MenacingTourist

2009-04-09T01:04:00.002-04:00

We have chickens!

We now have 4 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Barred Rocks, 2 Buff Orpingtons and 2 Ameraucanas.

2009-03-05T13:39:00.009-05:00

Daily Monsters

I swear I really do draw every day. I just don't scan every day.

2009-03-03T14:36:00.002-05:00

Illustration Friday
"Breezy"

I took the easy way out this week. At least I didn't dig through old work to find one that matches the theme...

*Stepping on soapbox*
C'mon people. The whole point of Illustration Fridays is to ILLUSTRATE and to create something new each week. It doesn't do you any good to just recycle your old work. You're not getting any better and it's lame as hell.
*Stepping off soapbox*

2009-02-25T16:07:00.003-05:00

Daily Monsters
Had a little catching up to do...

2009-02-25T10:43:00.005-05:00

Illustration Friday:
"Instinct"
I believe love is the greatest instinct Humans have. We don't have many so we should make the most of the ones we have.

2009-02-18T14:44:00.004-05:00

Daily Monsters
Someone started a Daily Monsters thread on a forum I like and since no one who reads this blog will ever see it I thought I'd share my monsters here.

2009-02-18T14:34:00.001-05:00

Illustration Friday:
Celebrate

I thought I'd combine Daily Monsters with this week's theme.

2009-02-12T10:31:00.001-05:00

Illustration Friday

"Time"

2009-02-06T16:09:00.004-05:00

Illustration Friday:

Flawed

I decided to try and commit to illustration Friday (http://www.illustrationfriday.com/).

The poor bird is always going the wrong direction. Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing but I can relate.

2009-01-05T20:18:00.016-05:00

Step By Step
Christmas Painting

I had never done a step by step before and thought it would be interesting. This is basically how I do every painting.

It always starts with the sketchbook. Usually I just sketch whatever I feel like and the cool ones turn into paintings. In this case I needed to come up with a layout that showed a family of 7 people. I started with thinking about a family tree and did a good amount of sketching at work on yellow notepads during meetings. I seriously fall asleep if I don't sketch during meetings.

I found that the tree thing just wasn't working and went in the direction of individual portraits on a wall.

Here I'm flushing out layout and background etc.

Because I wanted to get all the frames to line up correctly I did a digital layout. I usually don't do any part on the computer prefering to just work out the drawing right on the board.

I primed a board with gesso and did my under drawing in pencil.

Next I erase the pencil until it's very light, then paint in all the outlines.

The follies of doing most of this very late at night is that I get dumber as it gets later. Here I've reduced the number of frames to seven from nine. You'd think with a college education I could count. You'd be wrong.

Pencil drawings of the family. When doing a portrait I always struggle with trying to make them look like the individuals while still being me.

Again, I erase the pencil until it's very light then paint the outlines.

This shows the tinting where I use some type of earth color. Raw Umber here I think. I also like Burnt Sienna. If any of the board shows through on the final painting I don't want it to be the white gesso. I think it looks much better for an earthy color to be the ground as it were. White showing through looks cheap.

I've painted the first pass of the wallpaper and fleshtones. I also made a correction to Lisa's hairline.

Second pass on the wallpaper as well as a color glaze to "tie it all together".

Working on individual portraits. Background, hair and flesh. I'm well into the "ugly phase" where I hate the painting.

More hair/flesh/backgrounds/polka dot hat and frames being worked on. I'm coming around to not hating it so much.

Added final tweaks to flesh/hair/eye color/shadows and put my name on it. Finished painting early morning on December 24 and Lisa picked it up later that morning. There is something to be said for working in acrylics and fast drying times is probably on top of the list.

2008-10-29T11:20:00.003-04:00

I was "tagged" by my wife (I know I should keep that sort of thing in the privacy of our...wait, my mom reads this I'm stopping now):

10 years ago I was:
1. Debt Free
2. Enjoying the SLC scene
3. Painting a lot more than now
4. Freshly Married
5. Snowboarding an awful lot

5 things on today's to do list:
1. Finish the Holiday comps
2. Finish my LLC set up
3. Tweak the boiler
4. Be with my family
5. Stay awake

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Pay off both my houses (don't judge me)
2. Put most of the rest away
3. Take Candace where ever she wants to go for as long as she wants
4. Lifetime supply of film/paper/chemicals
5. Help out a friend

5 places I have lived:
1. California
2. Utah
3. Maine
4. Massachusetts
5. New Jersey

5 places I have worked:
1. EMULSION Magazine
2. DSW Advertising
3. Waterford Learning Institute
4. MyFamily.com
5. Bare Necessities

(added for seasonal flair)
5 things I have been for halloween:
1. Batman!
2. Mummy
3. Handsome Devil
4. Giant Paper Mache Skeleton Head
5. Bob Ross

2008-10-02T01:00:00.007-04:00

MANWORLD!

