Travel Sketching: Ithaca

Sail

So, this is based on a sketch I did a few weeks ago with a little fashion thrown in from 'Girl in Hyacinth Blue' by Susan Vreeland, which I read over the weekend. This is still unfinished, but I just wanted to get it out before the next topic came in.

poof!

One second there was a full bowl of blackberries, the next they were gone...who can say what really happened?

Canned

This might be more tinned than canned, but it's what came to mind...

Foggy

Ink wash sketches

So, trying out ink washes. It's a nice way to think less about what colors work together and just focus on value levels. These are both done from photos.

Seed

So, this is for last week's IF theme, but I made it for mother's day and couldn't post it till today. Birds keep popping up in what I'm doing, and I wanted to add a little 3D element.

Watercolor and ink sketches

Food sketches

Just playing around with a crowquill and watercolors.

Spring publications

So, I've got some photography in this month's NYLON magazine (a piece on Argentinian wine country).


And earlier this year, an illustration of mine---Suit---was included in 3X3's ILL08 directory.

Film Fest

So, SXSW film fest rolled into Austin a couple of Fridays ago and hijacked my life...why must the documentaries be so good? Beautiful Losers was one of my favorites from an illustration standpoint; it follows the careers and lives of a handful of artists from their early 20's till their later 30's, their journey from poor obscurity to recognition to mega-money for ad campaigns back to doing art for themselves. Another 'journey of an artist' film is In a Dream, about a man who has been covering buildings in mosaics for over 40 years, and the mosaics are this initially appealing and then disturbing repetition of the inner workings of someone's mind...20 feet high. The film is just as much about the artist's family and their changes over the course of seven years (it's shot by his son). There are some amazing shots and images that won't easily be forgotten.

Other wonderful documentaries: American Teen (follows four high school seniors their last year: the jock, the geek, the artsy girl, and the rich/popular girl...each portrayal is fully fleshed out and you find yourself rooting for (almost) all of them); At the Death House Door (Carroll Pickett was the minister who spent the last day before execution with death row inmates in Huntsville and walked them to the table, including one man who was probably innocent); Flying on One Engine (grumpy, inspiring doctor with any number of debilitating health problems goes to India periodically to perform marathon surgery camps, something like 50 a day); Wild Horse Redemption (totally satisfying look at the program in Colorado where prisoners train wild mustangs).

Visually and narratively, so much great input.

Water scenes

Just practicing capturing water with watercolor.

Horizon

I just got back from a West Texas/Big Bend area trip with my family, and I've got a slew of photos taken from the back seat of a moving vehicle. There's some amazing landscape out there, and don't even get me started on the sunrises.

The Zoo

This week's Illustration Friday theme made good use of some sketches I did at the Austin Zoo a couple of weeks ago. However, I started experimenting with 140 lb hot press watercolor paper this week and discovered it's probably best for really thin washes. Ah, well.

Superstition

E.A.S.T.

This past weekend, I decided to get a full dose of what's going on in the local artworld (and get a look inside artists' studios and homes) at the annual East Austin Studio Tours. On Saturday, I ended up doing a lot of walking around the E. Cesar Chavez area studios. My favorite exhibition/installation was Jonathan Marshall's at the Art Palace. Maybe because I'm a narrative junkie, I loved the way all his pieces fit together (2D, 3D, film, audio, semi-participatory). I also really liked the abstract oils of Caroline Wright and Ava Sharifian. Fisterra Studio was the most fun home studio to visit; they had some really amazing iron sculpture going on in the garden and art on pretty much every surface of the house. On an unrelated note, I discovered Azul Cafe with its secret back garden area, only to learn that they're closing this week (photo below).

On Sunday, I drove to some of the studios further east (and less easy to walk from studio to studio). I really liked Catherine Hart's work and the Opal Black jewelry in the same studio was really gorgeous. I think the highlight of the day was visiting Ginko Studios. The pottery was really lovely and reminded me a little of Leo Lionni's illustrations. And I could spend all day wandering around the studio and gardens there. Overall, I came away from the weekend with some serious art, home, and garden inspiration.
Ginko studios.

Scale

A take on the folk tale of "The Golden Fish."

Hats

This illustration Friday topic reminded me of when my little sister used to dress her cat up and send him out into the neighborhood (probably why he became such a good fighter).

Watercolor sketches

So, I've been trying to paint more from life this week. Above is from a class field trip (UT informal "Watercolor II") to do some night plein air painting of fountains and skylines. Below: an afternoon snack turns study.

A Cardinal's Breakfast