He's got those eyebrows I like.

I drew this boy because I saw some great eyebrows today that I was like "YEAH THOSE ARE THE BROWS!"
The bigger the better! That's what I always say. Just a little pencil sketch before bed in my new giant moleskine!

April 22: Sprigs

Longing for a little greenery. It's supposed to snow all week and I am pining for some vegetation! The only greenery I see these days are the greens in my salad.

April 21: Snail Mail Night

I've been longing to write some letters and mail some packages. I used to be a part of a website called Sendsomething.net a long while ago and I had the inkling today to see if it was still there! When I saw that it was, I about flipped and started roaming through it to find some people to send things to!

Does anyone remember postcardx? I used to send a TON of mail back in the 90s. Everything from postcards to super long emails. It's amazing what kinds of things you receive -- and even more amazing the relationships you make! It's super easy to be a part of it. You just log on, fill in your bio and address and that's it! You can hit a button on top to receive a random person's address (or search by interest) and that's it!

It's a ton of fun just floating through it and reading everyone's interests. I find it amusing that most people are just as into cats, tea and art as I am. I'm sure we're all kindred spirits!

April 18: Snow.

Snow.

Yeah that's right. Time to break out the snow suits and the stompers.
We've got 12 inches, baby.

April 17 : Glacier

I have had an obsession with Iceland ever since my trip there three years ago. It was a magical, wonderful place, filled with lunar landscapes and incredibly incomprehensible changes in terrain. Of course, there are several glaciers in Iceland that took my breath away and I did a tribute to glacial ice for Light Grey Art Lab's upcoming Macro & Micro Exhibition (This Friday from 7 - 10pm at Light Grey Art Lab).

It was a really fun drawing to make and I got a kick out of giving it a warm, dusk-like lighting. It seemed that the sun set for hours while we were there, and that the sun didn't dip down until well after 10pm. I am taking a trip there with Chris Hajny and Francesca Buchko (who are also in the Macro & Micro exhibition) this coming June. I can't wait! It should be a real adventure!

If you are interested, this piece is for sale in the Light Grey Shop as an archival giclee print through the end of the exhibition! You can also take a look at all of the other awesome art by the other 90+ international artists, too!

April 16 : Sleeping birdie

He's worn out from a day of hunting worms and gathering twigs.

April 14: Never-ending moss field!

Never-ending little moss tufts!
It's like a puffy field of dreams!

April 12: A Bird Friend

This little guy looks hungry!


This guy looks hungry, too. For ADVENTURE!
(Found this amazing book at the Half Price Books by my house. I'm not sure if this was the original story for THIS, but you should probably watch it anyway.)

April 11: Never let me go.

It feels like a quiet night. Here's a small, quiet drawing to fit the mood.
Created in photoshop with my tablet, just for fun.


A little detail of the bird

April 10: Script

Sketchbook view

It's getting closer to April 15th and all I can think about is how much I hate doing my taxes. Seriously. It feels like I've been doing them non-stop for the last 9 months. What's up with that? I guess that's the part where I have to thank myself for becoming a self-employed business owner. There are seldom times when I think back fondly about working for someone else's company, and tax time is one of them. Ah, when things were easy. I remember those days.

I guess you trade some perks for other perks, right?


Here's a straight-on view

I got to forget all about my tax woes around 6:30 when I headed to MCAD to teach my Illustration in product design class. Man, I love that class. Let me just tell you (again) how much I love teaching. It's ridiculous. This semester's class is full of geniuses. Every single person in the room is full of amazing ideas and inspires the crap out of me twice a week. I am very lucky that I get to spend time with these guys and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think that. It makes me want to bring them a box of doughnuts every time I come to school. Of course, I can't do that because I'd give them all heart-attacks and I would eventually run out of money, but it's the thought that counts.

Tonight I had just a minute to do something in my sketchbook before I call it a night and I chose to do some hand-type. I have no idea where this came from, but sometimes I just like the feeling of this fancy pen I have. It's called a Kuretake Fudegokochi. It's one of my favorite pens -- it's half brush pen, and half felt pen. I'm not even sure how it's possible that I love this pen so much, but leave it up to Japan to make more amazing things.

My two favorite pieces of script from tonight say "only the lonely" and "nothing matters but you". With a chose third for "Fortune Favors the Brave".

