elie's show

My friend, Elie, has a show this weekend.
If you're in town, you should check it out.

everyone's got a story

Years ago, in another life, I was a Graphic Design major. At that time I acquired some graphic design magazines for reference and inspiration. After a couple of years, I changed my major and then dropped out, moved to Portland, etc. I have held onto these magazines for almost ten years, after moving six or seven times, traveling across the country despite their physical weight and increasing demands from the wife that they disappear (apparently, in a 760 sq.ft. house a handful of magazines take up a lot of space ;).

Well, the reason I've held onto them is that I wanted to draw some of the images therein. (admittedly, I did go through a brief collage phase, and I had thought these would be nice for that, too, but no!) I am starting a small series of drawing montages using these ancient images.

Here's the first.

card for ruth

Well, this past weekend was a busy one for the old letterpress biz. We printed up some fliers in exchange for a C.S.A. share -- a pretty good deal I think. We also designed a new "thank you" card and a new birthday card for Alia's grandma, "Gma", who is turning 70(!).
Those pictures will soon be posted on our other blog, here.

In addition to all of that, I still had time (well, I stayed up until two in the morning, after the fam went to sleep) to finish inking our friend, Ruth's, business card/hang tag. Most of the elements were from her sketches. I just arranged them nicely.

Photo by Alicia Carrier

Note: This is not the actual size for the card. I will, of course, shrink it down.

The next step is to contact a die-maker in town who can make us a die.
Woot!

the usual suspects

Two of the biggest trouble makers I know -- happy as clams.

This drawing is mostly about the telephone pole across the street. I stare at it whenever I'm waiting for the bus. Slowly, it's percolating into a painting. I just have to stare at it a little more...

stay the course, making progress, honor and sacrifice...

This is Four Star General So-and-so at a photo-op, speaking to the troops in Afghanistan. I liked this AP photo especially for the body language of the guy in the front row. He's like, "WTF?"

magnanimous magnate

This is the second time I've tried this drawing. Sometimes the idea for a drawing is as far as it should go.

view over cavanaugh

This was a recent commission for a friend's mom's boyfriend who is a rocket scientist/bull rider.
What do you get the man who has it all? A portrait of his plane, of course.

sketch and a haircut, two bits

Things are so crazy right now, I had to squeeze in time to do a drawing while Alia gave me a haircut in the kitchen. I used one of those Copic pens with a brush point... pretty fancy. They work really well for producing a variety of line thicknesses and quick pools of pure black.

mother of all comebacks

Well, after an unusually long hiatus I have decided to start drawing again. It's not that I haven't been posting, I really haven't been drawing. With my new job taking so much of my time, the lack of a dedicated studio space, and launching a new business venture, I haven't had time to draw daily, much less post and blog about my drawings.
My wife and I started a letterpress business last December, Darling Press, and this is a sketch for a Mother's Day card idea I had. Alia and I are both strongly influenced by the aesthetics of Art Nouveau. This drawing was done after spending four or five hours researching borders, fonts, imagery, and artists. It's a slow process, but looking at art is always fun. It might be obvious to see Gustav Klimt's influence on me.
I am leaning towards a four color card, we'll see what happens!