My desk at ES

My desk at ES, originally uploaded by Gato81.

The summer months tend to be slow at my company, a commercial real estate investment banking firm, where I work as a graphic designer. I don't usually draw anything around my desk because it's all so dull and I stare at it every day, but doing this whole "landscape" was kind of fun. It's kind of a mess, but it's very me.

Highlights from this landscape:

• my giant monitor (the scale here is all screwed up, trust me, it's huge)


• the fact that my giant monitor sits on a ream of paper. Fancy monitor stands are just a little too high.


• stack of business cards: I have given out 1, and it was to the shoe-cobbler who comes around our office.


• white castle mug that sits on a donut coffee-warmer


• the fancy phone on which I receive about 2 phone calls a week


• the fancy halogen light that doesn't even work, but I leave it there anyway


• the decorative stone container (in front of my phone); handmade in Africa and purchased for me by a Silver Bay buddy. I keep vitamins in it.


• the mouse hiding behind the phone. I use a wacom tablet so the mouse only gets used by the IT guy when he comes by

I drew this with a uni•ball vision elite in my Strathmore sketch pad, which is considerably less intimidating than my Moleskin. This is probably a good thing, because I couldn't find my favorite thick paper Moleskin at Hennessey & Ingalls today. Sad.

Louisville Magazine

Here is the illustration I did for the special education issue of Louisville Magazine, out now. The article covered the possibility of a couple of public schools in Louisville going to a same-sex format. Some say that separating the sexes eliminate hormone-related distractions and creates a learning environment that can cater to the learning differences between males and females (females are more abstract, literary thinkers, while males are more competitive and mathematical in their learning habits). The other school of thought believes the disctractions present in adolescent co-educational environments are something children need to cope with in order to survive the real world. In my illustration, I have the teacher standing divided between boys & girls, confused as to how to teach both in one environment when they learn so differently.

Rainy Silver Bay Day

This is something I sketched from a snapshot my dad sent me. On rainy days in Silver Bay, NY, you get out the board games, books, and puzzles and settle down in the lobby of the Inn. Nowadays they have a Wi-Fi connection so you see a lot more laptops than you used to.

Easles

I am taking an oil painting class at UCLA this fall. My college instructor was an excellent painter and taught me what a good painting is supposed to look like, but he failed to teach me the mechanics of oil painting. One summer he handed me some old brushes and oil paints and said "go." I would slap thick paint down on the canvas and never work on them after one session because I didn't really know what to do. After one quick "sylabus day" I learned about 8 things I have been doing wrong with oil paints so far.

I sketched this view of some easels with an HB pencil in my trusty moleskin.

I'm back!

Finally, I got back to my sketchbook. It's easy to get out of the habit. Here is a sketch of David sitting at my computer loading up his Shuffle with some new rockin' music. I sure do love that .25 hi-tec C....

And that chic hanging out at the top is a woman waiting in line at Starbucks yesterday.

my new apartment

A little something for the Girls Who Draw assignment (from a few weeks ago) - Where I Live. I have finally gotten settled in my new apartment in West LA so I'm trying to catch up on some art making. Unfortunately, my new apartment only has one (small) bedroom, so instead of a 2nd bedroom office/studio, I share space with the dining room table. I guess since I'm only making art at night now, it will do!