Tag Archives: sketchbook project

Wyatt and Owen

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Well, I didn’t EXACTLY follow my Sketchbook Project rule of only painting/drawing my Twitter followers.  I made room for my family as well.  Here is a watercolor of our son, Wyatt…

Wyatt - watercolor

Wyatt – watercolor

I wasn’t particularly happy with it because I was REALLY rushing to finish this notebook and get it sent off by the 15th.  I made it, but the portraits of our daughter, and my wife were extremely substandard – to the point of being too embarrassing to show here.

Anyhow, next is our son, Owen…

Owen - watercolor

Owen – watercolor

Now that the Sketchbook Project is over, I’m struggling with keeping up my practice work.  I’ve broken out the Moleskine sketchbook, and switched to Copic markers and a Sharpie pen.  Maybe I’ll put those up next.  Until then…

 

Janice Tanton

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Next in the Sketchbook Project is Janice Tanton (@JanTanton on Twitter).  Jan is a magnificent Canadian artist, with a sharp wit.  Her website is chock full of stuff – check it out.  She is a wonderful writer as well.  Take some time today and have a look.  You won’t be disappointed.

Jaince Tanton - Watercolor & India Ink

Jaince Tanton – Watercolor & India Ink

Forgive me for being so brief, but this danged sketchbook must be postmarked TODAY!  Gotta rush to get it out.  Thanks for following me on Twitter, Jan!

Arosha Taglia

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Next in my Sketchbook Project is Arosha Taglia (@AroshaDesign on Twitter), an Italian-born renaissance man, of sorts.  From his website:

Designer, painter, art director, sculptor and digital artist Arosha, believes that real creativity refuses closed boundaries and has to join the courage of an exploration with the playful soul of a child.
Born and raised in Italy, where he graduated from the renewed School of Design and Applied Arts of Torino, Arosha now lives in Israel after the meeting with Gili, his partner in life and the marketing manager of their online venues.

Arosha is an extremely talented designer of some wonderful jewelry. Please visit his site and Etsy shop and browse around… you know, Valentine’s Day is rapidly approaching.  Don’t be caught off guard!  🙂

Thanks, Arosha, for following me on Twitter!

Arosha Taglia - India Ink

Arosha Taglia – India Ink

Alice Pyne

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**Updated**

Rarely does an interaction with someone touch me so deeply as it has with little Alice.  I’ve followed her for a couple years, and when she posted this tweet, I knew I had to put her in my sketchbook.

alicetweet

 

So I tweeted her to let her know…

alicetweet2

 

She tweeted back…
alicetweet3
I finally posted the entry you see below on January 11th.  The very next day I saw this on Facebook:
aliceFB
My heart dropped.  Little Alice, you have touched so many, and have imprinted thousands with your love of life.  You will not soon be forgotten.
********************************************************************
Next in my Sketchbook Project is a beautiful young woman from the UK, Alice Pyne (@Alice_Pyne on Twitter).  This one was tough.

Alice is 17 years old, and has terminal cancer in the form of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  From her blog:

G. Roger Denson

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The next page in my Sketchbook Project is G. Roger Denson (@GRogerDenson on Twitter).  Roger is a busy guy!  From his Wikipedia entry:

G. Roger Denson (born 1956) is an American journalist, art critic, theoretician, novelist, and curator. A regular contributor to Huffington Post, his writings have also appeared in such international publications as Art in America, Parkett, Artscribe International, Flash Art, Cultural Politics, Bijutsu Techo, Kunstlerhaus Bethanien,Artbyte, “Art Experience”, Arts Magazine, Contemporanea, Tema Celeste, M/E/A/N/I/N/G, Trans>Arts, Culture,Media, The New York Times and Journal of Contemporary Art. He has published criticism and commentary on such international artists as Terrence Malick, Kathryn Bigelow, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Sigmar Polke,Andres Serrano, Yvonne Rainer, Sarah Charlesworth, Cindy Sherman, Jack Smith, Philip Taaffe, Pat Steir, Shirin Neshat, Marilyn Minter, Renée Green, John Miller,Robert Longo, Ashley Bickerton, Nayland Blake, Tishan Hsu, Liz Larner, Gilbert and George, Barbara Ess, Robert Ryman, Dan Flavin, General Idea, Jules Olitski, Lydia Dona, Maura Sheehan, Jimmy De Sana, Dan Graham, and Richard Artschwager.[1]

