Jerry Dowling's stuff

No, I didn't go to art school with Jerry Dowling. But he is a pretty terrific cartoonist and caricaturist nonetheless. Here is a caricature he did of me a few years ago at a meeting we were at where he was probably supposed to be paying attention and not drawing. Typical cartoonist. I am sure everyone of us cartoonists were doodling. A pen and a blank sheet of paper is not to be resisted. He's nailed my Cro-Magnon/Klingon brow. Ouch.

Jerry is a crusty old fart par excellence from Cincinnati. Alright. Not really that old. But very, very crusty. Jerry and I were in the (then) Ohio-Michigan chapter of the National Cartoonist Society, back when I was a "joiner".

Amazing (and true) story about Jerry and his wife (Gerri - yep, that's her real name), along with fellow cartoonist, chapter member and pal, Don Lee (editorial cartoonist in Sandusky, OH) at a Cincinnati Red's game. Some years back, my wife, kids and I took a weekend trip down to Cincinnati (we lived a hour north of Columbus). My eldest daughter wanted to go see the Red's play. And I found cheap nose-bleed seats by phone before we left. I would pick them up at the stadium.

I had mentioned to Don that we were going down that way... and he said that he was going to be taking some time off then too, and, too, would be heading down to Cincinnati, and would be visiting with Jerry and Gerri... and that the three of them were going to the Reds game. I told Don that we also were going... and that we'd see him there! The stadium seated tens of thousands - so of course we laughed at the absurdity of such a statement... and the likelihood.

We got there early, found our seats and before too long saw Don heading up towards us. I was pretty surprised he found us. How long had he searched?! He sat with us and visited and as it grew closer to the start of the game, I pointed out to him that he should probably find his own seat soon. Don pulls out his ticket stub and would you believe his seat was right next to ours?! A few minutes later, Jerry and Gerri joined us as well. Jerry had got their three tickets at a completely different time and place than my daughter and I had gotten ours!

And here is my own take on my own smug mug. I am still trying to find one that Will Finn did of me back at AiP.