Himalaya Ride

The "Himalaya" was a carousel-style ride at Salisbury Beach on Massachusetts' northern shore. You sat in a carriage rather than on a carved fantasy animal. The carriages went round and round a track which undulated up and down, like stylized mountains,  hence the "Himalaya" title. At first you and your fellow riders were lifted up and down in a slow pace, but as the ride went on, it went faster. Finally the ride operator said over the P.A. system, "And now we're gonna go round REAL REAL FAST!" At this speed the riders would get tossed all over, which was the point of the ride, getting lifted up and down. The "REAL FAST" call was one of the most beloved traditions of Salisbury Beach. This ride has disappeared along with the rest of the amusement park but is still preserved in this video on

YouTube. 

My slide of my Himalaya drawing is so faded that I am lucky to get any image out of it at all. But you can see the extravagant graphic of the "Himalaya" title as well as the red fin decorations and the shabby plaster "castle" to the right. Someday I'll find my original art for this. I wish these seaside amusement areas still existed, rather than packaged resorts and theme parks. 

"Himalaya" was brown ink and watercolor pencil on Bristol board, 14" x 11", late 1980.

Exit Only Don't Enter

The Giant Coaster at Paragon Park made a beautiful singing noise as it went over the loop after its first thrilling dip. I heard it many times as I drew the machinery and signs of the amusement park midway. This yellow machinery and artless but effective sign belonged to the "Skylark" ride, on which you traveled in a dangling chair rather like a ski lift as you were wafted around the park high above the ground. I can still smell the fried fish at the food vendors' stalls. 

Retrieving even this imperfect image from the slide took more than an hour's work. I may have the original art buried somewhere in my files, so maybe I should look there and not struggle with Photoshop.

Original art is something like 11" x 8", ink and watercolor, late 1980. Click for larger image.

EXIT ONLY. You may have noticed that my other blog, "Electron Blue 2," has disappeared. Something else, familiar to some of you, will occupy that blogspace. Please stay tuned...

My First Mecha

Mechas, for those of you who don't have much knowledge of pop culture, are warrior robots. They usually are in the form of a humanoid or a quadruped, they walk like a mechanical version of a living creature, and are loaded with weapons. But not all mecha are the same. Some are more biomorphic than others, some less. I have never before now attempted to create and depict one of these fighting robots, so this little drawing is my very first try. Instead of the usual human-like tall figure, I've given this one a low profile, which would be harder to topple over. And unlike the walkers, this one has wheels, and it's not only not bi-pedal, it has three wheels which can turn 360 degrees very quickly. Its upper body also pivots at the waist. I have noted that most of the "conventional" mecha are only armed and effective from the front, leaving their backsides undefended. This one can attack from any angle. I would imagine that this is a small machine, made for combat in built-up areas, rather than on a battlefield. it would be no bigger than an SUV, and probably could easily find a parking space, or demolish the SUV to obtain its parking space. 

Pitt black brush marker and drawing markers on sketchbook page, about 4" x 3", January 26-27, 2013.

Snowflake Angels

My poetry and wine-loving friend from "Rae's Poetic Ramblings" challenged me to create an image from one of her poems. This is one of two she sent me:

Stained glass angels

Languorous in the shadow

Of the moon's light

Rest from the carnivals

In dusk's house

Since there had just been a snowfall in which perfect, individual flakes were visible, I made up the idea of snowflakes as angels. Each one is different, no matter how many there might be, and each one melts away after delivering its message. The moon is full tonight, and there will be snow. The ring of cloud reflection around the moon is a sign of snow coming. A snowflake is a tiny bit of nature's stained glass, depending on what it reflects. In the background, "dusk's house" is represented by an abstract cathedral, from which the icy angels rest by languorously flitting around until they sink to the cold ground.

Image entirely created in Photoshop, 7" x 10", January 28, 2013. I confess to being influenced by Van Gogh's famous "Starry Night." Larger view if you click.

Winter Wining

I spent a tasty afternoon with my friends at Delaplane Cellars, a small but high-quality vineyard that features rich reds. Delaplane also has one of the best views among Northern Virginia wineries and this is just a section of its panorama. I sketched this on my iPad while sipping wine and eating cheese. Decorative snow filled the air without any annoying accumulation. If I must have winter, at least spend it with wine and good friends.

