Christmas Mini Paintings

This year I said to myself that I would do "hand-made" gifts for everyone. Well as it turns out, that takes a lot of time and planning , which I neglected to do around my work schedule. Therefore I was only able to hand- make 2 people's gifts. Next year I'm shooting for the whole group.

The olive branch was for my sister, we recently patched up our relationship after a very long rift. And the landscape was made for my cousin, who's favorite place is Orange County, California.

Happy Holidays Friends!

Holiday mailer 2013! Poking a bit of fun at these "hipster" types you see so often in urban settings...

Sketches and other random stuff

And here are some 5,10 and 20 minute sketches from the final SVA drawing workshop of the year. I'm not gonna lie, our model was pretty dreamy. There was actually one hilarious moment where a friend walked in late and was chatting with us during the break and suddenly the model stepped up and disrobed and our friend actually stopped talking mid sentence and was like "god damn...!" standing there all slack jawed. I had to laugh at his reaction but then felt bad about it afterward, not wanting to be disrespectful to the model. To be fair we weren't laughing at the model per se, just our friend's reaction to the model. The model was indeed sculpted like a greek god! It's not often you see that in New York where most of us get pretty fluffy/pasty during the winter months.

LA For The Win!

I really hate winter...

...LA for the win!!!

More Subway Sketches

I started 2 sketchbooks in November, one small and one large. The smaller one is definitely stealthier and more ideal for drawing people on the train, whereas the larger one tends to attract more attention. These are from the smaller one. I'm a little disappointed that I wasn't able to finish both by the end of November but I guess technically I'm still sticking to my goal of a sketchbook a month if I get 2 done for Nov and Dec.

Stylish granny

Bruce Campbell*

A crowded train

The cutest boy I've ever seen


*I did not see Bruce Campbell on the subway, lol. That one is from my head..

Pony Express

Here’s me in 1860 riding cross country to deliver mail for the Pony express, fighting outlaws and bandits by day and sleeping under the stars by night. I realize the bg is kind of a cop-out/hack (its actually a photo I took when we visited Arches national park in Utah) but it kinda fit the style i was going for.

Below is the actual recruitment poster for the Pony express. I like how honest they are: "must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred” Damn, dude that is no joke. You might die, but if you don’t die you will get 25 dollars a week. Was that even a lot of money back then? I have to believe that anyone that took this job was a stone cold badass. Also, these people had to make it from Misourri to San Fran in 10 days or less on a horse! That’s some serious haul-assery!!

Hair

My hair is like my security blanket and source of power. I'm trying to force myself to work in color and get used to the idea of creating lighting from my head. I think to do this really effectively you must have done enough still life and portrait studies that you are comfortable with color theory and can easily pull from your mind. Definitely out of my comfort zone...Well my new gouache set arrived today, I guess we'll see what I end up making with it! Fun times ahead!