Manworld is dedicated to me. I'm a man. I like building stuff so I'm building stuff for Manworld.
First on the list of Manworld stuff to build is a darkroom sink. Below is an account of how it's coming along.

I started with a pile of 2x4 lumber which I forced to fit together all nice-like. I used my very photogenic children as scale.

Nothing in Manworld will ever smell like lavender. Especially if that pipe breaks.

At this point I could stop here and have a perfectly acceptable, albeit freakishly long, workbench. This thing is sturdy, solid and heavy. I decided to push on and not give up.

Setting up to see how the sides shape up before the glue and nail gun are used. The sink is 8" deep on the front and sides.

After the plywood sides were attached I added pine boards to the front and sides which covers the ugly plywood and 2x4 construction while adding rigidity. I also added a supporting strip of plywood to the back and some moulding to the edges. The edges now have about 3" where a man can rest his arms while agitating a tray of developer or contemplating...things.

There was much sanding and caulking and filling in of nail holes before the first coat of primer was applied (tonight actually). My father-in-law will be seeing this sink tomorrow so it better be presentable.

This is one coat of primer. I will do one more inside then paint everything with a color before applying a clear epoxy paint to the inside. The epoxy will make the sink hold water. A drain will go on the right end and I will need to install a sump pump to get the wastewater up to the big cast iron pipe. There's also the matter of plumbing hot and cold water with a tempreture gauge and filters and a few faucets.

2008-09-25T12:35:00.008-04:00

We had the baby...

For more info/pics please see Candace's blog: www.spyderette.blogspot.com

2008-08-18T22:46:00.004-04:00

Portrait of Pregnant Candace

I thought I'd keep the trend going and make a portrait of Candace while she's pregnant. The last time we had a painting done by Wilson Ong (google him y'all) and since Candace still had the same nightgown I figured what the hell. Although I'm not sure you can call it a trend because this is only the second and last time this will be done. Somehow we missed doing this with our first kid. We must have been too freaked out by the prospect of actually having a baby that it just didn't happen.

Candace was kind enough to come out to the arbor that leads to the woods in our backyard. I'm biased but I like it.

I took one roll with the medium format and 4 sheets with 8x10. I developed the roll and made a contact sheet. This is my favorite but there are also two or three others I like.

2008-08-18T22:03:00.003-04:00

Impending Human Addition

For those of you just joining us (you know who you are) we are due to welcome a new addition to our little family any day now. Candace had an ultrasound today to check her fluid level (don't ask) and came home with this.

If you squint really hard you can see our fat little chubby-cheeked baby. Still not sure what we're going to name her...probably Dagmar.

2008-08-17T23:49:00.003-04:00

Poison Ivy Can Kiss My Butt

If you ever wanted to see every single variety of poison ivy you could come and walk around our yard. We have the bush kind, the low ground cover kind and the vine kind. The stuff is literally everywhere. I've been spraying like crazy all summer and have knocked it back from the areas we use in most of the yard.

The vines are particularly maddening. My sprayer will only go so high up the trees so there's lots of dead leaves down low but up higher the evil stuff couldn't be happier.

When I started cutting down the trees that had to go (and happened to be covered in vines) I was always very careful that if it touched my hands/arms/face I would immediately come in and wash with hot soapy water. I've never been around this stuff until moving to New Jersey so I read all the horror stories online...

One time I was ripping down a vine of what I thought was virginia creeper then realized it was poison ivy. It was all over my hands and arms and I was right in the middle of trying to get trees cut down and limbs cut up so I waited to go and wash. Then I totally forgot all about it. I had no reaction. Another time working on the same tree I caught a bunch of it to my face. Again no reaction. Apparently about 25% of people are immune to poison ivy. Lucky me I'm one of them.

