I’ve been having problems sleeping. Not really sure what the cause is but I do know that it has really given me time to think of new projects. This is one of the things that I came up with while tossing and turning in the wee hours of the morning. I decided that if I couldn’t sleep, I might as well make something and this project was perfect for that. There was so much patience required. I started with making some new frames and staining them.     I did some sketching and started building the stars out of clay. Once I had them the right size and shape I had to bake them. While waiting for them to cure I knocked out a few beads for accents and had to bake them too.     I strung everything together with fishing line, using super glue to position critical beads. I then drilled holes in the frame and glued the star-chains into place. Every glue spot...

  I started those drawings of Aku so of course I was going to move on to Jack. While I wasn’t so happy with my sketches…     I did start thinking about my favorite ronin, Usagi Yojimbo. I admit, I first learned from him from his appearance in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but that was a long time ago and I have read Stan Sakai’s books many times since. I always loved the way the book was drawn. So I started drawing…     I haven’t been this happy with a drawing for a really long time. Don’t really know why. It is probably that emotional connection. The fact that it looks like some of those early drawings helps. I remember trying so hard to draw these and ninja turtles but they never looked quite right.     Apparently practice really does pay off. I am so stoked about this that I just want to keep drawing. Should I...