Friday, December 30, 2011

Two Hours at the Museum

My parents swung by Philly for a lovely visit and we spent part of the afternoon at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  They have a great collection, and given my recent interest in sketch booking (and trying to brush up my skills for the in-the-works-cross-country-bike-ride) I though I'd try to do a little work while I was walking around.
Bust, bust with stache.

I do love me some Stu Davis.

When people ask me about Philly, I say "wherever you go, nice restaurant, fancy hotel lobby -  there's a guy in shorts and Phillies t-shirt".  This is untrue - as evidenced by this drawing, he is sometimes wearing an Eagles Starter Jacket.

Mod tackles air-smooching.

Drawing of the surgeon, Dr. Agnew,  from the "The Agnew Clinic" by Eakins.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Sketchbook Portraits . . . Some good, some not.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!
Michelle was nice enough to multi-task - napping/posing - while we watched "Scrooged". 
I must admit, caricaturing Cary Grant while watching "North by Northwest" proved to be a little tougher than I thought. . . These are bad, but I like the page.
Another attempt with a (little more success) of doing a caricature/portrait - Bill Murray while watching Bill Murray.  It doesn't hurt that he's a got a great mug (and I've already drawn him once this year:)). 

Monday, December 19, 2011

New sketchbook pieces

Haven't had much of a chance to do much sketch booking with the show looming so it's been nice to try to get back into a little drawrin'.  Mostly these are done on commutes back and forth from Philly to Brooklyn - and it's fun to play with the shaky hand spontaneity.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Show!! Jets! Boats! Squares!

This weekend I had the pleasure of setting up my "One Hour of TV a Week" Show at Gallery 543 in Building 543, a communal space for the headquarters of URBN Inc (which for the uninitiated encompasses Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, BHLDN, Free People and Terrain) in the Philadelphia Navy Yard .  The space is . . . pretty amazing.  Coi ponds?  Yup.  40 ft tall bamboo indoors?  Yup?  Handy parking for WWII era aircraft carriers?  You better believe it.  You can also get a good cup of coffee and tasty lunch if you want to make a day of it.

I want to extend a big thank yous to: Lauren Addis for her support of the show and allowing me to do an extended setup (and make an extended mess), Josh Longo (of Longoland fame) for helping paint boats and put on the finishing touches, and most of all to Michelle Provencal who not only put up with my turning our apartment into a disaster zone, but who also helped out this past week with all the last minute preparations that I never would have been able to finish on my own (as well as my manic stress-isodes).  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

On to the show!!  So - some of you may recognize a few of the pieces from the "History of the World" show that was up earlier this year created with Owen Sherwood.  Initially, this show was going to be my half of that show, but - I like doing work - and wanted to repurpose some of the more autobiographical pieces from "History" into a different slant. So with a few new pieces and tweaks on old ideas, here's the "One Hour of TV a Week" show.

A little stage setting . . .
Is that . . . ? Yes, you're correct.  That is an aircraft carrier
looming outside of that large glass window.
"I'll Stop If You Stop", Latex Paint (thanks Josh!)
"National Little League" and "Bicentennial"

"I'll Stop if you Stop" detail
"I Hate Brian Smith", 6" x 6" drawings on paper.  
The story is - I got beat up by Brian Smith a lot.  Many bloody
noses - most of them deserved - I was a tag-along crybaby.  And I'm
still trying to get the last word in 23 years later.  Eat it Smith.
"Cancer" and "Magic 2"
"Magic 2" detail
"Cancer" detail
"A Concept of Four at Two" and "Magic" with the model planes I made and painted,
with help from the lovely Michelle Provencal.
p.s. - Do you know how small the landing gear is on a 1/144 scale plane?
About the size of this "I" with two "O"s on either side.  Teensy.
On the left are two new paintings - "Duplex" and "Ghostrunners" (shown in
my previous post)
"Duplex" detail - That's our old duplex featuring our upstairs duplex mate, Mrs. Maynard.
She was a nice old lady who kept to herself - we rarely saw her but well into her seventies she'd be
out shoveling snow at five in the morning if there was snow to shovel.
"Mango's, 1988", Latex Paint.  This is my squad from 1988 when I was ten and my
first team after I left National Little league for Twin Town Little League in the hinterlands
of upstate NY.
My little workstation for people to make cannonballs featuring: gliders as a reward for cannonball making,
my old D&D wallet (thanks Kate Glasheen), a vintage Queen postcard (thanks Colin O'Higgins), an old gas can I love (thanks N.C.), Wiffle Ball boxes (thanks Jen and Jed Heuer) and some childhood favorite books from Mom and Dad.
And to finish, I'll take an aircraft carrier and jet combo.
Make it a double.