Bald Eagles are cool but I'm with Ben Franklin - the turkey would make a fantastic national bird. I picked up this sweet turkey feather in Ucross, Wyoming in 2010. Day Fourteen grid.
Acorns are awesome. Dear Acorn, You are important. Not just 'you' as in the entire acorn race, but you as an individual acorn. I pass about a kazillion nuts on my daily walks but you are the one that caught my eye - so much so in fact, that I had to pick you up, put you in my pocket, and paint your portrait. I am by no means a great, almighty being but I know my acorns and you, Acorn, are a special one. Best regards, Layla Lucky Day #13 grid.
I picked this delightful pansy on our morning dog walk. I then had an afternoon date with a skill saw and by the time I revisited the pansy it looked like... ...this. This is the first sketch of the project that I've used a photograph to help with the rendering. I used the sad little guy as a color model. R.I.P. little pansy. Day Eight grid.
It sits on an acorn's head and you can take it off...it's an acorn hat. I don't know the proper term for it and to be honest if I did I'd still call it an acorn hat. Siamese acorn hats. Day Ten grid. I'm beginning to ponder the finishing touches for this work. It's super delicate in that pastel powder dust is sitting on the surface - it needs to be protected. The fragility of a drawing...oh how this topic has weighed so heavy on mind for years. I love it and hate it. I absolutely adore to make a drawing durable and permanent by pouring resin or a clear coat over it but not for this one. My thoughts - a sheet of plexiglass fixed to the front. It's what would be used to cover an insect specimen drawer.
This oak leaf was a cooperative model. So, below is the grid shot for Day Niner and I can't help but question the original intention...and I quote, "Each section works as an individual drawing but it's existence is necessary to complete one large composition", end quote. The first few days of the project I just randomly picked a square and banged out a drawing. Bam. Done. Now I pick a subject according to shape and color and must select a square with balance in mind. The outside squares are determining my square for the day and what it will contain. Does that still make each square wholly unique and complete? How could it? Ultimately each square is simply a cog in the big machine but the machine is the "it"...the single entity. Words, words, words....
Day Eight - check. Today was the first day of Project V that I've worked during daylight hours. Days off are too dang few and far between. Apparently sunshine made me want to draw a deer antler. I found this little antler in Wyoming. Day Eight grid. She's filling up.
Day Six is a tree blossom of some sort. Here let me show you... Hey, I'm down here now. So this is the little dude. It was on the sidewalk but a bunch of it's family is still attached to the large unknown tree that lives outside of my balcony. I know it's not a pecan tree and it's definitely not a coconut tree. I'm too exhausted to research it tonight but will get the low down tomorrow. Sweet little blossoms with ominous Texas sky... Day Six Grid. Placement is starting to get interesting to organize. I've pretty much disregarded scale for the most part. To hell with scale.
Day Five - pigeon feather...check. Have I mentioned that the entire grid set-up mimics a specimen drawer? Cuz that is something I had in mind. In each cubby you will find animal and plant specimens from my life - something I found on the ground and stuffed in my pocket at some location on this planet at some point in my time on earth. Pigeon. Feather. Day Five grid.
Day Three is a pecan husk that Kona and I found on one of our walks. The sidewalk is littered with them - which means there are lots of pecans - which means there are lots of squirrels. Lots. Of. Squirrels. Apparently pecans are not enough for this overabundant squirrel population so they have taken to eating the apartment complex from the roof down. I'm 95% sure that within the next couple of weeks they will have eaten the top two floors. Maybe this is a super special pecan husk and they are desperately trying to reclaim it so that is why they are specifically working on my side of the building. Well too bad squirrels! I'm keepin' this husk! Say cheese little pecan husk! Day Three grid aka (1,3)
Day Two is my interpretation of a tulip bulb. There are 3 things I would like to state for the record: 1. I never said I wasn't allowed to go outside of the lines. 2. The photographs blow and for that I'm sorry. 3. I'm using pastel, watercolor, gouache, charcoal, and graphite. Every now and again I'll make a pass over the entire thing with a brush full of water allowing all of the pigments from the different mediums to congeal into a nice colorful mess. Genuine tulip bulb from the earth. If we were playing You Sunk My Battleship, the tulip bulb would be located in the (3,4) grid coordinate.
And so it begins... Day One: A purple shell from New Zealand. One lonely shell on an empty sheet of shitty wood. That's right...shitty wood. It's in my budget. I go to the nearest home improvement store and piss off the employees by asking them to cut enormous sheets of poor quality plywood to specific and odd measurements. The average cost per 43"x36" panel is just under $8. By the time I lug the panels to the studio (3rd floor), I've collected at least five blood-producing splinters. At the moment this is the best support that my life allows and I'm grateful. (I know, I know...I'm playing the part of a consumer supporting the manufacturing of a convenient, cheap product at the expense of what I'm sure is ghastly de-forestation methods. The irony is unforgivable and I'm thinking of ways to remedy this for future work.) I make these god-awful shitty pieces of lumber as wonderful as I can. Sand, fill...
30 Sketches Project V. In. Effect. A bit of time has passed since the last project so here's a refresher on the rules: sketch, document, post, repeat everyday for 30 days. 30 Sketches Project V: Day Zero As you can see in the above photo, the star of this episode of 30 Sketches is one 43"x36" wooden panel divided into 30 equal sections. Each section works as an individual drawing but it's existence is necessary to complete one large composition. Hey...hold the phone...that's kinda like how our planet works - each unique species is needed to support the big picture. Even the smallest, seemingly insignificant life form holds immense value. You take out a section, the whole structure will cave. Indeed. Q: So, what will go into each of the 30 sections of the panel? A: Stuff from these jars. Let's do this.