"Art Studio" app on iPad, January 26, 2013. Click on the iPic for a somewhat larger view.

More Morning Glories

Here's another botanical study of my favorite flowers. The genus name of the morning glory is "Ipomoea," which means "worm-like" in Greek. That aptly describes the twining tendrils of this plant which will climb quickly up any support unless the landlord's maintenance men cut your precious vines down. This precise botanical study was done on commission for a garden-loving client who liked my portraits of plants and flowers. I hope someday to grow "Heavenly Blue" ipomoea plants again.

Ink and watercolor on Arches paper, about 9" x 12", mid - 1980s.

Temple of the Primarch

How do you convey the image of a huge cavernous space when you can only make a tiny drawing in your sketchbook? This is my attempt so far to portray one of these humongous scenes that so often occur in the Warhammer game universe and storybooks. A "Primarch" is a godlike being created by the Emperor of All Mankind to lead his superhuman Space Marines in perpetual battle. The throne of the Primarch is at the end of the temple and the tiny antlike specks on the floor are humans and humanoids. A giant black robot guards the temple at left. More efforts at this type of stuff will follow as my time permits.

Grayscale markers and Pitt pens on sketchbook page, about 8" x 3 1/2", January 2013.

Brilliant Autumn

You might think that pictures of New England autumn leaves are fake because the colors are so bright. But they are not, and with the right angle and intensity of sunlight, the natural scene looks downright garish. However in this painting, I really did enhance the colors, both when creating the original and when restoring the old color slide. My old suite-mate at college commissioned this scene of brilliant fall leaves to give her consolation in desolate West Texas. The scene was drawn and color-notated on site in Cambridge during the fall season, then kept over the winter and not finished until the spring. It is also in an ink-heavy style that I didn't use again for my city and country views, in which all areas are drawn over and bordered with pen lines rather than blended smoothly with watercolor. It's almost a comic book style, maybe not appropriate for a Tasteful New England Autumn rendition. Well, it was a long time ago and they didn't have iPads back then.

Autumn Leaves is brown ink and watercolor on illlustration board, 14" x 11", spring 1983.

Keep Hands On Bar Til Ride Stops

This one took quite a long time as you can imagine. I must have spent hours getting all those metal coaster struts and supports correct. This is a small metal coaster, called the "Galaxi," at old Paragon Park near Boston. You can see the ghostly figures of the crowd moving on and off the ride, and the only figure with color is the ride operator with the red shirt in the center right of the picture. The color slide of this picture is badly faded and it took a lot of Photoshoppage to get it as visible as it is. I didn't use watercolor for this, but colored pencil over an ink drawing, the same technique I sometimes use in my winery pictures, and the image was done entirely on site.

Metal "Galaxi" Coaster is ink and colored pencil on Fabriano paper, about 12" x 10", summer 1979. Clikonthepic for a somewhat larger view.

January Sunset

Sunsets don't last long enough for an artist to sketch them in real-time, unless you are one of those plein-air outdoor art athletes. But I've got plenty of memory for visual scenes, so I can re-create what I saw just a few minutes before on my iPad while sipping coffee and eating a chocolate chip cookie. Is that too indulgent? The cookie, I mean. The iPad does a multitude of artistic feats, all in a small flat space without messy paint or water. 

ArtStudio app, January 21, 2013.

Little Warhammers

I drew these Space Marines in my journal. They're only a few inches tall but I tried to convey the massiveness of the armor they wear. In the tabletop game, the warrior pieces are only about as big as an ice cube! According to the Warhammer 40K Wiki (an amazing compendium of imaginary information and illustrations) this exoskeletal powered armor is able to enhance the movements of its wearer so that even though it may weigh a ton, he can still run and jump while wearing it. Marines on the ground need to be fast and agile, so as a fantasy designer I want to convey not only brute strength but speed and stealth. At the same time the armor is emblazoned all over with heraldic designs as well as magical runes and symbols of devotion. The helmet masks of both "good" and "bad" characters must be frightening and hyperaggressive. Sometimes I wonder why I enjoy this gruesome world of eternal warfare so much. Why am I not into Regency romances or Facebook "inspirational" glurge. Stay tuned as the Chaos Space Marines pulverize Downton Abbey.