Dead leaves on the bottom-healthy leaves just out of reach of my sprayer. Now I just yank the damn vines right off the tree and up root as much as I can. Now that I have special powers poison ivy can kiss my butt. You're going down sucka!

2008-08-17T23:42:00.002-04:00

Tire Swing!

The kids have been talking about a tire swing ever since we started talking about buying a house. Every yard we looked at was evaluated based on if we could hang a tire swing or not. Well, I finally got around to hanging it.

Old truck tire: $0

Chain and hardware: $40

Happy kids: Priceless

2008-08-17T23:15:00.016-04:00

The Yard

The inside of the house has been getting a lot of attention so I thought I'd post some pics of what we're faced with outside...
This is the front and where I put the piles of yard stuff for the city to come collect. No one knows when they come and no one has seen them. Every few weeks or so the piles just disapear. Currently I have 11 piles in the front and 4 in the back. I've done this three times so far.

Looking from the front down the backyard is this side strip of open area next to our yard. It's a favorite spot for fireflies in the evening and butterflies during the day. I ride my bike down a good stretch of this until I get to the road with the nice bike lane.

This is the street behind our yard. It's called Jenny Jump lane, how cool is that?

Our yard is made up of half usable area and half "forest". The back half is the forest part.

From the strip of open grass next to our yard looking into the woods of our backyard.

I think at one point the woods were maintained but it's been a long-long time since anyone has put a hand to this stuff. Here's Alexander standing in the old arbor. He's probably getting several mosquito bites.

On the other side of our house is this area. There used to be six or so old pines and a sick crabapple tree here. Half of the crabapple was actually a very healthy collection of poison ivy vines. Now it's a great spot for a swing set.

For Father's day this year Candace gave me a chainsaw. We named it Pepe and it's awesome!

More of Pepe's handiwork. Crabapple stump.

In the back woods there are two sheds. This one was still in great shape except there was a huge willow leaning over it and several smaller trees blocking access to willow. What's that Pepe? But of course you can.

The kids actually talk to Pepe and I now have to do the "voice" all the time. I also have to do the voice of the sledghammer named DonCarlos.

Here's the other shed just as you go into the woods. I kinda want to put a moonshine still in there or something but it's falling apart.

I literally hit the back twice with DonCarlos...

2008-08-17T23:06:00.005-04:00

Office/Studio/Nursery

One of the best things about this house is this large room upstaris. I have room to work and make my small paintings. Still need to hang the Velvis...

This room has a closet and storage access. See that little hobbit door beind that thing my easel is on. There's a kind of storage hall that runs the length of the house. The kids love it.

Thank you Ikea for cheap bookcases that look halfway decent. They even survived the move.

Oh yeah. Here's where the baby will sleep until she's old enough to room with her sister.

2008-08-17T22:40:00.013-04:00

ManWorld

Before we really get into the plans for ManWorld I wanted to show what happens when you make more paintings than you sell. They start getting hung in odd places. Like the laundry room. Thanks Candace.

Manworld is going to be mainly the darkroom. The darkroom needs a sink so I'm building one. It's been fun designing my first darkoom sink and I decided to size it so I have lots of room to grow. It will be 12' long and will be able to handle 24" trays. I thought I'd like to do some larger prints like maybe 16"x20" and got kind of carried away.

This shows the 2x lumber I used to make the frame and legs.

Here are the sink parts (bottom and sides) plus Hadley and my commuter bike.

ManWorld is in the basement as it should be.

Once you get to the bottom of the stairs you could look to your right and see our food storage. This will eventually be where the tv ends up.

This is where you go if you turn left from the stairs. This area will be where the sink will go and will eventually be framed in and light tight.

The little ladder you see in the picture above this one goes to a crawl space/storage area. If anyone asks us to keep your crap (just temporarily of course) for you, it will end up here. I'll just toss it in and you can come get it out. Do you like spiders? Before this flash photo was taken this space had never been exposed to so much light.

Behind the wall of the "food storage" room is this area. The workbench came with the house. I think it will be great place for a bigger workbench and maybe a place to paint.

If you wanted to go directly to the backyard you could use the bilco doors.

There's a few spiders in here too I think.

