Jackie Sullivan : Sketch Blog

New Blog - Pictures and Print!

2011-12-04T09:59:00.000-05:00

I've started a new blog called Pictures and Print! For some time now, I have been sharing vintage books from my own collection here on my sketch blog to show where some of my inspirations come from. I enjoy sharing my books so much that I decided to create a spin-off blog specifically for that purpose. My collection is always growing, so I will always have new books to share as well as other vintage items of interests, such as magazines, comics, and more.

Check it out for more information and all sorts of vintage book goodness!

...I also often post on Instagram, vintage related and not, as jackieocean. Feel free to follow along!

Poppa Sullivan

2011-12-03T13:52:00.001-05:00

I painted this portrait recently as a birthday gift for my Dad. It's based on a photo of my grandfather, John Sullivan, in his World War II uniform. I snuck a quick photo of the original photo last time I was at my grandmother's house to use it for reference for this. The painting was done with acrylic paint and measures 9" x 12".

West Tisbury Tractor - new watercolor painting

2011-08-25T13:18:00.000-04:00

This is a new watercolor painting of a tractor in a farm field in West Tisbury, on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Completed in August of 2011. Some in progress pictures of the painting can be viewed here.

Prints are available through my print shop.

Inspirations: Vintage Books no.12

2011-07-11T21:38:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I shared a vintage book that I find inspiring, so tonight I pulled one from my collection and scanned some pages. I picked this up at my favorite local used book store because I loved the simplicity and quirkiness of the interior illustrations. My favorite is the page where a duck is sporting a top hat, jacket, glasses, and a walking cane.

The book is titled Morning Noises and is written and illustrated by Alain Grée, and published by Wonder Books, Inc. in 1962.

All previous posts featuring books from my collection can be viewed by clicking here.

Philbin Beach Rocks - watercolor sketches

2011-07-07T09:50:00.001-04:00

I was able to do a little bit of painting while I was on Martha's Vineyard last week visiting my family and working on planning my wedding for next summer. I took two of my watercolor sketchbooks to Philbin Beach in Aquinnah so that I could paint in one while the other was drying. It was pretty hot and sunny, so the paint was drying faster than I would have liked, but I did my best to just work with it and not get too hung up on precise details. These three watercolor sketches are the result.

I'm hoping to do more painting here at home over the next few weeks, using some of the photos I took last week as reference. Later in August I'll be returning to the island for another visit/wedding planning session.

To see more of my Martha's Vineyard drawings and paintings, just click here.

Lighthouse - sketchbook

2011-06-27T07:55:00.005-04:00

Here's another page from my sketchbook, featuring the Gay Head Lighthouse in Aquinnah on Martha's Vineyard. Drawn with pen in my moleskine sketchbook.

To see more of my Martha's Vineyard drawings and paintings, just click here.

Sketchbook Pages

2011-06-26T11:11:00.001-04:00

This morning I scanned a couple of recent pages out of my sketchbook. I had to keep myself busy while monitoring student exams last week.

Ceramic Apple

2011-06-25T10:17:00.000-04:00

I made this ceramic apple to use for a glaze demonstration with my 8th grade students. The apple is true to size, and I wanted to use it to experiment with layering subtle different colors of glaze to make it mimic the variety of colors that you can see in a real apple skin. I was really happy with how the colors turned out in this experiment.

You can also see part of my classroom desk in the photo below.

New watercolor painting in progress

2011-06-06T09:07:00.000-04:00

I started a new watercolor painting yesterday, based on a photo I took in West Tisbury when I was on Martha's Vineyard last summer. I'm trying using Strathmore 500 series cold press illustration board, which I don't have much experience with. It reacts differently than normal watercolor paper, so I'm having to slightly re-adjust my painting strategy.

Zooey - a watercolor portrait

2011-05-20T20:16:00.002-04:00

I've been practicing some more with watercolor and it led to this portrait of Zooey Deschanel. Over the past couple of years I've become a fan of her music, fashion sense, and acting. I was trying to treat this kind of like an illustration that you would see in a magazine and had fun incorporating the pattern into the painting.

You can see some photos of the painting in progress right here.

The final painting measures 9" x 12" and was completed on May 19, 2011.

Prints are now available through my print shop!

New watercolor in progress

2011-04-23T20:26:00.000-04:00

I've been working on a new watercolor painting today, a portrait of Zooey Deschanel. I'm taking a break for the rest of the night while I decide on what I'm going to do for the background. While I mull it over, I thought it might be fun to post some progress photos here on my blog. The photo above is what the painting looks like at the moment on the art desk, and below you can some photos that I snapped quick while I was working on it.

Florence - a watercolor portrait

2011-04-18T07:06:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I decided that I wanted to try doing a watercolor painting based solely on warm and cool colors, which is how this whole thing got started. I chose to do a portrait of Florence Welch from the band Florence + The Machine because I thought her bright hair would lend itself quite well to the color scheme restraints. This turned out to be a lot of fun and I want to try doing more watercolor portraits in this manner. It's a good exercise, if anything.

The final painting measures 12" x 12 and was completed on April 17, 2011.

Prints are now available through my print shop!

Along The River - Paris watercolor

2011-04-17T08:05:00.000-04:00

Another Paris watercolor for my sketchbook, measuring 8" x 5 1/4". The Seine was extremely high while we were there, so many of the walking paths under the bridges along the river were flooded over. This was the view along the Seine facing towards Notre Dame.

Ceramic Box inspired by Hokusai's Great Wave

2011-04-16T11:43:00.000-04:00

This is a demo piece that I made for one of my 8th grade classes. For their assignment, they had to make a clay box using slab construction. The lid and any other designs that they put on their box had to be based on a famous piece of artwork. For my demonstration piece, I made a box that was inspired by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa".

The finished box measures 5 inches x 4 inches and is a little over 4 inches tall. The lid is layered with different levels of clay to add some dimension to the image. All of the students were encouraged to think about how they could add texture or depth to the painting that they were basing their box on, and how they could use the different glazes to try and re-create that painting.

Walking In Paris

2011-04-10T21:19:00.000-04:00

Tonight I made a little color painting in my sketchbook, based on photos that we took while walking in Paris during our first day in the city. I want to go back, especially now that it's springtime.