Fine point Pitt drawing pen on sketchbook page, January 19-20, 2013.

Arcade Evening

I think I did the watercolors on site for this one. There's a tradition of American artists painting pictures of colorful amusement parks and tawdry but poetic public scenes. The seaside decay is part of the beach park's charm. The place is especially evocative as the sun sets and the shadows grow long, reminding you that summer never lasts forever. Almost all these beach arcades and independent amusement parks are gone now, and pre-packaged theme parks have taken their place. I must have dropped hundreds of quarters into the pinball and Pac-Man games in these arcades, and now all I have to do to play is go to an internet site. But there's no sunlight, no smell of fried snacks, no sound of waves, no sand, no moist east wind.

"Arcade" was probably done at Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts. Watercolor on thick paper, about 12" x 9", summer 1982.

Spinning Cups of Paragon Park

I have re-activated an old scanner that my aunt handed down to me, and so can scan slides again. This installation was quite a job, and I don't think the quality of the scan is as high as the one I just lost, unless I boost the resolution to unwieldy levels. Also, this "old" (2007, is that old??) machine will only work with my "old" PC laptop (is 2004 old??). Anyway, I'm buying a new dedicated slide scanner which will work with my fresh little Macintosh...or else.

Back in 1980 through 1982 I frequented beachside amusement parks with my old friend R. the roller coaster enthusiast. While she knocked herself out on the coaster, I sat and sketched the design marvels of the midway and the rides. I added color with watercolor pencils and later additions of watercolor. This is one of the tamer rides at Paragon Park near Boston, the spinning cups suitable for small children. In the background behind the red and yellow burst is the high loop of the famous wooden coaster, which is still transporting people at Six Flags America near the Metro DC area.

Paragon Park picture is about 14" x 11", ink and watercolor on thick paper, summer 1982.

Lady Hands Up

I haven't done one of these "digital life drawings" for quite a while. All the drawing is done in Photoshop with my tablet and stylus. The model, who I view on my screen next to the Photoshop work area, is from one of my "Art Models" sourcebooks and the drawing took about half an hour to do. It's just a sketch, so the figure drawing is not as accurate or graceful as it should be. I haven't done much about installing a scanner yet, but it is a first-priority task and should be done soon.

Morning Glory Garden and Equipment Failure

I love "Heavenly Blue" morning glory flowers. When I lived in Cambridge I tried to grow them and had some success, though the maintenance people from my landlord cut down most of the ones I had been growing on a fence. Some of my friends loved my flower paintings and commissioned pictures of my favorite blooms. This is one of those commissions. It's hard to reproduce the exact celestial shade of blue in these flowers. That isn't the fence where the destruction took place, it's from elsewhere in the neighborhood. I rarely if ever see them here in Metro DC area, either the climate isn't right for them or people just don't want to grow them. 

Meanwhile, right after I transcribed this picture from the old color slide, I experienced a major equipment failure. A disintegrating old paper frame on a color slide got jammed in my film-to-digital transcriber and even when I ripped the old slide apart I could not get the plastic slide tray out of the viewer. I think this crucial piece of equipment is kaput and I must get another one immediately so that I can continue my projects saving art from decaying color slides. Strangely enough, I have found the best examples of these transcribers, including the one that served me for years before it jammed, at "Hammacher Schlemmer," which is usually a catalog full of ridiculously expensive toys and frivolous novelty gifts. I have slide transcribing equipment which came with two scanners I own, but have found that the scanner-based slide work isn't very good at all. The new scanner at Hammacher isn't hugely expensive and unlike the one that just failed, it has an option to work with my Macintoshes. I just don't have the time or energy to shop through hundreds of scanners to find the perfect one. It will mean that you won't see any vintage art on this Blog until I figure out how to work the older and newer scanners. Please excuse this moment of frustration. 

Morning glory picture is watercolor on illustration board, 9" x 11", January 1986.

