Autumn Color Study

We waited a long time for the autumn colors and now here they are.The blustery winds are scattering the leaves. The bright orange and yellow flares for just a few days before they fly off into the winds. The Floating Cats have left the Virginia skies to migrate south, and the streets of Massachusetts are adorned with smashed pumpkins.

Markers on sketchbook page, 8" x 3 1/2", November 6, 2017.

Big Bookcase

Do you like books as much as I do? Of course you do! You have hundreds, maybe even thousands, of volumes that you couldn't resist, or that you love, or inherited, or even made yourself. Anybody reading this blog is most probably a bibliophile. So what do you do with all these books? I bought this magnum bookcase in 2002 to hold my art and architecture books, the ones I use frequently. It is in my studio so I can get whatever reference I want right away. The smaller case to the left is currently filled with colorful paint. There are small papercraft solid geometry forms on top of the case. 15 years later (now) this bookcase looks just the way it did then.

Original drawing is sepia brown tech pen ink on sketchbook page, 4 1/2" x 6 1/2", August 14, 2002.

Collage Glitz

My crafter and "Maker" friends invited me to work in their open work space so I brought this project that I have been saving material for. I have been spending literally years collecting beautiful glitzy printed material from tissue and toothpaste boxes as well as metallic craft papers. Finally with the help of scissors and hot glue I was able to cut my glittering papers to a design and adhere them firmly to a pre-painted board. To think that people who buy the products just throw away these fabulous textures and shining surfaces! Also note the mystical inspiration of the graphic text and type on the boxes. Luminous! Revitalizing! Clean! Yes, from my mouth to God's design studio! 

What you see here is not finished. I need a few more bitz o' glitz for accents, and I need a border color, which I have not decided on yet. I'm not sure whether any of these paper elements is permanent. This may fade away in time, but I'll have fun completing this piece.

Found commercial textures, craft papers, pre-painted black board, 16" x 12", November 2017. Please klik for larger view.

Hampton Beach, NH, September 2001

This little sketch comes from a moment in my life which is now part of every American's memory. It was done on September 6, 2001, less than a week before the terrorist cataclysm which changed everything. I was up in New England with my folks after Philcon, and we took a day trip to the little-known resort town of Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. This state has seacoast, though not a lot of it, and a large number of 50s-and 60s vintage hotels along the sea road, which is what you see here. 

Black tech pen ink on sketchbook page, 7" x 3", September 6, 2001.

Remembering Arts Wayland

Wayland is an affluent, woodsy far suburb of Boston. There are many such towns around Beantown and most of them have an arts association, just like my own area has "Falls Church Arts" and "Vienna Arts Society." My family lived near Wayland and as an artist my mother participated in many events, exhibitions, and social gatherings at Arts Wayland. The artists' studios were in a re-purposed school. When the town of Wayland needed the school again for children, the artists had to move out. My mother joined a new arts association in our home town of Natick (next to Wayland) called "The Center for Arts in Natick," known as "TCAN," which is still going strong thirty years later. Arts groups like these exist all over the country and probably in other countries as well.

I have innumerable tote bags and some of them I keep as mementos and souvenirs. In the drawing, back of the larger set of bags is the Arts Wayland tote bag I got as part of their fund-raising activities. It's thirty years old too! Below is a shot of my mother (at center) at an Arts Wayland group art show and gala in 1978.

Drawing, black tech pen on sketchbook page, colored a little in Photoshop, 4" x 7", November 3, 2017.

Thieves' Guild: Tailing the Mark

In a role-playing game, you have the option to be a morally bad person. In the old game "Thieves' Guild," which I spent so much time illustrating, this is the whole point of it. "Thou Shalt Not Steal." Most of the gamers playing this would not actually steal anything, let alone track someone down and mug them. Here in this scene you have a chance to follow a rich-looking gentleman through the Italianate streets, slowly approaching him until you have the right moment. Yes, but why hasn't the man got at least one bodyguard? Are you and your thieving friend about to pounce on someone who is much better protected than he looks? There are many immoral possibilities for our gamer who is so harmless in real life.

Black ink on illustration board, 5" x 7", spring 1984. For a "Gamelords" publication.

Bengal Cat

As you know, I am a cat lover though allergies prevent me from keeping one myself. I like visiting my friends who have cats so I can adore their felines. The spotted cat on the top is a "Bengal," the result of interbreeding with the Asian leopard cat. The breeders wanted a cat with a spotted coat like a wild cat but the temperament and tameness of a domestic one. As generations progressed the "Bengal" breed emerged and is now a very popular cat for feline fanatics. The cat in the lower area is a long-haired Maine Coon sticking its hips in the air. These cats belong to my friends Michael and Elektra, professional cat judges and breeders, who sometimes have up to 20 cats in their house.

Black tech pen on sketchbook page, 5 1/2" x 6", December 18, 1999.