(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.

Downtowne Chitowne

Over Thanksgiving, Jess and I made a trip to Chicago to visit family. On one day, we went Downtown for some pizza, walking around and some city life. Here are a few shots from our travels that day....

Reliance Building by Burnham and Root, one of my favorites and a staple in Chicago architecture:


Marshall Field's Signage - Now a historical plaque on the corner of the now Macy's store:

Cloud Gate at Millenium Park... fondly referred to as "The Bean":

Belated Dr Sketchy Post

A couple weeks back, Jess and I went to this event called Dr. Sketchy's, which was a travelling sketch studio which was part Live Model drawing class, part burlesque show. Having never taken a live model drawing art class in school or out, I was pretty excited just to be trying out the format (it was also my fist time drawing nudes as well). Started out by doing some one minute exercises then slowly worked up to 20 minute poses.

I have always struggled with drawing people in terms of form and expression, so it was good to break out some pens and really work on that. Truthfully, some of them came out awful, but I was pleased by the end of the night and walked away feeling like I had a good experience.

Here are a couple of my sketches from that night:

Back Again

Well, after another bit of a hiatus, I am back once again at the blog. There is much to post from the last few months of non-posting. The following isn't one of the greatest things, but it is a tease of a bigger project that I did a couple months back. It was a slap-dash idea/sketch/diagram for a competition that I did through work. I had a shape of a site and I just started going at it. It doesn't have a whole lot of meaning behind it, and it doesn't really resemble the project in any way... but I still kind of like it and I needed something to get the ol' blog ball rolling again. Thus, here it resides.

Following Through

Following through on one of my quick collage ideas from a few days ago...

Another Round of...

Been a busy and distracting sort of week. Here's some stuff from a few days ago that I did on the train.

Occasionally someone will stand over me, watching me sketch. A guy this particular day gave me the usual ,"What the heck are you drawing?"

"Some layouts of abstract shapes and..."

He interrupts, "So you just draw whatever you feel like. OK." and put his headphones on.

Sketch for Layered Painting?

Another sketched out idea for a painting... or perhaps a collage...