MY KITCHEN : HOW I DID IT

This was a fun homework assignment from Tommy Kane (legendary artist and Creative Art Director in NYC).  Our kitchen done in Uniball vision pen, watercolor and Pitt brush pen in Moleskine watercolor album over two page spread 8 1/4" x 22 1/2".
It started out like this.  From where I was sitting looking at the kitchen I knew I was going to get wonky right away and tilt the refrigerator door.  I like to bend objects or make then wavy because to me it makes them feel alive. Then on to the calendar and various things we stick onto the refrigerator and put in some cabinets. Then I drew a line to indicate where the cabinets would go and decided to draw in the stove. Then back to the right side and start filling in the details.  Over to the left side I ran into a problem of angles.  It wasn't working out at all.  I sat and looked at it for over an hour.  Pretty soon it started looking back at me so I just drew it as best I could and moved on.  Whoa!  I forgot about the dishwasher.  Oh well, guess I'll live without it and do the dishes by hand. Now onto to the last section and we are ready to add color.  I spent a LOT of time just looking at the kitchen and observing how the light traveled over all the objects. I really was thinking about that rather then thinking of the objects name.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's day to Julie's mom. (Like a Mom to me). We love you.
18" x 24" oil on canvass  Portrait of Julia Cofer 1995

FAMILY MEMORIES SKETCHBOOK

BUZZ DREAM

Here is what happened on May 7th. I wrote :

I'm so jacked up this morning. I had a vivid dream so real and weird and wonderful I had to get it down. I'm in the woods with Danny Gregory and we are calling in Tommy Kane. Turns out Kane lives in a tree. Danny knocks on the door at the base of this huge tree and Tommy's wife answers. I'm feeling sheepish and embarrassed because I don't know these people at all and it is kind of early to be knocking on doors.. Tommy's wife disappears without a word and then Kane appears in a tee shirt, underwear and hat. He looks like he just woke up. Kind of sleepy and scratchy. I figure he must be pissed off because here we are early and unannounced. Kane reaches up and gets a remote control, points it outside and says "Check this out"...he clicks...Danny turns around smiling and I see a barrage of colors fly out and turn into a giant peacock! Then I wake up and rush to my desk to draw this. Sketchbook Skool...Worth every penny!

 It was a lot of fun and we all had a day full of laughter.  The weird thing for me about this dream is that I didn't know Danny Gregory and Tommy Kane were working together at Danny's place in LA.  I pay attention to my dreams.  I keep a notebook by our bed and when I wake up from a dream I jot down single words or phrases in my sleepy state and go back to sleep.  In the morning when I get up I look at these "prompt" words and the details of the dream come back.  Sometimes I start at the end of the dream and work back.  The important thing is to write it all out.  I do this in a special Dream Journal.  Then I set about drawing a scene which tells the story.  This one came fast.  I got up at about 2:00am and finished it by 6:00pm,  color and all. When they come out fast it's great.  It's as if I just hold the pen or brush and the characters draw themselves.  I really love the Sketchbook School.  All the teachers were great, I've learned so much and most of all my fellow Klassmates are wonderful.  I love them all.

Here is the Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1397808000502888&set=gm.317020511783638&type=1

Then:
Check the video:http://vimeo.com/94423701

MONMOUTH OREGON HOUSE

Out and about on a sunny day on the other side of town.  Uniball pen and watercolor in Moleskine sketchbook.

ART MAKING STUMPS

My father-in-law Art was a timber faller for 60 years.  He made a lot of stumps in that time.  Hard, dirty dangerous work.  He was injured a lot and probably used up all of his nine lives and then some.  He is very knowledgeable about the outdoors and the conservation of the forest.  At 82 he is still pretty active.  He no longer works in the woods but he still will cut out limbs and trees for people on their property.  He is expert and getting the felled trees to land right where he wants them.  And he is an all around good guy.
Watercolor and pen in Moleskine sketchbook.

CHURCH IN INDEPENDENCE

This church in on Main street in Independence Oregon .  It was a quick study made on a rainy windy day that I posted in Sketchskool.  I sat in my truck to draw it and left out a statue which stands out front.  I'll get back on a day with nicer weather and do a more complete rendering.  Watercolor and pen in Moleskine sketchbook.

