Train Sketch Train

Whipped this up on the train ride this morning. Interpret as you please.

Continuing Effort

Here is some branching and a severed limb. The limb hasn't decided what it wants to do with itself or where it wants to reside yet, but when it does, I will be sure to take a picture and post it. It is a only a small portion of the perpetual drawing project that I posted on Saturday.

Culver Romp

Yesterday, Jess and I went to Culver City to check out the "Entropy" exhibit at the Koplin Del Rio Gallery. The exhibit was pretty interesting and had to do with "The Art in Architecture". Many of the architects featured in the exhibit were either teachers that I had at SCI-Arc, teachers who taught there or were other individuals related to my past education. There was some rich and engaging pieces there, but there was also some crap. Nonetheless it was refreshing and encouraging to see crafted work of some of the area architects. It was the last day of the show and I was glad to have gotten out there to see it.

While we were in the area... we also stopped by the Eric Owen Moss projects at the Hayden Tract. As there was nobody around and the security guard was apparently off, we waltzed right in and took a bunch of photos in the courtyard and surrounding areas. To most architects, this stuff is old hat and done, but no matter how I may feel about Moss, seeing these buildings in person is still pretty amazing.

We also went to Tito's Tacos for lunch. If you have never been, I highly recommend it.

The first image here is of the "Umbrella Building", as it is called in certain circles. I tried running this set of images through my splicing program, but halfway through it went haywire and I was forced to reckon with the burden of perspective manually.

Work In Progress

Every few months, without fail, I pull out a drawing that I have been picking at for years now. It comes out for a few days then returns to a dark place where it festers until called upon in a time of need. This past week I tinkered with it some more. While I am not entirely sure where it is going, I always try to plant a little something in there that makes evident the state of mind that I was in while drawing. I have also tried to incorporate work-work related elements in there. I stare at things all day and it makes sense that they linger in my mind and haunt my dreams. Sometimes it's the only way to associate some further meaning to the Droll.

I'm hoping that more can be done on this before it goes away for another undetermined period of time, though I am not sure if it is ready to be finished or I ready to do the finishing.

Aalto-Spiro

An idea came to me this afternoon and I whipped these up in a few minutes before anyone would notice I wasn't working. These are pretty simplistic sketches of a spiraling tower whose primary geometry consists of incrementally increasing volumes about a centrifugal void. My initial vision included a rather monolithic support system and an interweaving glazed facade. Definitely something that would need to be hashed out in three dimensions.

Bed Poetics

i took to doodling late that night

over blotched purple ink

still seeping through pages

of yesterday

shadows of ideas

impressed upon the wanton forms

as their sweeping motions

replied posthumously

A Little Perspective

I got word today that the Architectural and Perspective Drawing class that Jess and I were going to take (starting this weekend) was just cancelled due to lack of enrollment. Bummer...

After I found out about that I started drawing my OWN perspective sketches. I had started with the intent of another composite study but it ended up being quick perspective and texture sketches. These were done in the "down time" of a In-Office Photoshop Class, of which most of the content I had already known. I did pick up a couple new tricks, though.

Doodles

Doodles in the margins… a compulsive habit that I have had for as long as I have had margins to doodle in.

Taxonomic Nomenclature

Samples of the ever-elusive Californian Furry Worm...

Structure to House Collections... Study 2

Another quick study-sketch for Structure to House A Collection of Collections . I composed a few ideas, forms and gestures together for this one while also trying out a couple of patterning methods that may or may not work for what I want to do.

Train Passengers

I drew a couple of random people on the train today. One was worthy of a color rendition.

When I got home today, there were some really bright (especially since it was dark out) clouds in the sky. I took some shots and tweaked the color just a little.

Collection of Collections

At some point in the last couple of days, I began thinking of collections. More specifically, my personal collections. And even more specifically... collections from my past. It began by jotting down everything that I have collected at some point in my life, whether of my own volition or not. The list was rather extensive and it spawned further wonder about the nature of collections. What constitutes a collection? How many? Can I really call something my own collection if it was given to me?

I continued jotting some ideas and further questions down until I determined that the best way for me to grapple with this notion was to make a project out of it, architecturally and artistically, which I will tentatively refer to as A Structure to House A Collection of Collections. It is by no means developed but here's a quick composite sketch of some initial thoughts, shapes and objects coming together.

Reintigration

The Mechanical/Electrical Systems Exam has come and gone and I can now have a bit of a break from the studying before jumping headlong into the next subject. Overall it went alright. I came out feeling "just OK" and worry that the results could go either way, just due to the trickiness and specificities of the questions asked. All I can do now it have a drink and wait for the results to show up in the mail. In the meantime, I look forward to catching up with things here and with the rest of my life.

I shall start things off with a couple of photos that I took late this afternoon of the fading light of dusk seeping through the bedroom and office windows of my apartment...

More Flashcards...

This week really has been one of the most exciting weeks ever...

Because all of my free time has been consumed with studying flashcards, reading technical notebooks, brushing up on my basic MEP engineering skills and qizzing myself on these matters, I decided to take a 20 minute break and do a quick digital image. What did I go and draw?



I am going to be really glad when Monday comes and goes and this test is over and done with, hopefully forever. It will be nice to have something else on the brain besides radiation, convection, transformers, heat transfer, water pumps, stack vents, refrigeration cycles, fire-safety codes, etc, etc, etc...

Until next time...

Flash Card

I haven't posted since Saturday. Yesterday's lack of post-age was a symbolic gesture, a moment of proverbial silence, for the fallen Bears who trumphantly made it to the Superbowl, then blew it in typical Chicago fashion. I will say no more, for anyone who knows not of these occurances has most likely been under a rock and cares not about such folly, or it will be salt in the wound for anyone else.

Outside of yesterday I have been mostly preparing for my next Architectural Registration Exam, which I will be taking a week from today. The majority of my studying will occur this week and outside of that... not a whole lot. I may or may not be able to post, depending on how quickly and creatively I can scrap things together in between study guides, flash cards, self quizzes, and gap filling via Google searches and Wikipedia. In the meantime, please quiz yourself using the following flashcard. Clicking it will show you the correct answer!

A Blue Creature

What happens when I want to get far away from Architecture. Although, the ears do have a certain element of structure to them...

At the End of Mead Horn Bridge

Probably not the most buildable of structures, but that's never stopped me before.
I imagine the wind blowing through this would make some pretty crazy sounds.
There are a couple of wee silhouettes in place for scale...

Shadowed Light?

Sometimes I draw just for the sake of going through the motions....
And that generally turns out to be crap...
But sometimes there a shred of value that can be extracted from it...
And maybe that shred can be skewed into something else that is slightly more interesting...
And on that occasion, it's best to make note of whatever happened...

Just in case.