John Nevarez: Happy New Year!!!!

John Nevarez: Happy New Year!!!!

John sometimes posts wonderful linked lists of illustrators...candy for the eyes that I look forward to.

Check out John's December Blogs to Love

Ding Dong...Flowers!

What a wonderful surprise from my Aunt Peg & Uncle Bobbie! Tulips for Christmas!

The plastic is staying on for 12 hours while the freshly cut stems drink up the fortified water—I'm following the instructions to the letter so I can enjoy these beauties for as long as possible!

Thanks Aunt Peg & Uncle Bobbie!

A Christmas Tune

From Stefan G. Bucher and friends.

Warning: Not kid friendly...but hilarious :-D

A Lovely Holiday Break

Door County Sketches

This past weekend I enjoyed a quick trip up to Door County with Dad and Connie. The only mar on the weekend was a cold in my nose. still a very nice trip.


I did a bit of doodling in my Moleskine on the drive up. It was cumulative—a silo here, a tree there.


Dad and Connie went to buy some groceries, and I hung out at the cottage enjoying a little time to sketch the fireplace. Later in the evening, the fireplace was put to good use while the snow fell in the silent woods around us.


A small sketchy still life of items on the mantel.

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Gettin' Me Some Churchin'

As a rule, I have more faith than I have religion. But come Advent, I'm far more likely to go to church. The last couple of weekends, I've walked to church, and I don't like getting there late. As a result, I usually find myself with plenty of time to read the announcements and do some doodling even before the service starts. The Methodist church I've been going to lately has some very pretty detail...much prettier than this sketchy little doodle.

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December Monthly Sketch Project

Gettin' this in just under the wire...

Yearly Tradition Upheld

Every December I meet up with my now friends (former co-workers) in Long Grove for a day of shopping, lunch, more shopping, and drinks to celebrate the season. I've officially decided to call it a Christmas tradition since this was our 12th anniversary of this particular outing. I get together with these folks throughout the course of the year for other fun, but this is the most steadily and completely attended gathering. Pictured above from left: me, Laura, Karen, Joyce and Pam.


There are certain shops we return to every year, and The Olive Tap is definitely one of those. I found this product's flavor highly disturbing and photo worthy. Now I know you're going to tell me it's probably named after (and designed to embody) the flavor of that drink, but come on....


Toward the end of the day we'd experienced some shopper/friend attrition (just for the day), but we did gain one Steve (Joyce's hubby). A wonderful time was had by all!

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And All You Get...

...is this lousy post!

This year I'm only sending out a few Christmas cards.



It's not that I think my family and friends are tired of getting cards from me, but I can email them Irving the Elf and save my quality note writing for the soldiers who aren't neurotically checking their emails every ten seconds.

I hereby give any friends and family reading this dispensation to send any card that was heretofore address to me to:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Medical Center
6900 Georgia Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20307

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Sketchcrawl 25

This morning, I poured my last cup of coffee into a travel mug, tossed my small sketchbook and a pencil in a bag, and marched out the door. After a short walk, I arrived at Library Park and sat down at a picnic table. I didn't move for an hour while I drew this lovely home.

I had an opportunity to go in this house a couple of years ago during a Christmas crafts sale that the couple hosted for a local organization. At the time, the home was lovely but worn. The couple who own it have been working on it steadily (and carefully) restoring it. I hope they host another craft sale soon, so I can see what progress they've made inside. The outside received a completely new paint job this year. My sketch doesn't do the gingerbread any real justice, but there was a LOT of detail work there, and they did a great job with it—butter yellow on the brick with white trim, and maroon highlights—gorgeous!

As I understand it, they were hoping to open a B&B, but they were having a hard time getting permission from the city. I don't know if anything has changed with the city, but it would be a wonderful B&B!

Back to the topic of the Sketchcrawl: The concept is to go to several locations and sketch along the way—twist on the classic pubcrawl. I did go to several locations—the park, a restaurant for lunch, a walk along the lake, and back home to my sunny back porch. However, I ended up working on this one sketch at almost all of those locations.

I did accidentally discover a technique for doing the brick so it doesn't look so heavy. I did the brick in my usual manner, and then I erased a lot of it. The eraser leaves enough along the edges and even in the erased areas, that the texture is still there without all of the lines. This may be old news to you, but it was a happy new discovery to me :-D

If you'd like to see other results from the worldwide Sketchcrawl go to: Sketchcrawl Forum and click the link for the 25th Sketchcrawl.

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A Couple More Critters

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The Small and The Large

The bee is drawn from a Charles Krebs' photo appearing in National Wildlife magazine.



The gorilla was drawn from the cover photo of National Wildlife magazine. I couldn't find the photographer's name anywhere :-( It's a great photo, though :-D

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Long-Billed Curlew

From a Laura Crawford Williams photo appearing in National Wildlife magazine. (NWF)

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Doodlin'

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Found It and Love It

End Scene from Steffen Bygebjerg on Vimeo.

If you're interested in the how, click on the End Scene link. Via Coudal Partners

Manatee

These are the sweetest creatures on earth, and they are living in inhospitable waters. Waters that are being fought over to supply the southeast U.S.

Photo by James A Powell appearing in National Wildlife Federation Magazine.

