third drinker and fourth drinker

It's been a good weekend so far.
The sun came out, we didn't get rained on once, and I was able to draw two more sketches.

Things have been pretty busy at the old homestead/studio. We have fourteen jobs, all of a sudden!
Luckily, it's been a slow burn and seems like a good pace.


This dapper gentleman is dressed up for a few cocktails at the flight club.
He'll be out late. Don't wait up.

Then, there's this one.
He's been having a rough go of it lately and has taken to drinking his troubles away. Poor guy.
It really hit him hard when his unemployment ran out.
Things'll get better when the economy turns around, though.
Funny thing is, his great-grandparents were teetotaling prohibitionists.

second drinker

Here's the second drinker. This one seems to focus on the hand, too.

first drinker

I'm completing a series of portraits of drinkers.
These will be letterpressed onto coasters as soon as I finish.

I'm not sure what these represent, yet. Is it about drinking or the drink itself?
This one seems to be about the hand. The face is hardly worked at all.. almost detached.
Maybe it's just about holding on.

sleeping beauty

It's funny to think that ten years ago I drew exclusively with a mechanical pencil.
So much has changed since then. I was reluctant to ever go to art school, because I liked saying I was self-taught, and I was afraid art school would destroy my style and force me to draw like everyone else. This was a legitimate concern because there is a definite difference in works done by someone with an art degree and someone without. After art school, that difference is more apparent to me, and boy, am I glad I decided to go! I definitely do not feel like "they" diluted my "natural talent." On the contrary, I feel like the education has increased my skill and medium versatility and improved my artistic practice.

I'm such an art snob...

christmas '79

Sometimes, when I don't know what to draw, I open the family album. It's funny how these albums contain more than what's in the pictures.

another show for elie

The hardest thing about New Year Resolutions is keeping them. I read somewhere that the average lifespan for such a resolution is six days. Bummer.

Anywho, I did another show card for my friend Elie. She's much nicer in person than she looks here. This image only resembles her, really. Elie disliked this image so much, in fact, that she only used the text for her cards.. ouch!

Oh well. I'll keep drawing, if no one likes them. *sniffle*

I wonder if I can have 365 drawings done by the end of the year. Is there any way I can "make up" my late drawings? I guess it's up to me.

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.

the usual suspects

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

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.

a mildly surreal wedding reception

jer gives eric good advice
alia ponders paper folded
and annelise knocks three times

big head little girl

This is a portrait of my wife and daughter,
and, believe it or not,
the source photograph looked even weirder.

sometimes a great notion

I just finished reading Sometimes a Great Notion, by Ken Kesey, who is now my favorite author (sorry J.D. Salinger), and which is now my favorite book (sorry Franny and Zooey). I have recently been trying to meet friends out and about so that we can sketch each other and talk drawing talk, but, somehow, things never work out, and we never meet up. I don't think it's because I am overly flaky. It's just hard to coordinate between people when life is so fluid.

birds of a feather

Alia's Birthday Card

I barely got this one done in time!This is probably the weirdest thing I have ever drawn..

frank and bertha

Someday, long after I'm dead, I'll be a famous artist, and people will have portraits of my obscure relatives on their walls...

This is a commission for a friend.
He will be riding his bike from Seattle to Portland, and he wanted a "goat dressed as a cowboy riding a bike."
This should make him happy.
Now, part two, I need to learn to screenprint so I can slap this on some shirts for him....

alia and little turtle

I wish all of our chickens were as personable as Little Turtle is. We just got some more baby chicks -- a buff orpington and a gold laced wyandotte -- and i've been trying to handle them more than i did our first batch of chicks. i've never really been a bird person, and i didn't realize that chickens, especially, were so social.
I really like this analogy:
chickens:us::parrots:pirates

momma's mama

Alia and I gave our daughter, Annelise, my Grandmother’s maiden name for a middle name. My Aunt Dianne then put together a beautiful photo album of some historical family photos to give Annelise a little insight into her namesake.
This photo is one of my favourites from that album. My Aunt Dianne is on the right, and my mom is seated in my Grandmother’s lap. Uncle Buck, the Air Force pilot, was still yet to be born at the time this picture was taken.
This was my gift to mom for Mother’s Day, even if it was a few days late.