April 9: Big Eyed Dolls

I hear it's snowing outside. It's so black I can't see. I have been absorbed in talking to my parents and looking at celebrity gossip on the internet. (What a way to spend a Tuesday night!) I took a trip down to Half Price books after work and indulged in three new vintage books. You know when they tell you not to judge a book by it's cover? That's all I do. I have a gem from the 50s, and another two from the 60s sitting in front of me. One is called "The Palace of Eternity", and another "The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu" (yes, that is a real book), and the last one is a pulp novel called "The Tattooed Rood".

The other day my pets broke my scanner that I use for posting things from home (which is why you get to see my sketches via photo!) and I'm desperate for my new one to come in the mail. I know it'll arrive any day, and as the forecast predicts, I am sure I'll find it buried on my front porch under a half a food of snow when it finally arrives. Once that scanner arrives I'll be sure to show you these fantastic covers. Oh, how you'll love The Tattoos on that Rood!

Tonight I drew some girls. I have been drawing characters in my sketchbook for a couple weeks now. It's rare that I get to draw people for work, so I figured I'd indulge today. For some reason I was thinking 'big eyed dolls' all night, and this is what came of my inspiration. Just heads for now... but I think I might just color these ladies up and give them some bodies and post them one of these days. The one on the top right looks like my sister, Victoria, a little bit. Not because of the scowl, but there's something about her!

April 8: Night time and fire-flies.

Full repeat

I started creating this pattern last night by playing with watercolors. I had done these guys in greyscale first and then decided to color them in the computer.
I wanted to make something that had a glowing look and that was reminiscent of a field with fireflies, without actually drawing fireflies.


Detail

It's getting closer and closer to spring and I can't wait until it's nice enough to go outside and see some real flowers. It's funny. I draw foliage so frequently, yet it's been a long while since I've gotten to see greenery around my neighborhood! Soon, right?

We're working on a patterns project in the class I'm teaching. I am really excited about it. My students are geniuses and I'm totally looking forward to seeing what they make!
We went through a bunch of different types of patterns today in class and I taught them how to make damask patterns, toiles, radial patterns and chinoiseries! I'll have to try and keep up with them!

April 7: Black watercolor

Tonight I'm working on a couple patterns and I decided to bust out the watercolors. I have a project that I'm doing tomorrow that involves making flowers that need to be able to be shown in various palettes, so I'm doing all of the painting in grey-scale. When creating patterns I usually create assets like this on a page and then toss them in the computer. It's funny to see them all in a blob like this -- there really is no rhyme or reason for where they're placed or why some match and some don't!

April 6: Raspberries!

A quick and loose sketch of some raspberries for the night! Thinking of raspberry jam, smoothies and all things summer. Too bad it's rainy and only just springtime!

April 5 : Space!

Space is the topic of the night! Here are some doodles that I made during the Light Grey Lock-in! I did a couple type drawings based on the sci-fi books I've been ordering off of eBay!

April 4: Silly Doodle Cats!

I've been playing this game on my phone called Megu, and every week or so, my tamagotchi-esque creature morphs into something new. Most times it changes into a kind of funny, bean-shaped animal or a piece of food with a face. All of which are great. I had been playing with my brush pen and decided it'd be fun to do a grid of silly bean-cats. So, here they are! Bean cats for everyone!

April 3, Frogs for Sam.

I made something sketchy today and I'm dedicating this post to Sam Basques, who asked me to draw a frog. So I did! And I'm really happy with it.
Just a little guy nested in a patch of leaves. I stuck with a pencil-in-my-sketchbook drawing today. It's quickly becoming one of my more favorite mediums for quick drawing. I've got this really nice Pentel 0.9mm lead pencil that's a gorgeous yellow ochre color. It's my pride and joy and I've taken to using it almost exclusively for sketching in my little sketchbook.

I actually just sat down a little bit ago to relax while Chris plays Bioshock Infinite-- after a long day of designing notebook covers and hosting interviews with two very fascinating people, Mary Jo Hoffman, founder of Stillblog.net, and Nic Skrade from Uptown Tattoo. I have to admit, it's certainly hard to get meditative in my sketchbook while the room is filled with gunshots, yelling and explosions. I'm actually really enjoying the story and it's been fun watching him play. One of these days I'll have to actually learn to use the controller and pick up a game myself. For now, I stick to story games on my phone. Those aren't too hard -- it's just me touching the screen now and again to advance the plot.

