old

Pen and ink illustration of an old beetle abandoned in the bush!

I'm oddly obsessed with old houses right now. Done with Micron markers and Art markers.

My favorite way to eliminate the often paralyzing fear of "ruining" "good" paper is to just paint on any and all junk mail that comes into my house. Higher end catalogs are great for this, they don't use slick, thin paper (and even that gets used in collage or as a desk cover for other projects) and they're already bound for you. Just add marks! Carry it with you. Scan the pages you like. Cut it up later for making other art. It's "just" junk mail, so there is literally no pressure. I have HUNDREDS of these type of things and I run across them all the time, forgotten, in some old backpack or purse or drawer and it's a treasure to look through them again, and add new marks, paints and words.

Son of a Sun. Ink & watercolor on 5"x5" Arches cold press.

Any time is a good time for Tasty Food Truck! Ink & Watercolor on 5"x5" Arches cold press.

Did you ever have a page in your sketchbook that was so bad and so embarrassing that you tore it out and chucked it? This was one of those pages that made me cringed every time I came to it. So today I said to myself, "ENOUGH!" and ripped it out of my moleskine. But something wouldn't let me throw it in the can. Now, I'm not one of those artists that can't bring himself to throw away any of his stuff because each and every piece, good or bad holds some kind of sentimentality or sense of importance. This particular page was a result of a crappy angst filled day and stuff poured out of me. For some reason, it felt like I was throwing away some piece of my soul. There were parts that were overworked and others that were painfully too personal. So I decided to cut it up and put it back together in no particular order, however it seemed best. As I was pasting the pieces down it occurred to me that this had a comic book feel so I scanned the final and added the black borders in photoshop which I really dug. I like that it is cryptic and jumbled up like my brain can so often be. This reminded me of the awesome @johnhendrix who said something in his book, Drawing Is Magic that stuck with me. He said, "Don't worry about doing anything wrong. If you're hoping your sketchbook turns into a glossy display of only your best drawings, you are not carrying a sketchbook, you are carrying a portfolio." In other words, explore, take chances, loosen up and have fun. Try your best to go at it like an uninhibited child. In so doing, you will stretch as an artist by avoiding repetition and predictability. We all know how to do what we already know. To sum up, I created a bad page, and whether or not I was able to fix it, it expanded me. So, follow your pencil, pen, or whatever and let them take you to places you never imagined when you started. Then, maybe you will end up staring happily at the final and with childlike wonder, say, "man, where did that come from?"

THE LITTLE OLD WOMAN WITH FIVE COWS From Favorite Folktales from Around the World by Jane Yolen. One morning a little old woman got up and went to the field containing her five cows. She took from the earth a herb with five sprouts and, without breaking either root or branch, carried it home and wrapped it in a blanket and placed it on her pillow. Then she went out again and sat down to milk her cows. Suddenly she heard tambourine bells jingle and scissors fall, on account of which noise she upset the milk. Having run home and looked, she found that the plant was uninjured. Again she issued forth to milk the cows, and again thought she heard the tambourine bells jingle and scissors fall, and once more she spilled her milk. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnnCvkZpxW0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Watercolor and India ink on cold press cotton paper.

Where do I begin with this one? This is a drawing of my dad and I; the picture was taken back in 2006, a happier time, I suppose. I don't commonly think about my dad, I don't necessarily think about how much I miss him or how I wish I could see him again, so it was odd for me to sit and look through old photos. I don't really know my dad; I do, but I don't. My dad was physically part of my life for 10 years, the second half of those were not the best. Mental illness, self medicating for years, debt, heroin, arguments, threats, uncertainty. I feel like I remember the negative more because I was older, my parents couldn't hide it from me like they used to. At the same time, when he was sober and stable, life was good. Life was great, things felt complete. So here I am, 6 years since he died. I don't want to say his image is fading, but I know less of who he was than I did before. I see the good from some (the ones who praise him, who act like he was a saint), and I see the bad from others (the one who felt the pain). I suppose I no longer see my view, my memories aren't there anymore. I don't necessarily feel sad, the anger has faded, and I can't say I'm happy. Maybe I'll figure it out one day, but, for now, it is what it is.

An older one from 3 years ago. Still one of my favorites and my best work despite the obvious flaws.

I'll be honest, this prompt stumped me a little bit, I wasn't sure where to go with it. Here's my take on it, reflecting the 50s and 60s vibrant music scene and the Cold War shadowing it.

So this painting began as a simple project and ended up for sale at a coffee shop. I found out recently it actually sold, making it the first official painting I've sold.

Another one for #transmundanetuesdays, with prompts by Carson Ellis (an older one tho), this is my #glovedandspikeybricklayer! He looks evil but he's just allergic to non-spikey things.

74/366 sketch book situation :))) loving the finetec gold watercolour

Today, Feb. 20, 2020, is Love Your Pet day. This drawing is part of a series of Sandwich Bag Art I've been doing since 2008.

Something I made for fun, with watercolour and gold ink. That's about it. Enjoy

I did this piece with my 4 year old niece. She drew the caterpillar at the bottom. A star in the making!

Just for fun!

Another old house, but this time experimenting with an unexpected palette

Part of the book I'm working on. Certain elements will carry throughout the chapter. In this case, it will be oak leaves and mushrooms.

Street Style Helsinki. Living in the Nordic levels, like Finland, requires special attitude against cold winter weather. From a distance the sight felt like a giant rectangle on two thin sticks approaching scurry towards me.

(HB pencil on a 125mm x 75mm post-it note) She has her own way of dealing with naughty children, but mostly, she sells balloons.

I told my boys, "That's you, you and you." They paused for a moment, pointed at the hot dog, and asked, "Well... Who's that?" ... "That's your baby sister." -- Ink and watercolor on 5x5 Arches cold press.

Old Whistletwig was certain this moot could've been an email.

This one is a Bic ballpoint pen drawing.

This is a new take on my old original character back from the 2018! Loved trying the new color palette, hope you'll like it too! :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IYqCL7IBt8

The old city gate (the 'Sassenpoort') in Zwolle.

Colored pencil drawing on bristol of a golden pothos clipping in a glass of water. Visit https://youtu.be/5MZRA0jmGD4 for a time lapse video of the making of the drawing.

Gouache, ink and gold acrylic paint :)