It's the Year of the Rooster!

In honor of the Chinese New Year, I drew a rooster.

ART Squared Continued

Continuing my history of bow ties series through art is my De Stijl work, just hung in the ART Squared exhibit.

ART Squared at the Quimby Gallery

We are a little over a week into ART squared, a community art event in the Quimby Gallery. Everyone is invited to submit art created within a 5x5 in square. We started off strong. This week there was an even larger increase of submissions. The main wall is close to being full. I also have close ups of some of my work submitted. The gallery hangs work as it comes in so the art grows and changes day by day. We will be accepting work through March 9th.

New Work in Progress

Over the past few weeks, I have found a few minutes here and there to work on this illustration. I am hoping to scan it in soon and start painting. More to come.

Sketching at the Diner

Went to Miss Lyndonville Diner for breakfast last wee and did some sketching.

Meeting Sketch

This is a sketch of Jeb Spaulding, The Chancellor of the the Vermont State College System. Over the past two years I have been in many meetings with him and drawn him many times. This is the best one to date.

I love finding small moments to draw what I see.

Bow Tie Guy of the Day: Diprotodon

Diprotodon

The diprotodon is is the largest marsupial known to have lived on the earth. They could grow to the size of a hippopotamus in length and were around 6 and a half feet tall. Their skeletons have been found across Australia. Diprotodon means two forward teeth. They existed through most of the Pleistocene epoch becoming extinct 46,000 years ago, give or take a few centuries.

Bow Tie Guy of the Day: Bongo

Bongo (ˈbäNGgō)

Not only do they have a cool name, the bongo is also one of the largest of the African antelopes that lives in the forest. The stripes also add to the visual interest.

The loss of a great artist and influence

Shakespearean Fantasy

 Voyage of the Basset

Some Times the Spirit Touches us Through Our Weaknesses

I just received word that James C. Christensen passed away. He was one of my favorite artist and greatest influences. I read everything I could on him. I purchased all of his books and poured over the  images. He showed me that you could put humor in great art and be successful. He was inventive and insightful. He also showed me that you could incorporate your faith into artistic fanciful endeavors. We have lost a great artist and a wonderful soul in this life.

Meeting Sketches

I find great joy in sketching people in meetings. It is particularly rewarding when I get the lioness done well. Over the next year I am sure there will be more as I already have many meetings scheduled.

Bow Tie Guy of the Day: Axolotl

Axolotl (ˈaksəˌlätl)

The axolotl is a critically endangered Mexican salamander. It is unique in that it keeps its larval form throughout life. Basically it is the Peter Pan version of salamanders.

Their major threat is due to land drainage and the introduction of predatory fish into their habitat. There is thought that they are extinct in the wild.

Bow Tie Guy of the Day: Long Neck Thing

Recently, I was sketching during a meeting and this Bow Tie Guy came out onto the page. So often as I draw real creatures and get used to them odd conglomerations come out in my doodling. Although this one is not as odd as others I have mismatched, he is fun.

Happy Birthday to J.R.R. Tolkien: The Oliphaunt

In honor of Tolkien's Birthday, here is the Oliphaunt Bow Tie Guy. I looked to the poem recited by Samwise Gamgee in The Two Towers for inspiration on the look. 

 “Grey as a mouse,
Big as a house,
Nose like a snake,
I make the earth shake,
As I tramp through the grass;
Trees crack as I pass.
With horns in my mouth
I walk in the South,
Flapping big ears.
Beyond count of years
I stump round and round,
Never lie on the ground,
Not even to die.
Oliphaunt am I,
Biggest of all,
Huge, old, and tall.
If ever you'd met me
You wouldn't forget me.
If you never do,
You won't think I'm true;
But old Oliphaunt am I,
And I never lie.”

The ears are bigger and the trunk longer and snake like. I also adapted many of the prehistoric elephants that I have studied this year to give it a different feel. It has the lower tusks of the stegotetrabelodon and the head and upper tusks of a mammoth. It was a wonderful challenge to give myself.

Happy New Year!

I drew this portrait of one of my sister's dogs, Mr Wilson, as a Christmas gift for her. I thought I would start the year off by posting it.

I am not one to set specific resolutions as I set goals throughout the year. In looking back, I realize that I did draw more last year. It got spotty around August when school picked up with new responsibilities, but overall I did well. Here is to a new year with more drawing. One of my goals now is to post a drawing, Bow Tie Guy or something else, five days a week.