On a lighter note, I’ve decided to go on a 30-day drawing marathon per Steve Pavlina style. I keep telling myself that I need to start drawing again and although I’ve started a figure drawing class, I need to just start making marks on paper again.  I’m hoping this marathon will jump-start this habit and that it will stick.

Day 1 is also my very first entry to Illustration Friday’s website.  This week’s theme is Infinite.  And here is my entry:

One of my biggest challenges is my roadblock to drawing from my imagination. I love to draw, but I’ve only drawn from life.  This is the first time that I have made marks on paper, at least since I was 10, without allowing my self-criticism to get the best of me. The criticism is still there but I won’t allow it to stop me from just playing. That’s all this is really. Just playing.

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One of our discussions involved the need to shut the computer off after a certain hour. Personally, I get too easily sucked in to this machine to the point where hours will go by and I would not notice the time. Part of this of course has to do with my love for web, design, and technology. When I’m in the middle of a project, I am in essence problem-solving, and I cannot shut off (literally and metaphorically) until the problem is solved.

Theresa helped me to see that this tendency of mine to not shut off leads me to a hyperactive mind, which usually lasts til the wee hours of the night, and has often caused sleeplessness. Shutting off the computer after a certain hour (& not turning it back on!) is part of the solution.

It was wonderful to catch up with her, and after we said our good-nights (it was past midnight on the east coast where she lives), I found myself heading towards the computer.  I checked my Facebook account, some emails, and did the deed.

Then I found myself in the studio looking at some of the projects I started. I picked up a few items, started to play with them and before I knew it, I found myself moving things around, making marks, and just playing.  When I next looked at the clock, it was 2 AM.

Here’s the work in progress that caused the hours to fly by so quickly:

3D collage work in progress

Detail of 3D collage work in progress

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Once upon a time, I made etchings with the Santa Fe Etching Club. This occurred on a weekly basis when I lived in Santa Fe from 1994-2000. And now, I’ve been included in the recently published book, 100 Santa Fe Etchers.

I received my copy this week and as I flipped through the pages, I became distinctly aware that I am in a book with some of the most amazing artists working in Santa Fe. What an HONOR!! Even Jon proclaimed: “You’re in a book with Bill Mauldin!” Yes, that would be the Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist and creator of the characters Willie and Joe, Bill Mauldin.

And as I turned the pages, I began to proclaim, “I’m in a book with –

• Ron Adams, an amazing printmaker and artist;
• Ron Pokrasso, one of my favorite mixed media artists;
• Willard Clark, who is mostly known for his wood engravings;
• Michael Bergt, an artist who I befriended when I lived in Santa Fe;
• Anne Sawyer, one of Star (Liana York)’s very good friends;

And then of course, there are the artists who made my life in Santa Fe a lot of fun because of their friendships with me. I am certainly honored to be in a book with my friends. Artists like:

• Norma Evans, to whom I owe much with my move and transition to the Bay Area; she was my connection;
• William Gonzales, whose work was recently published in a book of this same series;
• Brian Bari Long, who introduced me to the Etching Club;
• Elizabeth Cook, whose framed print is at the center of our living room; I love her work!;
• Jo Basistse/Eli Levin, who is at the heart of the Etching Club;
• and of course, Dr. Bob Bell, who has been supporting the club since 1980, and without whom the book would not exist.

And there are other artists in the book who I never met but whose work makes me want to pick up etching again. Wow! I’m almost embarrassed to be in a book with them, they’re so good!

Needless to say, you need to take a look at this book for yourself. You can purchase your own copy by contacting Argos Gallery in Santa Fe. The book is $30 plus shipping.

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We spent a nice long weekend in Tahoe. (Actually, it wasn’t long enough!) It’s a trip we make annually to get our fix of snow – yes, Jon and I are from the Northeast, and yes, we actually love snow. The fortunate part about living in the Bay Area is that we have the option to drive to winter, unlike the Northeast, where one does not have a choice in the matter…

We rent a house with our good buddies, drink beers, snowshoe, play scrabble, ski, and not necessarily in that order. And this time, I actually drew in the sketchbook that I brought up with me. I drew almost every day. And here are the results:

The drawings above are of the one and only Siwa, sleeping, of course.

The drawings below are of Jenny’s dog, Bailey, who was an excellent model because she actually has form, and not so much fur, though she moved a lot… I couldn’t quite get myself to do gesture drawings of her, and that would have been perfect for her.

Where is Sammy in all this you ask? Well, our young pup is maturing. He tolerates only so much from us. After Jon had his fun with him, he decided to tell us in his own special way: “Screw you guys, I’m going upstairs…” (do you hear Cartman?), and immediately his fuzzy butt could be seen going up the stairs to the loft where Jon and I slept, no doubt climbing onto our bed to get away from all the hands groping him.

Sho ’nuff, there was the monkey butt on our bed:

And finally, I had to attempt a landscape. It’s funny how even with drawing, using the wrong tools can make or break the sketch. Guess who had the wrong tool?

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Today’s entry is, guess who?

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I’m working on a personal web project that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time now. I’ve promised the Santa Fe Etching Club that I would make them a website all these years, and FINALLY, I’m getting to it. Here’s a sneak peek:

I have plenty to do still – like gathering images of etchings from the artists, and their bios, but heck, it’s a start! It’s also my first pure CSS liquid layout! (This means absolutely nothing to everyone but web designers.)

And, I started drawing again! Yay! Below are a couple (a quick gesture, and a more refined drawing of the same pose and model):

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And even though I’m the least exciting person I know to model for me, I’m also the most accessible at ANY given moment. So, yes, I did another mirror image.

Besides, I really needed to update the image I had of me on the “About” page of this site. That drawing was done over a year ago, and my hair has grown quite a bit since then. Anyway, that’s the new drawing there, to the right.

It’s always an interesting exercise trying to get a likeness of a face that you think you know really well. I don’t know if I succeeded or not. Regardless, it’s what’s on my “About” page and my LinkedIn account.

The itchy fingers are still pretty itchy though. I’m hoping that attending the drawing groups at my local community college will soothe the fingers. They certainly can’t get all their satisfaction from these keyboards which seem to hog up most of their time. But I’ve already written about that in a previous post. I’ve signed up for portrait and figure drawing sessions. I will be posting those drawings on the site so, stay tuned.

In the meantime, I’m now just discovering the fascinating world of DeviantArt.com. Though I’ve known about this particular site for a couple of years now, my recent foray into Photoshop art led me here. I’ve spent too many countless hours this past week at that site, browsing the works of a number of Deviants.

Methinks I will be doing some art this year. (There’s a resolution if I’ve ever heard one!)

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Here are four versions of what I call: Diemos in the Sky with Catnip (or High)

(Yes, this cat is a real cat.)

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(Note: the original image was taken by Flickr member Chrisada Sookdhis, which I used with a Creative Commons license. Thanks Chrisada!)

I call it Tree Portrait:

I’m quite happy with the way this turned out mainly because of my love for texture. Here’s a couple of close ups:

And for posterity, I include scans of an etching I did in 1995:

And the close-up:

Yup. I LOVE TEXTURE.

And I find it quite fitting that the first artistic medium I fell in love with would involve a printing press. (It’s that Old Media vs New Media thing.)

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The Machine is Us/ing Us

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