Denson has written on the criticism of Thomas McEvilley (with republished essays by McEvilley) in Capacity: History, the World, and the Self in Contemporary Art and Criticism, currently issued by Routledge, (originally Gordon & Breach).[2] Denson’s monographs and catalogues include Dennis Oppenheim, (Fundacao De Serralves, Portugal);[3]Hunter Reynolds: Memento Mori, Memoriter, (Trinitatiskirche, Cologne); Michael Young: Predella of Difference, (Blum Helman, New York). And in the book by Robert Morris (artist), Continuous Project Altered Daily: The Writings of Robert Morris (October Books, MIT Press), Denson has contributed to the chapter, “Robert Morris Replies to Roger Denson (Or Is That a Mouse in My Paragon?) ”.[4]

He’s all over the place!

I would LOVE to have a cuppa joe with this guy!  Alas, NY is so far away from Atlanta, plus booking a 10-min coffee with him would probably dent his entire day.  Ha!

Right.  Well, I’ve tried all sorts of mediums in this sketchbook project, but haven’t broken out the conte crayons.  Until now, that is.  As with most other mediums, I think it would’ve worked much better on a larger scale (larger than this 5″x7″ anyhow).  It was a bit rushed, and the holidays were buzzing, and we moved in the middle of all that.  All excuses, I know.  Time is running short on completing this sketchbook, so I’m off to the next one.

Roger, man, thanks for following me back!  It was a pleasure, I’m sure, to have ME following you first!  😉

G. Roger Denson: Conte Crayon

G. Roger Denson: Conte Crayon

Alex Mathers

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My next Sketchbook Project entry is Alex Mathers (@MoonApe on Twitter). Alex is a fantastic illustrator with quite the following.  From his website:

With a degree in geography, I am a self-taught illustrator from London, living in Tokyo and born in Copenhagen in 1984. I’m currently working with the Google+ design team, amongst other projects.

I’m a fan of volcanoes, snow monkeys, electronic music, sea creatures and outer space.

I run a site for creatives called Red Lemon Club, through which I’ve self-published four books aimed at creatives and freelancers. I also run a contemporary visual arts site called Ape on the Moon.

My previous clients have included:

Saatchi & Saatchi, NY
Wired Magazine
Macworld
Google
Barclays
Kraft
Smith & Foulkes
Future Cinema
United Nations Environmental Programme
Popular Mechanics Magazine
Singapore Business Times newspaper

Alex is a very talented (and busy) guy, have a look at some of his work HERE.

I’ve had my hand at different mediums throughout the sketchbook, and I didn’t want there to be a bulk of one particular style.  And as much as I want to keep my portraits in the form of the Twitter follower I am depicting, Alex’s illustrative style is just something I didn’t think I could pull off in a portrait.  It is difficult to draw and paint in other folks’ style… try it.  Anyway, I was afraid I’d do Alex a large disservice, so I opted for a simple graphite wash.  Simple, but nothing I’ve tried before in this sketchbook.  Of course, the scan doesn’t help (must get a better scanner).  It looks a bit smoother in person, believe me.  So… Alex Mathers.

Alex Mathers - Graphite wash

Alex Mathers – Graphite wash

Alex, thanks for following me on Twitter!

Roc Cayard

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Roc Cayard (@Roc_Cayard on Twitter) is the next page in my Sketchbook Project.  Roc is a New York based contemporary artist who uses bold primary colors. From his website:

I mostly use bright primary colors in my paintings because they have the characteristic elements to energize, uplift and promote a positive mood.