1971 - on display

2011-03-24T17:09:00.000-04:00

Just a reminder that if you're in the area, my digital illustration 1971 is on display at Maxwell Public Library in Camillus, NY as part of the West Genesee Fine Arts Faculty Show. The show has been up for most of this month and comes down at the end of this weekend, so catch it while you can.

And as always, prints of this are available through my print shop!

Inspirations: Vintage Books no.11

2011-03-19T18:24:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I visited my favorite local used bookstore, Books and Memories, as a way to kick off the weekend. I found some more great vintage books to add to my collection and thought I would feature one of them today.

The book is titled Sailor Jack And Eddy and is from a series of early reader books about Sailor Jack. The authors are Selma and Jack Wasserman, the illustrator is Robert S. Robison, and the book was published in 1961 by Benefic Press. The story is about a little boy named Eddy who stows away on the submarine Shark during his elementary school field trip.

I initially picked up the book because it has the bold colored canvas cover that can be found on many books from the '50s and '60s. I'm a big fan of these covers for their simplified design with limited colors and bold shapes, and am often tempted to take books home solely based on the cover design. This book is a nice bonus, because not only is the cover great but the inside illustrations are classic as well. The artist used a three color printing scheme - blue, yellow, and red - which is layered to make any green or orange that is needed. The result is a composition that has been very well planned out to make use of the printing technology that was available at the time.

I particularly like how some illustrations rely more on shapes than falling back completely on black outlines (like the sailors in the background of the final image below). The lines that are used are also nice and fluid - look at the continuous swoop of the pen that makes the sailor's legs as he walks in the image below. Older books like this are a good reminder that less can be more when it comes to art. Sometimes by setting some limits you can come up with a stronger composition and not be tempted to fill the picture with more just because you can.

Hope For Japan

2011-03-12T15:40:00.002-05:00

The tragedy going on in Japan right now is unimaginable. Earthquakes, tsunami waves, fires, nuclear leaks...it seems like they've been hit with just about everything. I've been reading the news quite a bit since I woke up to the headlines yesterday morning and my heart goes out to all of those people.

This illustration is my response to the whole situation, offering some hope in my own little way. I used sumi ink, watercolor paper, and Photoshop to put it together this morning.

Fox Run

2011-03-07T17:46:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to make a piece of art that would lend itself well to a wrap-around design for a ceramic mug. Today's snow day presented the perfect opportunity! This was done with watercolor paint and then some digital edits in Photoshop. Measures 10" x 5", completed March of 2011.

This painting is available as an art print or as a ceramic mug through my print shop. If you get a mug, take a photo of it in use and send it to me! I'd love to see it.

Recycled Book Wreath

2011-02-25T15:39:00.003-05:00

Earlier this week I made a new wreath for the front door, since the holiday one I made has once again been put into storage for the year.

I've seen people make wreaths out of books and sheet music before, so I thought that would be fun to try with some discarded library books that I had. Originally, when I thought of the project a while back, I was going to cut out lots of leaves, but I decided that would take too long. I had seen one made of sheet music on Etsy before where the papers were rolled, so that seemed like a good method to try for this project.

I started off by cutting a base ring out of a cardboard box. The book I used for this project is a discarded paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone that I took from the free pile at the library (I feel that the choice of book makes the wreath all the more suitable for my home). The only other materials I used are scissors and a hot glue gun. You could probably also use regular Elmer's Glue instead of hot glue, but I was impatient and I also thought that the hot glue might be a bit more sturdier in the long run.

I separated the book pages from the glued binding by ripping the book into a few smaller sections and then carefully tearing the pages off one by one. It came apart pretty easily and I hardly had to use the scissors at all. I quite like the slightly ragged edges that some of the rolls of paper have from ripping them instead of clean cut edges.

After separating the pages, I then rolled them into tubes, securing them closed with a strip of hot glue at the end of the roll. I started hot gluing the rolls of paper around the cardboard ring. The first layer of paper rolls was glued about halfway into the cardboard ring. The second layer was then glued on top of the paper rolls, moving in towards the center of the ring. Eventually there were three of four layers of paper, with the top layers being made of paper rolls that were cut in half to add some shape variety.

Ideally, I should have more carefully planned out the spacing of the tubes before gluing them, something I figured out too late into the project. I may have also been slightly distracted by watching Dr. Who on Netflix while I was sitting on the carpet working. Oops! There are a few gaps I might try and fix, but I only have a couple pages from the book left over and I don't want to mix in pages from another book and risk having the difference in paper color stand out. I might try again at some point with a different style of wreath, but overall it's not too bad for a first attempt.

All in all, the wreath measures about 18 inches across. It's not heavy at all, and all of the layered rolls of paper actually make it quite sturdy. I cut a U-shape out of cardboard and hot glued it to the back of the cardboard ring to make a hook for hanging it on the door. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out, and it didn't cost me a penny since I either had the supplies on hand or was recycling.

A Pair of Foxes

2011-02-14T07:11:00.001-05:00

Last Valentine's Day I painted this watercolor painting of two foxes for Jeff. This year, I thought it would be fun to make him a small sculpture of the two foxes from last year's painting. I first sculpted it out of clay (you can see an unpainted photo below) and then painted it with acrylic paint after firing it. I had debated about using glaze to finish the sculpture, but in the end I decided that paint would help me better reach the finished look that I had in my head, and luckily it worked out great. When it was all done, I sealed the paint with a flat spray finish by Valspar. The completed sculpture is approximately 3.5" tall.

Paris Street Art

2011-02-13T15:59:00.001-05:00

While I was in Paris, I saw a lot of interesting street art. There were a lot of the Banksy and Shepard Fairey variety, as well as some interesting other little bits.

I had a lot of fun keeping an eye out for the little 8 bit video game characters that we started to notice around the city that someone has been making out of little glass and ceramic tiles and attaching high up on the sides of buildings. I looked it up when I got home and found out that the tile street art movement was started by an artist who calls himself Invader. Apparently he's been posting his tile art around Paris and the rest of the world for a few years now. I also found this post on another blog that shows more tile art in Paris, including some that I saw.

Sketchbook - A Fabulous Floppy Hat

2011-02-02T20:46:00.004-05:00

Today was a snow day because of the big storm that rolled through the area. While I was enjoying the surprise day off, I had some fun looking through vintage clothes on Etsy. I stumbled across one store called Astral Boutique and had a blast looking through the 1960s and 1970s style dresses that she's selling. I picked out two dresses at a good price, and can't wait for them to arrive in the mail! But really, I just had a good time looking through the photos of the clothes she's selling and wound up doing a sketch based on the fabulous floppy hat that is used in many of the photos.

