A Cowboy, Ugg Boots, and a Righteous Mullet at the Getty

Yesterday I went to the Getty Center with my fiancee Nicole. The Rembrandt drawings were interesting, but what was even more interesting were the people. Whenever I go to a public place I make it my mission to capture the most interesting people in my sketchbook.

It was a chilly night, and more than half of the women there were wearing Ugg Boots. Ugg boots will never go out of style it seems.

There was a chubby cowboy who was totally engrossed by some 17th century paintings.

And I was even able to speed draw a guy with the most righteous mullet I have ever seen while waiting for the tram to take us back to parking garage. It was a successful evening of art and people watching at the Getty Center.

Egyptian Influence

More Wild Watercolors

Rainy day doodles

Stolen moments

Throughout the busy day I find myself doodling on whatever is available, I try to keep post-its near by for this purpose. The ideas come to me in free form, and often I do not know what I am drawing until I am almost finished. Below are examples of sketches I make during stolen moments.






These watercolors are a little more than a sketch on a post-it, but essentially made through the same process of doodling. Some of my best ideas I think up when I am not trying to, and doodling during the free moments between busy hours helps me be more creative. While doing these watercolors I thought of a great way to approach a project I am working on; a children's book that I am having a lot of trouble visualizing. But that is another post. For now, doodle away!

Strange days, and Frustrating Follies

Whew, it has been a busy couple of days, and it's not over yet. Moving to a new place is never easy, but I think I am especially lousy at moving. I don't think I would ever make it as a nomad. The good part is I love my new place. It's a little two bedroom in Lakewood. However, everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for me during the move. Except for my internet installation, thank you Verizon for being prompt and efficient.

Anyway, I haven't put up any artwork for a while so I thought I would show what I have been sketching for the past two weeks.

My Fiancée's dog Jack makes for a good model when he is sleepy.I was thinking about making a painting that incorporated sparrows, below are some of my studies. Sparrows are pretty tricky to capture, being small and fast. I like sparrows because they are small, but very feisty, I don't think they realize how small they are. A passerby may never notice two sparrows fighting, but to the sparrows it is a matter of life and death. Life is made up of small battles, and one could lose perspective very easily. The trials of everyday life are small when compared to the big picture.

I had to go to Pine Street in Downtown Long Beach two weeks ago to pay the deposit and sign the lease for my new place. Getting there a little early gave me time to draw some of the people walking by the coffee shop. It was a beautiful Long Beach morning, the streets were still wet and the light was golden. Everything was quiet. I was amazed at how nice downtown Long Beach looked, I hadn't been there in a while. Between drawing and sipping coffee a homeless man asked me if I knew where the Norstroms was, and that sent my mind wandering. Why would he want to know where Norstroms is? And then I started making little stories up in my head. Maybe he is on a cross country journey to find his long lost daughter, and he has a clue that she works at a Norstroms in Long Beach. But he probably just wants to return a shirt. . .Oh well.
If you have ever moved you know that boxes of junk can pile up very quickly. My living room is full of them and I am dreading unpacking.
I did the drawing below last night while waiting to get picked up from the Sears auto center. Urrgh. Yesterday I was driving up to my new place and I realized the right front tire of my truck was making a strange flapping metallic sound. There was a metal cylinder thingy (looked like the inside of some kind of bearing) stuck in my tire. And the tire was losing air quickly. So I called AAA. The Giant who got out of the tow truck and put on the spare was very polite and he refused to let me even put the flat in the bed of the truck. Explaining there was no use in me getting dirty.

Anyway, I took my truck to sears to fix the flat, pulled into the garage shut my truck off. Then, the service men couldn't get the truck restarted! Something is broken in the steering column making the electrical connection impossible. I really hope sears can fix it because there aren't many places open on a Sunday. So, I am waiting impatiently for their call.

Chaos and excuses

Hey everyone! I know I haven't blogged in a while. So here's an update about what is going on. My Sister's family came to town for a visit, and I had a great week spending time with her and her husband and her two little girls. The house was full of family and little kid antics. I loved every minute of it, but unfortunately I didn't get a lot of drawing in. (I do have some drawings I am saving for my next post). They are driving back home today and I will miss them dearly.

On top of Holiday Madness, I recently got engaged, and as some of you know that can be a busy time. And quite frankly, its taking us time to wrap our heads around the fact that we are engaged! I love you Nicole.

Okay, on top of holiday madness, and recently getting engaged, I am in the middle of moving to a new place! Everything seems to be happening at once. I am moving to a little two bedroom house in Lakewood California. I am very excited about it because it has a cool little studio with a window off of the main living room. So I won't have any excuses for not making art, except all my art equipment is packed up in boxes at the moment. It's going to be a daunting task getting reorganized. I have more room now, but it's funny how long it takes me to get used to a new area. The new house seems so foreign right now. . .

Well, that's all the excuses I have for right now. Thank you readers. And HAPPY NEW YEAR!