Some Post-It doodles

I got the urge to do a few doodles on some Post-It notes the other day:



Sure, why can't kids drink coffee?

I love how Post-It notes offer you a tiny square area to do whatever you want. I tried to keep it quick and simple. Minimal erasing (if any at all). Just throw it out there, see what sticks.

Exaggerating

I could be, actually.

Watching Artists Work

I don't know about you, but I love watching artists create, whether it's drawing, painting, sketching, doodling, pasting, sculpting, whatever. I love it. There's something about the process - the in-progress piece of work - and seeing it come about as it happens that totally appeals to me.

So, here's some videos of artists doing their thing:

Jackson Pollock:




Jean -Michel Basquiat (he's shown painting around :45):




Basquiat with spraypaint (From DOWNTOWN 81):




The great Picasso:




More Picasso:




Henri Matisse drawing:




Henri Matisse cutting out shapes:




Now, this is interesting. In 1985, Quantel invited David Hockney to try out painting on their Paintbox. Here's part 1 (of 5):



Part 2:



Part 3:



Part 4:



Part 5:

FTW! WTF?

Just an idea I had hanging out in the confines of my brain. For the record, I had no idea what "FTW" meant until several months ago. And really, I thought it was just a funny way to say "WTF" but backwards. Oh, nevermind.

Forcing Myself to Contradict Myself

Realizing it's been a long time since I've posted anything from my sketchbooks. So here's a sampling of some pages below. You can click on each image to go to a slightly larger version on its Flickr page. If you'd like to see any one of these even larger, let me know and I'll put a link up for you. Sorry that I don't make these images large in the first place, I'm just a little wary of posting high res scans of my artwork. Hope you understand!















Andrea and I watched a documentary on photographer Annie Leibovitz last night. Here's a quote from her: "The camera makes you forget you're there. It's not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much."

When I draw and sketch people and places around me, I lose myself in the process. Even though I have a certain knowledge of how to start each sketch or drawing, it's still a surprise to me how it turns out. And when I look through my past sketchbooks, I'm constantly surprised by the results I see on each page, each drawing. And I can remember the process I took for each drawing: from how I approached the subject, all the way to its completion. It's a funny way of looking at your work, and I like it. It's good to be surprised by your own work—that way, you know you'll never do something the same way twice. At least, that's how I look at it.

I might've mentioned it here on the blog before, but it's worth the mention again: one of my favorite artists of all time is Marcel Duchamp and there's a quote that's attributed to him that pretty much sums it up for me and how I look at what I do as an artist:

"I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste."

I guess you could say that I have a fear of repeating myself. Even though I might approach each drawing differently, I know that my overall style comes through, creating an overall artistic signature, or 'voice', that can't be denied. The end result might look similar to the viewer, but, I know personally, I took the 'road less traveled', and that my artistic journey was one of newness and wonder with each page, each drawing.

Well, hello there

Wow, would you look at that: it's 2009 already. In fact, it's almost February! Sheesh. I had no idea I'd be gone for this long. If you knew what I've been working on, then you'd probably understand.



Above: my view throughout the entire holidays, running all the way up until Monday: drawing, scanning, photoshop, rinse. Repeat. It's been a crazy, hard journey, but I'm very excited by the final product. I wish I could say more, but unfortunately, I can't!

Stay tuned, though.

Ezra Thursday: Buzz, Woody & a Ghost Robot!

I think it's about time I change up Ava Thursday a bit -- since Ezra's doodling more and more lately, what I'll do is have Ezra Thursday from time to time. Maybe even do an Ava & Ezra Thursday every once in a while, where I'll post artwork from both my kids. Today, it's Ezra. Two drawings from a little boy who loves robots, Spider-Man, cars, superheroes, dinosaurs, and mostly boystuff.


Ezra draws everybody's favorite spaceman & cowboy buddy team: Buzz & Woody from TOY STORY. He was so proud of this drawing. Can't say that I blame him. I would be too! Love the helmet arc over Buzz's head. And Woody? Got those boots down, doesn't he?


Part of a series of robot drawings that Ezra did one day, this one was different by the squiggly line coming off of the robot -- that's a ghost tail, Ezra tells me. This is a Ghost Robot! I just had to laugh -- could this be an homage to my buddies at Ghostbot? Hmmmm, you never know...! I say that they use this for their new logo.

Ezra turned 4 in June. Ava just turned 8 last weekend. My, how time flies.

Ava Thursday: Self Portrait

"Daddy did I do good?"

That sweet, delicate handwriting in the upper right-hand corner speaks volumes to me. While waiting in the car, I handed Ava my sketchbook and a pen for her to draw whatever she wanted. This is what she drew. A wonderful self portrait of a 7 year-old girl, growing up and being fully aware of the details around her. The question in the corner is a loaded one. Upon reading it, I immediately gave her a smile and said, "Oh, yes, sweetie -- you did an amazing job!" But I couldn't help but think about how much that question means to Ava. Obviously, it means that she's trying her best here. And she definitely wants to appease me, since she sees me draw all the time. But I never want her to gauge how well she's doing based off others' comments and opinions -- I want her to judge her own work for herself. But that's a lofty concept for a 7 year-old. At this stage in her development, she wants encouragement from her family. And that's what we try to give her, as much as we possibly can.



After Ava's self portrait, you turn the page and you come upon this. More self portraits. Of a little girl's hands. A sweet, delicate little artist's hands.