It's cool how the internet can bring people together from far away places to make things. "Graham's Up the Tree" is based on a true story from the life of author mbpardy ... He's in Australia - I'm in Seattle area. When he posts these images at his page I see comments from people who grew up with real life versions of these characters I drew -- People that actually looked out the window and saw this little guy high up at the top of a tree... where no one else could go.
My sketchbook spread. This is actually a moleskin watercolor album which I'm mostly using to draw from life. This is sharp and spiky versus soft and fluffy. The models were the two of my house plants, and aim was a texture and light study.
"At 6 o'clock the window squeaks and mum calls time" from Graham's Up the Tree. It must have been strange for mbpardy to see his his story interpreted through my illustrations... but page by page these characters came to life, with both of our contributions somehow adding up to something bigger.
All you have to do is lift your chin up to encounter the most fascinating things in life. What would it take to lift up your chin and talk to the person sitting right next to you. I fear that one day we will forget the very essence of being a human.
While Venice has surrendered itself to unadulterated tourism, Lido remains a tiny bastion of slow life. Lounging on the piers, biking on empty roads, sitting for hours in cafes...
For me, it's the process of creating - not really the end result. Once something is done, it's done and you move on to the next process. Life is the ultimate process after all. We don't hang around and admire the dead body once it has finished what it needed to do...On the other hand, the end result of someone's process can be felt through what they have left behind. I hope this is what will eventually happen with the art I create.
I took my drawings out into the wild for some glamour shots. I got busted crawling through a flower garden doing so, but the woman was fine with it. I gave her this bunny.
One of my high school friends went on a family trip and returned to find his girlfriend obsessed with a dead bird. She had found it, extensively photographed it, and kept it in a box. He broke up with her. I cannot, for the life of me, get over this story, even though it happened almost 20 years ago. I want to hunt this girl down and ask her approximately one million questions.
