Big Bend Sketchbook 3 - Kitchen

Julie cooking breakfast in cabin kitchen

I've always wanted to draw one of the cabin kitchens and had never gotten to it until this illustration. I spent more time on this then the usually ipad sketch (which I try to set a 20 min timer for.)

Big Bend Sketchbook 2: camp illustration

I always think of this tree, which had been recently pruned this year, as the center of the camp. Four of the cabins face it, two of which we almost always stay in.

In the evening picnic tables are pulled under the string of lights and most everyone brings out snack, appetizers and cocktails to share.

I have been enjoying sketching on the ipad lately and I did this piece one morning.

---

Two photos of the campsite in the morning...

Happy Hour just about to begin.

Big Bend Sketchbook

It is summer tradition in our family to head up north and spend a few days to a week in a small cluster of cabin located within walking distance to a bend in the Eel river. It It has been a tradition in our family since it started, and in my wife's family since her father was young.

Last night we returned from our yearly sojurn. Still feeling relaxed and a bit dreamy from afternoons on the river, and sharing evening drinks around the campfire I am going to honor the trip by posting a few illustrations and photos each day for the rest of the week. Enjoy.

I needed to start with this piece. I drew it sitting on the small sand beach bordering the river. It is of Julie. It is the day we went from BFF to TLF. While drawing this I had no idea that hours away our lives would start to twist together and remain that way from then on. Though looking at this art, I can tell I was sweet on her - even if I didn't know it yet.

I did this painting over the weekend sitting in pretty much the same spot, but if I had turned completely around to face the main swimming hole. Of course to show the passing of time quite directly- that's my son as well as my mother-in-law wading in to the river trying to net passing fish.

I had the "great" idea to bring my sketchbook into the water with me and do some sketching while floating on an inner tube. It only sort of worked as splashes kept making the ink bleed (like Luke's eye and the splotch on Julie's hair). Still, I like the unfussy way the line work turned out.

Some river photos from this weekend.

Julie & Byron walking towards the river.

Luke and I playing in the river.

Let's Get Outta This County - Illustration Process

If you are coming here from Rusty's Electric Dream, you will recognize the above pieace from the one that was sent out in the newsletter. If not you will see the entire artwork at the end of the post. First I though it would be fun to talk about about the process I did on creating this image, which was just finished two days ago.

---

I originally created this image for a page of the book I am working on about two years ago. It looked like this:

I am now at the phase of the book creation that I am going back and fixing things that don't work as well as I would like.

I had three issues with this piece.

• Claudette is much too large compared to the tower proportionally.

• The ravens don't really look like ravens.

• The dirigibles no longer appear in the story.

• The following illos (not shown here) take place during sunrise and this one seemed much to dark to believe the sun was just about to break the horizon.

I decided to make a new illustration that remedied all of there problems. So I drew this (don't mind this missing corner):

I had to stop mid-drawing as I still did not like the way the ravens were coming out and I liked Claudette better in the previous image. I decided to do the rest of it piecemeal to make sure it all worked out.

I draw the town next.

Then I draw the ravens on two separate pages (I threw many away before I came to the few I liked). Making a bird look like a specific birds is more challenging than I would have thought before going into this project.

Then I put them all together in photoshop, including trimming Claudette out of the original image but re-sizing her. 

The finished image: Let's Get Outta' This County

Two places to find my work this month

A quick note to let you all know that this month I am twice having the honor of  being the Artist-in-Residence in very cool locations.

The First

The first is Rusty's Electric Dream. A super fun weekly "inbox zine" that is one of the best things I receive in my inbox. It arrives each Wednesday morning and is a "one-of-a-kind sampling of pop culture, quirky events and offbeat stuff is worth keeping up with!" 

Each week I will be sharing and discussing a new piece of work. The first one I am featured in went out last week. You can find it archived here. And you can go to Rusty's site and sign up for future editions of her weekly dispatch.

---

The Second

SALADA CAFE
in Pacifica CA

A sketch of Salada cafe when I first moved to Pacifica

From now until September 10th I am the featured artist at Salada Cafe. Which means I have pretty much taken over the entire place, which make it the largest showing of my work I have ever done. Currently there are 13 pieces up. please check them out if you are in the area.

Prepping for the show at Salada

The show is up (and Luke enjoying it!)