More brush pen drawings

Last winter while I was working on my shader I left my car sitting all alone in subzero temperatures and by the time I remembered I should probably be driving it at least a little it had stopped speaking to me. When my parents came to visit me bearing gifts of chocolate and jumper cables we wound up having to jump-start my car three times before it would hold enough of a charge to start on its own.

After the third time we decided we'd have to take it out on the highway to... well, to do whatever cars do at high speeds to recharge their batteries, I don't know I'm not a car mechanic. Anyway we wound up driving up to Lake Macbride and I got some good practice doing nature sketches with my brush pen.





I disturbed a pair of geese that were trying to nest on the beach. They waded out into the water and floated in place a few yards away as I walked down along the sand.



They spent some time honking huffily at me as I drew them but when they decided I probably wasn't leaving they floated away.



This was apparently just a small part of the lake. Boats kept going by, though I couldn't really see where they were coming from or going to.



When we got back from the lake my car had started starting again, so it turned out to be a pleasant and productive afternoon.

I got a brush pen!

I got a brush pen for Christmas! I've been practicing with it using The Internet because it was too cold to go outside.



I didn't do much location sketching this winter/spring; in addition to it being too cold I have been very busy teaching my computer to use the brush pen as well.



It still has problems with depth sorting, but really, don't we all?

I've got a couple new sketches I'll put up soon. Now that it's summer again I should be sketching more often.

Airports

Airports are airports. Lots of bored people sitting around make for easy drawings.







January, 2011

This update has a lot of cats

Went home for Christmas, spent a couple weeks with my parents and sister baking and chilling with the cats.



There's a birdfeeder on the deck right outside the sliding glass door, so the cats have a good view of all the birds and squirrels that gather there. They'll try to creep up on them, hiding behind the paneling and the blinds, but the squirrels have figured out that the cats can't get to them and completely ignore them.



Sometimes the excitement of being so close to a small furry thing will overwhelm their higher reasoning powers and they will run headlong into the glass door. Then the squirrels point at them and laugh.



Then they get bored and go to sleep in whichever chair they think I'll want to sit in the most.



December 2010

Thanksgiving, part 3

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we were back in Pittsburgh, in a crepes shop in Shadyside.



That is my sister in the foreground, failing to look serious for the drawing.

Then it was time to fly back to Iowa.



With a four-hour layover in Detroit.



November 28, 2010

Thanksgiving, part 2

For Thanksgiving day we drove up to western New York to spend it with my mother's family. Thursday was a mix of food, football, family, and episodes of The Walking Dead. Friday we all drove out to an Irish restaurant for a fish fry.




November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving, part 1

A few days before I fly out to Pittsburgh to spend Thanksgiving week with my family, we were pulled out of a meeting at work so they could tell us the company was closing down and congratulations, we're all fired! I spent the next few days wandering my apartment thinking "The last time I watered this plant, I HAD A JOB", "When I bought this spaghetti, I STILL HAD A JOB" so it was a nice change of pace to go home for a while.

On the Sunday before Thanksgiving we ate brunch at Lidia's in the Strip District, which is a multi-course affair that includes baked goods, an antipasto buffet, a daily selection of pastas, and a dessert buffet.





There is also a bridge outside with globe decorations on its post that make it look like it's staring at you.



The Strip District has a lot of interesting shops in it. You can weave your way on the tiny sidewalks past the Steelers merchandise tables (with the blaring HERE WE GO music and the signs that say YINZERS PAY HERE) to get to all kinds of ethnic markets and food stores.



And I have to say, nothing really cheers you up like you and your sister (quietly) bursting into song to the bemusement of the cashier in the middle of a spice store.

November 21, 2010

Java House

It was cold and rainy today so I went out to get a mocha.









November 12, 2010

Clinton St

I camped out on the steps of one of the University of Iowa buildings to draw this.



It can be hard to tell how long to work on these larger drawings, but today when I was contemplating how much detail I should add some guy wandered into the bushes next to me and started throwing up, which I took as a sign that I'd been working on it for long enough.

November 7, 2010

Iowa River

Today I went for a walk by the river and stopped to sketch one of the less impressive bridges.



You can just barely see the bridge everyone actually uses and some University of Iowa buildings behind it. The graffiti on it reads "YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU OWN" and "CEYN", along with some other words that were too small or too corroded to read. Other pieces of graffiti I've seen around town have read "IF YOU LOVE HER THEN TELL HER" and "SO WHAT?"


October 31, 2010

Library

Hung out at the Iowa City Public Library this weekend because I am a nerd and don't like football.







It's always so quiet there, which... I know, library, but it's still kind of disconcerting. Sometimes a patron will fall asleep and start snoring loudly which is reassuring.

October 24, 2010

I'm going to get really sick of titling these "Java House"

As winter sets in the number of outdoor events goes way down and the Java House starts doing their live music nights again.



Of course, some people prefer their own.



October 8, 2010

Java House, some more

School is in full swing now, all the kids are busy studying.









September 22, 2010

Summer party!

... on the coldest, rainiest day of summer. We have good planning skills.



Most people stayed in the pavilion out of the rain.



I drew a couple of dogs tethered to the side of the pavilion while my coworkers discussed the benefits of coming to work naked in protest over our broken air conditioning. Good times.


August 17, 2010

Friday Night Concert Series

More bands and audiences and people standing in front of me when I'm trying to draw the stage


July 30, 2010

St Mary's Cathedral

I guess this wasn't a very good angle to draw from, as the trees kept getting in the way, but that's where the bench was, so I went with it. I wound up cutting off the top of the steeple because I misjudged how high it was when I started drawing, so you'll just have to imagine it until I go back to draw the rest of it and photoshop it back in. Then I'll edit out this description and pretend it never happened.


July 18, 2010

Missionaries in the Ped Mall

July 17, 2010

Hawk Dawgs

The Friday Night Concert Series is happening somewhere off to the left.



July 9, 2010

More Jazz Festival

It was wet on Sunday, we were dodging bursts of rain all day.







It cleared up just long enough for the fireworks, though. Everyone here is gathered at the only hill in Iowa waiting for them to start.



I was sitting by a family with a couple of kids who were waving sparklers around and trying to set the nearby trees on fire with them. When that didn't work they decided to turn me into a frog.

July 4, 2010

Iowa City Jazz Festival

Sun was very hot today. Everyone's camped out in the patches of shade on the UI Pentacrest to listen to the music.











Oh god I'm so sunburned right now.

July 3, 2010