Back to School

Until I can start actually installing tomorrow I've been using my time to prepare as much as I can. Part of that preparation has been creating a school of fish to swim throughout the horrors of the sea cave. I'm using watercolor pencils on cardboard, and it's taking entirely too long. Five down, twenty to go. If anybody is interested in helping me install this weekend I can always use an extra pair of hands. There will be music and pizza. I like how the fish on the bottom resembles Alice Cooper.

Crossword Scuffz

I don't know about the rest of the world, but here in Portland Sunday was positively the best day for weather all year. Went on a fantastic bike ride to Laurelhurst park, then a hunt for food which brought us to Tiny's where I did this drawing. Isn't it great how they provide crossword puzzles for everyone?

"You're traveling through another dimension" (bunny)

Poor little bunny. Who knows what horrors await it in .... The Twilight Zone?

Spate

Three people I know are moving to New York next month and it's really making me want to go there, if for nothing more than a visit. This guy is one of them, Steve. He's a bartender at Vesuvio in San Francisco so make sure to say goodbye to him before he leaves for the big apple.

In other exciting news I'm doing an art installation at the Emerson Space Case in NE Portland for next month and we're going to have an opening on last Thursday (the 29th) so make sure to come out for it. If any of my out of town friends want to come up for a visit, now might be the time. I'll even give you a special thanks in the notes for the piece. More information and pics of that installation will come in the next few weeks.

Special Saturday Bonus Post!

I found this sketch lying around and thought I'd post it. It's too bad this guy had to go so early. The muppets haven't been the same since.

Great White Birthday

It was my brother Jacob's birthday last week so I made him this card. Have you wished him a happy birthday yet?

Exploring the Deep Frontier

While at a particularly good estate sale this weekend I stumbled upon the book "Exploring the Deep Frontier: The Adventure of Man in the Sea" published by the National Geographic Society. I've been gathering various aquatic materials for a forthcoming art installation, and this book has provided a bit more inspiration. This is a drawing of John Holland, an Irish schoolteacher-turned-inventor who designed the first U.S. submarines around the turn of the 20th century.

Oh yeah and I threw in some fish (Lavender Eyed Redlings). I think this would probably make for a good show flier.

Amber

Last week we had an awesome breakfast for dinner meal at Ben and Amber's followed by a drawing session. Here's Amber in her living room as she sketches Danny Devito as The Penguin.

Scuffz and I had an awesome time at OMSI yesterday visiting with prehistoric friends, learning about the causes of aging, and playing with their heat sensing camera. Did you know that aluminum may not reflect light, but it reflects heat just as well as a mirror does? In other news a paleontologist has extract intact T-Rex blood from a fossil. We're this close to a real Jurassic Park, I can feel it. Hopefully Newman won't get eaten this time.

Behold! The Brontops!

I present to you one of the hosts of the Brontops and Moschops Morning talk show. I've always been a fan of this prehistoric relative to the rhinoceros, and when I came across an illustration of him in an old Life book about the history of life on Earth I had to give it a go for myself. This was drawn on my new sketchbook that I made myself out of colored construction paper and a file folder. White colored pencil on black paper.

Many props go to Antonio Petruccelli, the original illustrator of this guy. Old science illustrators had the awesome job of visualizing prehistoric creatures based on their skeletons and then drawing them doing things in their natural habitat. How does one get that job? I suppose these days it's all in CG.

Probably my favorite of these artists is Charles R. Knight (1874-1953). He was one of the pioneers of prehistoric re-creation and has developed some of the most influential images of dinosaurs and early mammals. Now I'm off to OMSI so hopefully I'll have some cool science museum sketches to post later this week. I've included several of Knight's paintings after the jump so you can get an idea of how awesome he is. Check it out.

Stevie on Braille

The basement in my old house was magical. So many people had come and gone before I lived there, that the basement had turned into a wondrous land of mystery. Sometimes it seemed that all you had to do was think of something you needed and go down to the basement; you would surely find it there. Of course the greatest treasures found down there were the things that you never knew you needed. Like a giant book of braille paper, for example. I've had this thing sitting in my closet for almost a year, waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it. So this weekend I pulled it out and did the only logical thing with it. Painted a picture of Stevie Wonder. I hope you enjoy.