Labels

Now that the postings are mounting, I wanted to mention how helpful the labels can be to look at a specific subject. For example if you are looking for India Ink drawings, be sure to click on the label 'india Ink' and all of the posts with that link attached to it should pop up. Some helpful labels might be: Chicago, panorama, drawing... They appear at the bottom of each post. I will include them all here. Give it a try, don't be afraid.

Mirror Lake

Here are a few photos from a series I made in 2007-2008 called 'Mirror Lake'. All the original images were made in Chicago, along the lake front. I won't say anything about my manipulation of the photos, it's obvious and the title of the series, says it all. They have a quality about them that evokes, for myself, a feeling of being near the waters edge of Lake Michigan. There are still a few of the original images floating around Las Manos Gallery; and the Gage Restaurant on Michigan Avenue has a couple very large prints in their dining rooms from this series.

Winter Panorama

Tulips

As an antidote to all this cold weather, a tulip drawing from last summer.

Winter Storm in Chicago

Early winter continues to rage on. Today it's snow, tomorrow the temperature drops dramatically. This photo is a couple years old and has never been printed or shown. I thought I might shoot a series of panoramas of pedestrians on State Street in Chicago during different times of the year. I did not get very far on the series but this winter one was fun to construct. I'm standing at the corner of State Street and Washington in the Loop. The clock is on the old Marshall Fields building, now Macy's. Some day I will finish the series, I have a good image of people in the rain, and another of people on their cell phones. Keep warm where ever you are.

The Last Telephone Pole Drawing?

I have plowed my way through nine drawings in the 'Telephone Pole' series. Pictured is the ninth, and for now, the last drawing in the series. The drawings became a little more complex as the series progressed as I searched for more, and then more, over-burdened telephone poles in and around the north-side of Chicago. I would take my bike and camera out on a warmish fall days and ride up and down the alleys of Lakeview and Uptown. Neighborhoods with dense housing stock and a population of internet and cable users made for good hunting grounds. The cross hatching did not get any easier as I moved through the nine drawings; The large, inky areas generally went quickly but I sitll had anxiety when faced with all those long, thin, telephone lines. One slip and....

No plans to show the drawings at this time. The still need to be trimmed and signed. It feels good to have a series finished and in the bag, now I need to determine just the right context in which to show them. You can see the rest of them in a couple earlier postings. Use the labels at the bottom to see posts by catagories, in this case click on telephone poles. They deserved to be framed and I'll have to save up some cash to make that happen. I see them in a three by three grid, in perhaps natural wood frames. No rush.

Winter Has Arrived Early

The image is a panorama made off my balcony last weekend, during our first big snow. It's early December and we have already had two significant snowfalls and weeks of very cold weather. Winter is in full swing and we are all in a bit of shock with the sudden transition from the warm summer and prolonged fall. I'm hopeful that a cold December makes for a warmish January. That's what happened last year; frigid in December then the rest of the winter mild with an early spring.

I do love the winter view from my windows. The snow softens the city. As a word of explanation; the tall buildings on the left of the photo run along Lake Shore Drive, but there are no tall buildings directly in front my building. The roof tops at the bottom of the photo run along Hawthorne Place, as street full of many beautiful historic homes. You can usually see downtown Chicago off in the distance, but not on a snowy day. This image could become my default Holiday card.

Soskin Holiday Card

For the past four years I have made the Holiday card for my friends the Soskin family. I think of it as a series in which I make one image per year. The images are usually made on or around Thanksgiving Day and I collaborate with the Soskins on ideas for the shoot. Once the images are taken I put the final version together on my own. This years card came out well; it works as a Holiday card; as a document of the family; and conceptually has some interesting things occuring. The family signs the card in there own way and I like the idea of a further intervention into my work with their own hand.

What's On My Wall

I use the wall in my livingroom as a place to comtemplate visual art. New work will get taped up on the painted concrete for me to ponder upon. Different light, different times of day, different states of mind, all give me a chance to look at my own work with a fresh view. I like to catch my self off guard looking at the work as if I wasn't the creator. Often I see something I hadn't anticipated during the process of making the piece.
I hope to post a photograph regularly, (once a week may be too often, if doesn't change that quickly), to show what is currently on my mind and what I have been producing recently.
Can you spot: my new telephone pole drawings, the Soskin Holiday card, Virginia Hurley life drawing on scratch board, an old city panorama, the devil left over from Halloween, test prints from the 'Houseing Project' series....?

Article in Chicago Home and Garden

The most recent inssue of 'Chicago Home and Garden' has a big article on designer Michael Del Piero and features an interior by her that includes a series of my 'Basket' drawings. Michael's work is very tonal and sophisticated; very much about texture and patina. I'm so happy to have my work incorporated into one of her spectacular spaces. Those drawings have never looked better.

Check out Michael's web site at: MichaelDelPiero.com

The Stormy Weather Moves In

As much as we try to ignore it and pretend it won't happen Fall is creeping upon us. The weather at Lake Michigan has been dramatic and inspiring this season. These two photos are a few years old but the weather they depict occurs time and again in Chicago.

