The New-ness

The Paintmonkey is expanding the empire! Okay, we just got a dedicated website that combines everything in one place, but it feels like a big step. But one thing that isn't changing is the work!

I have a project I'm working on that requires a tree. I've not focused a lot on trees in the past, so a little research was required. I had to renew my library card so I walked to the local branch and took some sketch supplies with me. Here are the results...

Not a bad start...but not EXACTLY what I'm looking for. It's getting there. I'll find it.

And I hope you enjoy this new platform for Paintmonkey art.

Fundraising Paintmonkey Style!

I've been asked to participate in Fernbank Museum's silent auction again this year for the annual Lost Oasis.  I kind of knew what I wanted to do but last night I hit upon the right idea and stayed up until 2:30 for this:

I will be posting more on the Paintmonkey Facebook page as it gets closer to completion.

Then a few weeks ago as the missus and I were planning a trip down to Zoo Atlanta, I noticed on the zoo's website a call for artists to participate in a plein air event called Art Gone Wild.  I've been wanting to paint at the zoo for awhile so this was perfect.  I applied, got accepted, and went down a week or so ago for what they called the "Find Your Muse" day.  The artists sketched and started getting the feel of the zoo.

Here's a few of mine...

Now unfortunately both of the events and silent auctions are on the same night (June 14th), but if you want to help out some very important institutions in Atlanta...just pick one and go!  You can't go wrong!

Zoo Sketching

So the wife and I went to the zoo for our anniversary on Friday. I wanted to flex my on the spot sketching muscles a little so instead of a camera I took the trusty Moleskine, a pencil and some Copic pens. Here are the results.

Giraffes wiggle a lot more than you would think. Very hard to try and get the patterning down before they move away.

That lion is just like a big house cat. I picked this pose and the minute I started sketching he rolled over onto his back. Jerk.

I have done many sketches of Kelly for a children's book. I love drawing elephants.

I was drawing the cassowary and it kept coming to the fence right in front of me where it would just stop and stare. Creeped me the hell out. Stupid dinosaur...

And this guy was my best model. He just sat his vulture tail on the faux zebra corpse for about 10 minutes while I sketched away to my heart's content.

There may be news of zoo painting coming in the near future. Stay tuned and I'll let you know when I know.

Action Ideas

Sometimes I jot down quick little things that come to me.  This is one of them.

It was just an idea I got since I've been re-reading the Tarzan novels my grandfather bought me a long time ago.  Also inspired (not a little) by the Frazetta sketchbook my wife got me for my birthday.

Snow-cation 2014: The Icening

We're stuck inside for Atlanta's second go-round of wintry bluster this year.  Today's contribution is simple: snow makes me think of Young Harris College and my fantastic friends from there and getting to stay inside means I will inevitably start sketching.  So then I get this:

Easy connection to make!  Stay warm, everybody!

Aaaaah! I Wasn't Sleeping...I Swear!

It's February already!  And I haven't posted ONCE this year!  I swear though, it is because I am swamped with projects.  Work, a couple of family projects, and the infamous book I've been working on for FAR too long (but I am very close to completion).  But I figured I could show a couple of things I'm doing so as to not let my lease on this space expire.

 Sketch-ey goodness for the coming year!

First up, a work-up for a niece requested painting...

Next, the first idea I had for a new series that I will begin work on shortly.  (It probably needs an explanation, but I'm not going to.  It's more fun to leave it as a mystery.)

And finally a new sketch of my best model recently...Jasmine.

I'm gonna try her in watercolor soon.

All in all looking to be a good year!

Texas Goodbyes and Stereotypes

I know I've been gone again.  But I really have been working.  Just too busy to post anything.

So at the day job we lost another cashier.  Sad, because she was a wonderful employee and the only one who talked sports with me!  A true loss for the museum.  But, her husband (a pilot) was transferred to Dallas and her family is from Texas so I can't be TOO bummed out by it.  Good for them!

