Last Days of Summer

The first pages of a new journal - exciting! Now, if I can just find the time to draw again.

Quick Sketches

Just practicing drawing people. I rediscovered a great sketching book in my library called On-The-Spot Drawing by Nick Meglin featuring several illustrators sketching styles - sort of the 1969 version of Danny Gregory's soon to be released book, An Illustrated Life.

The Last Pages

This is the last page in my journal that I started back in April. It is the first sketchbook in my life that is filled with drawings and writings. I usually lose interest in the book or the format and move on to something else. As I've looked back through this book and through all of my postings on the blog, I see a huge improvement. And what is even more exciting is that there is so much more I can improve on. My vision for what I can do continues to expand. It feels like the beginning of a journey and I can't wait to start the next journal to see what fantastic adventures await.

New Journal

This is the first page of a new journal I'm starting that will just be for faces. I drew this from a photograph by Adam Bacher, a photographer in Rwanda. This boy reminds me of Alex. A mixture of happiness with strong defenses. This drawing is filled with accidents and experimentations starting with using a pen that I learned was not waterproof. I couldn't achieve the depth of field look in watercolor so I cheated with my photo editing program to get the right hand/arm a little blurrier than drawn.

Back in Maine

These were done on the long plane ride home. Some sketches while waiting in the airport and others done from the magazines on the plane.

I arrived on Tuesday, brother and sister on Wednesday, and Alex came home on Saturday. School starts on Wednesday. I'm looking for time to sketch. I'm sure I'll find it soon enough...

Guess the vacation is officially over!

Mapping the Rides

I love maps. I like looking down on them and imagining what it's like to be there or go from this place to that place. One of the first things I did when I arrived in Girona was to find a good map that showed all the roads and the elevations of places. The scale is important too. Every night before the next days ride we would study the map and chart our course. And most evenings after a good days ride I would map out the actual ride in my sketchbook. I'm glad I did. I look at these maps now and I remember so much about the rides - the weather, the people, mountains and valleys. I can easily go there in my mind. I love maps.

Last days in Girona

The trip to Spain gave me the opportunity to take a closer look at the work of 3 famous artists - Pablo Picasso, Antoni Gaudi, and Salvador Dali. I got to see not only their work, but the places they lived in and the environment that nurtured their creativity. I have no idea why the work of these 3 artists strikes such a chord with so many people but I think a part of it is that all of these artist were passionate about their work and followed their creative muse. They all seemed to be willing to experiment with new mediums, techniques and expressions. They didn't find an endpoint and stand on it. They kept searching, exploring, and creating.

That is inspiring to me.

Houses of Onyar

Back in the middle ages these houses presented a much different facade to the river. Then, this was a solid and impenetrable containing wall to defend against invaders. Over time, with the disappearance of external enemies, windows, balconies, porches and other openings began to appear. Somehow it has managed to achieve a colorful harmony and is a big part of the charm of Girona .

This was a fun sketch to do. I made two buildings a story taller than they actually were by mistake but I like how it all turned out.

Girona to Osor

Just another bike ride in Spain. A great place to ride.

Tossa

These are a couple of fairly quick sketches done while we were in Tossa del Mar on the coast. I was pretty tired when I did these so they are pretty loose and not at all quite right. Today is a rest day - no riding but I did do some sketches - also went to the farmers market.