FALL: It's a love/hate thing

I'm about to go outside once again, and rake some more of those dang leaves. This little illustration was from a mailer I did from my freelance days years ago. I have begun to reconsider my former opinion that Autumn is my favorite time of the year.

SKETCHBOOK: "Random Robots"

I didn't have my sketchbook handy when I drew the three bots above...a brown paper bag worked just fine. Below are a couple more sketches that I added gray values to digitally.

PAINTINGS: "Architecture"

I'm working on a little sculpture project this week, but won't be able to show it for a while. It's something that will be shown in a gallery at work, but the opening is not until January. That means I don't have anything "current" to post today.

So...here are a few paintings from the archives. All are of buildings around Kansas City.

Western Auto Building

Children's Mercy Hospital

Union Station

Union Memorial In The Distance

Lady Of Sorrows Church

Maryland Trip (pt.3)

This will be my last post on our trip to Maryland. Sure, sure...I know that "vacation slides" can be pretty boring. But our visit to the newly renovated Museum at the Naval Academy in Annopolis was just too cool not to include a few photos from there. The exhibits cover a wide range of Naval history, but I was captured by the displays of sailing ships the most. Since I'm into making models of strange things, I was amazed at the craftsmanship and beauty of the replicas. The pistol cutlass below was the "real deal" though. Arrgg, matey!!

Maryland Trip (pt.2)

While at the wedding in Maryland, we stayed with my wife's Mom. These are the views from her second floor apartment...front deck, back deck. I limited myself to using brown and gray felt-tip markers on the trip...mistakes can't be corrected, so you just have to keep going. But I like the richness of the contour line drawings with that technique.

Once all the craziness from the wedding activities were done, we had some time to wander around. The top sketch is of a boat yard across the Back Creek in Solomons, from where we sat to soak in the sun. The next view is from the boardwalk at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. The lion over the archway was also at the Academy...Dahlgren Hall.

These images were done at the airports between flights.
And finally, here are a few random doodles done at various times while sitting around in the evening, or while on the planes. I had just recently bought a book on how to draw Celtic knots and border designs, so I did a little practice here and there. Very challenging brain teasers to figure that stuff out!

Maryland Trip (pt.1)

Sorry to have been so long since my last post. My wife and I just got back into town late last night from a trip out to Maryland for a family wedding (Congrats, Chris and Angela!!). Afterward, we took a few days and stayed in Annapolis. I'll be posting more images later, but here's a sampling.

This was my favorite drawing of the trip. It's from Zahniger's Yachting Center in Solomons, where the Back Creek flows into the Patuxent River, then goes into the Chesapeake Bay. It's a short walk from where we stayed with Cat's Mom (and her sister Lin's family). This big boat was hanging in a sling-contraption and I had to draw it. Literally seconds after I finished the sketch, I hear this loud "beep-beep-beep" sound, and the whole thing starts moving towards me! Some guy is at the controls, turns the boat around, and drives off...ha!

That's it for now. More to come.

In An Exhibit Together

My wife, Cat, and I are showing some of our work together. "Common Ground" is the first ever exhibit showcasing visual arts education at the Lawrence Art Center. The nearly 400 entries range from student to professional level work. Cat and I have each enjoyed taking classes there, and were asked to participate in the show. Cat began selling her photography in 2005 right after trying to talk me into entering an exhibit with her (I declined at the time). It's taken me this long to finally come around. Maybe we'll do this kind of thing again sometime.
Mosaic in Water

Morning At The Bonfy Farm

The Plaza

Sunflower Surprise