Illo Friday "Climbing"

My contribution to Illustration Friday is a Nile Monitor climbing a tree stump in the Everglades. Sketched from a photo by Jeremy Woodhouse and published in the National Wildlife Federation magazine in an article about invasive species.



Wednesday of last week, I took a walk down to the marina. It was COLD! So what would have been a slightly larger drawing turned into a drawing of a single boathouse. I think I'm pretty much finished with winter at this point. It's been nice, but I'm ready for spring.

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Sketch Dump

I was glued to the tube yesterday watching the inaugural events. I did this sketch from a photo of President Obama. I'm afraid I didn't do his smile justice. It's been great seeing so many sketches of our 44th president.



Went to church last weekend. That was the first time in a long time that I'd been to church for anything other than Christmas. I have plenty of faith, but I have not had much religion lately. However, more than religious trappings, I went to church for a feeling of community. Now that I'm working from home, I feel a bit disconnected. Still don't miss the commute, however.

I took myself out for breakfast after church, and I drew the top of the building across the street from the restaurant while I waited for my food.



My hand just hanging out on the table in front of me. It was daring me to draw it. I mean come on, there it is...one sock-clad finger curl away from being a puppet, so you know it was daring me. I swear I didn't imagine it.



My entry for the "draw a remote" Everyday Matters challenge. Have to go find out what number that was supposed to be. I guess it doesn't really matter. I redesigned the remote a bit—streamlined it, and explored different button shapes and themes. Don't know that I'd ever voluntarily press that "don't play" button—doesn't sound at all fun. On the other hand, there are some days when it's difficult to get focused on work. Maybe it would come in handy on those occasions.

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Catching Up

This lamp was hanging on the wall in a movie background. Can't remember the movie, but it was a great lamp—very tall. Left an impression in the gray matter, so it got drawn. I'm pretty sure about the height of the lamp, and the pointed metal trim, but the base of the lamp came out a bit plain since I couldn't really see much more detail. I'm usually not very good at drawing from memory, but this turned out alright. It's a simple object, so I guess my simple brain could handle it.



The molding on the top of my tv cabinet. There were a lot of reflections, curves and angles going on there. It's pretty close.



The cherub's face looked downright evil, so it was erased with a sub-par eraser. The orchid was drawn from a real, live flower of mine, but it looks so flat that I believe I'll rewrite history and say it was drawing from a pressed flower—then it looks pretty good, right?

A camel, an orangutan and a Sketchcrawl...

...walk into a bar....

Sorry, I just don't seem to have a punchline to live up to the setup, but I'm open to suggestions!



Right, so today was the first Sketchcrawl of 2009. I think it's the 21st or so. Anyway, I must admit that the camel...uh...feet were drawn the night before.



I needed to keep up with the Moly datebook, so the next sketch was the orangutan. I seem to have an animal theme going—still due to the Wildlife Federation. Her eyes are googly, and her nose is askew, but I think I nailed the overall impression of sweetness.

I fully intended to wander town making sketches in response to the first Sketchcrawl of the year, but we got about 7 inches of snow, so after shoveling, I'd had it with the snowy waste. As fortune would have it, my Entertainment Weakly...I mean Weekly, came in the mail, so...

Allow me to introduce Mr. Tommy Lee Jones missing part of the top of his head, and with an odd augmentation due to a torn piece of my sketchbook. Also, please disregard the underlying sketch, it was a sketch-gone-wrong, and I sought to save the page...not knowing it would turn into something I wished to share. Best laid plans and all that, you know.



And then I must apologize for this sketch of emma Thompson. It went terribly wrong. I think she actually acquired the forehead I stole from Mr. Jones—the greatest tragedy known to man, I'm sure.



Well, thanks so much for stopping by!

Sloth!

Hmmm...nope...no this title just doesn't quite have the same impact as my previous post's title. Let's face it, these guys just aren't scary.

Sloths seem like they'd be the wild animal voted most likely to come over to your place, swill some beer, nosh some 'za, and kick back to watch the game. Of course, you might want to discourage that because if you think a cat's claws are a nightmare on your furniture, have you SEEN the claws on these bad boys?!? No thanks.

The National Wildlife Federation's magazine is proving to be a font of inspiration. The photo I used for this particular drawing was taken by Steven Kirkpatrick from Mississippi. He won first place in the "Mammals, Professional" category in the magazine's photo contest. Congratulations, Steven, and thanks for the material! You can see the original photo, and all the other winners, at www.nwf.org.

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Shark!

A drawing based on a photo from the National Wildlife Federation's magazine.

Illo Friday "Resolve"

The drawing is a bit rudimentary but hopefully effective.