Here, a cluster of stone red-roofed cottages, and more of those trees with the art nouveau branches. There's a rock—huge!— out, away from the shore. It looks like a great fat sleeping bear. The mist hangs above the land in swaths, like smoke suspended in the calm of an afternoon pub. Some beautiful old stonework houses… Continue reading Like smoke suspended in the calm
This is a post about a project I've been participating in for a few months. It's a noir-style children's book in which nursery rhymes meet police procedural. A friend and client of mine, R. Andrew Heidel (owner of famous The Way Station bar), wrote True Crimes from Rhymes Square years ago and finally found an illustrator who was right for the job— Eric Hamilton. They hired me on as the publication designer.
After a week of percolating and indecision, an idea for this table hatched and I began the work (unironically) on labor day. I've stripped the top surface and all four legs, and have a plan to create a backgammon pattern on the top. Having seen how beautiful the wood beneath the old finish is, I've elected to leave… Continue reading A dilemma, revisited
You don’t even have to think about what you’re saying, the starets said. All you have to have in the beginning is quantity. Then, later on, it becomes quality all by itself. — Franny and Zooey, by JD Salinger This passage is from the first of several ‘acts’ of the short novel, when Franny is describing… Continue reading What the starets said
Here's a sketch that began a few days ago as a 30 second pencil study while watching a Manfield Park (it's been done multiple times for screen). Returned to it yesterday and it became, essentially, a study of hair. Initial pencilling and inking rendered it very Revolver in aspect, as you can see in the process scans.… Continue reading A little Mansfield Park (in ink, watercolor)
Here is the fourth in a series I've been calling, alternately, 'Don't see, don't speak' or (informally, and more frequently) 'The Red Hand of Shut It'. Symbolically speaking, it's about being lied to and/or being silenced— not having a voice. Or, I guess, any nature of marginalization or suppression, whether personal or on a larger scale. It needs expanding.… Continue reading Red Hand No.4 (pencil and watercolor)
The third in a new series. Above is the finished version; this one is on 9" x 12" bristol paper. (The two previous were done in my moleskin, 5" x 8".) PROCESS: (These were shot on my iPhone, so not nearly as crisp or clean as the final, which was scanned.)
Here's a piece that I initially intended to (1) sketch quickly in pencil in the Moleskine, and (2) finish -simply- with red watercolor and my new Micron™ pens– high contrast, no shading. Instead, it turned into a rather detailed pencil rendering, finished with several layers/workings of watercolor, and only a few lines with a pen (ears, jawline, eyes). I kinda… Continue reading Don’t see. Don’t speak. | a sketchbook painting
This map, which I designed / illustrated for Pendergast in Amsterdam, went live on their website a week or two ago. I worked with them to articulate entryways to the neighborhood, highlighting routes for cyclists, cars and public transport. In the midst of designing, I traveled to Amsterdam. We held meetings. I went to the restaurant a… Continue reading Cartography of Amsterdam West
A couple of offerings from the Moleskine that turned out decently from last weekend. Also, a photo of my European-trip-inspired shadow box sporting a Parisian pigeon feather, a lens from a vintage vision-test optics machine, and a bit of dried flora plucked from Flevopark in Amsterdam on the day we cycled to the Distilleerderij ‘t Nieuwe Diep, sadly… Continue reading Sketches from last weekend, &c.
e daggar art: THE MUSEUM 