Paris

My third acrylic ink painting. Not a success but a good try. I was attempting to get the feeling of dawn. I did a so-so job. A D+. I’ve been inspired by the artist, Missy Dunaway. She has a great style and is a master of the ink. I’m trying to find my own style and that means learning to crawl before I walk. I stare at her book looking for clues. Once the brush is in my hand, it’s of no use. I have a funny feeling I can find my way though.

Painting Mexico

Lessons learned the hard way are the most effective. Take this bad painting for instance. I always envision a finished work of art before I begin making it. Then I use my skill set to bring it to fruition. What I thought this painting would become, went out the window once the acrylic ink informed me that it was in charge. Seeing as my acrylic ink skill set is mediocre, all I could do was take a beating and then humbly post this defeat. But it taught me a lesson. I need to plan out my vision for painting with ink differently then when I do a drawing. Unfortunately I know there are more defeats ahead but hopefully that will mean some victories are on the horizon.

Holland

I recently purchased some jars of acrylic ink. This is my first attempt at pushing it around a piece of paper. I quickly discovered the ink was in control of me. It will take me quite a few more paintings until I gain a modicum of control. For the time being, I will keep sloshing it around on more sheets of paper.

Muji

The world seen through Muji colored pen lenses.

Cat Roof

I came across an old drawing of mine on the interweb. I wondered why I didn’t put it into my last book. Did it slip through the cracks? I went back through my files and realized I had made this one just after all the final art was submitted to the publisher. I was happy to discover I hadn’t screwed up. I never title my art but I’ll make an exception for this one. I call it, “Lucky Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.”

Ginsberg

I lived in New York’s, East Village starting in the very early eighties. My roomate Darcy and I were on 12th street and First avenue. There were quite a few well known people who were living on our block or one over. Across the street was the poet, Allen Ginsberg. I’d see him on a daily basis. There was the painter Larry Rivers, who was always at the coffee shop I ate at. Caddy-corner was Richard Hell of the Voidoids, a nice bloke. Joe Jackson and Jodie Foster were on 13th street. I’d also see Richard Butler of the Psychadelic Furs at the bodega. Jennifer Beals would always be popping in and out of her apartment. It was quite gritty but all of us arty types loved the action in that legendary neighborhood in those days and that was just my tiny block.

Blockhead

I recently bought a new watercolor block because I intend to do some paintings. For those who don't know what a block is, it's a watercolor book of many pages of paper glued to each other along the edges forming a block. This way when you paint using water, the pages don't buckle. They lay flat because they are glued together. This eliminates the problem of trying to work on bowed and buckled paper. When I took the wrapping off my newly purchased block and opened it, I realized all the paper was black. I meant to buy white. So I figured, let me see what I can accomplish on black paper. When I was done and cut the first page I worked on out of the block, I discovered that all the other pages were white. That black page was just a protective cover page. It was also the moment I realized that I am an IDIOT.

Audrey

“How To Steal A Million” is a 1966 film with a young Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole. I recently watched it on the Criterion channel. It’s not the best caper movie ever made but it’s worth it to see just for Hepburn’s outfits by Givenchy.

Bubble Tea

I was drawing a few of my patented striped balloons coming out of the tea pot I just sketched when my wife looked over my shoulder and said, “bubble tea.” This made me laugh because I hadn’t thought of that at all. So I added the floating tea bag with a bubble logo to enhance the unconscious gag.

Ali

I just finished watching the Ken Burns documentary about Muhammad Ali. It seems like Ali lived seven or eight lives. Incredible series to see.