Visit Illustration Friday and see how other illustrators tackled the "Reverse" theme.

I enjoyed the bold simplicity of "reversing" the dictionary copy in the background.

Robert Gibbs, the President Obama's Press Secretary and All Around Cleaner-Upper for the last three years, is stepping down soon. He announced his departure in January and now his tenure as the mouthpiece for the White House is coming to a close.

Major doff of the cap to my good friend and drinking buddy, Bill Andrew, who tossed off this idea while knocking back a cold one. Good on ya, sir.

This in one of my sketchbooks I've filled up over years. This is one dates September 29, 2009 through March 22, 2010.

Page 18 (watercolor pencil and graphite)

DESCRIPTION>
* Wire-bound soft cover
* 60 pages
* Each page is 9" x 11"
* Over 180 drawings
* Graphite, charcoal, ball point pen, pen and ink

WHAT IT REPRESENTS
Well, I have to admit that offering up this collection of work is a bit trepidatious for me. It's like offering a psychological dossier about myself. I happen to be proud of the steps and lessons learned in this sketchbook because it represents where I'm at right now, 100%. Yet, it does show, in high detail, the random paths of a working illustrator. I'm aware that there are those that may think owning a bunch of half formed ideas might be similar to watching hotdogs being manufactured; the final result is satisfying, but the process is messy.

I can promise you, though, the twists and turns of these images will surprise you and even delight you. How often can you peek underneath the hood of an illustrator that ranges from political art of Cox and Forkum to the whimsical nature of "Say What?"?

You will recognize quite a few sketches that turned into posts on my site during the time period I mentioned above.

I believe the utter uniqueness of an artist's sketchbook is virtually sacred and I'd like one of y'all to have it in your home as evidence that the creative process is a living, breathing thing.

Page 59 (ball point pen)

CONDITIONS FOR THE BIDDING PROCESS

* BIDDING STARTS NOW AND WILL END AT 9PM EST, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16
* Bidding will start at $270.
* Please bid in increments of $10 or more
* The comment button at the bottom of THIS post is the ONLY way to make your bid official. I won't accept bidding any where else.
* The final bid will be determined by the time stamp on your bid. Cutting it close to the final minute is not recommended.
* If someone wins the bidding and chooses not to follow through with payment, I will offer the sketchbook to the next highest bidder.

Wow. Thanks for the privilege of trying this. Let's see what happens!

UPDATE FEB 26 VIA DONKEYROCK

There you go, ladies and gentlemen, as seen on The CNN website. My caricature of Gadhafi (posted here) was done many, many, many moons ago for the Cox and Forkum site. Now it's back.

My stars, it's seems a catchy caricature speaks the international language of whacky.

ORIGINAL FOR SALE: $325(SOLD FEB 25, no longer for sale)

The first person to offer $325 for the original (6 1/4" x 7", watercolor on paper) on THIS COMMENT THREAD will receive this piece and just a wafer-thin slice of history.

This is not an auction. Only the first positive response is in play. No counter offers.

Gadhafi's taking the repudiation of his government very hard.

Found this in todays' Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Check out my Feb 25 toon. Eerie. And I don't mean the lake.