Happy Belated Birthday

to the Moulin Rouge—120 years old on October 6th, 1889. Lautrec's poster c. 1891



Poster snipped from Smithsonian Magazine's "This Month in History" section

Top hat gent drawn upside down.

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Moly X-42: Lynne's "Superstitions" Moly

Ladybug, ladybug,
fly away home,
Your house is on fire
your children all roam.

Ladybug, ladybug,
fly away home,
and show me from whence
my husband shall come.

Just finished this tonight, and I'll be shipping it off to Massachusetts tomorrow. Still have Jenn's "Favorite Animal" Moly to complete. It'll will be the last entry in her book!

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Memphis Sketchiness

Had the greatest of intentions to do some really good sketching while at AIGA. Instead I got caught up in listening and furious note-taking...silly me.







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Saturday Night in Memphis

Finally getting around to posting the last of my pictures from the AIGA Make|Think 2009 conference:


Our little conference was kind of a big deal in Memphis—as you can tell from the banner stretched across Beale Street.



It has come to my attention via the terrible quality of these photos that I need a new camera. Out of 7 photos these were the only redeemable shots. :-(

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A Make|Think Byproduct [read Gem]

aiga makethink interviews with golden nuggets of tasty advice and entertainment for all, but mostly students. from drifting creatives on Vimeo.

Friday Night at AIGA

More specifically, at the Blue Fin for some sushi! Yum!

Just so happened that we found the perfect spoon for Ryan's Cap'n Crunch box. Sorry about the poor snap.



Off to the afternoon Affinity Session.

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AIGA 2009 Make/Think Day 1

Arrived in Memphis yesterday, and had time to wander since the Make/Think conference didn't start until today. Walked down Main Street toward Beale. I'll be making use of the trolley.





The view down Main Street. The trolley is passing by the red brick Cannon Center for the Arts, and the Memphis Cook Conference Center just beyond it.



The conference is taking place at the Memphis Cook Conference Center.



The place is subtly decorated for the conference. The Make/Think conference identity was created by Michael Githrie and Bret Terwilleger from Oden, Brad Wilkerson from 68 Comeback, Trace Hallowell and Ben Johnson from Tactical Magic, and Amy Sharp from CS2 Advertising.





Registration opened at 8 am, but the expo doesn't open until 11. Not a problem because I've taken the opportunity to post these snaps, and wander a few displays.



Awesome swag bag and goodies!

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Blackberry

"Nary a berry did my blackberry bush bloom—perhaps next year...."

Bird Feeder

"Feeding the birds year-round keeps the yard alive in the summer time. The chirps don't have to travel far on the wind because the birds perch nearby. Their calls drown out the town noises, entertain the cat, and make summer feel like it could last forever. Black-capped chickadees and cardinals will stay for the winter, but soon the robins will give way to the junkos."

Ga-Ga for Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
October 2, 1869 - 1948

Sketch from a photo in the "This Month in History" section of October's Smithsonian Magazine.

September Moly Doodlin' So Far

In amongst the goodies I get for maintaining a Smithsonian membership is a little pocket calendar for 2010. Although intended for pocket or wallet, it ended up in my Moleskine, and set off a small flurry of goofy lookin' doodles done while absorbing televised entertainment.




Lovin' ABC's Defying Gravity. Recording and reviewing like a proper fan should do, I paused it and did a quick ballpoint of Donner Maddux.




Sunday's Chicago Tribune has a section inventively named "Sunday", and there's a 4-page insert in the middle of it chock full o' puzzles (thumbs up on this). But the designers dug into their bag of 50s clipart and pulled out a Big-Boyesque character for the header. He decided to vamp it up for my little doodle...very trendy. The eyes required no modification...creepy enough thanks very much.




Finally, another quickie ballpoint for fast submission to the Monthly Sketch Project group.

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Doodles +

It started to look a little like a golf course to me, and the instant after that happened, I lost interest.



She's the picture of vim and vigor—so much beauty and character! Sketched from a who's rubbing elbows with whom photo from Wine Spectator.



What do you suppose is/was behind those doors?

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Happy Hour at The Stump

This is my first person point-of-view of happy hour at The Stump.

Allow me to back the story up a bit. I recently got a bargain on an Adirondack chair...a chair I have been dreaming of adding to the backyard for about as long as I've lived here...yes, both years. Anyway, the local hardware store had one, slightly beat up, unfinished, down-at-the-mouth Adirondack sitting out in front of their store for dirt cheap, so my dream finally came true. The only thing missing was a spot to rest the barkers as the DAM (Down-At-the-Mouth) Adirondack was lacking a matching foot stool.

As it happens, I was transferring my wood pile from the soon-to-be-scrap-heap shed to the garage, and lo and behold The Stump was revealed to me once again. Ol' stumpy had been put to work at one time as a wood splitting surface, but since he's got a bit of a slope to him, he was not altogether reliable in this regard. Turns out he's the perfect shape to lend aid and comfort to the barkers! He has some rustic flair to boot, so I believe he's found himself a lifetime gig.

This wee sketch really doesn't do him justice, but I'm sure I'll find myself in this very spot of repose quite frequently, and when I do, Stumpy might become a regular feature of my sketches.

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My Stairs

As viewed from the dining room.

A Cottage With Character

Miscellania Part II