Beyond that, I've been thinking of starting a couple drawings that are sci-fi in nature. I've been surfing all over Ebay recently, buying vintage paper items like I do, and amassing this amazing collection of books from the 50s, 60s and 70s. I'm actually considering scanning some of these covers and sharing them, as I've got more vintage paper things than the average person -- and some of these illustrations are crazy awesome. There's one that came today with the title YEAR 2018, by James Blish. (He has an awesome name). I'm considering plowing through that book just to see how much 2013 differs from the world Blish created back in 1959, when he wrote the book!

If I get the chance, I'll make sure to write a full book report. Some of these paperbacks look like I could tear through one in an evening.

April 2! Day 2. Sketching and updating the blog!

Well, here's something that I made in painter. It's definitely different than anything that I've shown on this blog before, but hey. I'm welcoming some new process and some experimentation! I was telling Francesca this morning that it was awfully hard for me to get used to this painting, not because I think it's bad or anything, just that it's been a while since I posted something figural! As I was painting this one I was thinking to myself: "I better not draw a face from the front like I always do, so why don't I do something weird and different, like draw children! And draw them from the back! Yeah! What a good idea".... Hmmm. I guess that's what I did.
Who knows what I was thinking. It's a lot of pressure just making things and realizing that I can't hide them in my sketchbook this month!

I was thinking about all of these interesting things that I've got planned for April -- from field trips like the one that I'm going to on Thursday to the Bell Museum, to the Lock-in on Friday at Light Grey Art Lab -- and I'm actually looking forward to this challenge. I'm hoping to mix a couple patterns in here, some paintings, some drawings and who knows what else!

***

So what do you think of the new layout? I've got a couple personal projects that I was thinking it was time for a little spring cleaning! I added a new background, a new header, and re-arranged a little bit. I'm pretty happy with the re-vamp! Well, one more thing down! Tomorrow I'm headed to help Chris record a podcast at Mary Jo Hoffman's house! I'm excited to say hello to her and help pick out some of the specimens that she'll be lending us for the Macro & Micro show at Light Grey Art Lab. She's going to be our featured guest! Have you seen her blog? It's fantastic. Here's a link to stillblog.net! You'll see why I'm absolutely enchanted with it!

Wish us luck! I'll be posting an update with photos tomorrow! It should be a great time! Until then, I'm off to do some late-night drawings!

Venus Flytrap!

The sketch that started it all


Detail

I spent the whole weekend sketching and this Venus Flytrap is one of the sketches that I was really proud of. It's done with graphite and then colored in Photoshop. I was thinking this one should be pretty subtle since it's particularly line-heavy.

On Friday I was hanging out with a couple friends and one asked to see my sketchbook. I don't know about you, but it's really hard for me to actually let people look through my sketchbooks. Half of what I've got in there is embarrassing -- for various reasons... and the other half are notes that I'd rather not show to anyone. I tried (as politely as I could) to decline, and felt super awkward just sitting there, clutching it to myself, holding on to it for dear life. You know when you're practicing drawing and you draw the same thing over and over? Or when you're not sure what you're even sketching... just making lines all over a page? Well, my sketchbook is full of those things. That, and a zillion notes that I've written about everything I'm thinking, doing, or wanting to do. Sort of a diary, I suppose.

I am still trying to feel good about sharing my sketchbook with other people, but for now, I just show the pieces I think are ok online. The rest I'm keeping for myself.


Full Repeat

I'm also starting a 30 day challenge today for the Month of April! I have been wanting to do one for a while now, but haven't remembered to do so at the start of the month! This is my first one and I'm hoping to kick some fun things out this month. Wish me luck!

Vintage Flowers

I have this great old wallpaper book from the turn of the century that has this massive cabbage roses in just a couple colors. I had been looking through it last week for inspiration and came across this mustard and green color combination. I'm absolutely amazed at how beautiful vintage patterns are. It's apparent how much preparation and time went into creating them.

It's no wonder I'm a vintage paper addict.
Seriously. When I get on an ebay kick, there's no stopping me. In fact, that reminds me... I should really archive all of these ancient wallpaper books. That'll be my summer project.