This was done in my moleskine sketchbook with an archival pigment pen and watercolor paint.

Printmaking - Self-Portrait

2011-01-25T07:27:00.002-05:00

This is the demo that I made for my 8th grade students' printmaking project. They learned about the pop art movement, with a focus on Andy Warhol's screen printed portraits. The students carved their own portraits, using photos for reference to do a transfer on to the rubber printing blocks. After doing a series of test prints, the students then printed their portrait four times with their choice of colors. Below you can see the finished portraits by my students. The final portraits measure approximately 14" x 14".

Printmaking - Owl

2011-01-24T20:16:00.003-05:00

I recently finished doing printmaking assignments with all of my classes. I had them use rubber printing blocks for carving. My 6th graders were making prints of the subject of their choice, so this owl print was my demo for their class. It's inspired by a vintage cast iron trivet that I own. Below you can see some of the work by my 6th grade students.

Paris - part 3

2011-01-20T07:28:00.004-05:00

On December 30th we went to Montmartre for a second time with the intention to do some drawing and painting. The day started out nice and sunny so Jeff and I grabbed a seat outside Cafe des 2 Moulins, ordered some cafe creme, and got out our sketchbooks. I drew a picture of the little grocery store across the street. Jeff also took a lot of reference photos of Montmarte for us to use later on for artwork.

The Cafe des 2 Moulins is the one used in Amélie. We had breakfast there earlier in the week.

After the sunny morning, the weather turned rather gray and cold so we didn't really have a good chance to draw or paint outside anymore. The last drawing below was done while sitting outside Saint Severin cafe by Saint Michel at night. The weather was cold and rainy, but sitting under the awning and heat lamp at the cafe made for some good people watching.

While the weather in Paris may not have lent itself well to drawing outside, I do have 1500+ reference photos to use for doing art from home, so you can definitely count on seeing more Paris themed artwork from me in the future!

Paris - part 2

2011-01-18T07:32:00.002-05:00

On December 26th we went to the Eiffel Tower. It was very cold but luckily it was one of the clearer weather days, which worked out perfectly for some sightseeing. After going into the Eiffel Tower we wandered over to the little Christmas village - Village de Noel, I think - that had been set up in the big plaza area across from the Tower. There were a lot of booths selling food and knicknacks, as well as music and an outdoor skating rink. We found an empty table next to the skating rink to sit and rest at, and since the view of the Eiffel Tower was pretty good from there I decided to try painting. I was determined to do at least one on location painting while we were in Paris.

I had to work fast because my fingers were getting really cold, and the sun was rapidly setting. The orange lights on the Eiffel Tower turned on as we were sitting there. While I was painting, a small group of kids stopped by the edge of the skating rink and watched me. They started talking to me, but since I don't understand French I could only smile and shrug. The kids had a hastily whispered conference and then attempted to talk to me again, with the lead girl haltingly saying, "You draw bee-yoo-tiful!" I laughed and thanked them. They giggled and skated away. Cute kids.

After finishing the little watercolor painting, we went inside one of the food tents so I could hold my sketchbook by a heat lamp to get it to dry. The cold was what kept me from doing much painting outside - too hard on the fingers and the paint just took too long to dry. Once I could close my sketchbook, we walked around and took some more photos of the Eiffel Tower.

And the next morning Jeff asked me to marry him. Definitely the best Christmas break ever!

Paris - part 1

2011-01-17T12:37:00.004-05:00

Over the Christmas and New Year's holiday, Jeff and I went to Paris. We did some sketching and painting while we were there, but not too much on location artwork because it was so cold outside. We did take a lot of reference photos, though, to use for paintings and drawings once we got back home.

For the next few days I'll be sharing the few pages from my sketchbook that I did work on while we were there.

The first day we were in Paris was actually Christmas day. After much walking around and exploring, we ended the day with some dessert and people watching in this cafe. The name of the cafe was Cafe Panis, across from Notre Dame Cathedral.

Inspirations: Vintage Books no.10

2011-01-13T08:20:00.003-05:00

I hadn't been to the local used book store in a while, so last night I went to check it out and see what was new. I found a few great vintage childrens' books to add to my collection, including the one below.

Alexander, by Harold Littledale and illustrated by Tom Vroman, was published by Parents' Magazine Press in 1964. The illustrations in the book make great use of strong lines, simple shapes, and vibrant colors. The pages in the book alternate from full color to black and white with red accents on every other page. Many of the color pages make great use of utilizing the white space around the images, with the little boy in the book often moving around on the white of the page while Alexander the horse is in the main color image.

You can click the tags at the bottom of this post to re-visit the previous books and inspiration posts.

New painting in progress

2010-12-10T07:32:00.003-05:00

Last night I did some more work on that painting that I posted the start photo of yesterday. I was mainly working on blocking out colors and values on the roofs of the buildings. This painting measures approximately 12" x 18" and is being done with acrylic paint on watercolor paper.

Oh deer...and a snow day

2010-12-09T07:56:00.003-05:00

Nothing fancy, just a recent sketchbook page.

Yesterday was a snow day, so I used the day off from teaching to start a new painting. School is back to normal today, so I'm planning to continue working on the painting this afternoon.

Also, don't forget - free economy shipping from my print shop on orders over $10! Only a week left on that offer.

Snow and Evergreens - new art and prints

2010-11-30T15:46:00.002-05:00

This image was the result of experimenting with a combination of art techniques. This started out as a print made from a sheet of styrofoam that I drew and carved into. I used it to print with black ink on white paper, then scanned it and added all of the color digitally. I would have liked to actually print it with the colors, but I just don't have the set up at this time to do prints with color alignment.

Prints are now available!

Also, there is a promotion going on right now with my print shop. When you spend at least $10 you will get free economy shipping! It's the perfect time to pick up something for yourself or for some holiday gifts.

Autumn Leaf - watercolor painting

2010-11-23T18:56:00.002-05:00

A watercolor painting of an autumn leaf, inspired by a trip to Vermont. The painting measures approximately 10" x 8" and is going to be given to my dad for his birthday during Thanksgiving weekend.

Prints are now available!

