Summer in Mobtown.

The heat’s back, and with it the humidity. We’re in one of Baltimore’s common weather patterns where it’s hot and sticky during the day, a quick thunderstorm rolls in sometime in the afternoon, and immediately the heat returns, stickier than before. It’s enough uncertainty that I’m not driving the Scout in fear that I’ll get it soaked—something I’d like to avoid until I get the inside of the tub sanded, POR-15′d and coated with bedliner. Which means notime in the immediate future.

Drawing class went moderately well last night; I got one good drawing out of the evening but I feel like I’m learning more about technique. I definitely need some heavier watercolor paper to stand up to the brushes, but for now a basic sketchbook will work.

June 21, 2011

This Saturday I’m heading up to a friend’s farm to help clear out and sort his collection of IH parts, and connect back up with some Scouting friends I haven’t seen in months. It should be a really good time (here’s to hoping the weather holds out) and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone.

Next up, we have the parade to prepare for. Mama has been doing some beautiful work out in the yard cleaning up the flowerbeds and trimming the bushes in the front of the house; I never realized what a difference it made before now. There’s a pile of cuttings that need to be hauled out, and I have to find time on Sunday to rent a chainsaw in order to finish cutting our dead cherry tree down, as well as the two apple trees that will never bear fruit. There are a million other small things to do before the 4th, and I hope I have enough time to get to all of them.

The Best Of The Lot.

I’m still getting the hang of it. This one was almost a throwaway; I was working on it without even thinking about it, and it turned out to be the best one from last night. There’s something about getting to the place where the brain stops thinking about making art and simply becomes the conduit. I need more moments like that in my life.

1950 Tatra T600 Project

There is too much awesome in this car: 1950 Tatra T600 Project. The Tatra was a Czech-made cousin to the Volkswagen Beetle, and about ten times cooler-looking. Any car that resembles the Rocketeer’s helmet is OK by me.

Pencil and Brush.

Last night’s studio went pretty well. My ratio of “good” work vs. bad was lower, but I’m getting more comfortable with the brush and moving around the page to add shading, instead of overworking one section.

Fluid Images

This is really nice: fluid Images, for use with responsive web design. Something I will be looking into for the next version of this site…

Pencil and Brush.

20 minute figure drawing

I did some experimenting with a pencil and brush in the studio last night, which is something I haven’t tried in years. My first attempts were lousy, but as I got the hang of working with water again, I found that it got easier and began to add to the drawing instead of obliterating it.

Back to the Drawing Board.

This evening I’m headed up to MICA to start another round of open figure drawing classes. I only have pencils with me tonight, but I think I’m going to bring some brushes and black ink next time to try and mix things up after I get warmed up. It’ll be good to make some non-computer-based art again.

Sometimes people ask me about how I created my…

Sometimes people ask me about how I created my….
As someone who struggles every day with getting my design/carpentry/mechanics/parenting/husbandry to be where my ambitions lie, this is the best bit of advice I could read.

Dribbble

Dribbble: It’s called “show and tell for creatives.” Nice.

Full Dance Card.

Tired. Very tired. Working on the 10-20 stuff last night; it’s going well, and the money’s good. Gotta keep it going until we get the site looking tight. I have a meeting with the Gebran folks tonight to see what they need; hopefully there’ll be another month or so of development on their product/s to keep the freelance going. So far we’ve billed and been paid and there’s another invoice out, with the promise of work in the summer-fall for Oakleaf.

I watched the rest of the Aliens special edition DVD the other night and I’ve been thinking about it ever since—it was my favorite movie in 1986 or 87 when it came out, and it hasn’t aged too badly. Probably also because I played the game yesterday—it’s hard. And frightening as hell- the movement on the aliens is a lot faster in the game, and they mess you up quickly. It’s hard to play as the Marine, and you get a real sense of how hard it would be to stay alive without a team with you (which is how the demo sends you out.)