Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Sculpture is Almost Complete!

We have delivered Julio's sculpture and set it in it's location with
the shape of the landscaping roughed in. Tomorrow we will be digging
the trench for the stones and adding sand and liner for the
foundation, and finally adding the river stones to the center and
copper accents on the piece itself. More updates to come before the
week is out!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Random Doodles

Always a good practice to doodle a few gestures or characters
during the day. Here are a few I did while waiting for Gavin to get
out of a meeting. These sketches aren't by any means literal drawings
of people I saw, but I picked a shape to base my design on and used
the people around me as inspiration for the features and unique
qualities of each sketch. If the people I based them on happened to
look at them, they may see some resemblances to their own reflections,
hopefully with amusement :-p. So even when you are doing gesture
drawing, don't be afraid to caricature the gesture or apply it to a
character you are already familiar with. If you don't get it at the
time of the sketch, you can always take your initial gesture and clean
it up or apply it later. That is, after all, why my drawing teachers
insisted on us keeping journals or gesture drawings. You never know
when a pose will come in handy!

If you aren't in a place where you have a lot of people to draw from,
remember you can always find quick poses at
http://www.posemaniacs.com/ you can set a time limit for each pose and
there are hundreds to draw from. And if you're mobile, they have an
app! Though at the moment it is kind of limited.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Illustration Friday- Gesture

This week's Illustration Friday topic is gesture.  I was thinking about the Percy Jackson series with the child demigods going on their deadly quests, and I got the idea for the topic.  A gesture drawing is a quick drawing of a subjects pose, motion, and rhythm, which many times is then translated to other mediums, including sculpture.  Although the creature herself is quite terrifying, the living creatures captured by her gaze, though morbid, must have been spectacular to behold from an artists perspective: with perfect gestures of life frozen forever in stone

Monday, July 11, 2011

Lambda Photography Workshop






    A few days ago I participated in a creativity workshop at the Houston Lambda center, and went on a little photography tour of Market Square in downtown Houston.  Blistering swampy heat aside, I was able to capture some really cool scenes in some very unlikely places.  Mostly I wanted to use this opportunity to try out some abstract photo techniques, especially non-standard aspect ratios and extreme close-ups of contrasting shape and texture.  I have always been fascinated by the fact that you can look at something every day but not really notice the depth and beauty of it's lines and textures until someone photographs it.  Then all of a sudden it becomes something beautiful and creates not only a new perspective on a space, but becomes a conduit for what the individual sees in his mind's eye.  You normally don't think that something as mundane as a manhole cover or a fan can be beautiful until you're laying on the ground at odd angles, getting up close and personal with some rust.  And even if you look at a photo and it seems uninteresting, you can do some fantastic things by cropping it in crazy aspect ratios and focusing the image on the sometimes small area of the photograph that is unique..
    Above are a few samples of what I came up with, and there are many more where that came from!  What I am taking from this experience is that when coming up with a composition, or looking for a way to express your vision with a camera, don't be afraid to tilt it and get so close to your subject the lens is practically resting on it.  Then just snap away, even if it means using 20 pictures on one subject.  The more compositions and angles you explore, the more you have to examine and play with later.  The results will most certainly surprise you!

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Metal Sculpture Progress

Hooray!!!! The most difficult part of our sculpture is finally
complete. Now with the form finished we can begin the final
decorative touches that should tie everything together. We will be
running a grinder over the welds to smooth them before applying some
bright green patina'd copper leaf to them. And finally, to give it
some depth, we will add various sized steel squares, patinad like a
red bronze, to either side for some contrast.

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Summer Drawings

Went to Gavin's family's lake house up at Lake Livingston yesterday to
chill and get some relaxation in. One of the things I love most about
summers is the chance to just relax and do some sketching without any
pressure. Lakes and oceans are a common subject for me, since I've
lived by water for most of my life, and my I suppose maybe it's
because I'm a water sign, but I've always been drawn to water. In any
case, it gave me a reason to practice using procreate, this time
trying to get a nice India ink feel.

Saturday, July 02, 2011

My super secret delicious Fourth of July cupcakes!!!!

Every year for the Fourth of July since before I can remember, my mom
has made a flag cake with homemade whipped cream icing and a flag
pattern made out of strawberries, blueberries, and bananas. It has
always been my absolute favorite cake and I eagerly wait for it every
year. This year I'm going to Gavin's lake house and I decided to
change the recipe a bit and make flag cupcakes for a little pre-4th
treat. While I couldn't do the two layers with whipped cream and
chopped strawberries in the middle, I did bake chopped strawberries
into the yellow cake and just alternated the toppings (with plenty of
leftover cream to gorge myself on, might I add). All in all they look
to promise delicious bite sized amazingness, and i hope they love the
as much as I do.