Spot Illustrations

Here are some spot illustrations I've been working on this week.

Tim Burton Barberry

I couldn't resist drawing up a virtual for this barberry (yesterday's post). Maybe it has a future looking like a tree out of a Tim Burton film.

Another Barberry

I dug up another barberry today. This one might be a challenge to figure out a future for. It looks like it will be a multi-stem or clump. I usually don't care for that look because it looks too busy in my mind. We'll see. I left a lot on to work with down the road. No need to decide on any design at this time. I hope this one survives as all kinds of feeder roots were passing in and out and intertwined with some old landscape fabric and hopefully I didn't do too much damage trying to separate the mess.

2 Amurs chopped back

This past weekend I did some major chops to two of my amur maples (Acer ginnala). They stood about 5 feet tall with about a 2.5" trunk width. I purchased them as nursery shrubs this passed fall. I will allow the stumps to die back to see at what point to refine them to heal over better. I think they have the potential to have nice trunk taper and movement. I will allow them to grow freely this year to see what new growth will bring and then pick new trunk leaders from there. These are just two virtuals of my goal right now but the trees will be the ones that will guide me to what direction they want to go. Right now I'm just trying to grow a pleasing trunk.

3rd Floor Studio "floor"

I've made some progress on the studio floor I made, installed. This is after the 4th coat of varathane. I will probably do 5 or 6. It is ash which I milled to 3 widths. The sheen is satin but I'll probably rub out the final finish and wax it. I don't want an overly shiny floor. I'm not sure if I'll ever be up to installing a hardwood floor let alone making/milling it from scratch again!

Barberry Revisited

I continue to explore different options with the barberry before I do anything else major. Here are two more "virtuals."

Barberry Bonsai

I had a chance today to dig up a barberry in the front landscape which I saw bonsai potential in. I hacked a lot off it but there isn't much low on the trunk to work with so I will chop the trunks near the white lines (oops, didn't post the pic with white lines)to regrow trunks and branching. Anyway, I would chop near where the drawing begins on the trunks. My quick virtual of how I intend it to look should give you an idea of the direction I'd like to take with it. I love the heavily textured thick bark and wide base. Unfortunately it will probably take a long time to realize the tree's full potential.

My Wife, Monica

I just drew this today or should I say finished this today. I started it yesterday. Charcoal on Strathmore hot press, 14x17.

Another Hand

Here's another hand. I'm still working on a bunch of these. I enjoy orthopedics. I get to draw layers of tissue, muscle, bone, and implants and it involves some illustrative techniques to convey these layers that aren't seen by everyday people plus there is some problem solving involved which adds to the excitement even for simple drawings such as this. Today is my birthday so hopefully I get a chance to do some drawing on paper during the day for fun!

Figures 3-2-10

Here are a couple figures from tonight's session. I didn't get too many that I was happy with but as long as I treat each session as a learning process and have fun getting out to draw, then it's considered successful in my mind.

3rd Floor Studio Progess

I don't have any pics to share but I made some progress on the studio. This past weekend I sanded the hardwood floor and the weekend before I tiled and grouted the bathroom floor. I had some drawing projects in mind during the weekends but those were put on hold. Oh well, at least I now have renewed energy for the 3rd floor and feel good about the progress. Tiling went without much of a hitch. I had already done our kitchen floor, kitchen back-splash, back porch, and second floor bathroom and shower. The one thing I was nervous about was cutting tiles outside on my wet saw in freezing temps. I brought out 5 gallons of hot water and cut them fast enough that the water didn't freeze. My hands got cold though. The sanding of the floor was the first time for that venture. It was a full two day tedious task so I ended up having to rent the beast of a sander for two days. It was actually really heavy lugging that thing in and out of my truck and up and down all those stairs. When the finish goes on is when I'll see any and all mistakes so I'll probably take some raking light and inspect the floor prior to see what kind of touch-up sanding needs to be done.