Rappahannock Cellars vine branch

The "Wine Team" didn't expect sunny weather, since the day before had featured deluges and floods all over Northern Virginia. But by the time we got to Rappahannock Cellars, the skies were clearing and the vines were shining. We sipped Rapahannock's excellent selection in the  "members'" beautiful room. Most wineries have a "members club" where if you promise to buy a specified amount of wine per year, you get privileges, like the nice room. This view is through a big picture window in that room and there is a gnarly discarded vine branch sitting as an ornament on the windowsill. 

Colored pencil and markers on sketchbook page, 7" x 6", July 29-31, 2017, finished in studio. Click for winy view.

American Academy in Rome courtyard

The American Academy in Rome is a place where chosen American scholars and creative artists can spend a year or more in the Eternal City doing special projects and studies. I was a guest there in 1975-1976 using family connections to stay there. While at the Academy, I did numerous works of art including this one, a portrait of one of the inner walls of the open courtyard. The Academy building was designed by the famous American architects McKim, Mead, and White, but it was done in a classical Roman style and looks like the ideal world of Rome as interpreted by early 20th-century American architects.

Watercolor over light pencil drawing, 9" x 11", 1976. Click on image for a larger view.

Patriotic Abstraction

I found a spot in my sketchbook journal which I left empty for image drop-ins. This page contained the entry for July 4 so even though this is retrospective from the 29th I'll do something appropriate for July 4. Many times this year I have been ashamed of some of the people who are supposed to lead our country but when it comes to color, image, and abstraction I don't have to be explicit. 

Markers on sketchbook page with Photoshop background, 5" x 4", July 29, 2017.

Demondoodle

It's a pop-in doodle in the sketchbook journal for a space I didn't fill while on the road. The background is adapted from "Mister Mourao's" architectural visual-jazz while the demon is copied from a handbook of pre-drawn fantasy characters and creatures. I feel like this demon right now as my apartment's brand new replaced air conditioner is still not working.

Black tech pen ink on sketchbook page, 3 1/2" x 3", July 27, 2017.

What I Saw

Bright banners hung out to dry in the twilight.

Kids of Kallitechnia

One or more of you might remember my illustration work for a Utopian fantasy called "Kallitechnia." This is one of my later pieces, from the last set I did concentrating on the people and costumes of the place. The author asked me for examples of costumes that children and teenagers might wear. He also asked for a racially diverse group as membership in Kallitechnia was not hereditary or uniform. These young Kallitechnians range in age from 10 to 18. As for the older ones, my client said, "Make 'em showy and sexy. They are in prime mating form and want to impress potential partners."

Black ink on illustration board, about 7" x 10", spring 1998.

Mourao inspiration

I have recently "discovered" the fantastic art of a contemporary Portuguese artist who goes by the name "Mister Mourao." He creates large, incredibly complicated architectural fantasies (he was trained as an architect). Their size ranges from tiny to gigantic, and he has also done illustrations and design for prestigious publications like the "New Yorker" and the New York Times, as well as Apple Corporation. I found a book of his drawings edited to make an "adult coloring book" and I had to have it, not to color but to learn from. Mourao's work is definitely in the "I wish I had drawn this" category.

So naturally, I tried to draw like Mourao. I got through a few inches and realized that Mourao's work is not random or chaotic. Everything in his wild surrealistic world makes sense!  The windows and doors and walls and archways are drawn by an architect who knows how they are built and why they stand up. Since I also have architectural (drawing) training, I can look at a wild and wacky Mourao and figure out just what he's doing. I can't help wondering how long it takes to do one of these detail explosions and also whether he draws a sketch and perspective lines before he goes for the final.

Above is my first attempt at Mourao inspiration. Mine is more chaotic and unreal than his. What looks like an awning is my depiction of a pattern on the paper towels in a roll of Bounty. A bit of Photoshoppage and it looks like 3-D.

Black and brown tech pen inks on sketchbook page, Photoshop added, 8" x 3", July 24, 2017.