Inspirations: Random Sketchbook Pages

2010-11-14T13:22:00.006-05:00

My sketchbooks tend to have pages filled with random bits of whatever I find in them. Here are some of those pages from my current sketchbook.

Roy Lichtenstein styled self-portrait

2010-10-30T13:26:00.004-04:00

I painted this as a demonstration piece for my 8th grade students. They've been making self-portraits inspired by either Roy Lichtenstein or Shepard Fairey (a project inspired by one I saw in Todd Stahl's classroom when I was doing my student teaching). After learning about both artists and taking reference photos to work from, they selected the style they wanted to work in and then transferred their photo to a drawing on 14" x 18" illustration board using the grid method.

Here are some samples of my students' work in progress. For most of them, this was their first time attempting a self-portrait. They're just wrapping up this project now and we're starting a ceramics lesson.

Inspirations: Local Artists

2010-10-25T08:21:00.003-04:00

This weekend I went to the Salt City Urban Art & Craft Market. It was a great show with a lot of inspiring work being sold by area artists. I was practically drooling over all of the gorgeous letterpress work. I had some birthday money in my pocket, so I was able to take a few cool things home with me to continue the inspiration.

This felted owl is just too adorable! The artist has more work on Etsy at Peaches Products.

I'm planning on framing this notecard by Ink and Wit. There was a gorgeous calendar that the artist had put together that I really wanted to bring home, but it was a little out of my budget range.

I was determined to bring a piece of letterpress artwork home with me and wound up settling on this sweet little 10" x 8" winter themed print by Pistachio Press. They also had some gorgeous stationery. Their work is also available through their Etsy shop.

A quick glimpse of my classroom

2010-10-04T06:57:00.003-04:00

I can't believe that I'm starting my fifth week of the school year already! Time is flying by. As such, I thought I should capture a quick glimpse of my classroom during this time. My students have been working on drawing the still-life arrangements that are on the tables. The bulletin board in the back has a display on the Elements of Design. I started the display with just a couple of images for each element and then my students helped finish it by bring in their own examples found in magazines, newspapers, the internet, or even from their own drawings.

Commission: Emma

2010-09-16T19:22:00.002-04:00

I finished this commissioned painting at the end of August, but I waited to post it because it was being given as a surprise gift to some family friends. It's a painting of their dog, Emma. They had seen the painting of Marley that I had done as a gift for my parents and said how much they liked it. As a surprise for our friends' wedding anniversary, my parents commissioned me to do a watercolor painting of their yellow labrador. It was an interesting commission job because I had to sort of sneakily get some reference photos of the dog from one of their sons (facebook to the rescue!). But the painting worked out well and the friends who received it were really happy and surprised.

This painting was done with watercolor and acrylics on watercolor paper, measuring 12" x 10" and completed in August of 2010. Some in progress shots of the painting can be seen here and here.

My Classroom - Part I - The Front Door

2010-09-03T19:33:00.005-04:00

This week I've been working on setting up my classroom and getting things ready for the start of the school year. Getting the classroom exactly the way I want is going to be a constantly evolving process throughout the year, but I'm happy with the progress I've made so far. I've been documenting everything with photos as it goes along because I know I'm going to want to look back on it. I still have more to set up next week before classes start, but in the meantime you can check out the door to my classroom. I finished decorating it on Wednesday.

1971 - finished illustration

2010-08-19T19:17:00.004-04:00

This illustration is inspired by a photo of my uncle Jonathan with one of his motorcycles in 1971. I found the photo at my grandmother's house and was immediately reminded of famous images of motorcycles with movie stars like James Dean and Steve McQueen. The picture was started on watercolor paper with brown colored pencil and ink washes. All color was added digitally painted in Photoshop. The final illustration measures 27" x 18" and was completed in August of 2010.

Some in progresses versions of this illustration can be seen here. You can see that the piece originally had a shorter composition but I widened it as it got closer to completion and am much happier with the final composition. This picture is one of those pieces I started a while ago and had to keep putting it on hold for various reasons. However, this piece will be on display at the New York State Fair from August 26th until September 6th, 2010, which was great motivation for finally finishing it off.

Prints of this illustration are now available through my print shop!

Watercolors at the art desk

2010-08-12T13:59:00.003-04:00

I'm working on a commissioned painting today and thought that I'd share a couple of quick photos.

Watercolors in progress

2010-07-30T14:54:00.002-04:00

Happy Friday! Here are a few photos of some watercolors that I'm working on today.

Inspirations: Vintage Books no.9

2010-07-23T09:13:00.006-04:00

Last weekend I visited the local used book store and found two more vintage hardcover books to add to my collection. Both were in beautiful condition, with the only markings being either the previous owner's name inked on the inside cover or a stamp from the school library the book used to belong to.

The first one is a cute early reader book published by Beckley-Cardy, Chicago in 1953 titled Bucky Button by Edith S. McCall, with illustrations by Jack Faulkner. This book has the two color printing scheme that I find myself drawn to in many of the vintage books that I pick up. I particularly like the design of the cover, with the truck being off center and cropped halfway out of the frame.

The second book is titled Eight Fairy Tales, edited by Watty Piper, and published by The Platt & Munk Co., Inc. As far as a publication date, the book is listed with a copyright for 1934 and 1938, and the former owner wrote 1958 on the inside cover. The book is in really good shape, so I'm leaning more towards a 1950s printing. There is no artist credit listed for the illustrations save for a signature that says "Eulalie" on several of the illustrations (there is a mix of color and black and white pictures throughout the book).

The eight fairy tales told in this book are Peter Pan (which I think has the best illustrations), Cinderella, Dick Whittington, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss In Boots, The Three Bears, and Tom Thumb.

Sketchbook - Taughannock Falls

2010-07-22T10:41:00.002-04:00

A drawing of Taughannock Falls, near Ithaca, NY. We definitely need rain around here, the falls were much smaller than normal.

Clay Cliffs watercolor

2010-07-21T08:48:00.004-04:00

A small painting of the Aquinnah Cliffs, as viewed from Philbin Beach on Martha's Vineyard. This was done in my watercolor sketchbook and measures approximately 4 1/2" by 6".

Two years ago I posted a painting from the same watercolor sketchbook of the same cliffs, just a slightly different view. It's fun to look and compare the two.

Foggy State Forest

2010-07-20T08:45:00.002-04:00

Another page from my watercolor sketchbook, this time featuring a foggy State Forest on Martha's Vineyard. Measures approximately 4 1/2" by 6".

