At our dining room table a few minutes ago. From left to right: Our son, our cat, our nephew, our son’s best friend. Jack and Seth are locked in battle on their laptops playing Dota 2.
Last night my son came by my studio / man-cave (as my wife calls it) and asked if he could draw me. So I took the opportunity of drawing him as he did that. Just for fun I looked back on this blog to see how many times I’ve drawn him drawing – here’s the result: here in 2010, here in 2009, here in 2008, here in 2007, here in 2006 (although that sketch is actually from 2002, I just posted it in 2006) and here in 2005. It’s funny to see him growing up in the sketches! That guy loves to draw.
Sometimes we just sit at the end of the table and talk.
Every Friday at lunch time I’ve been making it a goal to get together with other artists and sketch around the campus at work. Steve MacLeod organized it, so I’m basically following his lead. A good excuse to talk and draw. These represent three weeks worth of sketching. I usually only have time to do one before time runs out and we have to grab a bite to eat, then back to work!
We all just got back from our annual camping trip (well, last week anyway) in Big Sur. Here are a few of the sketches I did while we were there. It was a wonderful and relaxing time as always, and our friends at the Big Sur Campgrounds & Cabins were simply awesome, as always. More to come!
Sketch of Steve drawing by the lagoon, with a bit of Glenn’s head there at the bottom of the frame. (I think I accidentally added 15 years to Steve here; he’s looking a bit older than he really is.)
It was a fun thing to do. Let’s see if we do it again.
This was a little warm-up sketch I did first.
A couple sketches from a recent visit to Disneyland with my cousin Monica and our whole family. Very fun. I think it had been four or five years since we’d all been there at once. We waited to meet my cousin at the Grand Californian Hotel, which was spectacular. In the sketch above, our oldest daughter is taking a picture of our youngest daughter on her phone.
Then we had a tasty lunch at the Italian restaurant just outside the theme park. It was nice to relax and draw for a bit before going into the park itself. It wasn’t too crowded either which was a pleasant surprise.
Last Saturday I donated my 1995 Ford Escort to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. We scheduled a pick up and just before the appointed time I figured I’d take the opportunity to sketch my old mechanical companion one last time. I did the line work rapidly, as I had only about ten minutes before the appointed time; but the driver was late, so I spent more time on the watercolor than usual. Fourteen years and 100,000 miles! It stranded me once or twice, but was a good car overall.
Here’s a good quote:
At this point, don’t aspire to be great, or even to be original. Aspire to be prolific. That’s an aspiration you can control, and one that can lead — in less time than you might think — to greatness and originality.
That’s from Freehand Drawing & Discovery Urban Sketching and Concept Drawing for Designers by James Richards. It’s a highly-recommendable book on location sketching and much more.
