Sound Advice

It is difficult in today's technical world to get out of the drawing habit and let the "mouse" do the drawing for you. To counter that, all my initial ideas are done on paper with a pen. I may spend hours scribbling in my sketch book before taking it to the next step on the computer. This is the way that I have been accustom to working out ideas, designs and color layouts.

Also, placing random ideas on paper will allow me to go back to it weeks later and formulate a completed illustration. Everything is dated in the sketchbook so it easy to reference. The filing system in the computer is also user friendly but I have to open several folders to get to what I want. Here is the kicker......sometimes I do not know what I want, I just want to browse. That makes the sketch book ideal.

Over the years I have drawing in every size and shape sketchbook. Some that fit in my pocket, others that are leather bound. Within the two past year, I have just been purchasing the same size hard back sketchbook. Now it looks like a set of encyclopedias in my book case but now I know where to find that idea!

New Year, old habits.

Next to drawing pictures, I like sports. I enjoy keeping up with the statistics, the standings and the injury report. This has been an obsession of mine since the third grade and I have enjoyed every minute of it.

During the spring and summer when I am outdoors sketching, I keep my headphones plugged into the latest game and time just seems to drift away. 

My problem comes around mid-November when it becomes too cold outside to sketch. This is also the time when football presents itself on center stage in the sports world. As you probably guessed, I am on the couch at this time glued to the TV and feeling a little guilty that I am not sketching like I do every Sunday. 

Low and behold, next Sunday is the end to the football season with airing of the Superbowl. It is at this point that I can turn my attention back to sketching on Sundays. I sure wish the weather would warm up.

Changes Coming In 2016

It is now close to this website's first anniversary and I am ready for some changes. The overall simplicity of the site and it's ease of navigation has served me well but I am hungry for something a bit more cutting edge.

As we move closer to the new year, I must now take into account that more people are viewing my site with their smart phones and through a new operating system called Windows 10. To get with the times, I need to offer more flash and do it in a shorter rate of time.  I have seen the new templates provided by my web host and I am eager to dive in.

I also would like to incorporate some video presentations and dabble with e-commerce (GASP!) Please stay tune and happy holidays!

Social media and the boomer generation.

Full discloser, there was no personal computers when I was growing up but that is no reason to not embrace the technology when I becomes available. Like most people, I bought my first computer when there was thing called the internet forming in the mid nineties and by 1999, I had my first personal website. It was a natural progression fueled by curiosity. 

By the mid 2000s cellphones became mini computers that you can store in your pocket and suddenly, social media was born.  Now people communicate thru many different forms  of social media and text. It is a natural progression fueled by curiosity.

Here we are the close of 2015, and there are a vast majority of the over 50 crowd who just don't get it. They exist and go through life as if this new technology doesn't exist. They have their news delivered to their doorstep, they talk on a landline, and they think that Snapchat is something dirty.

Look, I get it. It takes time to change but it's been 20 years. I realize that when Henry Ford rolled out the first model T, It took a while for folks to stop riding a horse. but with today's new technology, its not going to slow down so people can catch up.

More thoughts on plain air

As with most illustrators today, I spend many hours on the computer. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do. On my weekends, I mix it up staying away from the digital pen and replacing it with the watercolor brush. I pack my trunk various sketchbooks, water bottles, brushes and my watercolor pallett.

I spend many hours at a local farm near by sketching the landscape. This does several things for me. For one, it frees up my mind and gets me into a total relax state. More importantly, it allows me to produce art without using the delete button. 

Watercolor is free flowing, It is a challenge which has consumed me most of my life. Accidents happen on paper which I find to be pure joy. It is something that I look forward to and my fair weather days are now very limited as winter approaches.