I have been doing some complex patterns lately and decided that this week I'd do something a little more quiet. I created this one with ink on paper first, with a linen texture overlay on top -- and colored it up!

Creeping Charlie, the pattern.

Here's the mini view of this huge pattern I made tonight.

When I first got my cat, Oliver, I had named him several things before something stuck. Charlie was one of the names that was high on the list. Oliver is, by far, the creepin'-est of cats, and as I was making this pattern tonight I thought for a second that it would have been very fitting had I named him Charlie.

I don't know why I labored over this pattern so much tonight, but I'm glad I did because I really like the way it turned out. It started as a complex sketch and turned into a giant winding beast. I took some liberties with the actual colors of Creeping Charlie - and I'm surprised I did because I am usually all about putting purple all over my artwork. But there was something really sinister about having red veins for vines -- and so it goes.


Here's a little close-up of the artwork

I had a really great weekend. I got the chance to spend the weekend hanging out with Francesca (it was her birthday! Happy Birthday, Francesca!), and some great friends. Games were played, Japanese food was enjoyed, and I got some artwork done, too! I'm looking forward to my 32nd Birthday this coming Tuesday. (Yikes! I'm not sure how that happened! I barely remember turning 30, or even 20 for that matter.... hmmmm....) But I'm excited to see it come. I think I've got zen mode on this year (or at least I'm trying!) and I'm thinking of spending my Tuesday just relaxing.
Maybe ever devouring a good book.

It'll be the first day in a long while that I've actually taken a day off, but I think I'm going to do it!

Wish me luck! Another year, another adventure.

Keeping it simple : Succulents

Keeping it simple today!
I had a great trip to the Como Conservatory today with Chris and it was AWESOME! Man, I have been craving some living plant-action!
It's been so white outside and it seemed like a nice Sunday outing. I did a couple tiny drawings this morning while I was at this new coffee house near my house, Parka and just ran with them for this pattern.

I was making loads of little terrariums last summer and I was having flashbacks when I was making this pattern. I really ought to do that again. I think I just might!

I usually frown at white backgrounds on patterns but for some reason this one just felt right. I had this one a couple other colors before I finally just left it alone. So here you have it! Little tiny cuttings from some of my favorite succulents!

(I'm also channeling some 70s art vibe in here. Inspired by a pic I saw earlier today while I was in a used bookstore near my house!)

Snowy Day

I wrote a post about the snow with a couple cute pics for the Light Grey Art Lab blog and wanted to share them here as well!
We had a ton of snow last night and it is absolutely beautiful here! Here you go!


10 inches of snow and counting

I thought you guys might appreciate seeing what it's like out today. I know that most of us have seen a snow storm, but man, we got hit hard last night and everything looks amazing with all this snow. It started last night as I was teaching over at MCAD and just kept going. I got the chance to chat with Teagan White, a wonderful person and very talented illustrator, last night over coffee. She came over to MCAD for a bit to talk to my product design class about her work and process and afterward we headed to the Spyhouse (a local coffee shop down the street from Light Grey) with Francesca to sit down and warm up.

It kept snowing even after we parted ways and I dropped Francesca off at home. Even so, I was still surprised to see all of it this morning.


A view down the block towards the prestigious Minneapolis College of Art & Design. The streets are super quiet.

Commuting to work today wasn't that difficult because Minneapolis has this snow-removal thing totally under control. I'm thankful for that, for sure. Still, it was amazing to walk the block or so up to work and see that absolutely everything was covered and looked really beautiful.

It's strangely quiet on the streets because of the snow, too. So it's almost like being wrapped in a cold, white sweater.


Chris and Atari head inside to get to work

I'm going to try and enjoy the snow for as long as I can while it looks this good. I know that city snow doesn't stay beautiful forever!


Twinkle, our other studio dog, is a little black blip amongst all the white

Ferns on Linen

I have been wanting some new kitchen towels and I made this linen-y pattern with them in mind. Ahhh I wish they were real!
I was inspired by two new shops in the Minneapolis area -- Forage and Parka. One is a really cute furniture shop that sells a lot of local and hand-crafted furniture (nice, mid-century inspired stuff!) and the other is a new cafe with awesome coffee. Both shops are minimalist and really nice -- lots of natural colors plus white.

