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.