This will be a short one, this morning I knocked out the second letter in the name mural I m making for the babies room. Done in pen.
Archive for the ‘Art, etc.’ Category
Long time no post, eh. In addition to welcoming a daughter earlier this year I have apparently become a Canadian. I am surprised that there is any real traffic here after such a delay, but the interweb says that people are still getting here so I figured it was time to resurrect this blog and see if I have anything to share. My daughter is pretty awesome (read as “pretty and awesome”), but I won’t be involving her too much on this blog as the internet is both awesome and terrifying when it comes to kiddos. I could write for hours and hours about cool I think this little girl is at 7 weeks, and how crazy and great it is to be a dad, but I feel like that topic is pretty well covered and honestly don’t think I could hope to find the words to express those thoughts effectively.
What I have decided is that the arrival of this little bundle of awesome needs to spawn more art to be produced while I am spending more time in and around the house. Not sure I want this little one to look back and say, that’s my dad, he shovels around piles of paper and gets paid every two weeks. I want her to be creative and enjoy her life with art and music, so time for dad to be the change he wants when time allows. This rededication to craftiness, art, creativity started with building some shelves for her to have outward facing books in her room. Buying these bad boys was going to be pricey or include a long drie to IKEA to buy spice racks that would work but would cost hundreds of dollars in gas. Building them and installing them cost about $15 and a few hours max (mostly because I kept making the stain darker). Here they blow, would have loved to do a step by step, but I am more excited about other things and will let this suffice (if anyone wants a how to just shoot me a note:
Next thing was to finish a painting that I started and substantially completed with paint pens in 2005/2006. I haven’t really painted with a brush since high school and sucked pretty bad at that back then, so I went a bought some cheap brushes and acrylic paint to figure out hos to use it again. This is the before and after of the painting. The pictures are reflective of my craptastic iphone camera and I am not sure I like the after more than the before, but gave this painting some new life and reminded me that painting is harder than drawing.
I want to make a set of drawings spelling out her name to hang in a nursery or somewhere else in the house. I am trying to build in some themes of things that she would like (or that we think she may like, as she could end up liking totally different stuff and hating giraffes for instance). This is the first installment in the letters, and as hinted, has a little giraffe theme included. I tried colored pencils because my pen color selection is a bit limited, but am pretty happy with the results. I will update with the other letters, as I am hopeful that they will look a little more crisp when framed and hung.
If you are this far down on the page, well, congratulations. Your reward? Some music. This is currently my most traveled Lawrence Arms song, which they nicely created a video for. Happy Friday, enjoy.
Two good friends, M&D gave birth to baby Dylan about a week ago and I wanted to send over a little love in the form of a drawing. After some deep thought and planning (approx. 27 seconds), I decided that I wanted to take a shot at a drawing that incorporated Dylan’s name, included my beloved theme of the Hibiscus and some of Dylan’s Hawaiian heritage and symbolism, which led me to the Honu. If you want to learn more about the meaning and why I chose this for Dylan’s drawing, check it out.
Having known M for the better part of 15 years and D for approx. a decade, I am very excited for Dylan and the life that she has out in front of her. WELCOME BABY DYLAN, HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!
I realize while I write that this whole post-creates an issue, in that, I have great friends that have had awesome kids in the past and in most cases I didn’t draw squat, so, if you read this and fall into that category, (1) sorry, I love your kids but its been a busy decade and (2) I am probably full of myself to think that you care. This is a new thing and hopefully something that I can keep up with.
I am going to show the final, two that got scrapped and one that shows where I almost stopped, but decided to tinker a bit more in pencil.
Final Honu sent to M&D for Dylan
This was where I originally thought about stopping the drawing…but decided (with some advice from my West-side banker/articstic director) a little more tinkering:
The point in the drawing where I almost called it done. Maybe I should have?
Two drafts that didn’t make the cut:
Lastly, this links to one of my favorite songs on the new Pennywise album and seems fitting for a post about friends and their families.
Year is off to a seri0usly great start, blogging…not so much, but I havepictures of Key West and San Diego to upload when the time is avaliable.
For now, since this is where I kepe drawings, I drew of few spur of the moment hidden name pictures for the neices and nephews that were present at Xmas this year, got two more nephews to get to before I see them again, but wanted to draw something for them. Should have gotten out the eraser before I took the pics, but you can imagine what they look like cleaned up a bit.
Christmas Drawing for My Neice and Nephew (names hidden in hibiscus) (took picture before I got rid of the pencil lines, whoops)
Christmas Drawing for My Niece (name hidden in hibiscus) (took picture before I got rid of the pencil lines, whoops)
For your listening enjoyment, Pennywise – Destiny. Some of my favorite lyrics ever.In a fall from a burning tower, what would you do with just one more hour, live that hour out every day like it was you last, you’ll live much better that way.
(It is good to have goals)
It is the Holidays (again), and that means it is time to spend lots of money to show people love, or, get crafty. In all honesty, getting crafty started for me long ago as a way to show people love while money was tight. I have been working for a while now, so money is not as tight, but in order to show people the love that I want to show, and that they deserve, well that either costs a LOT of money, or I can take some time and make something. My reasoning, time is money, and time is tight, so the gift of time and originality is worth more than anything that I can purchase through a point and click with free shipping. Right? Right? Maybe I am talking myself into this a little, and maybe people get drawings and homemade stuff and are thinking, “giftcards are cool too.”