More Warhammer armor

The armor for Warhammer warriors is, like most of the rest of the designs, extravagantly wrought and detailed. The oversized shoulder guards are one of the few common themes that keep the characteristic look consistent. Other influences come from European fantastic parade armor, Japanese samurai armor, and Celtic designwork. Unlike in "real" war, Warhammer warriors wear colorful gear loaded with symbolic designs and regalia. It's more like medieval warfare set in a science-fiction universe, which is quite all right with me. Soon I will design a whole suit of power armor and set it in motion poses. I hope to re-start doing color digital artwork soon, no matter what some of my "traditional only" friends wish I would do. I'm so tired of carefully trying to please other people.

Grayscale markers on sketchbook page, about 4" x 5", January 14, 2013.

Caribou Barista

Baristas at coffee houses are always interesting people. They are only working at the coffee shop as a day job while they pursue other career paths or training. No one in a coffee house says, "I'm gonna be a barista for the rest of my life." This young man behind the coffee counter here at Caribou, next door to my workplace, is studying evolutionary biology and zoology (or something like that). The coffee people come and go, I have witnessed generations of them at Starbucks and now Caribou, and after endless years of cappuccino sipping, I've said goodbye to all of them, as someday I will say goodbye to this one. But they are all welcome friends while the coffee is poured.

Pitt black sketch pen on sketchbook page, about 5" x 5", January 14, 2013.

Sacred Space Star

"Go and catch a falling star,
    Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
    Or who cleft the devil's foot,
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
            And find
            What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind...."  (John Donne)

"Sacred Space" was a Pagan and New Age convention that ran for about 10 years in the Washington-Baltimore area. I did a lot of work for it including the T- shirt design and program book cover (same art used for both). This was the last one that I did for them, in 2003. The theme that year was "Mysteries of the Night" and I was inspired by John Donne's poem for my falling star motif. The magical language of the poem seemed appropriate to the convention. The lady in the drawing is inspired by my friend Julianne, who attended some of the conventions.  She is surrounded by the signs of the zodiac in an archway above her. "Sacred Space" is no longer being held, though every so often there is a vague attempt to revive it. Most of the people who ran it and attended it have moved on to other interests.

Ink and computer graphics on Bristol board, 11" x 14", April 2003.

Somewhere in Cambridge

This handsome orange house (authentic Victorian color scheme) is somewhere in Cambridge, and I sat for quite a while drawing it. The picture was finished in the studio as I did not usually take my watercolors with me on site. I would indicate what the colors were using watercolor pencils and then go over them with paint when I got home. This picture was a commission from the same collector friend in Texas who asked for the lilacs painting. I wonder whether this house still exists. 

Ink and watercolor on Fabriano paper, 15" x 15",  July 1985.

Titan Fort

In the Warhammer universe, everything is supersized, immense, titanic, overblown. The aesthetic is the dream of young men everywhere who secretly see themselves as muscled megaheroes rather than pallid basement gamers. The armor is multiplied to such an extent that the structure of the original figure is hidden in tank-like shielding layers. You can barely tell where the arms, legs, or feet of a Warhammer Space Marine are. In the same way, scenery, buildings, structures, spaceships are all impossibly grandiose. Fortresses are carved out of entire mountains, whether on the surface or in vast caverns underground so large they have their own weather systems. This is a study for one of these forts, carved out of an underground mountainside. Of course, this structure, like every other Warhammer structure, is eventually destroyed in a titanic battle. In Warhammer stories, everything that is built, no matter how strong or beautiful or heroic, is brought down and crushed. If you think about it from a worldbuilding perspective rather than a gaming perspective, this civilization is madly self-destructive, wasting its resources in endless war. Ultimately there would be nothing left to sustain life. And indeed that is what is happening in the current storylines of the Warhammer game; the human empire is quickly succumbing to the invasions of various alien races or "space locusts" who take advantage of the exhaustion of the old Empire's resources. Yes, just like real Earth history.

Markers on sketchbook page, 4 1/2" x 5", January 10-11, 2013.

Reconstructed Lilacs

An old college roommate of the artist commissioned a painting of lilacs blooming by a Cambridge house, to give her consolation in her desolate west Texas home. I incorporated more of my favorite woodwork porches in the image. This photo was seriously deteriorated, all the green from the plants had faded, so this is really a reconstruction rather than a mere digital transcription. I admit to multiplying the number of lilac blossom clusters in the painting. There weren't that many on the original lilac bush. 