HOUSES IN MONMOUTH

Now that the weather has improved I've been sketching the houses in Monmouth and Independence.  Uniball pen and watercolor 8 1/4" x 11" Moleskine sketchbook.

ONCE MORE WITH TARA

I painted this one of Tara in 1994.  18" x 24" oil on canvass.  She has come a long way since then.  The last time I visited her in the Netherlands she took me to the Kroller-Muller museum in Otterlo and we had a wonderful day.  Thank you for that time Tara.  We love you and are so proud of you.

MORE TARA

30" x 40" oil on canvass  1995
Tara sat for this and then it was painted mostly from a photograph.  It was one of the first portraits I ever painted so it started out as just an experiment. The look on her face is serious but she really is a lot more jovial and accessible than this.  She was a good sport about posing for me.  It is not an easy thing to do as I am a slow painter.  Really S.L.O.W.  We live in different countries now but I hope some day I can do a better portrait of her.  And this time I'll hone in on her wonderful personality and have her in more stylish clothing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TARA!

Today is our Tara's birthday.  She is a remarkable woman.  A professor at The University of Amsterdam. Mother of three children.  One of the smartest people I know.  Loving, kind, generous and passionate.  Even as a child I knew there was something really special about her and that she was destined to do great things in this world.  She worked hard to get where she is. Nothing was given to her, she earned whatever she has. She always worked while attending school.  She has been all over the world.  Her passport has more pages stamped than any passport I've ever seen.  She's worked in China, Korea and taught school kids in Gaza, Palestine. If anybody can help foster world peace it's her. She has been a great influence in my life and she is one of my sheroes.  T: I know you are not that crazy about your birthday but I'm glad you came into this world.  We love you very, very much.
Oh, and she has the greatest laugh you'll ever hear.

COPY KANE SAN FRANCISCO

Tommy Kane's drawing in San Francisco is in his new book "An Excuse to Draw".  This is my version of it. For some reason I really like to make buildings in my drawings wavy.  Sometimes it bothers people. Perhaps they think I'm unbalanced.  When they tell me "Yeah, but that ain't the way a building really looks" I smile and tell them "Yeah, but I draw them the way I want you to see them".  The light bulb goes off in some peoples heads while others just shake their heads and wander off muttering under their breath.

COPY KANE BUILDINGS

Kane really does buildings, roofs and traffic control devices well.  I did manage to get some building tilt in this version, maybe too much.  I dunno, it's just fun to work on.  This was done in a Strathmore 400 Series sketchbook that claims it is "ideal to use for experimentation in the field or classroom and for perfecting technique with a variety of media".  So I used a Uniball pen, koi watercolors and PITT pens.  I don't get it when people complain when their paper crinkles or watercolor gets muddy.  What the heck?  It's just lines on paper and I'm having fun.  Even Bob Ross used to love "happy accidents".  To me it's all part of the experience and I roll with it.

FAMILY MEMORIES SKETCHBOOK 4

My Mom used to like to ride the Penn Central trains.  We took them to visit relatives of hers who lived in the Hudson Valley in New York.  Like the other drawings in this sketchbook I have used a black Uniball vision fine pen and PITT artist large brush pens by Faber-Castell in a Daler-Rowney Cachet sketchbook 7" x 10".

FAMILY MEMORIES SKETCHBOOK 3

The Guggenheim Museum on 5th Ave and 89th street.  Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  When my Mom would take me here it was like walking into a space station or another world.  I've never seen anything like this building anywhere.  I could never figure out how it could stand upright since it is larger on the top than on the bottom.

FAMILY MEMORIES SKETCHBOOK 2

Guernica 1937 by Picasso 11 feet 5/1 inches x 25 feet 6 inches.
I posted this on FB skool page.  My mother took me several times to see this painting when it was at MOMA.  The sheer size of this painting is staggering.  There is a scene in Julian Schnabel's movie Basquiat (excellent movie) where Basquiat's mother takes him to see this painting.  I completely related to that scene.  When you stand in front of this painting you understand the futility of war. In case you can't read what I wrote in the sketchbook it reads: My mother often took me to see this huge painting and she explained that it showed the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicted on people, especially innocent civilians. It depicts the bombing of the city of Guernica in the Basque region of Spain by German and Italian war planes.  During World War Two Picasso was living in Nazi occupied Paris.  A Gestapo officer observed a photograph of this painting in Picasso's study and asked him "Did you do this?".
"No, you did" was Picasso's reply.