This year, my wonderful compadre, amore, vigilanty sidekick and wife has this awesome idea to make Limoncello as a gift for people. There are recipes for Limoncello all over the internet, so if you are interested google “limoncello recipe.” We chose one that was funky and required a prayer to some Italian saint each step of the way. Skip ahead to the Limoncello being ready, about 45 days after we started, and it was time to bottle.
We found this cool store in Maplewood called Vom Fass that supplied the bottles at a reasonable price. If you haven’t been there, looks like a super cool place. Apparently the name means “from the cask” so you fill up containers with specialty oils, vinegar or booze. Worth checking out.
So, we prepared most of what we made in approx. 250 ml bottles and they looked like this…
So we thought, that is pretty crafty and cool. Plus we tasted some and not only did we retain vision after the tasting, but it tasted pretty great. Next step was to design a simple label and then figure out how to draw enough to use a scanner and printer to cut down on time. End result…
Final product is looking something like this…
The last bit of craft[i?][y?]ness that I intend to endeavor upon is the holiday card from me and the Mrs. I can post pictures until I find a good way to white out our names, but they are looking pretty decent this year. I reiterate, if only art paid the bills, ro even a few bills. Happy Holidays, plus enjoy a little Beastie Boys gratitude, as this is definitely the time of year to show some of that:
I hear that today is supposed to be lucky, hope it holds up. Headed to the soft-opening of 4Hands Brewery in STL this afternoon, so that should be pretty decent. I will update with how the beer is, but I am guessing it will be great. Today has been a Wu-Tang day, as I am making sure that I don’t saturate on the punk rock.
Video by KROS.
Below is a drawing, since originally this blog was supposed to be about the art, that I stated way back when in 2001. Was into Hawaiian Island Creations at the time, so worked that in some below. The orange marker around the Buddha ended up pretty cool, even after all these years. At the time I was really interested in the monks that use colored sand to do intricate designs (and then wipe them clear at the end and start again). What they can do is pretty amazing, so consider this an homage that I am picking up and starting again on.
- Started on this drawing in 2001, time to dust it off and finish it I think
Headed up to Chicago for Riotfest 2011 and stumbled upon a great Shepard Fairey installation under what I think was Lakeshore on Grand. Not sure if this was Shepard himself or someone using his imaged, but each one was approx. 15 x 15 feet and was pretty cool. Saw some great bands up there and will post about that next.
Shepard Fairey Installation 500 Block of Grand in Chicago
So, I looked at the blog for the first time in a bit and noticed that the U2 post remained front and center. It is not so much that I am not proud of my enjoyment of the concert (or maybe that is exactly what it is), but I can’t let that be the top line on the blog any longer. Saw Unwritten Law at a small (read tiny) venue two weeks ago. They put on a really good show. Lots of bands would have phoned in a show in the Midwest for a small crowd, but they delivered and it is appreciated.
Time is at a premium, and this way I can start and finish something so it doesn’t bug me while I am working. So, here are two post-it notes that are being added to the collection of post-it notes for what it going to be a super-cool office wall at some point.
- Hibiscus on yellow post-it 8/9/11
Yellow Post-it 8/9/11
The Hibiscus has played a rather central role in my drawings, and to some extent my life, although I can’t exactly figure out why. Anyone who has poked around this blog has seen that they hibiscus often appear in what I draw. Maybe it is because I have always felt like I should live near the beach (ignore my decisions to move back to STL repeatedly from both the west and the east coast) or maybe it is just the beachy/island vibe and mentality that I am drawn too. Whatever the reason, the hibiscus is something that I can see and feel a little more centered and reminded of how I aspire to feel. Checking things out online, apparently it also represents seizing opportunity, as generally the flower last for one day and then wilts. That fits, pretty well, unless I am the flower?
This hibiscus is the “Hope Flower” as the petals spell Hope:
This hibiscus is the “Peace Flower” as the petals spell Peace:
Now I just think of more words so i can add to this flower collection.
Stage 1 (5 minutes)
The weather is sublime. The weekend appears to be three days. Grilling will be undertaken. Beer will be drinken. Mistakes may be made. Happy Friday:
Sleep is for Suckers (sweet, sweet well rested suckers)
Posted: May 6, 2011 in Art, etc., UncategorizedI haven’t been sleeping because I have been working more than I care to, or care to really even think about. When I am having a hard time staying awake, sometimes I draw for a few minutes and try to wake-up and focus. Below is a work in progress, and nothing special, but I like using pencils every once in a while.
Phase 1 (Trying to Stay Awake) - Draw shape, looks too much like a heart, draw more shapes, they all look like hearts, make clover thing.
Phase II- Fill Up Clover Thing with FacesPhase III- Insert a sun, for no reason, maybe waves, make the waves eyes, pencils should self sharpenPhase III- Insert a sun, for no reason, maybe waves, make the waves eyes, pencils should self sharpen
Phase III- Insert a sun, for no reason, maybe waves, make the waves eyes, pencils should self sharpen
- Phase IV- Add a few hibiscus and fill space (more to come)
Added a little more 5/12
Unrelated, today is a Distillers type of day. Brody has one of the most recognizeable voices out there. Don’t think they are making music anymore, shame. She now heads up Spinnerette, but haven’t heard too much of them.
ziphoodielife 