I got the chance to sit down and really take a look at ferns with this pattern, too, which, if you haven't had a chance to look at one closely, are super crazy. They're amazing -- or as Chris would say "They're natures fractals".

The rest of the day was spent running around to Menards and getting some home fixer-uppering stuff, and talking for hours to my parents about big ideas and future plans.

My last week has been really interesting. Filled with lots of teaching at MCAD and preparation for Light Grey. This past friday I did a lecture on Happiness and Success at Light Grey to a room of about 20 people. It was really exciting talking to so many people about collaboration and committing to doing something that gets people involved. I talked about everything from the difference in our personalities and what stops us from doing the things we do, to more up-beat things like the idea of support and what it means to work altruistically. I had read so many interesting pieces of information on things like the non-zero sum theory, and 'the big five' elements of what makes up our 'subjective well being'... among other really interesting topics.

I thought a lot of about personalities and how they play a part in how we do things. Sometimes I think about the Meyers Briggs test and my obsession with personality tests -- and how that might come into play with how we get things done (or how we don't get things done).

I truly enjoy these times of 'research', and the times when I get to sit down for a second and learn something. I'm a huge non fiction fan and the more science, or history, or nature that I can take it, the more I enjoy what I'm doing.
We should be posting a link to the lecture online in the next day or so, and when we do, I'll make sure to post it here. I think some of you guys might get a kick out of it.

Dark Days, no more.

I received an amaryllis bulb from a co-worker back in the day and it would bloom once every year and then sink back into it's pot and appear to be dead until the next year. I always thought it was funny. As I was researching this one I kept thinking of how weird it was that all of the blooms come out of one stalk. All of the sketches I was doing looked strange, and after thinking about it for a while I decided to create an abstracted 6-blossom version from the top down. (I realize this isn't entirely accurate, whoops). Still, I was happy to make something that looks like I had a bunch of little twigs and curly doo-dads falling from the sky.

I always make my patterns at night, so they also all seem to have some kind of dark quality to them. Maybe it's that combined with the darkness of winter. I'm looking forward to the sun staying out longer and longer in the next month. It's exciting to have a little bit of sunshine still going on when I leave work!

I got to spend a little bit of today talking with a really nice new friend about internships at Light Grey Art Lab. She's great and I'm really enjoying spending (even a little) bit of time with these new friends. It's nice to meet people that are just as much into making art as I am. It's not often that I meet people that have kept up an insane amount of interest in working on personal projects. Maybe it's just that everyone is hunkered down in their own studios and just cranking away.

The more I think about it, I'm almost positive that's what it has to be, and with these Minnesota winters, I'm sure no one wants to venture out into the cold to go anywhere, let alone carry their supplies with them to the corners of the earth.

Even though it is starting to get a little warmer and a little sunnier outside, I have yet to see everyone come out of hibernation and out into the world. I'm really looking forward to it. In fact, I'm craving it. Spring is so close I can taste it.... Come on, weather. Come on.

Tomato-red Clusters

Clusters of Guarana Berries

I was inspired by vintage wallpaper and a weekend trip to H&M. I think I've been seeing this tomato red color everywhere and I absolutely LOVE it. In fact, I tried to convince Chris to buy some pants this color. It's cheery and vibrant and I think it may be one of my new favorite colors.


And here's it repeated!

It's been interesting trying to fit everything in to my schedule these days. I'm gearing up for helping out at Light Grey Art Lab with a couple new shows this spring and I'm juggling teaching at MCAD. I'm half way into a 6 week class on Advanced Pattern Development for the continuing education program (which has been awesome and inspirational, by the way) and it's inspired me to try all these new ways to put together a repeat.

I've been thinking for a while now that I'd really like to publish a book on all of my pattern-making methods. Francesca and I have talked about it for at least 6 months now -- on and off -- fantasizing about a time when we'll have a free minute to put it together! The nice thing is that even though I'd need a chunk of time to design it, I'm gathering more and more content by teaching this advanced class! Many of the methods have been really eye opening and exciting.

The beginning of spring is always full of work, extra curricular activities and loads and loads of planning. I think it's me waking up from my long, dark hibernation during the winter months!