Old Stone Wall from Up-Island

2010-07-19T09:02:00.002-04:00

I love those old stone walls that you can find all over Martha's Vineyard, especially up-island. This picture was done in my watercolor sketchbook and measures approximately 4 1/2" by 6".

More Vineyard pages from my sketchbook

2010-07-18T10:35:00.002-04:00

This first sketch is a drawing I started of Edgartown Harbor, over by the Yacht Club, but I didn't finish it because people kept standing right over my shoulder and annoying me. It was really just too busy down by the harbor to try and draw that afternoon.

This second drawing was done while waiting to go to the Chilmark Flea Market. My mom has a whole bunch of plants out on her porch that are waiting to be put in to what is going to be a vegetable garden.

Blackwater Pond Lilypads

2010-07-17T10:49:00.003-04:00

A page from my sketchbook, inspired by an afternoon of sitting out at Blackwater Pond in Vineyard Haven, on Martha's Vineyard. There were so many lilypads! I've never seen so many in one place before. I took many photos to hopefully use for reference for some paintings in the future.

Clouds Over the Atlantic

2010-07-16T09:20:00.003-04:00

Some practice painting clouds with watercolors, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean from Aquinnah on Martha's Vineyard. Painting measures approximately 5"x7".

Pen and Ink Flowers

2010-07-15T12:22:00.000-04:00

Custom Dry Erase Board

2010-06-30T09:48:00.003-04:00

I found a tutorial on the blog paper n stitch that showed how to make your own custom dry erase marker board. I thought it was a cool idea, so yesterday I bought supplies (fabric and frame for about $13, measures 12" x 16") and put one together. It's already being put to use by my computer desk.

Inspirations: Vintage Books no.8

2010-06-29T08:07:00.002-04:00

I thought that today would be a good day to spotlight a few more vintage books from my collection.

This first book, Our State Birds by Mary I. Curtis, was found at an estate sale for a family that was getting ready to move - not too shabby for $1! I mainly picked it up because I liked the cover design, but there are also some nice black and white bird illustrations in the inside, including a few amusing ones of Betty Draper-esque women feeding birds and watching them with binoculars. The end papers that are inside the cover also have a great map illustration with all of the state birds. The book is from 1947, published by Lyons and Carnahan, and illustrated by Julia Morrison.

This second book, Make and Make-Believe by Arthur I. Gates and Miriam Blanton Huber, was found at one of the used book stores in Syracuse and was also a case of picking it up because I liked the cover and the end papers. The inside illustrations aren't too shabby either, and are printed in a mainly blue and orange color scheme to match the cover. The cover design itself looks like it was drawing inspiration from Maxfield Parrish. The book is from 1931, published by The Macmillan Company, and illustrated by George M. Richards.

Memorial Day watercolor paintings

2010-06-17T19:31:00.003-04:00

I took one of my watercolor sketchbooks to Green Lakes on Memorial Day to do some painting. This particular sketchbook is more of a square format, and I finally got around to scanning the pages in.

It was a beautiful day and the lake was really busy. A lot of rowboats and paddle boats from the boathouse were being rented out by visitors.

Lobsterville Beach

2010-06-01T20:51:00.003-04:00

A watercolor painting (12" x 9") of Lobsterville Beach on the island of Martha's Vineyard. This was a Mother's Day gift for my mom since she loves to go to this beach to look for sea glass.

Prints of this paintings are now available through my print shop.

Green Lakes - watercolor sketchbook

2010-05-24T20:21:00.002-04:00

The first page from a new wider format watercolor sketchbook that I recently started.

Benches On Parade - The Debut!

2010-05-17T20:17:00.006-04:00

The Benches On Parade have officially made their debut! I attended the premiere party last Monday and had a great opportunity to see all of the benches in one place. Since the party, the benches have all been installed in various places around Rochester. The bench that I painted can be seen at the corner of Barrington Street and Park Avenue. You can locate my bench from the page and map on the official website. The Benches On Parade book is also now for sale.

If you visit my bench on location, take photos! I'd love to see them. The benches will be on display throughout Rochester until the end of the summer.

Recent sketchbook pages - Hummingbird

2010-04-28T18:36:00.001-04:00

Watercolor and colored pencil in my Moleskine sketchbook.

Watercolor Sketchbook - Yellow Sky

2010-04-22T12:57:00.001-04:00

A recent page from my watercolor sketchbook (approximately 6" by 4 1/2").

Painting with the Colors App

2010-04-17T12:23:00.005-04:00

I recently downloaded the Colors App for my iPod and have been practicing using it. It's different than using the Brushes App because you can't use layers, but it does have a nifty playback option so you can watch not only how your image progressed, but also how people made paintings they have uploaded to the public gallery. Below is a little cherry blossoms painting that I made while trying out the app.

You can watch the playback of this image right here in my gallery on the Colors website.

Black & White Photography - Ivy and Arches

2010-04-09T07:25:00.004-04:00

This is the last photo from my black and white photo class, but it definitely won't be the last of the black and white film that I'll be shooting. I just won't have access to a dark room until I sign up for another class so I'll be dropping my film off to be developed.

Black & White Photography - Feathered Grass

2010-04-07T14:04:00.003-04:00

Last night was the final session of my black and white photography class. I'm really glad I signed up for the class, and I'm hoping to take another one at Community Darkrooms this summer.

This photo was taken at Green Lakes State Park in Manlius, New York.

Inspirations: Vintage Books no.7

2010-04-05T07:36:00.005-04:00

Here are a few more recent additions to my collection of books, picked up at a household sale. I scanned in the front and back covers from six books out of a series called Little Folk's Library. Each book measures approximately 5.75" wide by 4.5" tall. They were all published by Newson & Company in 1928. I love the cover illustrations on these, with simple but bold color schemes. I particularly like the Tom Thumb one that is pictured first below. All of the books have interior illustrations as well, printed in black, white, and one additional color.

Black & White Photography - Stone Lion

2010-04-02T08:40:00.003-04:00

I finished another print in my black and white photography class this week. It took some experimenting with filters, burning, and different exposure times until I got the contrast levels to a point I was happy with.

Below is one of my test sheets from when I was working out different exposure times for the print.

Bird creature design

2010-04-01T17:22:00.002-04:00

This week I played around a little bit in Illustrator with making creature designs. It was an excuse to practice using the pen tool.

