Illustration Friday 'Glamour'

This one took a little time. Pencil sketch couloured digitaly. Look forward to your comments.

Thanks Mark.

Illustration Friday 'Cats'

Pencil sketch coloured digitally.

Best $95 I’ve spent.

Space is important to me, I’m not a fan of clutter. If there is clutter, it’s organised. It’s there for a reason. Serving a purpose. I’ve been struggling slightly to find a space to sit and concentrate on drawing since moving into the apartment. Sofa, chair, bed, at the dinning table even on the floor. I’ve produced work I’m happy with from these places but I’ve felt for a while that I need a space to sit and draw and paint. An area where I can focus and concentrate. A space to serve this purpose. So to start with I bought a desk for $95. Placed it in one of the corners of the apartment, so there’s now a designated space for me to create and produce and funnily enough I feel more professional. Before I would have to tidy up, close my sketchbook, put it away in my bag. It was kind of out of sight, out of mind. Now it sits open on the desk with pencils, brushes, rubbers and reference books. It’s a constant presence seeking my attention. Sketches, ideas and works in progress demand to be looked at, worked on, finished. To this effect I feel more focused, what I was working on yesterday was still there today willing me to continue.

Yesterday was the first time I had picked up my paints this year. I’ve been concentrating a lot on the digitally created stuff of late, so it was a refreshing change. I continued with the painting today in my sketchbook and love the final results. The paintings of a character walking home from school who decides to take a short cut through the woods. Then gets caught in a snow storm. It’s a competition brief from the Society Of Children’s Book Writer’s & Illustrators. The brief is that he takes shelter from the storm in a cave and then discovers? I’m still working on what he might discover. I will post up the final illustrations when I get round to starting and finishing them.

It’s Emma’s last night shift for this month tonight. Hopefully going to go see ‘Brokeback Mountain’ tomorrow if she’s not too tired and then to ‘Brown Sugar’ for our tea. Lovely.

Well it’s Friday so I need to crack on with this weeks ‘Friday Illustration’ topic, which is ‘cats’. Hope to post the results tomorrow or maybe Sunday. Could even be Monday. Whichever day it is. It will be sitting on the desk demanding to be finished.

Alternative Top 10...

... of things to do with a 70 OZ box of Rice.

Number 9.

Disco dancing to Saturday Night Fever.



Instructions: Find copy of The Bee Gees Saturday Night Fever, place one speaker on it's back and pour the rice onto it.
Turn up the bass and watch the rice get on down.

Illustration Friday 'E' is for (part 2)

Luigui's 'Extraordinary' Pizza Machine.

Illustration Friday 'E' is for

Emma.

So this morning I received the e-mail with this weeks topic and began to think up some ideas whilst doing some other stuff. I had 'E' is for 'Elephant' and 'E' is for Luigui's 'Extraordinary' Pizza making machine among others. The pizza machine was taking shape when I stopped to go wake Emma who has been working nights. "What's the topic"? she asks, 'E' is for something' to which she immediately replies with a giggle "E is for Emma".

I can't believe I didn't think of that, so here is a portrait of Em I did last year.
Pen & ink, coloured digitally.

I like to do new works for illustration friday so will continue with 'Luigui's 'Extraordinary' Pizza machine' and post it as soon as it's finished.

Thanks.

Is it me...

...or is this year already going too fast. I don’t seem to have got started on any of the things I hoped to do. I’ve still got stuff left over from last year to finish too. Maybe that’s why Em bought me a 2006 planner for ‘The Creative Procrastinator’. My time management's not too bad I just seem to come up with loads of ideas of things to do and end up doing none of them. This year I plan to change that and do as many drawings, paintings, illustrations I can. Carry my sketchbook at all times, watch less TV and read more books. Speaking of reading. Just started ‘The Da Vinci Code’ which is one of the things I was hoping to do last year. I’m not the fastest reader but hopefully I’ll have it read before the film comes out in May. Speaking of films, we saw ‘Munich’ last week and I highly recommend it. Edge of your seat stuff, I don’t recall seeing a film lately that builds and holds the tension so high. Hope to go see ‘King Kong’ soon, it’s going to rain on Friday so that may be the day to go. Well enough of my waffle, got other things to crack on with. Cheers, here's some of our latest pics.

Pictures going clockwise: Mark in Starbucks. Red Sox souvenier shop. Looking down the street from the river. Lady waiting for the Bus on Mass Ave. Charles River frozen on Christmas Day. Em being happy. State Law.

Illustration Friday 'Sea'

Aaaarrrrggghhhh shipmates the seas will be safe now Captain 'Wood leg' Wilson has caught the shark which as been terrorising our shores. Or will they.

Alternative Top 10 of things to do with a 70 OZ box of Rice

#10 Use it as a baseball bat.

We had some family and friends visit over Christmas and for some reason a 70 OZ (4 LB 6 OZ) or 1.98 Kg box of rice was bought. We ate about 1% of the boxes contents over their 2 week visit, leaving myself and Emma with the remaining 99%. We like rice, curry and rice, rice pudding and other rice dishes. I'm not a fan of risotto though. Anyway it will probably take us all of 2006 to eat all the rice in the box which made me think of alternative uses for the box and it's contents. This is the first entry at number 10. Any suggestions feel free to leave a comment, number 9 will be posted around this time next week. Take it easy.

Happy New Year

Brought in the new year with a bit of grub in the Hard Rock Cafe. A walk down Boylston Street with the Grand Procession to Boston Common for the fireworks. A few drinks to warm up before heading out to the harbour for the midnight fireworks display. Sorry no pictures from the harbour. 1, Run out of space on my camera. 2, It was too bloody cold to take my hands out if my coat pockets. Happy New Year everyone, hope you have a good one.