Sketching subway passengers and trees will never grow old for me.

Graphite drawing, Ocean City, NJ, June 22, 2008.

A small watercolor sketched on the first day of summer 2008, Ocean City, New Jersey.

Here’s a drawing with overpainting of writer Lewis Beale from a photo in the NY Times.
It looks like a thousand cat scratch brush strokes forming the face. I thought I stumbled onto something and that if I did thousands of cat scatch portraits they would all look as nice as this one. It was going to be wonderful, and every drawing I did would look incredible, and it was a formula that was going to work… every time. All my drawings would be incredible. Life was SOLVED!
Oh, well. you know the ending. A happy accident. Life has returned to normal. Each good drawing is a struggle. A fluke in the sketchbook of life.
Anyway, if you see this drawing and like it Lewis, let me know. It’s a favorite of mine.

so… i’ve been busy planning a wedding… which will be here in 4 days! we are honeymooning in tahiti and the french polynesian islands so i hope to bring lots of art and inspiration back to this side of the world… and to invisibleman which i have shamefully neglected over the past few months. our cruise ship is even called the paul gauguin. 🙂
also, when i return i’ll post some of the custom wedding goodies i have been crazy making over the past 2 weeks. i think i may have found a future calling.
au revoir et salut

A few years ago while visiting friends up in Phoenicia, NY we stopped in an amazing antique shop, where I came across this stack of 4″x5″ black and white negatives. They seem to have come from a firehouse’s collection or something. One packet was labeled “GAS EXPLOSIAN JAMAICA N.Y. 11/25/46” and the other indicated that it was firemen in London, England, though no date was given. You gotta love the British firemen’s roman helmets. I am always excited to find such cool visual remnants. There are so many amazing glimpses into the past tucked in people’s attics and basements.
I just placed the negatives on my lightbox, and shot them at different angles with my digital camera, then inverted them (and restored the proper coppery tint).

This past Saturday while strolling through Central Park I stopped to draw the rocks and tree above. Later in the weekend a great idea for a children’s book dawned on me and I added the elusive creature as a nod to the inspiration.

The first set in an ongoing series of 25mm badges is now available from my Etsy Shop. The four badges come packaged in a lavish full colour double sided printed blister pack and runs as a limited edition of 100. Pin a little Slavic folksiness to anything and everything for only $6.00! Go cats go!

Graphite drawing, Southold, New York, June 8, 2008.

Every now and then you get a good drawing. I like this one. Keep drawing, everyday. It makes your brain work better. Smear your drawings with coffee, orange juice, sparkling water, or soda. You’ll like them better.
If you’re hungry in the desert someday, you can eat them too. They’ll taste good. Who says art isn’t functional?