WE INTERRUPT KANE WEEK FOR FAMILY MEMORIES

The other day I posted drawings from a sketchbook I've started which will be about family memories.  I'm currently enrolled in Sketchbook Skool, a new online course about journaling (and much more).  Several classmates inspired me to do this family themed journal by things they posted.  Today is my mothers birthday (had she lived she would be 94!)  In skool there have been a lot  people who said their creative life was stifled by parents who put down their attempts at drawing.  Heartbreaking stuff.  I realized how fortunate I was to have the parents I did.  They both encouraged me to pursue the arts.  Especially my Mom.  She took me to movies and Broadway plays, Christmas shows at Radio city, concerts at Carnegie Hall, etc.  Best of all she took me early and often to the museums...Museum of Modern Art, Whitney, Metropolitan, Guggenheim, and to a lot of galleries.  In those days (60's - 70's) you could go into these galleries and see new art and the attendants were nice to you even though you were not buying.
At MOMA this was the very first painting I remember seeing as a child.  Les Demoiselles d' Avignon 1907 by Picasso.  It is huge.  96" x 92".  I still recall a strange aura emanating from it.  My mother knew all about this painting.  She told me that Picasso feared he had lost his mind when he painted it--so shocking!  He turned it against his studio wall and did not exhibit it until 1916.  This is the first masterpiece of the 20th century and it detonated the Modern Art Movement.  For Picasso it was an exorcism and it cleared the way for Cubism.
The sources for this work include African masks, Iberian sculpture and the paintings of El Greco.
What impressed me most upon seeing it for the first time was Picasso's rejection of tradition in order to free himself.  

COPY KANE SUNNY'S BAR

This place has been around forever.  I've walked by it many times but never went inside.  Danny Gregory made a great video about the process and excitiment of sketchbook journaling which included the location of this bar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhakiCMMLFU.  This film is a masterpiece and so is the drawing Tommy Kane made.  Here is my version of the drawing.

TOMMY KANE 2

I copied this in a moleskine A4 watercolor sketchbook and tried out Schmincke watercolor paints. I like them because the colors are rich.

TOMMY KANE WEEK

I've been following the work of Tommy Kane for a while now.  As part of my autodidactic approach to art I copy a lot of his drawings.  I don't trace them.  I look closely and draw from them in order to learn and practice.  I grew up in New York city and when I was a kid my Mom would often take me to the museums. Every time we went I noticed that some people would be standing in front of paintings copying them into sketchbooks. My Mom explained that they were art students and that was how they did their homework. I was astonished!  I had spent a lot of time in the principal's office for drawing all over in my school notebooks.    Much later on a visit to Paris my wife and I went to the Louvre and I saw painters standing in front of the artworks copying them on canvasses perched on easels that were provided by the museum.  What a great idea!  Isn't it strange that in a lot of places in America if you are an artist you are considered a bum, while in Europe an artist is revered.  I live in Oregon and although it is the most beautiful place on earth, I am farther away from museums, so I often work from photos of other artist's work.  This week I'm posting my favorite copied Kanes in celebration of  his newly published book "An Excuse To Draw".  But it now before it goes out of print.  

BATMAN HUSH

Another master that I study and copy is Jim Lee.  This scene is from Batman Hush.  Lee gives great lectures and presentations at the Comicons.  Check out his book ICONS. I drew this across two pages in a Canson sketchbook using Speedball ink, a 102 Hunt crow quill dip pen,  Winsor Newton series # 3 sable brush and PITT artist brush pens.

THE CLOSET

Tomorrow's clean shirt and pants hanging in front of the closet.  Pen, ink and watercolor in Moleskine.  I am continuing the search for a favorite notebook.  I was reading in Freekhand's blog that Moleskine notebooks were not all that great.  Their popularity was due to a very effective marketing campaign.  Maybe so, but I did this drawing in the 8" x 11watercolor hardcover and I like it just fine.  I just bought a Stillman and Birn watercolor sketchbook to compare with it.  We'll see as soon as I finish filling this one up.

