While I was on vacation, my wife saw a listing for an open life drawing class (not really a class- more of a free-for-all that cost $7). So I showed up and the room was already full- I was a little late as the address didn't make enough sense to the GPS on my phone- full of artists mostly in their later years with huge sketch pads, conté crayons, brushes, pastels etc, etc. And me with just my sketchbook and a ballpoint pen (I mean, I didn't expect to need anything more on vacation!).
We warmed up with a few 5 minute poses before jumping into one loooong drawing. The sketches above are from that same pose, just that I mived to the other side of the room to get a new vantage point.
I didn't put these drawings up because they're my favorites, I put them up because I was so happy to be drawing a live model and I wanted to remember how much fun it can be and how nice it is to sit in a room with other artists as if we were a community for more than just 2 hours. It's like the air is different (and it is- there's a lot of charcoal and pastel dust) or charged and you're all sharing an experience together. and you walk out with renewed energy for sketching/drawing. So if you're an artist, I strongly recommend that you get out now and then and draw with others and walk around and see how they approach the same problem (as in math problem, not in a negative way) you're faced with and watch yourself grow from the experience.
Thanks to those who sent me messages on yesterday's post of an illustration for the Jewish New Year. I've posted here further illustrations from a few different calendars I've illustrated (and designed) for PEJE (Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education). There are SO many more illustrations!
At the Dead Sea.
A map of Israel with the favorite sites or things to do.
Kids learning from the Torah.
At the Wailing Wall.
A recent sketch from my sketchbook:
We just returned from vacation (which is why I haven't updated my blog in a while) and one morning while away, I was watching my son Leo play with anything that looked like it might be a toy. A toy golf club became a (leaf) blower. The sofa became a hub for all his (flying) cars. And his real toys- I could only imagine what he was seeing in them. And he was especially having fun with an alien toy. He has such a creative imagination that I thought I'd draw for him some aliens and a Leo character/warrior to play with them.
I saw the HELVETICA movie this week. Yes, it's a movie about a font, but it has a rich and interesting history and the movie is interspersed with a variety of designers (a few big names and then a few smaller ones) who either extoll the font's virtues or rip it to shreds.
And then there is a video I took (again with the iPhone) of the light show and fireworks during Live and Let Die:
I was at a party with friends this past weekend when I spotted something familiar. A 7-week old named Jonah was sporting the logo that I had created for a summer camp! What a kick it was to see something I had designed, completely out of context and while in my civilian identity (when I wasn't working). Isn't he a cutie?
The logo went through many, many incarnations before we finally settled on this look, these colors and the gazebo which is one of the first things you see when you drive into the camp. I'm very proud of how it turned out.