Ink and watercolor on Fabriano paper, 9" x 12", May-June 1982.

Coffeehouse Shadows

A new coffeehouse has opened next to my workplace, "Caribou Coffee." This chain dares to rival Starbucks and it has certainly gotten my break-time business since the nearest Starbucks is only accessible by crossing a very busy, traffic-filled major highway. Caribou has got a lifelike imitation fireplace and some very nice comfy chairs to sip in. On Wednesday I took my iPad in there and did a sketch of the young lady across from me. She was mostly in shadow except for the blue-ish light from her cellphone illuminating her face. This "soft" sketch style is not my usual style but I only had ten minutes to make my drawing, while drinking coffee and eating a fudge brownie at the same time. Must have more drawings, fewer brownies. 

"Art Studio" on iPad, January 9, 2013.

Protoplasmic Flesh Monster

The Space Marines of the Warhammer universe, along with many other human and humanoid characters, are produced or enhanced by genetic engineering. Gene-technology can make superhumanly heroic soldiers out of ordinary boys, and create godlike beings from advanced genetic manipulations. But sometimes, more often than they would like to admit, this technology goes wrong and what was supposed to be a super-soldier turns into a monster. This is sometimes called euphemistically the "flesh change" in which a subject's body degenerates into a chaotic mass of jumbled tissue and monstrous growths, or animalistic chimera features such as twisted horns or claws or scales or spines. The worst part of this sudden explosion of degeneration is that the subject retains his consciousness throughout the change and knows what is happening to him. Sometimes the change can be reversed, or at least contained, but other times, euthanasia is the only recourse. The Warhammer universe is not a pleasant place and things like peace, faith, beauty, and serenity are always presented only to be destroyed as the grim story unfolds.

Ink and marker on sketchbook page, 4" x 3 1/2", January 8-9, 2013.

Mansard Roof

Cambridge is full of old wooden houses, as I have explained in earlier posts. These edifices gave me endless opportunities to draw my favorite architectural features: porches with ornate woodworking. This house also has another favorite of mine, a mansard roof. These were built in America in the middle to later 19th century. You can find them in all older New England towns and cities. I may have drawn this black and white ink drawing entirely on site,  but I suspect I may have added to it and colorized it with watercolor when I got back to the studio. I had a lot of time to draw all those details back then. The slide film is dated 1980. The slide is poorly preserved and it is the only record I have of this piece. My neighborhoods in urban Northern Virginia don't have too many old houses like this one. Most of them were torn down and replaced with boring housing developments. 

Ink on thick paper, about 8" x 11", 1980.

Fail to the Redskins

Sorry, I couldn't resist that title, (parody of the team song "Hail to the Redskins") even though the Redskins fought bravely during Sunday's game. No sport captivates DC-area fans more than football and they love their 'Skins. I am not a football fan so I am not captivated. Even so, the playoff mania went so far that the game was broadcast into Trader Joe's instead of the usual pop music soundtrack. For the next month all we will hear about is (American) football as the Super Bowl approaches so I designed this decorative sign for sports-related displays all over the store. The streamers behind the flying football are in the colors of the Redskins, burgundy and gold. You can see the yellow goalpost at the edge of the rectangle. The blue sky is done in colored pencil, something I very rarely use for any Trader Joe's graphics. The signmakers will copy this on our office printer/copier and write the product, price, and advertising copy in the center of the graphic frame.

Markers and colored pencil, about 7" x 5", January 6, 2013.

Cambridge porch again

Here's another Cambridge porch study. I did this one as a gift for a bunch of costumer fans who had given me a portfolio of custom-made pose photographs for use as art references. This building, which was only a block from my own residence, was notable for its woodwork. In 1984-1985 I took classes in architectural drawing from nearby Harvard Graduate School of Design, and that has influenced my drawings of buildings from then until now. This picture is dated 1986. Note that there is a major mistake in this drawing, which I haven't caught until now, while closely restoring the image. The mailbox mounted on the blue wall near the door has no shadow underneath it. I could have simply created one in Photoshop but decided to leave it as is.

