Finally after a very very very long hiatus I am starting this up. My life did not lend itself to art for a very long time.
Anyhow, I'm back. Just moved into a new place and a lot of my supplies are in another state, so I'm somewhat limited in what I can do at the moment. I've done a few things lately I can't post because they are surprises for people. But here's something I'm working on.

 Stage 2 (didn't think to take a photo of stage 1. Also these stages are arbitrary, basically I occasionally need to let the paper dry so it doesn't rip up).
 

More new life stuff

I'm just over 2 weeks into my new job. Sadly I haven't gotten into a routine or anything as of yet. I'm hopeful that once I move into my new apartment I may have a bit of time everyday to sketch, even just for 15 minutes. I should bring my sketchbook with me to work but I've been carrying so much stuff as is.

Stay tuned!

New Life

I think anyone who checks this will know - I got a new job!
This means I've been trying to move my whole life in a very short amount of time. Thus I have not been updating since I found out. I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep sketching and drawing even with the new job but it will be a while before I'm settled in Chicago.

so that's why no updates!

Coffee shop people part 2

Feeling too lazy to do a full post right now, so updating from the phone. Here is a look at some of todays stuff. The heat is making me so unproductive.

DC people can you identify the neighborhood? :)

People of Starbucks

Continuing on what will likely be a short lived drawing tour of DC (due to the absurd heat. I am NOT leaving this house...) I hung out with Daphne at a Starbucks and did some drawing. People at Starbucks look so bored. Why so sad coffee person?

Who knew there were such interesting architectual elements to a Starbucks...

The following are paintings from Tuesday. These are based off photographs by Lan Nguyen (used with her permission.) Just some quick watercolors, testing some ideas.

And here are the originals! The tea kettle and cups stood out in particular to me. Plus there is just some fun framing going on with the edges.

I'm a sucker for the macro shots where one thing is in focus and everything else is blurry. This visual obviously played out much better as a photo than a watercolor. Thanks again to Lan for letting me use some of her photos, I may do so again in the future. 

Union Station, Renwick Gallery, More Doors

Today I took a sketching excursion with the new sketchbook my friend Miko bought for my birthday. I love this. It's worth the money for the nice paper and if I see any thing like these, I'm buying 100...

First was a stop at Union Station. A kid about 7 or 8 years old stopped to look at my drawing. He was funny and we talked about drawing tigers. But no tiger drawings for me today.

Next I ventured over by the White House and plopped myself down in the Caribou coffee (it's really hot!) and sketched the Renwick Museum. 

I had never been inside the Renwick before and had actually brushed it off as the "craft" museum, but it's actually REALLY cool. They have an exhibit right now of a contemporary artist doing stained glass images that I can only describe as macabre. Worth a visit, won't take long.

Anyhow, this is a painting sketch based on a piece in their permanent collection.

Lastly I finished the painting of the door! This is based on another photo from my time in China, specifically in an area of historical Tibet. I am a little concerned that the paint is drying much darker and flatter than I expected, so pending how it looks when it is completely dry, this bad boy is finito!

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

The hardest thing about this blog seems to be coming up with titles. So I'm just going to call them whatever I'm watching/wherever I am while I'm sketching.
Did some more architecture today, until it got dark so this is unfinished, but I can always go back.

And just because I can, I'm going to throw this in...

Back to Reality

Hi friends. I did some traveling to Ocean City and Chicago for a while so sadly, I didn't do much drawing. There was too much fun and food to be had. But back at it.
Progress made on this oil painting. It's an 18 x 24 canvass, which is a a pretty standard size cheap canvass, but I really am happy with how it's progressing. I apologize for the poor quality of photos on some of my posts. It's hard to photograph art, especially when the paint is still wet. I have a whole setup I can do to take better photos but it takes a lot of time to set up and it takes up too much space to leave out all the time.

I've also been watching LOTS of TV shows while painting. If you have suggestions on shows I can watch that I don't REALLY have to pay attention to, please pass them along (example: 30 Rock, The Office, Archer, etc. Comedies are obviously a trend since they don't usually have very deep plots to follow).

Additionally while in Chicago, my good friend Helen and I happened across an artist selling his work. He had written "Art Sale!" with arrows on the sidewalks in chalk, so of course we went!
Turned out to not only be an incredibly friendly guy but very talented in my opinion. I bought 3 of his paintings, these are 2 x 2 blocks with canvass. All acrylic. I love the texture and colors. I don't usually go in for "abstract" stuff, at least not what i would want to buy, but I couldn't walk away from these.

He told me I could find him on facebook as Paul Lou the Poet. I don't know if I wrote it down wrong but I can't actually find him! Where are you Paul?! If you happen to find my blog, please contact me so I can give you due credit! :)

Sand People

Happy 4th of July everyone!

I took off for a few days to Ocean City with a bunch of friends, so no chances to draw/paint but I did attempt some sand sculptures! So I think this counts. However it's hard to take photos of sand on such a sunny day.

Trying to capture the kids playing ball on the beach

A boy laying in the sand

Working on an almost life sized woman. Xiao kept making her boobs bigger...

Sand people starting to get washed away. As the Buddha would point out, all things are impermanent.

Caution Wet Paint

Phase 2 of the painting I started last week is complete! But now it needs to dry again for a while I can deal with a certain amount of wet paint for this, but at some point it's just getting too muddled. I want the highlights on this one to really pop.

Also any guesses what this is a painting of?

Also you'll notice things will have watermarks from now on. I had been concerned about the "safety" of my images as it was, but that was doubled by the fact that some people in the UK are apparently stumbling upon my blog through some search terms (it's all in the blogspot stats people!). Will anyone actually steal my images? Who knows, but I would certainly prefer not. 

I don't think the watermarks particularly interfere with the art. If for some reason you want to see an image without it, let me know I would be happy to email it to you separately!