2008-08-17T22:01:00.016-04:00

Bugs

Living where we do there are always lots of bugs and creatures to look at and catch. Here's what we found today: On the trellis next to our front door we found this Monarch butterfly. We currently have about 5 caterpillars in various stages in the house as an "experiment".

I saw this on the tire swing tree. I think it's a Robber fly sexing up another Robber fly. Or maybe it's lunch. Or both.

We have a ton of Cicadas around here. We even caught one as it came out of the ground and Alexander got to watch it transform that evening in his room. I collected a bunch of these shells for a macro photo idea and had the poor judgment of putting them in a tupperwear and leaving them on the counter...sorry Candace.

2008-05-02T11:32:00.004-04:00

Top Ten Albums (in order)
Selections are based on sheer music awsomeness, effect music had on me personally and standing the test of time.

1. Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon
2. Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks
3. The Stone Roses: The Stone Roses
4. Clash: London Calling
5. Velvet Underground: Velvet Underground
6. Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin
7. Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland
8. Beatles: Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band
9. The Fixx: Reach the Beach
10. INXS: Kick

Honorable Mentions for bands that I love but couldn’t decide on a definitive album:
The Cure
The Grateful Dead
The Rolling Stones
U2
Nick Drake
Van Morrison
Rilo Kiley (Should be on top ten but they're too new)
REM
Smiths
Johnny Cash

2008-04-29T16:17:00.004-04:00

Moving!
If all goes well, we will be closing on a house tomorrow. We've been packing all the good stuff and throwing away all the crap. I'm a little bummed that I can't use my photo stuff. It sits forlorn in the corner...waiting for me to build a darkroom in the new house. The basement of the house will heretofor be officially called "ManWorld".

This pile looks too small. I should get more gear...

2008-04-29T16:02:00.002-04:00

New Camera: Old looking photo
I got a new-ish camera to replace the ancient one I had been using. This one was actually made this decade or so. It has a lot more movements and makes some things much easier to do. I like the idea of thinking less about the tools and more about the image.

Here's the first shot. Made with a wide angle lens from the turn of last century. Coney Island, NY. I over did the rise and front tilt to frame the shape of the Cyclone with the edge of the lens coverage.

This is Nathan. He was kind enough to sit for a portrait or two.

This may be my most recent favorite. Made on the last evening at the family reunion at Bethany beach, Delaware. Five minutes later we were driving home to New Jersey.

2007-12-14T15:13:00.000-05:00

Just a little something for the holidays...

2007-10-28T23:27:00.000-04:00

New Paintings-Finally!

I've been really busy lately with work and freelance and haven't had the time or energy to post these most recent of painting. I think they were finished in mid/late summer.

Okay, these first two aren't new. I made them for the kids birthdays the year we moved to NJ and never posted Hadley's. I figured I'd repost Alexander's to put them both in context. Hadley calls hers "my robot girl". Any time I paint a robot girl she tells me that it's hers. I've managed to only give her one more. It's hard being a daddy to such a cute little girl.....I am so screwed.

I might be channeling Tara McPherson a little too much here. That third eye isn't fooling anyone I suspect. Sorry Tara, you're awesome and I love your work so please don't hurt me.

Two of my favorite things. Film cameras and pink butterflies.

The following paintings were something I've always wanted to try. I've seen a couple other people paint on records and thought it would be pretty fun. It was.

I'm showing the album covers that go along with the paintings because if someone buys one it gets shipped in the cover.

2007-10-12T15:18:00.000-04:00

Stolen from Candace who stole it from Lindsey: turn on your ipod (or itunes)...hit shuffle. list the songs in order of the following descriptions. kinda fun and interesting.

Opening Credits: To Have And Not To Hold - Madonna
I am soooooo embarassed.

Waking Up: Chrome Plated Suicide - The Flaming Lips
Now we're cooking with gas!

First Day of School: Devil - Drugstore
None of you will know this band. Just like no one at my high school knew the music I was into.

Falling in Love: Not the One - The Donnas
This is NOT a song about Candace. It must be about one of my hussies.

Fight Song: Troubadours - Rilo Kiley
Huh?

Breaking Up: Clonie - Nellie McKay
It's about having a clone as a best freind...uh...cause all you really need is yourself?

Prom: Live as You Dream - Beth Orton
Sentimental prom fodder for sure.

