Drink N' Draw

A week ago, Jess and I went to a "Drink & Draw" event in San Diego, in which a giant group of people gets together at a bar and just sketches whatever catches their fancy. I whipped up a few doodles whilst sipping back a freshly tapped Blue Moon. The following were the fruit of my efforts that evening. Ahhhh, drawlicious!

Circle Based Shapes

Took a few minutes today to play around with some shapes. I have an idea of what I want these shapes to become, but I'm not quite ready to share what that is yet. But just you wait!

Beginning Thumbnails

Starting to play with thumbnails as a exploration of layout and composition. Less about content in these, more about getting a feel for the scale and size of them. Thinking its time to look at film and do a series of these.

Getting Back

A quick sketch from today. Some sketches exploring a spacial feature idea. Nothing fancy, but I'm trying to get back in the groove of sketching and posting after a good inspirational weekend. More to come and probably some catching up on material from the last couple months as well.

Abstract Composite 001

6"x6" Ink on Paper

Studies, Revisited

Feels like it has been ages since a new post, so I'm putting something out there! About a week back I was back in "Study Mode" (the thumbnails, not the cram session), revisiting these styles of collage, or what might eventually become collages. Form, texture, shope, composition. Did a whole sheet of them in pencil on the train ride home and I just spent a little time this afternoon refining some of them in ink, making them pop a little more. Time to get back into collage mode!

...Like Tears In Rain

I watched Blade Runner again last night and decided to do a few sketches of characters from the film. I also sketched out the composition/lighting of one of the opening shots. There are so many great lighting shots through the whole movie that I could practically draw those all night. Next time, perhaps. The characters are always more difficult for me. I am working on getting the shape of the faces down and trying to stylise them a bit.

Camping Morro Bay

A few photos from a recent camping trip Jess and I made to Morro Bay, which is a bit up north near San Luis Obispo...

Some interesting formations an Morro Rock. Another in my series of strange landscape perspectives (see Solvang pics from a couple years ago).


A night shot from our site...

Warming hands at the fire pit...

Tiny caterpillar/larvae on the rain fly...

Taking it Elsewhere

Well, it has been fun while it lasted. I am hereby giving up writing about my 52 books project in this blog...

...and started writing about it in a different blog! Whew- Bet you didn't see that coming!

After a few weeks of posting my write-ups , it became clear to me that the artwork here is being drowned out and lost between the words of my writing. While they are not entirely unrelated, I don't want to overrun what is essentially an art blog with large amounts of text. This is not to say that writing should not happen here, but the format of this project itself almost demands that it be a seperate entity.

And thus it came to be that on this day I hereby RE-introduced "Project: 52 In 52" at the link below:

project52in52.blogspot.com

Please feel free to check it out. I'll also put a new link over on the side for easy access.

View From Pershing Square

Another lunchtime sketch in Downtown. This one looking at the corner of 5th and Hill Street. Really only wanted to spend a few minutes sketching today, but the building proved to be more complicated in the form than expected, so it took about 20. It all worked out though, I think.

Lunch Sketching

It really seems like forever since I went out on my lunch break and sketched. I went topside at the 7th+Fig center downtown and drew for a few minutes before heading back to the office.

Actual boring buildings:

Actual big dude:

(Book #5) Ken Kesey - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

This post has escaped and gone to a better place.

(Book #4) Ian Fleming - Live and Let Die

I have transferred this post to a new location on another blog dedicated to this project!

(Book #3) John Hodgman - More Information Than You Require

This post now has a new home on a blog dedicated to Project: 52 In 52.

There are more hobos and molemen there.

Samurai Swag

I recently found a few "Afro Samurai" posters while cleaning out the closet. They were picked up at Comicon a couple years back with the sole intention of making them into some kind of collage. Finally, I got around to doing it! I think the sliced strip pattern works well from the derived source material.

Seraphim Falls

Watched the movie Seraphim Falls last night. Its a great movie about the pursuit and revenge in the post-Civil War era, though I can only watch it when Jess is not around due to one particularly gruesome scene involving a horse. Regardless, there are some great compositions and beautiful landscapes throughout the film. I tried to draw some of the characters - a gruff Pierce Brosnan is the one on the left and the right is supposed to be Liam Neeson peering from the shadows. I learned that Liam Neeson is not an easy likeness to capture, especially while wearing a hat.

(Book #2) Jose Ortega y Gasset - What Is Philosophy

This post has moved. It now exists here. Or does it?

Vases or Lamp Bases?

Some ideas that came to me, conveniently at lunchtime, for some desktop containing devices, vases, lamps, or larger planters. It's less about a specific purpose and more about the shape, texture and color.

"Confined" - IF

First collage of the year! It's certainly felt like a while since I have posted one, but I have not been without ideas! This is also the first time I am trying a piece out of a new "medium", paint samples. I must say there was a few tricks in using this material and it will take more experimenting to really get a sharp look out of it, but I am satisfied by my first go at it and it is certainly something to continue working with. This also marks a triumphant return to "Illustration Friday", which feeds artists a topic once a week to be wrestled into art.

(Book #1) Stephen King - The Stand

I have taken my write-ups elsewhere. This post has gone to elsewhere too.

Downtowne Oldtowne

As the last post I made in 2009 was of a few photos on a recent trip to Chicago at Thanksgiving, it seemed symmetrically appropriate that the first[ish] post of 2010 be of photos of my recent trip to Sacramento for Christmas. Here are a few shots that I took while roaming around "Old Town" Sacramento with the wife:

Siding at the ol' train depot...


Texture of the boardwalk basking in the winter sun...

Strange ruins nestled in an empty lot between shops...

2010: The Odyssey Continues

Well, it's that time of year again... the first day of the year time! A time when we make outrageous resolutions that could dramatically affect our lives for the better (or worse). This year is no different! While I could resolve to live up to my blog's name, and get back into literally drawing every day, I was drawn more to the blog's motto : "A Haphazard Exploration of Life through Art, Architecture, Photography and Word". Now that last part, since the inception of this blog, has been almost entirely ignored or overseen, but this was never my intent. To stimulate that particular aspect of my productions, in addition to my usual endeavors, I have laid upon myself the task of reading and finishing 52 books in 52 weeks, or a book a week for the year.

This has been an idea that has been kicking around in my head for a little while now, and once New Years rolled around, I simply verbalized it, and it was so. I'm not saying that I am going to be reading a tome a week or even a great piece of literature a week. I expect this to be a cross section of a multitude of topics, genres and length. My bookshelves are filled with a multitude of books that have been sitting there unread for far too long (or are calling to me to be reread), and it is high time to start tackling them!

On top of what I expect to be an increasingly daunting task, I feel obligated to write a few words in response to each of them: essay, review, a one sentence cast-off... something. Its one thing to glance over a piece of writing, but another to understand, absorb, articulate and respond to it.

I hereby accept my own challenge.