of the artists who have contributed to this blog since its beginning are graduates of Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tn. You'll probably be excited to hear that a bunch of us who graduated in 2010 are having an exhibit there soon! Check it out!

 Two Years Out; Group Alumni Exhibition, Class of 2010.
13 October through 20 November 2012.
An exhibit of recent artwork in a variety of media, made by Carson-Newman Art and Photography graduates of the class of 2010, including Daniel Aisenbrey, Philip Buck, Gretchen Hill, Cory Jones, Sarah Lynch Jones, Meg Lynch, Alex Smith, Allison Smith, and Kourtney Kelley Smith.
Opening Reception: Homecoming Saturday, 13 October, 9:30am to Noon.

I hope we have the pleasure of seeing you there!!! :)
-Philip

Keeping his head (and other body parts) above water.

Haha, it's not meant to be good. I just wanted to contribute this week :)
At work, so I didn't have anything to color the bubbles in with :( Except for a yellow highlighter? Haha.

Keeping Your Head Above Water- Philip A. Buck

Click to enlarge

Thanks for lookin'! Have a good rest of the week!
-Philip

p.s. If any of you are looking for good ideas for Christmas etc. feel free to check out This Super Special Deal on Custom Art by yours truly.

Gretchen's Theme for this week is...

...keeping your head above water!!!

Viking Cats- Philip A. Buck

click to enlarge cats!

I did this last week but just now got a chance to scan it... so its a little late, but here it is! Great topic!
-Philip

Oldest Piece of Your Art You Can Find- Philip A. Buck

crayon on paper
click to enlarge

Sorry it is a week late, but here is one of the oldest drawings I could find that still had a subject and wasn't just scribbles. This is (I think) a really really old self portrait I did as a lad. Apparently "U love I?" Hope you guys enjoy. Great Topic! Very fun!
-Philip

Destry Cloud's choice for this week's theme is...

...VIKING CATS!!!!
Post your art and be merry.

Daniel Aisenbrey's choice for this week's theme is....

..."share your oldest piece of art you can find!"
This is a really cool idea. It should be a very fun topic. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's posts!


-Philip

Octopus- Philip A. Buck

bic pen on sketchbook page, click to enlarge

Sorry, just a very sloppy, quick sketchbook sketch this time :P
This was a fun topic though. Many cool possibilities!
-Philip

This week's choice by Cory Jones is...

.....OCTOPUS!!! Enjoy making and posting art for Cory's fun theme this week and remember if you ever miss a week you can always post the image late.

-Philip

Bones- Philip A. Buck

I'm also glad I'm not just a circulatory system...
-Philip

This week's choice by Allison Smith!!!

Allison Smith's choice for this week's art theme is: BONES!!!

Patterns/wallpaper 2- Philip A. Buck

CLICK TO ENLARGE!

Just a little experiment with pattern and wallpaper making. A very very rough piece, but it was fun!

You draw something (I drew a lil man,) and then cut it into four pieces.  Then tape or glue the pieces on a piece of paper diagonal from their previous spot and draw more (I drew random junk.) All this can be done digitally as well. Then put it together on the computer! MAGIC!

-Philip

Return of the KETCHUP WEEK!

It is Ketchup Week(s?) again here on the NEEDS MORE BLUE! That means all of our participating artists will have time specifically set aside to get caught up on any past topics/themes they didn't get to post for or any they want another go at.  So, my artistic friends, let the KETCHUP BEGIN! (again.)

Story of Clouds- Philip A. Buck

click image to enlarge

Sorry about the low quality image this time. Just got this one drawn, cut, scanned, put together, and adjusted really quick. I wanted to make sure I got one posted this week.
-Philip

This week's topic chosen by Stacy Hawley is....

...Tell the Story of Clouds!!
Sounds like fun! And just like in the past, you can post your art anytime this week (or any other week for that matter.)
-Philip

Mayhem by Philip A. Buck

Click the image to SEE IT MOVE!

A tad late but here it is! :) I did it really quick in the ol' photoshop.
 MAYHEM!
-Philip

This week's pick by Sarah Jones is...

... BLACK LIGHTS!
As always, just do a lil something that deals with this theme and post it sometime this week. Have fun amigos!

This week's theme chosen by Sarah Faith Morris is....

.... Mayhem!!!

Daniel Aisenbrey - Landscape

Mt. Kephart at sunrise, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Landscapes- Philip A. Buck



I was hoping to do a lil watercolor landscape for this theme, but I haven't gotten a chance. So, I'll just post this lil photog from last Autumn. Maybe if I get to do a painting after all, I'll post that too!

-Philip

This week's theme that Philip picked is....

...LANDSCAPES!
I hope you all have a good time with this one. Best wishes,
-Philip

Heat- Philip A. Buck

When I saw that this week was "heat" I thought it very convenient because the illustration I am working on for The Amplifier is also about heat.  Here is the work in progress. -a simpler, more design-y one this time as apposed to the usual drawing heavy illustration I do for the paper. To see the final image, look for next month's issue anywhere on the streets of Knoxville or keep your eyes on my website. :)
-Philip

Heat!

Ok, so it is incredibly hot here in Texas (today it got to 105) and I'm sure it's pretty warm where y'all are too, so my theme for this week is heat. I figured that I would leave it pretty general so that it would leave lots of room for creativity. :) I hope that everyone is doing great!

Tattoos- Philip A. Buck



"Whoa, those are some realistic tattoos you two have." hahaheheClick image to embiggify.

 Great topic, Laura!

-Philip

This week's theme chosen by Laura Harris is...

....TATTOOS! There is lots of creative room to go crazy on this one, so let have fun with it! I'm excited to post my own lil peice, but really excited to see what you folks come up with. :)

Hair- Philip A. Buck

Just a real quick and tiny drawing this time. Its inspired by the Kayleigh Clark's drawing of  "a frog with 70's hair, but like Rupunzel's." :)
Have a good weekend, Gang!

HAIR

This week's theme is... HAIR! Enjoy :)

Patterns- Philip A. Buck

Good topic this week! I had something more elaborate planned, but didn't get around to it. Oh, well. Still a fun one! Have a good weekend gang!

-Phil