Life: Halloween On The Barbary Coast - The Flaming Lips
This song has style. Like me :)

Mental Breakdown: Countenance - Beth Orton
Beth actually keeps me from having a mental breakdown. Thanks Beth.

Driving: Vapor Trail - The Crystal Method
Hmmmm...this song starts with what sounds like a bong hit. I don't drive like that anymore, I swear.

Flashback: Black Peter - The Grateful Dead
Sweet!

Getting Back Together: Someone's Daughter - Beth Orton
WTH? I really don't have the official iPod Lillith Fair edition. Really.

Wedding: Back to Black - Amy Winehouse
HaHaHaHaHa!

Birth of a Child: Shadow of a Doubt - Beth Orton
A song full of promise.
Seriously, I have a 40gb iPod and only three Beth Orton albums. What's up with that?

Final Battle: Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away - Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah
If you even know who this band is you're cool. If you own it, you're invited to my house.
Not really a final battle kind of song though.

End Credits: Walking with a Ghost - Tegan & Sara
I can dig it.

2007-08-01T21:59:00.001-04:00

Photos

This is my favorite photo of Candace (that I've taken). I don't think she likes it but it's my blog dammit and I'll post whatever the hell I want :)

This is why we have seperate blogs. My cursing and posting of photos Candace hates. Oh, and the weiners. Don't forget the weiners.

My sweet sweet babies...I've been without them for 4 weeks while they are in Utah on vacation. They have a low tolerance for dad taking thier picture. I usually only get one chance then they're gone. This one was just before going out the door to church on Easter Sunday.

We spent a wondeful 4 or 5 days with the Bingham cousins at Bethany Beach, Deleware. Deleware is the first state. It also has the nicest toll booth people I've ever met. Loads nicer than the grouchy ones in New Jersey.

There's an awful lot of Binghams isn't there? And it all started with the two front and center.

Fun fact: I went to high school with two of the Bingham kids who in turn married another one I went to school with plus one that lived in the same small town as me. Then I married Candace and she's thier cousin.
Perhaps the strangest fact of all is that I now live in New Jersey. Still scratching my head on that one.

2007-08-01T21:04:00.001-04:00

July

Finally caught up with the sketchbook. Of course there's several photos I'm wondering if I'm happy enough with to post and the pile of mostly finished paintings.

I've noticed that once I start working on a bunch of paintings my sketching drops way off. I wonder if it's because I only have so much energy to put into being creative or that my mind is just focused on one thing at at time.

Probably the one thing at time. I'm not much of a multi-tasker but when I focus I'm like the human laser beam. But in a cool way.

Hey look, no weiners!

Sorry Matt :)

2007-08-01T20:59:00.001-04:00

June

The pattern I see here is I'm drawing less and less on the train. Maybe it's because I'm so tired that I have to listen to music while I sleep/zone out for 35 minutes twice a day just to keep myself level.

2007-08-01T20:52:00.000-04:00

May

I hardly remember May...So much for drawing every day :)

2007-08-01T01:49:00.001-04:00

April! 2007

Let's start April off with male nudity. Someone made the comment that I mostly sketched women. Well, duh. Who wants to look at a bunch of weiners?

The weiners of April are dedicated to Matt L or maybe I should just say M. Lyman.

2007-08-01T01:33:00.000-04:00

March 2007

So I've decided to post sketchbook pages in batches according to month. Seems to be working if I could only stay up to date. There will of course be the odd posting of photos or paintings as they get done. Again, depending on if I can keep my shiz together enough to post regularly.

Some of these have become paintings which are still in progress but mostly finished. Right now there are 14 that I'm working on. I hate it when people ask me how long it takes me to make a painting. I have no idea and always feel rather foolish when I tell them I don't know.

2007-04-24T23:32:00.000-04:00

Bad Art Made Better

I moved to New Jersey last year and found this really bad print on that lame 70's rough wood panel hanging in the garage of our townhome. I thought, "I can make this better".

The only thing I can think of that would make this even more better would be an odd smell eminating from it.

Detail

This and everything else I've painted can now be purchased at my Etsy store www.menacingtourist.etsy.com

2007-04-16T22:14:00.000-04:00

February 2007

2007-04-16T22:05:00.000-04:00

January 2007

2007-04-16T21:56:00.000-04:00

December 2006

2007-04-16T21:47:00.000-04:00

October started off just how you'd expect after loosing a job. See http://menacingtourist.blogspot.com/2007/02/holy-crap-its-been-way-too-long-since.html for the color versions.