This was a quick sketch of the tools I use: Staedtler and also Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils, a Koi pocket field sketch box of watercolors, a Kuretake watercolor brush pen, a DaVinci #8 watercolor brush and my favorite pen is a simple Uniball vision fine point black pen.  I make a card displaying the colors that are in the sketchbox so I know which colors are which.  

JULIE JANNEAN GROWN UP

Here she is all grown up and graduated from High School.  18" x 24" oil on canvass 2006

JULIE JANNEAN IN WHITE 2

18" x 24" oil on canvass  1995

JULIE JANNEAN IN WHITE

16" x 20" oil on canvass 1995

JULIE JANNEAN IN PINK

16" x 20" oil on canvass 1995.

JULIE JANNEAN AND THE BEAUTY SALON

When I painted this portrait of Julie Jannean she had just come back from her first trip to the beauty salon.  It is on a board I cut to 24" x 36" and I used oil paints.  She sat a few times for the painting and as usual never complained. She even put a few brush strokes of her own on there.

MORE JULIE JANNEAN

More of Julie Janean.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE JANNEAN

I painted this portrait of my niece in 1995 when she was seven years old. It was done using acrylic on board. When she would visit us she always wanted to paint and draw.  She even drew a comic called Polliwog (which I still have and cherish). She is now 26 years old and the mother of a wonderful baby boy. Happy birthday Julie and thank you for all the fun times.

WHAT A 60 YEAR OLD THINKS OF TOMMY KANE'S BOOK

Go buy this book.  Buy more than one.  If you are interested in drawing this is what you need to be studying and learning from.  I study and copy his work. A lot.  If you want to draw like a master you must study the masters, and he is a modern master.  I've learned so much about angles, details (oh those bricks!), the way the light hits the side of a building and, most importantly, taking the time in order to really see.  For me his work is right up there with Van Gogh, Hopper and Kirby. He has drawn a lot of the places I am familiar with in and around Brooklyn and Manhattan.  His drawings bring back wonderful memories of places I haunted in the 1970's when I lived there and the world was a much different place.

From the very first he describes how fear drove him to do what he has done so far in life, and how his art has saved him.

 That is real stuff. Motivated by fear and going for it anyway.

When you make art because you have no other choice but to do it you are in a wonderful place.  I like the way he works through adversity.  He goes for it with a Uniball pen, watercolors and prismacolors. Mistakes happen.  But he works it.  Here is a guy willing to produce art without a safety net. He works so hard at it that even if 90% of his art turned out to be mediocre the other 10% would be stone cold masterpieces.  In my opinion his masterpiece percentage is much higher than 10% already.

And anybody who liked Joe Pepitone knows what being a real Yankee fan in the 60's was all about!

One last thing...I noticed on the back of the book it said "to be continued".  I hope there will be a volume 2.
Nice job Tommy. Thanks!

BUDDHA IN OUR BACKYARD

BUDDHA is in our backyard.  He stays calm and peaceful and reminds me that I should too.  We feed the birds here, especially the bluebirds who have a nest in the bushes high up and come back year after year with new babies.  Sometimes I sit outside with BUDDHA and rest.  All part of training the mind and not letting my ego con me.  The drawing was done with Uniball pen and watercolor in a Moleskine.

OUR LIVING ROOM

This is our living room...well, part of it.  There are very high ceilings and I was able to hang several large paintings which is nice.  Since this drawing we have broken down and bought a "smart" TV.  Much larger(42") than the old RCA.  We refuse to subscribe to cable and are able to receive PBS anyway.  We do subscribe to Netflix streaming so we can catch up on the last 20 years of TV shows.  And they do have art documentaries.  My drawing is in a Canson hardcover sketchbook and I used PITT artist pens.

OUR YELLOW HOUSE

Our yellow house.  My nephew calls it the yellow box.  It is nice and peaceful here in Monmouth, Oregon.  It is a college town (Western Oregon University) population about 9,000 until the students leave for summer then it is about 3,000.  The kids are great and I'm confident the future is bright. If you see me drawing outside say hi and get out your sketchbook.