My Show at Scout

I finally have some photos from my opening at Scout at the beginning of the month. Thanks to Mieke Zuiderweg for taking these great photos when all the rest of us forgot to pull out our cameras. Mieke is the go-to person if you need an event covered. She always manages to find the beauty in a chaotic environment. And the opening did get quite rambunctious by the final hour. We had a great crowd and the music got louder by the hour. Thanks to everyone who showed up and made it such a festive evening.

All The City Panoramas On One Page

Telephone Pole Drawings

I'm working on a new series of drawings this month. I know the image of the telephone pole in silhouette is a bit of a cliche but I am intrigued by the chaos of these ubiquitous totems with the addition of cable and internet to our lives. We are so overwhelmed by information in all forms now, and the drawings, based on photos, and created by cross hatching with a technical pen, are one response to the overload.

Fall Is Here

Fall has arrived and to mark the occasion I'm posting a couple newish photographs. One was made last fall and the other a couple weeks ago. I'm facinated by the way vines crawl across building as if you can see the motion of their progress.

New Orchid Drawings

A couple of new orchid drawings, simple, minimal, understated. They will be in the upcoming show at Scout.

Symmetrical Hosta

This is a drawing from a series I made in June of this year. The drawings are large, (38 x 50 inches), and the materials are India Ink on paper. I framed a two for the upcoming show at Scout and one of these drawing we split down the middle are framing the two halves seperately and presenting them as a pair. Can't wait to see how it comes out.

Save The Date - Scout - October 2010

There is a typo, can you find it?

Another Foliage Drawing

I've Been Busy Preparing For The Fall

Sorry I haven't been posting more regularly. I've been busy preparing for this fall, and some shows I have coming up in the next month. I don't have much to show today but I wanted to put up one new drawing to wet your whistle. I'm participating in the Andersonville Arts Weekend, part of Chicago Artist's Month, in October. Scout, a wonderful urban furniture store in Chicago on Clark Steet in Andersonville will show my newest drawings starting on October 8th. I've been inspired by the fantastic summer we had these past few months. The plants and foliage have responded with an explosion of growth and vitality that I have never experienced as long as I have lived in Chicago. I plan to post more soon.

Do you see faces in the facades of buildings?

I was actually going another direction with these photos after the first few images, but this image took on a life of it's own. I was initially thinking robots or something sci-fi related when I began this series, but this image read so clearly as a face I couldn't fight it. Robot face? Perhaps, but there is something nice about the patterning in the window panes.

New Photo

I have shot the facades of buildings on and off for years. I was helping my friend Melissa install her window air conditioner a few weeks ago and she had a great view directly across to a neighboring building. I shot a few images and worked on them in the computer when I got home. Once you square up the building structure you have a palette of building block with which to play. The resultant image suggests a few thing to me but I will save that for the next post.

Baskets

One of my first forays into India ink was a series of basket drawings made in early 2007. I recently came across three remaining ones and think they make a nice series. You can see the connection to the later large boxes and to the most recent grids. They are modest in scale at 18 x 24 inches each.

Grids

There has been interest in some grid drawings I've been making recently. I sold a couple to Polo Ralph Lauren for their new Shanghai store. Very straight forward process pieces that require some concentration and a steady hand on my part. They are difficult to make out in digital photos. Be sure to click on the thumbnail to see the larger version. It shows what to me are the most interesting qualities of the drawings; the hand, and the variation in line weight.

Photo of Me

My friend Vicki Quade took this photo of me in Las Manos Gallery while my drawing show was on the walls. I don't usually like photos of my self but this one is not bad.

Box On Box

A couple of drawings from last winter. I was using recycled boxes from my groceries to practice my drawing and ended up enjoying the conceptual connection, and of course the idea of reuse.

Drawings at Las Manos Gallery

The show at Las Manos Gallery is going well. I put up quite a few drawings, most newish, but a few from years back, and packed the wall full. It was easy to lay out on the floor of the gallery but getting it up on the wall was a challenge, I had no reference point to work off of. I made a quick panoramic photograph the day we hung the show for a pricing guide. I thought I'd be able to better document the installation as the month went on, but of course we've sold some at the opening reception and people just had to take them with them. So this is the only photograph of the original installation. It's rough and parts of it are out of focus. But it does give you a sense of the array of work. Be sure to stop by Las Manos if you get a chance, the show is up through the end of June. Or check out the website, (lasmanosgallery.com).

New Drawings, Ode to Verdant Summer

It's now officially summer. And the weather, the foliage and the temperature all indicate that we are in for a long season. A few years ago I made a series of drawings based on some Hostas in the backyard of some friends. This year, with the warm sping and plentiful rain, the plants, including hostas, are in their full glory. I've been inspired again to visit the ubiquitous hosta plant. I love the architectural nature of the leaves. I also have been folding the paper on itself to change the quality of the line and you get this wonderful mirrored, Rorsach-like, early Warholish image. Both of these drawings are large, 38 x 50 inches, and they just envelope you when you stand in front of them.

It Must Be Summer, The Pool Is Open!

A photo from a couple years ago. Shot from my balcony overlooking the pool in my building. Collaged from over 100 images, not exactly true to life, but catches the spirit of the place. Here's to a good summer for swimming.

Small Studies

I found a box of miscellanious pieces from an earlier project and spent part of this week assembling them into small studies. Abstract; don't know what they mean, created more instinctually than intellectually. All are India Ink on toned, archival, mat board, with overall dimensions of 8 x 10 inches. Fifteen in total.