2007-04-16T21:34:00.000-04:00

It's time to post some sketchbook updates...
Apparently I haven't posted sketches since August of 2006. My bad.

I think it would be easier to organize them by months. You may notice that September and November are missing. The truth is I was so busy with freelance work that I didn't sketch at all. I guess working three jobs will do that :)

Enjoy August...

Finished a book with above.

2007-03-09T00:44:00.000-05:00

Bird Baby!
I just love this cute little guy. On the other hand my wife finds him endlessly creepy. The Universe is truly a strange and beautiful place.

I truly believe if I went on one of those vision quest things and had to find my spirit animal it would be Bird Baby, guiding me to the creative mushroom patch...or maybe a bunch of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and a large glass of milk...

2007-03-06T00:39:00.000-05:00

For Your Consideration
Paintings for corporate offices, religious buildings and pay-by-the-hour motels.
(I'd hate to leave someone out)

SOLD

2007-03-06T00:18:00.000-05:00

Part Two

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

If you see something you like please email me at alanpeck@gmail.com to see if it's spoken for or sold. Plan on $50-$75 for an 8x10, $40 for an 8x8, $35 for the skinny ones and $225 for the 11x14.

2007-03-03T20:41:00.000-05:00

Happy Paintings

After I got all those sad little things out of my system it seemed like I'm back to my old self again. I finished these 19 rectangles of joyful weirdness last night and here they are. I'll get around to scanning them later but thought it would be fun to see them all stacked up against the wall. Candace is still a little creeped out by some of them but at least there's no graphic nudity.

Maybe that will be the theme of the next 20...

2007-02-13T23:17:00.000-05:00

Large Format Photography in Central Park

It was a cold-cold-cold sunny day in NYC and the one weekend Nathan comes down to visit I drag him all over Central Park with my 8x10 camera. I managed to make three OK shots. The scans are not super great so forgive my prints that aren't very flat.

An added bonus was taking Flat Shaylynn with us. This is a cool thing grade school kids do where they send a flat version of themselves to far away places to collect photos and stories. Then they get it all sent back and they share it with thier class.

The gorey photography details are:
Camera> Kodak 2D 8x10
Film> JandC 100
Film Developer> Rollo Pyro
Lens> Wollensak Velostigmat 12"
Paper> Forte Multigrade
Paper Dev> Dektol

Here is my somewhat heavy 8x10 camera with Flat Shaylynn in Central Park. It's about 12 degrees with just enough of a breeze to turn your fingers blue.

If you happen to come visit us in scenic New Jersey you will be forced to sit for a portrait. Hey, I gotta learn somehow.

This is looking across some pond at Bow Bridge.

This is some fountain.

2007-02-13T22:22:00.000-05:00

Holy Crap it's been way too long since my last post! I am truly shamed. Let me make it up to the group of special people who read my humble blog...

I present the mega-fantastic painting post!

Please note that these were all done during a rather sad and depressing period. It was very cathartic and I'm better now. In fact, the group of 20 paintings I'm working on now is actually very happy. Which group of paintings is more creepy? Only time will tell...

2006-10-17T02:47:00.000-04:00

It's good to be busy and I've been busy lately. You wouldn't know it by my blog but this thing is the last of my worries! :) So BatGirl encouraged me to post what I've been up to and here it is:

I finally finished the birthday painting for Alexander. His 5th birthday was in April but I didn't get the painting finished before the move and it languished for several months. We put it in the frame last night and hung it on his wall. He looks pretty happy about it all and I swear I'm not this surly all the time. There was another picture that had a wicked glare on the painting but I was kinda smiling in that one. I'd rather show the painting.

In case anyone wondered that green thing is a Teranadon and was an addition requested by Alexander. He also asked for the robot to have a mustache but I gotta draw the line somewhere.

What better way to celebrate getting a new painting hung on your wall than jumping on your bed. I don't feel so special because he jumps on his bed all the time.

Marina wanted to see drawings so here's a couple I recently did that I kinda like. The first one is just a pretty girl with cool hair and the second one is for a freind's birthday. He's turning the super old age of 50 and I thought he'd enjoy a robot. You can also get a good idea of what my desk looks like at any given time.