PARIS!

One of my favorite bookstores is in Paris, France.  The last time we visited George Whitman was still running it.  Now that he has passed his daughter is running it the same way George did.  Young writers are allowed to live there in exchange for working an hour or two in the store which allows them to have  the rest of the day to spend on their writing.A good book about the store is Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer.  It is time we head back for a visit to the City of Lights!

BITING ADRIAN TOMINE

Tomine has a fantastic sketchbook published as well as several New Yorker magazine covers and graphic novels.  Really great work.  Clean and deceptively simple.  This is my version of one of his best works.  Done in watercolor in a Moleskine.

BITING STEVEN REDDY

Another artist's work that I study is that of Steven Reddy.  I bought his book Now Where Was I?.  It combines great art and writing.

BITING TOMMY KANE

One of my favorite artists is Tommy Kane.  His style is straightforward and is the closest to the way I draw.  I've noticed that kids respond to Tommy's work as well as the work of van Gogh.  There is something immediate and authentic there.  I am looking forward to attending his lecture at Sketchbook Skool.  

OSCAR AND CAPTAIN AMERICA

Here is Oscar with the Captain America I drew for him.  It's a copy of Kirby 11" x 17" Canson comicbook artboard.  Regular 2B pencil, Speedball superblack ink with crowquill pen, coloring done with PITT artist brush pens.

LEARNING WITH BURNE HOGARTH

One of my favorite teachers is the late Burne Hogarth.  All of his books are fantastic and quite instructive http://burnehogarth.com/blog/.  The writing in the books is easy to comprehend and the illustrations are fun to copy.  This one was done with pencil in a Strathmore 400 series sketch book 9" x 12".
The paper is ok but I learned that I do not like spiral sketchbooks because they can't take the abuse of travel the way hard cover sketchbooks can.

FROM SOCIAL GRACES - SKETCHBOOK PROJECT 2014

This appears in my sketchbook submitted to the Sketchbook Project of 2014 http://www.sketchbookproject.com/  I used PITT artist brush pens which are great!  They hold water proof india ink and most importantly they are odorless.

BITING JACK KIRBY

This is a panel by Jack Kirby that I "bit" using ink on bristol board in the old school style size of 15" x 20". I like to practice by studying and copying the masters.  Although I never went to art school I found out that copying is one of the teaching methods that have been used for centuries. It is a great way to learn how to closely see and observe.  Learning how to draw is really all about learning how to see.  Of course I wouldn't try to pass off another's work as my own or sell a forged work, so I remain on solid moral and ethical ground. Copying or "biting" other artists is viewed as paying a compliment to their work. Jack Kirby was nicknamed "The King" because practically is comic book history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kirby
For some strange reason people regard comic art as lesser than so called fine art.  In my opinion Jack Kirby's art has the power of any top fine artist.    

APRIL FOOLS!

This is one of the JOKER I drew for my grandson Oscar in the Netherlands.  He is very much into Batman and all comics (me too).  This is ink on bristol board.  I used a Winsor Newton Series 7 sable brush and also a croquill pen.  I also like just plain synthetic brushes.  This is Speedball super black ink which is nice and dark.  The standard size for comic board is 11" x 17" but I also like to use the old time size from the 1940-50's era of 15" x 22" which I size myself.  For fun I also draw splash pages 24" x 36" poster size.

SUNFLOWER and IRISES FOR TARA

I painted this using acrylic on canvas for our Tara back in 1994 when she was in college.  She is married now with her husband three children living in the Netherlands.  I am holding onto this painting for her. One day I had it hanging in our garage and a man and woman pulled up in their car and asked how much I wanted for it.  I jokingly said $10,000 and they agreed to the price.  Then I had to tell them it wasn't mine to sell.  Perhaps I should have sold it, split the $ with Tara and painted another one.  These great ideas never occur to me at the time they are needed.

MORE SUNFLOWERS

More sunflowers that I painted using acrylic on paper (24" x 36") which is a standard poster size that I like. Two books that I enjoyed about them were Sunflowers by Debra Mancoff and Sunflowers a collection of inspiring photos and words published by Courage books.