Watercolor Sketchbook: Duke

I'm still trying out the watercolor pencils and water brush.  As with all watercolor it takes some adjustment.

So here is my dad's dog, Duke.

I'll keep at it.  I think it will be a good tool to have.

Dinosaur Touchups

A few weeks ago, one of the dinosaurs at work got a little footwork done.  Our dinosaur skeletons are actually not actual fossilized bones.  The new era of mounting displays like this means that the actual fossils are kept elsewhere while replica bones cast off the real ones are displayed.  This is much more cost effective and honestly, safer.  Our display has a portion where you can actually walk underneath the belly of an Argentinosaurus.  Pretty cool, but also kind of scary if you think about the thought of several tons of fossilized rock perched above your head.  So we use casts made out of a styrofoam with an epoxy-esque, candy-like outer shell.

And because you can get so close to them this means that the inevitable poking and prodding happens.  Most of the time children but I have yelled at the (more than) occasional adult as well.  So the museum had to have the foot repaired.  At some point all of the touching had made it so the toes on the Argentinosaurus needed to be repaired.

So they did.  A couple of bolts and some dinosaur grade bondo later and the Mesozoic tootsies are good to go.

The above photo is from the back of the foot.  This next one is a side shot...

And then one from the front of the foot...

Thus they needed a little paint-job.  One Paintmonkey Dino Pedicure (Patent Pending) later,...

...all is well again.

It took about an hour and was a lot of fun.  Plus, how many people get to say they ACTUALLY painted dinosaurs at work?

Sketchbook: Euro 2012

So most of my vacation week has been taken up with working on art projects, some light housecleaning (no, really honey...I am), but a lot of it has also been spent watching the Euro 2012 first round matches. Here are a couple of impressions I've taken away from them.

First is a sketch of Rivery, a player for the French National team.

He seems to be a very unhappy fellow. He is usually yelling at the opponents...or his teammates...or the referees...or really anyone who dares make eye contact.

And this is a sketch done of Blaszczkowski (geez...Poland just LOVES that alphabet, don't they?). This was just after he scored a blistering equalizer against a powerful Russian squad.

It's been a lovely week to not be at work.

Sketchbook: Tony Awards Edition

I watched the Tony awards this year for the second time in my life. The first time was last year when I stumbled across them being hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. I thought "eh, sure...he's funny. I'll give them a shot". Best decision. Not only was he brilliant, they made me want to go see some live theater. I still haven't but the desire is there.

So fast forward to this year. The other day, I got a new ink brush/pen thingie and have been playing with it to try it out. So while I was sitting there watching the Tony's I was doodling away in my sketchbook. These are the best results.


This one was the first one I did. They were doing a song from "Ghost: the Musical". Yep. THAT "Ghost". The Patrick Swayze one. Don't know if Whoopi is involved or not.


This was a performance from "Jesus Christ Superstar". Seeing this song made me realize I have no idea what that thing is about.


This is Ricky Martin in "Evita". That's about all there is to that. It's Ricky Martin in "Evita".

And this final one is my favorite...


"Nice Work If You Can Get It". I just liked the way this one worked out.