And as a Texas girl she is a graduate and die-hard supporter of Baylor University.  She even got me rooting for them!  So I came up with a card for her to wish her well.

And this week I have been watching the WNFR (Wrangler National Finals Rodeo).  I figured what a great link.  Even though the finals are held in Las Vegas, most people think "rodeo" when they think Texas so there you go.  Here's my sketches from late at night...

I've got more things in the works right now but I really can't show them until after Christmas.  (Surprises for people, you know!)

Savannah Sketching

The wife and I went down to Savannah this week for a little vacation.  (This is why there was no Tuesday Toonsday this week.  Sorry!)  We ate a lot of seafood and walked around enjoying the town.  And I mean WALKING.  So much walking.  Take our advice.  Don't walk that much.  Jump on one of those trolley tours.  Hijack it if you have to.

We started out by walking down to River street and checking out some shops.  At the end of the street we took a rest and I sketched the waving girl for a few minutes.

We got some tips about stuff to see from my friend Robby.  As the wife and I love old cemeteries, Bonaventure seemed a wonderful place to go.

Tattnall Way running down the length of the cemetery draped on both sides by live oaks and moss...

And here is one of the better carvings on one of the graves...

This week was a big learning experience for me in regards to creating art in the wild.  You might notice that both of these sketches seem a little hurried and unfinished.  This is because...THEY...found me.  "They" are these little insects.  Not the mosquitos.  Those I could tell because they were as big as fruit bats.  No..."they" were these tiny little bugs which took a chunk out of you like a bear trap.  So on both occasions I started working and the little beggars found me and I got up and ran away.

I also learned in Bonaventure that I need to cut down the size of my painting gear when walking around that much.  It gets HEAVY.

And my last sketch is of our hotel, the Thunderbird Inn.

This one got hurried a little, as well.  The sky was a lovely blue when I started but in the course of about 20 minutes started getting more and more grey.  I had to run back into the room before everything got rained on.

We had a fantastic time and absolutely will be going back.  There's just too much down there to see.

Doodlin'...

This is what happens when I get bored. Either while at work, home, or "other"...I usually try to have a sketchbook or barring that...

...work papers that I may or may not need again.

Sometimes I get lucky and find a whole piece of paper (or the back of something to be thrown out). Let the doodling begin!

I recommend mindless doodling. It helps my thinking processes immensely. Just blank out, doodle, and let whatever answers you are looking for wash over you. It's like graffiti zen.

Plein Air Coincidences

I went to see my parents yesterday, mostly so I could see my mother for her birthday today (happy birthday again, Mom!) but also to support their fire department's fund raising barbeque.  While on my way I was going over in my mind what I wanted to try and paint.  There's a great giant old tree by their house that I want to document as one enormous limb after another keep falling off.  I thought I might paint the firefighters sitting around the barbeque pit.  Finally though I decided to paint the old chicken house that I grew up working in.

I got to the house and spent an hour or so talking to my mother and brother.  At one point my mom asked me if I "knew what I was doing 35 years ago today?"  I did not.  I was 7.  I barely know what I was doing last week.  "We were waiting on our first batch of chickens."  Weird...did I subconsciously remember what the date was and THAT was why I had decided to paint the chicken house?

No, it's probably just a coincidence.

Also...I got some pencils I ordered in the mail.

So, I sketched one of our dogs while we watched a movie. A good day for art practice.

Life In A Waiting Area

They had come to get their dependable old car serviced.  They sat in the waiting area much the way they sat around the house...each engrossed in their own pursuits and thoughts.  He, reading the daily paper and for her, a comically oversized (for her, anyways) book.  The only interaction was when something caught his interest in the paper and he would lean over and point it out to her.  She would lean to him, making the appropriate comment, and then go back to her book.

They never looked up, so they never noticed me standing at the edge of the waiting area sketching the minimal beauty that was their relationship built by a lifetime together.