And…

All of my paintings describe a specific mood or a reoccurring mood that I experience every now and then. Those moods can’t be precisely described with words, hence the need for me to express them thru my work. The scenes that are depicted in my paintings are split second flash thoughts that comes to mind when I’m in a certain mood. The specific colors that I use also help calibrate the level of energy and mood in each character and sometimes certain colors are used to identify a specific character by individuality, role or by profession.

His work is VERY energetic, and you’re left wondering exactly what he may have been thinking/feeling during each painting. It’s really wonderful art!

I wanted to keep his portrait very simple, reflective of his work, and stay with the primary color scheme he uses in most of his paintings.  I was a bit disappointed with the colors I had to work with because they weren’t as vibrant as what he uses, especially my green.

Take a few minutes to soak in his work. You won’t be disappointed.  And now… Roc Cayard.

Roc Cayard - Acrylic

Roc Cayard – Acrylic

Roc, if you get around to reading this, thanks for following me on Twitter.  I’m a HUGE fan!

Swarez

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Next in the Sketchbook Project is @SwarezArt, a brilliant artist from the UK. He’s a very recent Twitter follower of mine (actually, a follow-back – thanks, man!), but I was so enamored by his work I just had to paint him.

His influences include Jackson Pollack, Joan Mitchell, and Trevor Bell, and you can definitely see those influences in his work. Swarez (sorry, I’ve looked everywhere, but can’t find a proper name) has a number of social links, so I’ll share them here as well:

Now, for the goods… I wanted so badly to do a drip painting that would manage to capture a bit of his style. However, once I started, I quickly realized that drip painting was much (MUCH) better suited for larger-scale work, unlike this small 5 x 7 sheet of sketchbook paper.  Nevertheless, I was able to flick the paint instead, which gave it a drip(ish) feel.  I was happy with the result, but you really should check out his work… much better!

Thanks, Swarez, for following!

Swarez

Rob Adams

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Next in the Sketchbook Project sketchbook is Rob Adams – aka RobAdamsArtist on Twitter.  Rob is a Detroit-based artist, with some stunning work.  He’s also the founder of the Hard Work and Dedication movement, or HWAD, thus the “HWAD” on the bandanna covering his mouth below. Read more about Rob from his website HERE.

He does a lot with spray paint, and I really wanted to recreate some of that feel with the piece I was going to do on him, but spray paint just isn’t practical with a 7 x 5 piece of sketchbook paper.  So while I was sketching out the drawing, it just sort of grew into a pencil drawing, which I haven’t done for this sketchbook project yet.  It worked out, and I actually like the contrast it brings to his work.  Sort of balances, I think.

And here’s Rob!

Rob Adams - pencil drawing

Rob Adams – pencil drawing

Rick Myers

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The next Sketchbook Project entry is a monochromatic watercolor of Rick Myers (@RickM on Twitter), the founder and CEO of Talent Zoo – www.talentzoo.com.  Rick follows a TON of folks, and has over twice as many followers as those he follows!  Busy guy, I’m guessing.

I’m not sure how he came to follow me, but since he is, he’s a target, right?  I warned him beforehand, and he thought it was cool, so I hope I don’t disappoint.

I started out with a rough sketch…

rick

 

I sat in my “studio” for a long time staring at this.  What the heck now?  Well, he’s a Buckeye fan, so I saw a link there.  Urban Meyer is coaching their football team, after leaving my favorite team, the Florida Gators (not cool, Urban!).  Anyway, I figured I’d color him in all blue, and do the lettering in orange with a white background.  GOOOOO GATORS!  Oh yeah!

Rick Myers, the reluctant Gators fan,

Rick Myers, the reluctant Gators fan

Hey Rick, thanks for being a great sport, and thanks for following!  I’ll stand out in that crowd of 62,000 for at least my 15 minutes of fame, eh?  🙂  Had fun with it, man.  Thanks again.