Inspirations: Vintage Books no.6

2010-03-27T12:10:00.005-04:00

After dinner last night I went to the used book store that's down the street and found two great books to add to my collection.

The first book I found was The House That Jack Built, published in 1911 by the Henry Altemus Company. It has black and white illustrations with the occasional color page. The binding is a little worn, a few pages have some small age stains, and the first page is loose, but other than that it's in pretty good condition.

The second book I picked out was a copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales, published by McLoughlin Brothers. I'm not sure of the publication date as it's not listed anywhere in the book, but judging from the look and condition I would guess somewhere between 1910 and 1920. The illustrations are signed as being by F. Bassett Comstock.

These both have great interior black and white illustrations, but what really caught my eye were the cover designs. All in all, I'm happy to add these to my book collection.

Black & White Photography - my first print

2010-03-24T11:51:00.003-04:00

Last night in my photography class I developed another roll of film and also made a print from the roll I developed last week. It's pretty cool to go through the whole process of creating a photo, from originally taking the picture to going through the whole development process. Next week I plan on developing more films and prints, and I'm going to try using some filters to refine the print I made last night.

This photo was taken at Green Lakes State Park in Manlius, New York.

Watercolor Sketchbook - Colorful Trees

2010-03-19T15:15:00.001-04:00

A recent page from my watercolor sketchbook (approximately 6" by 4 1/2").

iPod doodles & recent sketchbook pages

2010-03-18T11:48:00.005-04:00

Jeff recently downloaded the Brushes App for his iPod Touch, so I've been playing around with that a little bit. It takes time to get used to drawing on such a small screen with your fingertip, but I think eventually I might be able to turn out some semi-decent sketches with it. You can see my first two attempts below.

And just to round out this post, here are two more recent pages from my sketchbook - a faceless hipster and a paisley doodle.

Black & White Photography

2010-03-17T16:44:00.003-04:00

I recently started taking a black and white photography class at Community Darkrooms. It's been a fun class so far, and very informative. To take my photos for the class, I'm using the 35mm Olympus that you can see pictured below.

Last night we developed our film for the first time and practiced making contact sheets. Next week we'll be making prints and developing more film from the rolls that we'll be shooting during the week. Below you can see the contact sheet that I developed last night.

A New Sketchbook

2010-03-16T08:37:00.006-04:00

I started a new sketchbook when I went to the zoo to draw during the previous weekend. I like to decorate the inside page spread of my sketchbook whenever I start a new one (my last one had a collage on the inside), so this week I broke out some blue acrylic paint to make a paisley pattern (inspired by some curtains I saw at Anthropologie).

This sketchbook has thicker pages than my last one, which for the most part I like because then I can draw on the backs of pages without worrying about ink bleeding through. I thought I'd test some watercolor paint on the pages, which proved to be a revealing little experiment. The paper is so smooth that the watercolor tends to bead up on the surface of the page. It made painting traditionally with the watercolor a bit difficult, but it did provide for some interesting texture in the brushstrokes.

1971 - a work in progress

2010-03-15T10:34:00.004-04:00

I thought it was time to re-visit a piece that I had started a while ago but had to put on hold while I finished grad school. This is an illustration based on a photo of my uncle Jonathan with one of his motorcycles back in 1971. Below you can see the brown colored pencil and ink wash drawing that I started with, scanned in from a 24" x 18" piece of watercolor paper.

The next thing I always do with a piece to prep it for digital painting is to start blocking in my color scheme.

The image below shows the current stage of the painting. Colors, shading, and highlights are starting to become more detailed. The background is roughed in, along with parts of the motorcycle. Details are starting to be painted in on the motorcycle, such as on the headlamp.

More updates on this digital painting will be posted as the week goes by! I want to get this finished in time for my uncle's birthday next month.

Zoo sketches

2010-03-08T16:00:00.001-05:00

Here's a few sketchbook pages from an afternoon of drawing yesterday. We went to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo to draw the animals and take advantage of the sunshine.

Benches On Parade - Part 5

2010-02-25T12:04:00.002-05:00

Drumroll please...I'm done painting the bench!

I'll probably do a spot check on it one more time, but it's all finished. It feels great to have the painting all done. The next step is to take it to an autobody shop to have it clear coated, and then I can turn the bench back in to the Benches On Parade coordinators.

I'd also like to take some better photos of it once I get it out of the enclosed porch - it's difficult to photograph it in such a constrained space and I'd like to have photos of it to keep for my portfolio.

Benches On Parade - Part 4

2010-02-21T10:53:00.004-05:00

My work on the bench for Benches On Parade is on the home stretch! Over the past couple days, I started getting into a lot of the detail work - circles and dots with the stripe patterns, cleaning up the globes, adding more stripes, etc.

The front of the bench is almost complete. I had to re-sand the rim of the seat a little bit so I could re-paint the rim to fix the alignment of the yellow bar. I'm going to be adding some lettering to the seat rim, so now it's all prepped and ready for that. The only other thing the front of the bench needs are the computer chip patterns in the two navy blue panels.

On the back of the bench, the stripes and dots are almost complete. I've marked where all of the circles need to be painted in. The other details the back needs are the blue grid lines and the computer chip patterns in the three navy blue blocks. The computer chip pattern is also going to be added to the navy blue areas on the sides of the bench. The end is in sight!

Footsteps - watercolor painting

2010-02-14T08:21:00.004-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

This watercolor painting measures 8" x 12".

Prints are available here!

Benches On Parade - Part 3

2010-02-13T11:42:00.003-05:00

Here are some more photos documenting the progress on my bench for Benches On Parade. I've been working on using the painters tape to add more of the stripes and lines in the design, as well as adding the globes and starting some of the light blue lines on the bench seat. The globe only has the first layer of paint, so the color isn't solid enough yet. It's coming along pretty well. The next thing to tackle are the computer chips on the sides and the bottom panels.

Benches On Parade - Part 2

2010-02-03T10:39:00.002-05:00

Here are some photos of the progress I've been making on the bench that I'm painting for Benches On Parade. I've been mapping out a lot of the straight lines using painter's tape, which is helping the process go much more smoothly. Next up, the globes, more lines, and the computer chip patterns.

