The Art of Colby Jones
Trains are fun, especially for children. But once you get inside you realize you can no longer SEE the train. This drawing shows “Mimi” hanging on to her grandson who is determined to lean out of the window to watch the train as it moves down the track.
Carbon pencil and colored pencil on color paper. 10″ X 10″
After besting Arkansas in “The Game of the Century,” No. 1 Texas hosted No. 9 Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl, New Year’s Day, 1970. The Fighting Irish were making their first bowl appearance since the 1925 Rose Bowl.
Notre Dame led 17-14 midway through the final period until QB James Street directed the Longhorns 76 yards for the winning score. Billy Dale’s 1-yard touchdown run gave UT a 21-17 lead and its 500th win in school history. In a private collection.
Conte crayon on poster board. 28″ X 22″
1969. It was the 100th year of college football. Texas was ranked #1, Arkansas #2. It was hyped as the “Game of the Century.”
The Longhorns overcame turnovers and a 14-0 Arkansas lead to claim an exciting 15-14 victory. UT QB James Street hit Randy Peschel on a dramatic 4th-and-3 play late in the game for the winning touchdown. Texas had successfully converted a two-point PAT on their first TD. In a private collection.
Charcoal on poster board. 22″ X 28″.
Texans don’t dream of white Christmases. But we might wonder about them. Seeing one every thirty or forty years might be kind of nice. Seeing more than one might make you question all the global warming theories. This is a card I sent out previously. It has longhorns, bluebonnets, oil rigs and even an old yellow dog. There’s probably not enough detail to see the armadillo and the yellow roses but the light shining down from the Lone Star should be obvious.
While I agree we shouldn’t even be discussing Christmas until we get past Thanksgiving, it seems each December I get some folks who suddenly realize that a personalized portrait or painting would make a great gift. And while I agree with that too it doesn’t leave much time to actually get it done. So if you’re even thinking about it you’d better speak up fast or change it to a Valentine’s Day gift.
I consider Martin Luther King, Jr. to be one of America’s greatest heroes. But I have to admit this drawing was more expedient than respectful. Back in the late 70’s the bigwigs called to ask what were we doing in our building to observe MLK Day. Instead of saying, “Uh, nothing”, I lied and said, “Uh, we…uh…have a display.” So I needed to quickly come up with a display just in case one of the bigwigs actually left their office and visited us. I rushed home at lunch, collected a few articles and photos from my files (all artists have files), whipped up the drawing, rushed back to work and stuck them in a display case.
It’s actually a very simple drawing. White pencil on black matboard. But I think it worked out great and became one of my favorites. It’s now in a private collection.
Colored pencil on matboard
Granted, if you’re going to play croquet you need to mow the grass a little shorter but the three year old grandson didn’t know it mattered.
Pencil on clay-coated paper. 7″ X 10″
SirColby.com
Just about every time someone would retire the folks in charge of the retirement party would come to me and ask for a caricature or cartoon drawing of the retiree. When I retired someone asked if I was going to draw my own cartoon. Hmm…got me to thinking. I came up with this drawing as my way of saying farewell to those left behind.
Pencil on paper. 12″ X 9″