Here's a close up of these two drawings. You can see that I don't just crank out a sketch. Lots of revisions going on. That 50 on the robot was done about 50 times I swear. I probably did it about 3 or 4 more times after this. I painted the outlines for both of these as well as on another 12 that I may show later.

I've even found some time for photography. These are 8x10 paper negatives I made while trying to get a good print for a print exchange. The paper negs tend to be a bit contrasty but are a lot cheaper than film and at the 8x10 size you're talking about .25 cents verses $2 a shot. It make screwing up a lot easier to deal with and I seem to be doing that quite well.

Managed to get a decent print off of one of these (I think the second from the left) but it required a pre flash of .2 seconds before contact printing for 6 seconds. That sky was burned in pretty hot. If I had a scanner I could post the print but I don't so I won't.

2006-08-31T03:02:00.000-04:00

Greetings from 3am. I just finished up some work and while the client is looking it over I thought I'd update my blog. Yes, my client has the same terrible sense of "normal working hours" as I do.

In my ongoing attempt to get a "look" down for my photography I thought I'd try some very sloooooow Efke 25 film with the smallest sheet film camera known to man. The camera isn't as important as the film in this case but I absolutely LOVE using this camera so it's a win anyway you look at it.

The film is known for wonderful flesh tones as well as that "look" of older times. It can be a bit contrasty as you can see below, but with some tweaking on development times I should be able to tame it.

The camera is a generic plate camera made in the 1920's by ICA. The sheet film goes in a metal plate with one side that slides up to allow for exposure once it's put in place on the back of the camera. I have about 10 of these plates so I can shoot a fair bit of film before reloading. The camera has a bellows that slides out on a track about 10" or more. When you're done shooting it folds up into a hard box. Pretty handy actually. The lens is an uncoated 105mm schneider that can be sharp and buttery. The size of the sheet film is 6.5cm x 9cm and can be purchased at www.jandcphoto.com. I buy most of my film (120 roll film up to 5x7 sheets) from them and am always happy with what I get.

So I did about a half dozen test shots with this new film and here are my three favorites:

My freaking adorable daughter reading a Miss Spyder book. A bit blown out in the highlights but I can adjust on the next round. These were developed in Rollo Pyro using a Jobo expert drum and contact printed onto Ilford warmtome multigrade RC paper and developed in Dektol. I print in a half bathroom under a 7 watt bare bulb. Just like old Edward Weston only his photos tend to be better.

Found a light leak in this one. Now if I had kept better notes I could take it out of circulation or maybe just use some gaffers tape. Yeah, I really like that gaffers tape.
Candace rarely lets me take her picture so maybe this one will help me to convince her more often :)

I have a bunch of eager models in the several kids that live by us. They all want thier picture taken and when I'm testing film this is a perfect combination. If the neg turns out I take them a print. I found that it's a lot easier to get good negs of children using my little sheet camera with its actual adjustable shutter than with the 5x7 and packard. The kids all take turns looking through the ground glass and parents dig the old cameras and always ask lots of questions about them. My favorite question was if I can I still get film for that camera? Duh, I'm using some right now... :)

2006-08-13T21:42:00.000-04:00

So I bought this Eastman 2D 5x7 on eBay. I got a super good price in on it but once you factor in the new bellows it needs the price is just ok. The cool thing is it's a lot more ridgid than my Century 5x7 and it also has the extra track to extend the bellows all the way. Now I can do close ups as well. It came with a better than average lens as well as a Packard shutter that needs a little tlc.

I really love shooting with my Diana camera and it's sister clone Pioneer. There's just something special about those crappy plastic pieces of crap that I find adorable. Dreamy out of focus areas with a mysterious sweet spot that sometimes works out to give you a pretty decent image. I also think that it's a great change of gears from the very deliberate and time consuming large format I usually use. They each have their place and seem to compliment each other in a strange sort of way. If I ever get an enlarger I may post some images. For now I'll just make little drawings...

This is for Duane and Duane alone. He finds BirdBaby very creepy and I just can't figure out why. C'mon Duane! He's a fat little cherub with a cute birds head. What's not to love?

So now he has a snakes body and you probably aren't as creeped out. I don't understand you Duane. Not at all.
Title from a Rilo Kiley song. I really like those kids.