Benches On Parade - Part 1

2010-01-25T09:49:00.007-05:00

Benches On Parade is a community art project in Rochester that involves a variety of artists painting fiberglass benches that will be displayed around the city this coming summer. I'm lucky enough to be one of the artists who gets to participate in this project! Most of the benches are being sponsored by companies in Rochester. I'm painting a bench for Harris RF Communications. These benches are quite large, measuring about 6 feet wide by 5 feet tall.

I'm storing the bench that I'm working on in Rochester, so on days that I'm not teaching I've been driving back to work on it. My bench is inspired by art deco design, with a slightly abstracted nod to Harris's ties to the global communications field.

So far I've mapped out most of the design on the bench. I've been taping off areas to paint in large blocks of color before I get into the details. Today I'm going to be filling in all of the blue areas of color and tomorrow I'll most likely really start getting into the details. A visit to the art store will probably be involved too - a bench this big requires a lot of acrylic paint!

Fused Glass Jewelry

2010-01-24T21:16:00.005-05:00

I recently got to experiment with making fused glass jewelry. I didn't get too advanced with my designs, but concentrated more on having fun with colors. The first three pieces are pendants and the fourth one is a pin. I've been having a lot of fun learning how to work with glass like this.

I made these by arranging pieces of glass on either a clear glass or a white glass backing. The small pieces were affixed with a little bit of glue, and then everything was sandwiched together with a piece of clear glass on top. After the pieces were fired in a kiln, the pendant loops or pin backings were affixed to the glass with epoxy.

dark teal and light green glass on a clear glass backing,
approximately 1.25" x 1.75"

light blue and green glass on a white glass backing,
approximately 1.25" x 1.5"

blue gray, teal, dark blue, and light green glass on a clear glass backing,
approximately 1.4" x 2"

orange, yellow, and red glass on a white glass backing,
approximately 1.25" x 1.25"

Inspirations: Vintage Books no.5

2010-01-22T12:12:00.004-05:00

I realized it's been a while since I made an entry in the inspirations category, so I thought I would share another vintage book from my collection. This was another used book store find that came from just absentmindedly wandering around the shop. This particular children's book is called Sir Kevin of Devon, written by Adelaide Hall, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard, and published in 1963 by Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co.

I was drawn to this book primarily for two reasons. The first was that I really liked the restricted color scheme. The second thing that caught my attention, and the main reason I bought it, is that a lot of the castle buildings in the book reminded me of the concept artwork that was done by Eyvind Earle for Disney's Sleeping Beauty film. All in all, a nice little book to add to my collection.

Commission: Castiel portrait

2010-01-20T16:53:00.003-05:00

Two fans from Portugal commissioned me to draw a portrait of the character Castiel from the television show Supernatural. I'm not totally up to date on the show, so I'm only slightly familiar with this character, but it was still a fun commission to work on.

This was done with brown and white colored pencil on tan Canson paper, measuring 14" x 11".

Marley

2009-12-29T17:15:00.002-05:00

I painted this portrait of my family's yellow Labrador, Marley, as a Christmas gift for my parents. A few years back I had done an oil painting of our former black Lab, Tobey, as a Christmas gift for them and I felt it was time they had a painting of our current dog.

Marley just turned six years old this month. People always ask us if she's named after the book Marley & Me, but she is not. We got her about six months before that book was published, but she was so crazy as a puppy that everyone assumed we named her after the book. Pure coincidence. At one point I think we had about a half dozen copies of the book because people kept giving it to us, exclaiming, "It's totally your dog!" Marley has since (thankfully) mellowed out a lot and she's now a very cool dog.

This painting was done with watercolor and acrylics on watercolor paper, measuring 10" x 12". Completed in December of 2009.

Prints of this painting are available here!

Painted Wooden Kitchen Stool

2009-12-16T10:30:00.004-05:00

A few months back I picked up a wooden stool that was being discarded. It was pretty dirty and had paint smears and drips all over it. After cleaning it up and sanding off the paint globs, I sprayed it with primer. Then I re-sanded a few rough patches, spray painted on the base green color, and then hand painted the dark green trim and the leaf on the seat. The final step was to spray a clear coat finish over everything to seal it all.

Voila! A new stool for the kitchen.

Print Shop Sale!

2009-12-06T09:40:00.003-05:00

Right now there are a variety of sales going on in my print shop, just in time for the holidays!

From now until December 10th, all ceramic mugs are 15% off!

Photo paper prints, the kind most commonly purchased from my shop, are 20% off from now until December 13th at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

If you've been waiting to purchase something, this sale would be a great thing to take advantage of! DeviantArt print services said some more things might go on sale between now and Christmas, so I'll post here if anything good is marked on sale.

Much thanks to anyone who has purchased a print from me before or plans to do so in the future! I really appreciate the support, and I always love knowing that my art is going to be in someone else's home.

Recycled Plastic Bag Christmas Wreath

2009-12-04T13:20:00.003-05:00

Earlier this week I made a Christmas wreath for the apartment's front door.

There was a pile of plastic grocery store bags in my kitchen that I kept forgetting to recycle at the store. I was gathering them all together when I got the idea to make something out of them. I've seen Christmas wreaths made out of rags before, so I thought why not try that with the plastic bags?

I started with a green wire wreath frame from Michael's. However, I thought that with that frame alone, the finished wreath would look too skinny.

I solved that issue by adding an inner ring to the frame with some aluminum wire that I had, twisting it double for strength. I used thinner wire to hold it to the frame.

After that I just started tying plastic strips cut from the bags onto the wire frame. I didn't cut the strips in any uniform manner because I wanted the plastic to look somewhat leafy when I was done. I also cut off any letters or logos because I didn't want those to show. The bags I used were all either white plastic bags (from Target) or transparent grocery bags (from Wegmans).

When I bought the wreath frame, I also bought some plastic silver leaves and small branches to include in the wreath. I used the thinner wire to secure the branches onto the wire frame, and then I tied the plastic strips over the stem to hide it. The supplies for this project were cheap, with the branches costing anywhere from $0.29 to $0.49. All told, I spent maybe $10 at the most on supplies.

I didn't keep an exact count of how many bags I used, but it had to be at least 30 plastic bags or more. Tying all of the plastic strips on took a while, but it was an easy project to work on while watching some DVDs. The finished wreath is about 20" wide and very lightweight, so it's easy to hang with a plastic hook and sticky tape. I definitely plan on saving this wreath to use next year.

