Archive for the ‘not work’ Category



Friday, August 26th, 2011

I've been away from the studio and running around Northwest Oregon with my family for the last week. We've been standing on windy beaches and hiking up volcanoes as Philadelphia experiences an earthquake and now braces for an oncoming hurricane. Go figure!
Something I've noticed about vacations for me over the last few years is that I've not much interest in drawing while I'm on them. In the past I'd take watercolors and brushes and inks on trips, and make time to sit and stare at cathedrals and mountains and boats while I record these sights into a sketchbook. Lately, however, I'm loathe to break out the journal or anything more than making packing lists or travel notes; and I'm much happier to play around on the ukulele or read or merely look out a window than draw.
I figure this could be due to the fact that for the last five years I do nothing but draw while I'm at work, while in the past I also taught and did graphic design among other tasks. Furthermore I'm working on these very dense, heavily detailed Everything Goes books right now which, as fun as they are, is real work and taking a break from working means taking a break from drawing. It could also be that now I'm traveling with kids. That doesn't hold up, however, since even when Sacha and travel together sans little-Biggses I still don't want to draw pictures.

In any case, I do love taking pictures of the places we go and the things that we do. So rather than sketches of my journeys, I'll share a few photos.

Cannon Beach Oregon
Wilson and Elliot getting their feet wet in the Pacific for the first time at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

it was a seagull
A seagull on Cannon Beach.

Smugglers Cove, Oregon
Hiking to Smugglers Cove, just north of Manzanita, Oregon.

Smugglers Cove, Oregon
Huge driftwood trunks on the beach just north of Manzanita, Oregon.

Smugglers Cove, Oregon
The beach at Smugglers Cove.

surfing Smugglers Cove with the "good" camera
Surfers on the beach at Smugglers Cove.

paddle-boarding on the Columbia River
My daughter Elliot paddle-boarding at Hood River, Oregon.

Looking up at Mt Hood
Looking up at Mt. Hood.

magic mile
Taking the Magic Mile up high on Mt Hood from Timberline Lodge.

More to come. Enjoy the hurricane.

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

I was staring at the DKNG blog this morning looking at screenprints and came across an entry about Kevin Cyr's vehicle paintings. I was, of course, slack-jawed and teary-eyed. I have collections of photos of cars and trucks, obviously, and my favorites that seem to transcend their purpose as reference for Everything Goes drawings are the ones that have some personality to them. Graffiti, decaying signage, special purposes, etc. Kevin Cyr paints these vehicles and my my my are they lovely paintings at that.

My favorite of course is the Ice Cream Truck series, one of which was on 20×200 a few years ago.

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

A friend of mine asked me to contribute a sign for her son's school in Brooklyn. They have a spring carnival every year in which they have these hand made signs and then they auction them to benefit the school. I've been looking for an excuse to do some collage work again, as it's been a long while since I made those race cars and the work is the most satisfying kind of creative process I know.

So of course I said heck yeah.

This is 18 inches square and is made with collage and acrylic paint.

PS 39 clown

Monday, February 14th, 2011

be my valentine

I officially for real finished Everything Goes: On Land today. Like, got the revisions and all the details in and it's all done now. Go have a drink and be romantic with your sweetie. I know I am.

Friday, October 29th, 2010

When I was around twelve years old, I really really wanted to be a National Geographic photographer. More generally I wanted to be a travel photographer and imagined myself hiking the world taking pictures of exotic cultures and cities. Alas, I drew pictures instead. But this month I can at least put something like that old dream on my resumé, as National Geographic Traveler magazine published one of my photos on page 26 of the current Nov/Dec 2010 issue.

National Geographic Traveler!

Not exactly an exotic locale, this image was taken in the Philadelphia Airport on Christmas Eve 2006.

Santa in Philly on Christmas Eve

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

I'm in the downhill run of completing the first book of the Everything Goes series. Everything Goes: On Land will be published next year by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins. I thought I'd post a few pieces of the illustrations as I complete them. These are just line-art and aren't colored yet. They are small snippets of these huge 20-inch x 12-inch spreads that are just full of all kinds of trucks and cars and bikes and cars and motorcycles and more cars. And trains. But I haven't got to the trains yet.

More of these to come.

Pieces of Everything Goes: Jay's Pizza

Pieces of Everything Goes: Fred's Fresh Fish

Pieces of Everything Goes: Motorcycles

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