Ink Portraits

In the immortal words of Nigel Tufnel: "There is none more black."

I've been doing a lot of portraits lately and I've been slowly gravitating away from pencil and towards ink. Ink tends to go faster and it's a lot less forgiving, but I think it helps do away with my tendency to get overly fussy with pencil. The one on top is another entry from the Flickr Portrait Party and the one on the bottom is a self portrait done with pen and ink wash. As a side note, I hope to someday do self portrait where the expression on my face doesn't make me look like I'm about to punch someone. I seem to have trouble drawing and smiling at the same time.

More Portait Party Entries

I know, I'm going crazy for the portrait party. But who doesn't like a party? Well, I guess it depends on the party. If it was the kind of party where you were obligated to eat olives and artichokes with Dick Cheney while watching every episode of "Who's the Boss" back-to-back, then I'd probably rather stay home and draw.

Before You Accept a Quick Check

Anyone who lives in New Orleans is likely to be familiar with Michael Hingle, a local attorney whose stern visage peers out from numerous billboards and urges his fellow citizens to call 1-800-USA-JURY "Before You Accept a Quick Check." He is usually tearing up a check (presumably one of the "quick" checks) to drive the point home.

I recently completed an oil painting course at Delgado taught by Walter Johnson, an enthusiastic and eccentric character who turned out to be a fantastic teacher. Our final project was to produce a cubist or surrealist painting of a subject of our choice. This painting gradually became a little less "cubist" over the course of its development, but I'm still pretty happy with how it came out. I wonder what Michael Hingle would think.

Portrait Party

One of the coolest things I've found on flickr lately is the Portrait Party, a collaborative group where people post photos of themselves and invite others to draw and paint them. It's a pretty active group that has produced a lot of interesting work. This is my first contribution.

Sketching in City Park

Today was a really gorgeous spring day in New Orleans, so I went to City Park with a friend and spent a few hours drawing and enjoying the perfect weather. The one on top is a charcoal drawing of a some moss-covered trees in the middle of a pond, the other is a pencil drawing of a piece from the sculpture garden by Michael Sandle called "The Drummer."

Galapagos Tortoise, Tennessee Grass

Here's another drawing inspired by an entry in the amazing Flickr set run by the herpetologist from the Tennessee Aquarium. This is a Galapagos tortoise chowing down on some grass, presumably Tennessee grass. I wonder if Tennessee grass tastes different from grass in other states. I'll bet it does. I mean, Elvis is buried there for crying out loud, surely that must do something to the flavor of the grass in the good old Volunteer State. Me, I wouldn't know. When I went to Tennessee I subsisted almost entirely on dry-rub barbecue, like all sensible people do when they're in Tennessee.

Not to Be Messed With

Under most circumstances I prefer to draw from life rather than a photo, but in this case I think I'm happy to sit in the comfort of my living room with a magazine. This was drawn from an image in an old issue of National Geographic, the same issue from which I drew this frog. Thanks again to my stepmother for leaving it on our coffee table.

Darth Vader Attacks Whiteboard

The three recent Star Wars movies were horrendous, but there will always be a place in my heart for the classics. I saw "Empire Strikes Back" seven times in the theater during its initial run.

Yeah, It's That Same Truck Lot Again

Some of you may be thinking "Come on, you're not really going to do another drawing of that same truck lot, are you?" I'm afraid so. Trust me, this really is the most interesting thing to draw that I can get to easily on my lunch break. Harahan, Louisiana has plenty of strip malls and fried chicken restaurants, but they're a little short on architectural or natural beauty. This is one of the many reasons why I'm always happy to come back to New Orleans after a day at the office.

A Little Rice

This watercolor painting of my rice cooker is dedicated to the good people at Beijing on Irving, one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in San Francisco. New Orleans is a city full of wonderful food but, at least in comparison to my former stomping grounds out west, we're kind of hurting when it comes to Chinese cuisine. This has led me to start cooking more at home, a culinary strategy that has pressed the rice cooker into frequent service. I've gotten pretty handy with a wok, but nothing from my own kitchen has ever come close to the Singapore noodles at Beijing on Irving. Don't feel too bad for me though - any time my longing for a plate of noodles threatens to send me into a state of total despair, I can walk up the street and drown my sorrows in a the immortal glory of the shrimp po' boy at Domilese's.

Portrait of the Artist With Portrait of Toilet

Do blogs have birthdays? Sure, why not. Today marks the first anniversary of this blog. I've had a lot of fun with this over the past year and I really appreciate everyone who visits and leaves comments. Especially the comments. Those really make my day.

I've decided to mark the occasion by showing off a still-life I did of our toilet topped by a pair of my wife's shoes. She doesn't normally keep her shoes on top of the toilet, but there was some housecleaning going on and, amidst the chaos, the top of the toilet seemed as good a place as any.

Happy birthday, blog. Enjoy your cake and don't tell anyone what you wished for.

Dauphine Street, New Orleans

I headed down to French Quarter on a chilly Sunday morning to do a little ink drawing. I did this one from across the street while lots of tourists in Middle Tennessee football gear walked by and tried to pretend they weren't watching me draw. I think I might have to make myself a T shirt that says "It's OK to talk to me, I am not a famous artists producing an immortal masterpiece. Also, I can hear you whispering to your friend while you watch me draw and it's actually making me more uncomfortable than if you just walked up and said hello." The T-shirt is still kind of a work in progress, as I may have a bit more text than I can fit in a legible font size.

Village Elders in Afghanistan

These were drawn from a series of portraits of tribal elders from the area around Khan Neshin, Afghanistan that appeared in the New York Times "Week in Review" section a couple of weeks ago. These were all done in ink with a few splashes of color in watercolor pencil where it seemed to fit.

I've decided that an alternate title for this post is "People Who Really Do Not Care Who Tiger Woods Slept With." Actually, I'd like to add myself to that list, although I'm not sure that I'd have much else to talk about if I were stuck in an elevator with these guys.

Yeah, I'll Bet You Didn't Know What a Cuora Galbinifrons Was Either

I will grudgingly admit that I'm not sure exactly what "Cuora galbinifrons" means, but I suspect it translates roughly into "turtle." I drew this from a photo in a wonderful set of images posted by a herpetologist from the Tennessee Aquarium, which is available here and is well worth a look.

I Think We're Ready if General Sherman Comes Back

I was recently driving around Harahan, Louisiana - just minding my own business, thinking about dinosaurs and socialism and whether or not the new Mountain Goats album is better than the new Slayer album (the jury is still out) - and I came upon a giant cannon sitting on a concrete slab in front of the VFW hall. Of course I had to come back as soon as possible to try to capture this intimidating piece of military hardware collecting dust amidst the suburban sprawl. Drawn on my lunch break with a charcoal pencil.