Inspirations: Vintage Books no.4

2009-11-29T09:27:00.004-05:00

I found this charming book a few months ago in a used book store and couldn't resist picking it up. It's called The Story of Zachary Zween by Mabel Watts, with illustrations done by artist Marylin Hafner, from 1967. I really enjoyed seeing London landmarks depicted with simplified shapes and colors. This book reminded me of work by Mary Blair, and is a welcome addition to my collection of illustrated books.

Greeting Card Sale - 30% Off!

2009-11-18T10:23:00.004-05:00

30% off ALL greeting cards, just in time for the holidays! This is a great chance to get some unique cards and support independent artists! I recently updated my print shop, so there is now artwork available for greeting cards that was not previously available.

These 5 x 7 inch folded greeting cards come with envelopes and a reusable matte black box to keep them safely stored when not in use. The cards are printed on high quality 110 lb. matte stock with a beautiful UV sheen finish.

Don't miss out, this sale ends November 20th at 11:59 PM Pacific.

Florence and the Machine - Finished Illustration

2009-11-04T21:46:00.006-05:00

This digital illustration was originally started as part of a demonstration for a digital painting class at Syracuse University that I was a guest instructor for. The students were required to create a musician themed illustration in the manner of something that you would see accompanying an article in Rolling Stone magazine.

For this piece, I picked Florence and the Machine as my musician subject matter. I became totally hooked on Florence's album Lungs back in September, so it was an easy choice when it came time to pick my subject matter for the college demo. I'd been thinking about doing an illustration about Florence anyway, so this was the perfect opportunity.

I went with kind of an art nouveau/steampunk motif to represent the "Machine" part of the band. Florence and the Machine is essentially Florence Welch and whoever else happens to be performing with her at the time as her band.

This illustration was started on watercolor paper with brown colored pencil and ink washes. All color was added digitally painted in Photoshop. The final illustration measures 10" x 17" and was completed in November of 2009.

I saved a whole bunch of progress images which I will eventually post here. In the meantime, the previous post with progress images can be seen here.

EDIT: Prints of this illustration are now available!

Free Worldwide Shipping On Prints!

2009-10-25T18:55:00.005-04:00

From now until October 27th, you can get free worldwide economy shipping on any orders through my print shop! That's right, free shipping to anywhere in the world. If you've been thinking about buying anything from my print shop, now would be the perfect time to take advantage of this offer.

Inspirations: Vintage Books no.3

2009-10-24T13:29:00.006-04:00

I found this book during one of my used book shop hunts. The inside of the book contains reproductions of ship sailing cards that were used for advertising specific ships and voyages. However, what really drew my attention was the cover. The solid shapes and color scheme are reminiscent of the designs that many screenprinters and digital vector artists try to replicate today.

Yankee Ship Sailing Cards: Volume III, copyright 1952 by the State Street Trust Company in Boston

Dog Portrait - Collaboration

2009-10-16T09:22:00.005-04:00

Jeff and I collaborated on this dog portrait as a wedding gift for some friends of his. They're getting married this weekend, and instead of asking for wedding gifts they're asking for people to make a donation to the animal shelter that they adopted their Boston Terrier from. This portrait of Spencer will be sitting on a table at the wedding.

Jeff did the black and white drawing and ink wash painting. I added all of the coloring through digital painting in Photoshop.

Inspirations: Vintage Books no.2

2009-10-12T13:03:00.004-04:00

I found this 1950 Random House book about The Pony Express in a used book store in Rochester. The design of it just really caught my eye, with the relatively simply graphic design cover and the inside illustrations. With the exception of the inside double page spread on the cover, the only other illustrations are spot illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. However, I find the simple color scheme of black, white, and the faded yellow as the midtone, to be very appealing. I would like to experiment more with this super simplified approach to color.

Sketchbook Page - Erie Canal

2009-10-04T19:24:00.004-04:00

It was finally sunny yesterday, after about a week of cold and rainy weather. To take advantage of the day of sunshine, Jeff and I went to the Erie Canal area in Pittsford and did a little bit of sketching. Below is a sketch from my Moleskine sketchbook, done with a ballpoint pen. Also, if you find yourself in Pittsford, I highly recommend stopping by The Coal Tower restaurant for their seasonal pumpkin soup - it's delicious!

More Zoo Sketches

2009-09-27T15:37:00.003-04:00

I went to the Seneca Park Zoo yesterday to do some sketches of the animals. It was pretty overcast, and eventually rained later, but it was still nice to get outside and take advantage of the fall weather. I need to do more art outdoors. I want to try and do some watercolor landscapes outside once the leaves start changing colors more.

I've been bringing my camera along in addition to my sketchbook when going to the zoo to draw. This little meerkat was so entertaining with his posing that I had to include some of the photos of him in this post.

Marjane Satrapi

2009-09-25T09:41:00.006-04:00

On Monday I went went to watch a panel discussion that was part of Syracuse University's cultural diplomacy symposium. One of the discussion panel guests was Marjane Satrapi. The discussion was almost three hours long, so I did a little bit of sketching in my Moleskine book while I was watching. This is a sketch of Marjane Satrapi - all of the panel guests were sitting in chairs in a round table format at the front of the auditorium.

When the panel discussion was over, Jeff and I met her outside of the building. We had a copy of Persepolis with us, and she very graciously signed it. It was a great experience to get to meet her and to hear what she had to say.

Florence and The Machine - In Progress

2009-09-19T17:22:00.003-04:00

I recently started working on this Florence and The Machine illustration to use as part of a demonstration for a college digital painting class that I'm a guest instructor for. The first image shows the initial drawing and ink wash on watercolor paper, measuring 10" x 17". The second image shows the beginning stages of the digital painting that I'm doing in Photoshop. Right now the flat colors are all painted in and I've started doing some minimal detailing on the face and hair.

Sometimes I Wear Glasses

2009-09-10T08:58:00.002-04:00

Moleskine sketchbook, ballpoint pen, and white acrylic paint.

Inspirations: Printing Blocks

2009-09-09T19:11:00.003-04:00

I love old printing blocks. The shapes, the worn edges, the ink stains - they catch my attention every single time.

Weekend Zoo Sketches

2009-09-08T09:37:00.004-04:00

Sketches from September 5th at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. It was hot, so a lot of the animals were sleeping or hiding, but there were still plenty of good drawing opportunities.