Sometimes I sketch while waiting for trains...

This is not the ONLY things I love. Just some of them. So don't go thinking I don't love my wife/kids/mother. In case you're wondering the things I hate are thistle and litter. Again, not exclusive which is obvious because George Bush isn't down there.

Really it comes down to one or the other doesn't it...

2006-08-13T21:32:00.000-04:00

Pioneer day is a big deal in Utah but the rest of the the country could care less. I have fond memories of this stately holiday. Even still, I'm not drawing some bonnet wearing polygamist...Unless she had three eyes.

2006-08-13T21:28:00.000-04:00

I really hate how blogspot is set up. It's hard to figure out how to customize and a huge pain to download photos and make them work with text. My days here may be numbered since I have a low threshold for lame User Interface Design.

2006-07-26T22:04:00.000-04:00

While I was spending time alone waiting for Candace and the kids to move in with me I painted some robots. This one is super small.

This is how I've always thought of my favorite founding father.

2006-07-26T21:59:00.000-04:00

Film is fun.

What more proof do you need? I mean, if a naked woman can use a twin lens reflex that shoots butterflies out of it then it's good enough for me.

Actually I'm just really glad to be getting my Yashica12 back from being repaired.

2006-07-26T21:42:00.000-04:00

So I have this 5x7 camera that I bought on that auction site for $40. It even came with a lens and shutter. This shot of Alexander is using the original lens and was done in my studio in Utah. I kind of miss that studio...

Contact printed on Ilford MGRC warmtone paper

I have always been a fan of the effects of barrel lenses, especially the Petzval design. This is the first test shot I made with one of these lenses. I had to make a shutter box to house the Packard shutter. The shutter box fits in where the lensboard goes and the lens attatches to the front of the box.

This is also the first LF photo I've made in New Jersey.

When I pull that giant wooden camera out all the neighborhood kids just sort of flock around. I decided to put them to work and used them as models while I tested the Peztval lens.

My serious son.

My equally serious daughter.

More neighbor kids. This time it's three sisters. I have no idea how I managed to get them all in focus at the same time.

Really crappy exposure but captures the dynamic of these twins perfectly.

2006-07-26T21:07:00.000-04:00

I always love starting a new sketchbook and this one is the beginning of my first New Jersey
sketchbook.

I don't really need to comment on each and every dumb sketch do I?

Trying out some new hair...

This was done on the exact day of my 10th wedding anniversary. That's right, I've been married for TEN YEARS!!!
Luckily it only seems like three :)

"The best hearts are those which are given away"

What sketchbook would be complete without BirdBaby? I really love that this innocent little thing creeps out so many people.

Oh, yeah. My sketchbooks contain nudity. Please get you parents permission to view my dirty pictures...

Scribbles provided by my two year old daughter Hadley.

The ink just works so much better for scanning don't you think?

Here is the end of tonights sketch post.

2006-07-21T16:39:00.000-04:00

May Contain Traces of Robots...

At this point I was still living in Utah but looking for work and had been contacted by a recruiter in New Jersey.

Trying to decide if I wanted to move out of Utah...Not much of a choice really :)

I made this one in the airport after meeting with my future employer.

Feeling pretty good after accepting the offer.

Drawing on the train is a little funny because that thing bumps and shakes a lot. I found that using an ink pen was better because I could be fast and loose. This forced me to approach ideas in a different way. I like it.

I was in NJ for a whole month before Candace and the kids could come out. I missed them a lot.

There are geese EVERYWHERE out here. They're like locusts and they think they're better than us.

This was a train sketch that I did on a co workers birthday. I made a copy on the copy machine and gave it to him as a present. I think it kind of creeped him out a little bit. Heh-heh.

Ideas for photography...

This was the last page in the sketchbook. I've since started a new one and will post those next time and get up to date.

2006-07-21T12:01:00.000-04:00

Post number one!
I have almost 30 minutes of train time each day. I listen to music as well as sketch or write in the sketchbook. I'm going to go back and try to include some of the earlier sketches since it will show how my mind moves around since I've been living in New Jersey and riding the train.

Wait. Back up a little bit...
I moved to New Jersey after living in Utah for something like 20 years. I lived in California for 10 years before that. This blog is basically to show my train sketches as well as some photography that I've done while living in the Garden State.

MenacingTourist.