so… i started to take a knitting class here at the (local) fairmount art center… which is actually through this neat store (rosies yarn cellar) and i am finding it hard to do anything else but knit…SO, tonight i took the night off from knitting to do work, and somehow ended up scanning in my first (ever) knitted project… and do something with it. (i am now on my second… which is a hat. stay tuned…) fast forward 2 hours. has anyone else out there “live traced” their knitting??? also, i highly recommend making your own custom brushes in illustrator. its fun. i made some calligraphic ones for this drawing…
PS i have to link to this. its too fun not too. oh the joy of bookbinding! 🙂

This is an old animation I did for the Outdoor Life Network a few years ago. They used it as a little animated bug that ran across the bottom of the screen during Thanksgiving week programming promoting some turkey shoot show.
Happy Thanksgiving!

I hit the Spring Studio for some long overdue figure drawing today. The only thing I ended up liking is this drawing from the very first 2 minute pose, when Minerva (the owner) stood in for the tardy model (who wasn’t very good). I need to log some more time there, as I feel a bit rusty, and it takes some time to get your drawing mojo back, I find.
While drawing, I’ve been listening to the excellent new album
“The Crane Wife” from The Decemberists. The track that will stay in your head and keep you humming all day long is the duet Colin Meloy sings with with Laura Veirs “Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)”.

Down to the last few pages.

This is an autumn creek in Pennsylvania.

I was watching the incredible film Das Boot for the first time while drawing this in my sketchbook.

I’d lightly drawn the figures in this drawing a few months back and just recently realized there was more work to be done. I like the idea that little is sacred and one should feel free to rework or cannabalize past efforts when the time comes.
Click here or the image above to view a larger version.

Citizens reading or sleeping; thats what 75% of my sketchbook drawings are.
On another musical tip, the new Califone album is a damn fine piece of work. You can stream their new album “Roots & Crowns” here. Check the tunes like ‘3 Legged Animals’ and ‘The Orchids’… quality.

On a hot tip from well-informed invisibleman Kurt, today I went up to check out the two-day Prints Gone Wild! show in Williamsburg. Every print was priced at $50 or less, and there was a great assortment of posters, prints, cards and t-shirts on display. I was immediately drawn to the amazing work of Knoxville, Tennesee’s own Yee-Haw Industries. I picked up the above poster celebrating Buford Pusser, the Tennesee lawman who was the inspiration for the 1973 film “Walking Tall” (just added to the top of my Netflix queue).
Check out the goods at http://www.yeehawindustries.com
Other cool print shops worth checking out are Pittsburgh’s Triangle Poster, Atlanta’s Methane Studios and the grandaddy of them all Nashville’s Hatch Show Print.