I tried drawing an architectural thing. I'm not good at it, but hey, gotta learn eventually! (I guess. Come to think of it, most people NEVER pick up this skill and turn out mostly OK.)
One thing I love about natural objects is how they often remind me of handmade objects. Like these acorns--the caps look just knit caps. So I scanned in a handful and used them as the basis for this sketch.
"I remember you put a smile on my face. Now I got the crow's feet." ~ A blackout poem from a recycled page of Burnout, an Young Adult adventure/romance story.
This is a concept sketch that i might use on a bigger piece, it has a bit more to the design that ive added on to the top of the sketch as i was playing around with different ideas and angles to look at things. i love playing around with different symbols and markings that are quite tribal and almost mystical giving a depiction of mother earth or something shamanic also playing around with the vines and branches in the hair was a cool concept.
i feel to much focus is put on faces being to aesthetically perfect, or perfection in the media approach to what thats perceived to be. i enjoyed drawing a more imperfect edge to it and the use of the light beams was a cool thing to draw. the meaning was a look at self -adulation and the clamour for attention through various social platforms, being valentines day as well i feel to many people fall into that trap what promotes nothing more than a money making event. this helped form the title of "seduce her" using a medusa as a subject matter.
(Blue biro on 125mm x 75mm notecard) A third in the guardian spirit works that I've done. When it comes to these kind of things, who wouldn't prefer a pistol-packing angel like that?
A reminder to myself:
On rough days when I feel lost, rudderless, overwhelmed or without direction, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through tough times is 100% so far. And that’s pretty darn good in the scheme of things.
Tuesday morning drawing.
Fun fact, I listen to the Dead a lot while drawing and painting. It puts me in a good mindset. Just like listening to jazz, you get lost in the melodies and when you come out of it there is something there. Sometimes it garbage, but every once in a while you get something worth sharing.
This is a digital rendering of a drawing I have recreated several times. The original was a doodle done in high school and has since been done as a painting, a tattoo design, and now as digital art. My inspiration was 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', classic cartoons (Woody the Woodpecker), and pinup art styles.
Pen and pencil tattoo design of my lucky cat, Ariel. This drawing was inspired by maneki-neko cats, neo-traditional tattoo style, anime styles, and my love for my Ariel.
A Brief Pause at the Edge of Becoming
It seems I am always seeking a place to sit—
not just to rest the body,
but to settle the soul.
Yet even in stillness, Gary Brecka’s words whisper:
“The quickest way to old age
is the aggressive pursuit of comfort.”
So I do not stay long.
I walked until I found a picnic table
beneath a canopy of bare-limbed trees,
branches like open hands waiting for green.
The blue spruces nearby—
stoic, unchanged, whispering that some things endure.
I sketched.
Not perfectly. Not for anyone’s praise.
Just a mark to say: I was here.
Alive in this in-between.
Waiting. Listening.
Not for leaves—
but for something truer than comfort.
Thank you for joining me in this small noticing.
A moment borrowed from the rush.
A table. A tree. A thought.
A gift.
It has been a delight to share with my students the incredible resource of people. Over the years, I’ve had the great privilege of connecting them with inspiring individuals such as Lois Ehlert, Dave Nice, Gregory Martens, Colette Odya Smith, and—as seen in this “Behind the Professor” sketch—Dr. Gaylund Stone. There’s something powerful about the presence of someone who lives their craft with humility and depth. In moments like these, my students are reminded that more is often caught than taught.
Ms. Nathan was a play production teacher with flair and a big personality. She wore colorful clothing and loud socks that never matched. Her joyful, chortling laugh filled the room—or the hallway—wherever she happened to be.
Staff meetings and PD days have always been strong invitations for observational drawings. Over the years, I’ve found that there are many boxes to check in a wide variety of systems. I often created my own boxes—and checked them with sketches of my colleagues.
This one goes out to the colorful Ms. Nathan.
Taking some inspiration from some things me and my girlfriend talked about regarding old highs in one’s past and asking yourself if revisiting them later on in life is worth it… the usual stuff I guess.
