Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Don’t let the sun blast your shadow.

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946): George Bailey’s Reawakening

Watercolor on 9” x 12” watercolor paper

#4 in the 40 movies I haven’t seen from the AFI 100!

That’s right, I’d never in my 45+ years seen It’s a Wonderful Life. A scene here or there and a ton of people talking about every aspect of it but I’d never actually watched it. Christmas movies aren’t especially my thing, although my biggest insight after seeing the film is that it really isn’t a holiday story at all. It’s more a meditation on the evils of capitalism and the struggles of keeping one’s humanity within such a crushing system. Hey, Frank Capra didn’t mess around!

I also now get just how funny this Saturday Night Live skit is:

For the painting, I wanted to center in on Jimmy Stewart (who never met a vowel he didn’t like) as George Bailey, right after returning to his ‘real’ life. Without going down too dark of a path, I’d found myself in a very similar point on a bridge once and also opted to walk back home. This moment of purposefully taking hold of one’s own destiny spoke to me in a genuine way.

Next week: The Spike Lee joint Do the Right Thing. Am I going to do a painting of Rosie Perez’ dance from the opening? I mean, yeah, duh.

Here’s a preview of Thursday’s new cosmic Kris Statlander painting. Maybe the most fun I’ve ever had working on a background!

Card subject to change.

Rob’s Art on ShopAEW
###
Rob and Jason Arnett's novella Rudow Can't Fail!
###
Rob’s prints and shirts at Pro Wrestling Tees
###
Bluesky
Cara
YouTube
###
Katy’s book Oldest Kansas City

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is imperfect but fun. It’s like a synthesis of the horniness of the original series, the humor of Lower Decks and those wizard books by that notorious terf. It’s set in the Star Trek trappings but unlike so many of the ‘new’ series it’s not as oddly subservient to continuity. Like, “That other stuff happened and here’s some new stuff happening.” Hopefully they keep to that, to my taste. The young adult angst ain’t for me, but that’s okay and I hope the comedy aspects get a little more air.

Yesterday I finished listening to the audiobook for People of Darkness by Tony Hillerman, the next in the Leaphorn and Chee series of books that the show Dark Winds is based on. Someone is hunting down people associated with a group of Navajo who all mysteriously died of cancer and Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee finds himself in the assassin’s crosshairs. I was fond of the first couple books in the series but man, I think I’m starting to LOVE these books. I’ve heard ‘Skinwalkers’ is where it seriously takes off so I’m looking forward to that in a few months!

Earlier this week I read the graphic novel Harpy by EPHK and it’s rad. A gorgeous near-future detective story that reminds me of Memento, Blad Runner, La Jetee and Raymond Chandler. This was my first time seeing EPHK’s noirish-yet-cartoony art and I dig it a lot. I don’t want to talk about the plot too much because it’s a hell of a journey if you go in blind.

Fun week with these. The first three I was playing around with geometric mark-making using a flat brush, seeing what I can do with that. It clicked for me with the green one and I’ll experiment with that approach more in the near future. The third one is a sketch for an upcoming rasslin’ painting. The fourth one with the bisexual color scheme was me getting some emotion out of myself, just slapping some paint down. The sepia piece was to work out a color palette for a movie painting, while the next one is. a sketch for another one.

I’m specifically terrified for my friends in Minnesota right now. It’s not about political differences when there’s federal thugs throwing a flashbang grenade into a car full of kids. Actual human beings are being hurt and it’s reprehensible. It’s about having basic morals and anyone still on board with this administration lacks them.

I’m also amazed by the people of Minnesota standing up for their communities, their neighbors, and their humanity in the face of such cruelty. There’s a goodness on display, a palpable empathy that can’t be denied. Mr. Rogers told us when you’re in trouble to look for the helpers, and everyday citizens are rising up to be those helpers.

They’re an inspiration.

Love you more,
Rob

P.S. Abolish ICE