The sketch before repeating

Making Progress

Progress on the color so far! - Second layer of blues layered in

Ok, so I decided to go for something super complex this time - not really in the way that the pattern is made, but the technique that I'm using to paint it. I'm trying watercolor out for the first real time since high school and it's been... interesting.
I wanted to show you a little bit of what I'm working on though it isn't a repeating pattern quite yet.

I have plans for a Damask pattern -- as you can see I'm working on the diamond shape right now. I've set it up so it'll be fairly easy to repeat once I have the whole painting complete. I'll just have to tile it up and let it go!

It's been exciting. I've been making this while watching Discovery Channel documentaries on mount Everest (thrilling and terrifying!) and plugging away at it after I teach night class. I don't think I have much left to do, but once I get it finished up, I'll make sure to post it!

Just for fun you can see a little bit of my coloring process here!


First Layer of Blues


Preliminary Underpainting

So far I'm just using burnt umber and prussian blue (at least I think that's the blue I'm using!) to do all of the lighting and shadows. I've got this on hot press watercolor paper, too, which I usually just use for ink washes. It's been really interesting.
It looks pretty dark in the first photo (my most recent photo), but this morning I looked at it again and the color had faded a little. I'm not sure if it was just the lighting or the way the paint works!

I'm really looking forward to coloring it to look like an old hand-painted photograph. You know the one's I'm talking about? Sepia colored photos with a little bit of color? That's it!

Pointy Saguaro

Pointy!

This flower was a challenge for me - mostly because, as I was looking up the Saguaro cactus for reference, I saw that the blooms cluster in these bizarre families around the tops of the cacti. I liked the green blooms so much that I wanted them to be a major part of this pattern.

Here's a never ending field of Saguaro blossoms! (with a little pointy bit here and there!)

It was super late as I was finishing this up last night. I had run out of Pandora stations and started watching documentaries about North Korea. I'm not sure how that happened, but I now know a lot.

Thank you, National Geographic.

In any case, what was hardest about this pattern was trying to create an interesting repeat. Granted, what I did is not the most innovative, it was still a challenge trying to make this one look kind of natural without it looking like a polkadot! I think it turned out alright!

Vanilla Flowers, winding!

Tried something new tonight!

So - here's another new approach to pattern-making. I'm teaching an advanced pattern-making class at MCAD in a couple weeks and I've been trying all of these new ways of putting patterns together. It's been a blast trying to figure it out but it was definitely a challenge!

I tried a pattern with a couple layers this time - large foliage in the background, and smaller bits in the front. There are actually three layers that went into this and surprisingly, I started with some swirly vine things and went from there!

I had a great time making it - sorry for the huge size, but I had to make a tall one to make it work! Hopefully it just makes the detail easier to see.

What was interesting about this process was that I started out having to sketch the whole thing out before tossing it in the computer. This is certainly a new thing for me - as I usually just make a bunch of icons that are nice together and toss them. This time I had to puzzle piece the whole thing together before hand. It was actually really nice.

I am really interested in doing some HUGE patterns. I'm sure you may have noticed that there posts are taller! The more I get into these, the bigger they're getting, and the more room I need to make these complex things look good! I think I'll try some kind of damask pattern in one of my next patterns. I'd really like to see if I can make a new method for those, too!

Memories of old summer days

Hello again. I've been considering how to do this pattern all day and finally bit the bullet and committed to something a little more complex and more process intensive than some of my usual patterns. I have had a great time lately drawing in my sketchbook with graphite and carbon pencil and wanted to try something today involving that process.

Here's a Egyptian Lotus flower in a limited negative space pattern. I've seen other types of lotus flowers on my trips up north to my grandparents' cabin a couple times. I remember going on canoe trips with my dad early in the morning so we could catch a glimpse of the open lotus flowers before the mid-day sun made them close back up.

It's been a couple years since I've had that experience, and it may be many more years before I get that experience again. At least I remember it fondly.
***


Here's the original sketch before I added all of the shading and the coloring

It's freezing here now. I'm sure that anyone else that lives somewhere in the Midwest (or any place to the North) knows what I'm talking about. Some of these memories are possibly surfacing because I'm sitting here freezing my butt off.

I visited L.A. last week with Jenny and Francesca and though it was pretty nice down there in the 50s, I still found myself happy to come home to good ol' frigid Minneapolis.

It doesn't mean I don't pine for warmer days... Until then, I'll make due with wearing a million sweaters and cuddling with these cats.