Ink and watercolor on Fabriano paper, about 10" x 8", summer 1986. Restored from a poorly photographed and preserved color slide.

Another Warhammer helm

My design for this helmet and armor comes from Renaissance parade armor and a bit of the old robotic Cylons in the original "Battlestar Galactica." The defining Warhammer factor is the huge pauldrons (shoulder guards) which are part of every Space Marine armor design, and probably copyright as well. In researching armor designs I have come across numerous Websites which offer custom-made costumes and real suits of armor and amazing amounts of stuff you can get for yourself to wear in live action role-playing or conventioneering or re-enacting or SCA or amateur film making or whatever. All you need is enough money to pay for it and you can look like a real knight. I am astonished at how many sites offer full sets of metal armor and a vast amount of costumes. Many of these are in Europe. In earlier days only the film or theatrical community would have access to such resources. Now anyone with the Internet and the bucks can have whatever they dream of. Was there always someone making this stuff for people to play in, or has the world gotten better at creating and marketing these things? And where is my Athena costume with a silver Greek helmet and my snakey breastplate? All right, I'm not statuesque enough for Athena. I'll have to think of another identity to dress myself up.

Warhammer helm is markers on sketchbook page, 4" x 5", January 5, 2013.

Cambridge porch

I lived in Cambridge, Mass. from 1976 until 1988 when I moved to the DC area. For most of my years I lived in an older neighborhood right next to the Harvard Divinity School, which I could see out my window. This neighborhood, known as the "Agassiz" neighborhood after the nearby Agassiz natural history museum, had many picturesque old houses. As now, I was very interested in this vernacular urban architecture, mostly wood frame houses with porches. I did a lot of house portraits, drawing the structure on site and then finishing it with watercolor at home in the studio. 

This piece depicts a house right around the corner from my residence. I drew it as a thank-you gift to some folks who had let me stay in their house in suburban Baltimore while I went to Balticon, the annual Baltimore science fiction convention. 

Ink and watercolor on Fabriano paper, about 9" x 12", summer 1982.

Warhammer Raven Helm

As you know, I've been reading novelizations from the game "Warhammer 40,000 AD." Since the game depends on moving painted miniatures around a constructed game space, the books contain detailed descriptions of environments, armor, weapons, vehicles and aircraft, and many spaceships. This makes illustrators happy. I find a wealth of artistic inspiration in this otherwise meaningless imaginary universe, where even the "good guy" characters kill, enslave, destroy whole civilizations, and obliterate planets. Even though the designs for the armor and gear are highly specified in game manuals, I've decided to get creative with illustrating Warhammer, starting with the fantastic armor. I use Renaissance designs for parade armor, as well as other grotesque and theatrical images from that period. Other influences would be Roman gladiator armor or medieval gargoyles. Here's a concept drawing of a helmet worn by the "Raven Guard," a legion of Space Marines whose helmets are beaked like their symbolic bird.

Ink and grayscale markers on brand new 2013 sketchbook page, about 4" x 4 1/2", January 2, 2013.

Party goers and holiday tree

Here are more iPad sketches from New Year's eve. An energetic partygoer gestures while talking, while another gentleman rests on the couch. I used "pine needle" texture imprints to render the holiday tree. One nice thing about digital drawing is that I can choose any color to draw in, as if I had all my colored pencils available, without lugging around a big heavy pencil collection. 

Autodesk Sketchbook  Pro, January 1, 2013.

Party glamor and happy new year

Happy New Year 2013, folks! Now don't be triskaidekaphobic. My friend Terilee appeared at the annual new year's party dressed to impress, with gothic-touched skull print leggings, steampunk boots, and an unusual print top. She also had a righteous hairdo. I did a sketch of her on the iPad while fascinated partygoers looked on. It's good to be with friends as the year turns, especially since Terilee is struggling with an even worse parent care situation than I have. I don't know what 2013 will bring but at least with my good friends I have someone to help me with moral support. I have plenty of creative ideas to work on in this new year and I also have some blog improvements planned. So stay tuned, By-Product readers, for continuing 100 per cent art and art by-products.

iPad sketch, Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, January 1, 2013.