At the kids' table

Last night at our local eatery I turned to see the kids engaged in some animated discussions so I had to sketch them. Lily is seen here drawing the charming little sketch below:

Last night in Joan's studio workshop

My wife was filling some orders for her jewelry web site, so I was keeping her company and sketching the scene, listening to Kelly Joe Phelps, my new favorite blues slide guitarist.

My mistress

Ok, my wife. But she was having a "crazy hair" day yesterday and wanted to pose for a sketch. After I finished it she said I made her look too young, "Tell people that's a picture of your mistress." She's funny.

Restaurant sketch

I did this while waiting for the take-out to come. As soon as I laid the last wash, the man handed me the bags and off I went. Perfect timing. There's always the fear lurking that I won't have time to finish a sketch, with the subject walking off or something or other.

Lily reading...

I'll be bringing her to "Take your child to work" day tomorrow. Should be fun!

Easter Flowers

I know it's a day or two late, but here it is. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Friday at the local Mexican restaurant

Playing with another fountain pen.

Tonight's barbecue

Nice relaxing evening, waiting for the coals to heat up. I found a cheap calligraphy pen at the local art store this afternoon and so decided to try it out, this time using my daughter's watercolor set -- a tiny thing that fits in the palm of your hand and has eight or ten colors! It might be my new favorite combination.

Video - "The Art of Storyboarding"

This is the best explanation of what a storyboard artist does I've ever seen: The Art of Storyboarding. It's only thirteen minutes long, but goes into the history of it, starting with Disney, and even getting into the use of storyboards for live-action filmmaking. This is what I'd like to show people when they ask, "Just what exactly does a storyboard artist do?" I found it via Enrico's blog.

Pigeon for breakfast

As I was walking to work this morning through our urban/suburban neighborhood I heard a rustling to my right. I turned to see something astonishing: a bird flying away with another bird gripped below it. It looked almost like a big ball of flapping feathers. The next second I realized it was a young, fairly small red tailed hawk lifting a pigeon across the street and up to a nearby tree. Both birds were about the same size, with the hawk having something like a two-foot wing span, about half the size of most adult red tailed hawks in this part of the world. The hawk landed in the tree limbs up about 15 feet above me and started to tear the pigeon apart, eating it. I pulled out my sketchbook and started to draw what I saw. The sketch below it was from memory as it flew past my shoulder on its way to the tree. I was treated to my own personal National Geographic special in the middle of the city.