miss you Dad
          .

I am

I am still here,..
I do have a few projects to show,..
I beg patience my friends,..
I am still here.

.

On August 11, my father suddenly passed away. It was unexpected, unwarranted and unbelievable. I have been processing how the world is now different but has not changed and sadly I have not been drawing.

In the forefront of my mourning I was supported by dear friends and loving family,.. some expected and some surprisingly unexpected. A group of people who mean a lot to me were so kind as to remember me in my time of need and I sent them a personally handmade card of thanks. They mean that much to me and it was a meaningful way to get me back into drawing.

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I am getting back into drawing, slowly but surely. I am thankful I was able to share my art with my father and only wish I could have seen his eyes when he looked at it first hand. There are a few projects in the near future which will be for him but I will try to insert some more varied fun projects within them.

It is nice to be back,.. life goes on. Thank you all.

Churches (phase 2)

Here is another Church,.. this one in East Brewton.

First Baptist Church of East Brewton

(stay tuned for more)

Peggy - (delivery)

My father received the drawing of Peggy on Friday and called me to let me know what he thought. The call was very short (a minute or two), he told me he liked it. He had a hitch in his voice and that just made me wish I could have been there to see it in his eyes.

Anyways,.. here is a picture of the final image he received. Unframed since it was easier/safer to ship as well as the frame color and matting might be better for him to choose.

Heterometrus Spinifer (completed)

,... here is the finalized predatory arthropod also known as a Scorpion.


Not sure what prompted me to draw this, but it was fun (and truly creepy).

Dragonfly (update with more stages)

A few months back my wife asked me if I could possibly draw a Dragonfly for a friends birthday. I was honored and proud that she asked me and intruiged that I had not thought of drawing an insect. I started and realized most of the drawing until I reached a point where I thought I was done but was not very happy with the realism. So I turned to the extremely helpful experience of a few folks at Artpapa.com - (thanks again guys). Below you will find my process/progress,...

I started with a freehand outline which bares being mentioned since until then I had always used a grid matrix to transfer an image.


Once the eyes, thorax and front nodes of the wings were established the shape started showing itself.


The wings followed but I got a little carried away with the minor nodes in the wings and they turned out to be darker than intended so I had to lift/erase some of the graphite.


I completed the wings and then the abdomen but it seemed a little thick. However I continued with the wood fence boards as background since to be honest I really did not know yet what to do with the 'think' abdoment other than erase and redo.


Finally I turned to Artpapa for help and as is evidently shown their help was invaluable. Darkening in the right places (to thin out the abdomen), applying shadows (to add realism) and making the wings semi-transparent (which they are), just makes this Flame Skimmer Dragonfly simply pop off the paper (at least I think so).


Finally it was presented to my wifes friend (on 7/22/09) and here it is in the frame. Unfortunately the glass is reflecting the light and myself as I photograph this but I have to admit I am proud of this piece.


Happy Birthday Marsha!

Heterometrus Spinifer (wip)

Been busy with life and what-not as well as a short mini-vacation with the misses.

Well for some unexplainable reason I thought drawing an arachnida family member more precisely a Heterometrus Spinifer would be fun. The dark shiny sectioned exoskeleton, the trichobothria (fine dermis hairs for detecting vibrations), and the almost mechanically hindged joints are wonderful subjects to try and duplicate.











On the latest image above you can see where I started working the darker graphite into the abdomen and tail. So far I have only used an HB and 6B pencils and very little erasing.

More to come,..

Churches (phase 1)

I've been on vacation, well to be accurate my spouse has been on vacation since I myself am on perpetual vacation being a stay-at-home-what-ever-I-am (presently employment challenged).

I have not worked any major new projects or attacked some pending ones, but I did do these sketches of local churches. They are all free hand, as my usual process is to grid a photo and transfer it to the drawing medium. The grid method does feel like a slightly cheating method to me but it does allow me to change the size of the original photo. Also, being freehand, my angles are a little off in some places and I took some minor liberties which will be hopefully indistinguishable.

Cornerstone Community Church


First Presbyterian Church


First United Methodist Church


They were all done with a simple HB and hard eraser on 9"x12" medium weight paper.

You might have noticed I entitled this post as "phase 1" since I will be posting more drawing/sketches of buildings in my home town. I chose these 3 to start with because they were so different in their architecture. There are many interesting buildings in and around Brewton,.. I will enjoy this long term project.

Peggy - Completed.

Peggy is done,.. here are a few pictures of the final stages.
Another great learning experience with little to no experimentation or practice. By that I mean that I usually will try certain techniques on scrap sketch pads to see how they feel or how I can make the final look I want (like furry ears or a wet nose). Layering, shading, smugging and other tricks come into play, then I select the best option,.. but with this one, I simply worked on the drawing (just felt right).

Almost done here,... (there are always last minute tweaks)


Here is a detail of her face, (I like the eyes).

I am pleased with most of the drawing, the head in particular but the body not as much. The texture of the paper is too course for what I wanted to accomplish, but all in all when you stand back and look at the entire drawing,.. I guess it is not bad and you get some sense of what she was feeling.


Finally,... done! (maybe)


In the end I added a scarf (seen below her right ear), because she always had that red scarf/bandana on, even though you could not see it in the photograph. Now all I need to do is seal it and send it. I will have to request the help of my brother and sister in law for the frame since I am not sure what color to go with.

My usual tools were an HB, 2B, 6B and 8B, (most the 1st and last) a kneaded eraser, clic eraser (with a bevel cut) and some tortillons (for the near black areas). The dimensions are 11" x 14" on 70lbs acid free heavyweight paper.

Peggy was a wonderful dog and much more than a pet for my parents. I know she is missed and I hope this drawing is good enough to be shown in their home.