Old Man

Someone was looking through my winter sketchbook and commented that I didn’t draw people. I said that particular sketchbook housed my Natural History drawings and outdoor achitecture. Then she got to this page which put an end to her doubt. It’s a recent addition.

Owls

The first book I read by Jennifer Ackerman was The Genius of Birds. I followed that up with her book, What An Owl Know. That inspired me to make this drawing. While hiking in Olympic National Park I was able to identify some owl scat on the base of a tree or two, letting me know an owl was perched way up high somewhere in that giant tree. I also know that after the Harry Potter films came out, too many people in too many countries bought owls as pets only to release them into the wild weeks later because they didn’t realize how difficult it would be to maintain them. Scientists made JK Rowling issue a statement to folks not to buy owls.

Lemons

My wife bought me a John Derian book. He’s a decoupage artist extraordinaire. He owns a shop in the East Village where he sells his stuff. He’s obsessed with eighteenth and nineteenth century natural history prints. After staring at this book a few days, I came up with my lemon concept. There was nothing like this in his book but somehow it kick started my brain to concieve of this. Now I can go back to hypnotizing myself in his pages again.

Pinocchio

Patti Smith was on Ezra Klein’s podcast talking about her new book. Since she published, Just Kids, I’ve read everything she puts out. She was telling Ezra about her favorite books. A major one happened to be Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It had a big impact on her when she read it as a child. I only knew the story from the movies which always seem to veer from the novel. After reading it, I’d wished someone made me do it as a kid. I might not have gotten involved with doing so many dumb things in my youth.

Raccoon

Another animal I drew on Stillman & Birn Alpha series paper.

Mossy Trail

This is a drawing I did combining four photographs I took in the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park. There was no time for me to just hang out and draw for a few hours when we were there. Too busy hiking and travelling. Those who’ve been there know what a mystical place it is. Very surreal. We were the only people around due to it being off season which added to the magical feeling. I’ll post a video of the place on Wednesday

Collage

Statue outside a dumpling house in Seattle. Stuffed Elk in a tourist center in Olympic National Park. Pine cones I picked up. Claws on a pacific ocean beach along the Washington coast. Dice at a gaming room in Bothell Washington. Rudolf playing on TV in Hilton Garden Inn in DC. Big Bird is a lawn decoration in Maryland. Other guys were at my sister’s house in Charlotte over Christmas.

Lake Quinault Lodge

Before the holidays began, My wife and I went to Olympic National Park outside of Seattle. We stayed several nights at the Lake Quinault Lodge. Because it was off season, there were hardly any guests. We had the joint to ourselves just like in The Shining, minus the axe. One day it rained so hard for 24 hours that it recorded the worst flooding in decades. It caused a tree to fall on one of the lodge buildings. When I say tree, I mean like a 300 foot one. We hung out at the lobby to stay dry which gave me a chance to draw the fireplace. The other days we hiked the trails.

India Ink

This is another drawing I did on Stillman & Birn Premium Alpha series paper. Works quite well for doing people portraits too (not just animals). I’m home after galavanting around the country for a month. Feels good.

Sully

When I was down in North Carolina, I went to the Sullenberger Aviation Museum. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because it’s named after Sully Sullenberger. He was the hero pilot who landed a passenger airplane in the Hudson River in Manhattan after the engines were destroyed by a bird strike ten minutes after takeoff. The actual plane is in the museum, fully intact. There is a film playing of the crew and passengers giving their account of what happened. To call what Sullenberger did a miracle is an understatement. When you hear his calm demeanor talking to the air traffic controllers, you’d think he was in his kitchen making a cup of tea and not about to crash an airplane with 150 passengers and 5 crew members. The flight was headed to North Carolina and most people were from there. That’s why it lives in Charlotte in a museum named after him.

Asawa

I went to see the Ruth Asawa Retrospective at MoMA in New York. Like most people, I didn’t know who she was. Man, was I blown away by her work, especially her wire sculptures. I had to find out more about this person. So, I read a biography about her. It’s titled, “Everything She Touched,” The Life of Ruth Asawa by Marilyn Chase. She accomplished so much more than just the art that was shown at MoMA. I had no clue what a gift to the art world she was. Ruth survived the Japanese internment camps as a kid during WW2. The famous painter, Josef Albers ends up her mentor. She went on to have a big family and a huge impact on how art is taught in schools on the west coast. She did major outdoor installations and fountains in San Francisco. The life of a super overachiever.

Van Leeuwen

There is an unusual building that lives under the Brooklyn Bridge. It was an old fireboat house built in 1922. Now it’s a Van Leeuwen ice cream store. I’ve been by it a million times and stored it in my mind’s card catalog of something I might draw someday. That day turned out to be a cold one, so I had no use for ice cream. That didn’t hinder the tourists though. Van Leeuwen does have vegan ice cream by the way.