Hand Printed

It has been a very busy December but I did not let the art making process go idle. I found the time to make two new block prints. One for our Christmas card and one for the birth announcement of my son.

The Christmas card was pretty simple. It is a two color block print, although, I don't think the print was successful in portraying the idea. The concept is three hands, my hand, my wife's hand and our son's hand one on top of the other. My wife's hand is in white-the negative between my hand and our son's hand. It is too close in dimension to my hand so it gets lost.

Lastly, when you open the card you find Pugnacious's paw prints. You cannot forget about Pugnacious D.O.G. He won't let you.

The second print was also a two color block print-a depiction of my sleeping son. The card was the birth announcement that went out to family. On the inside of this card was his name, "Xavier Santos, Born December First, Two Thousand Ten, at 1:26 a.m., 6 pounds .8 ounces, 18.5 inches."

The New Year fast approaches which means a drawing a day for a year. Or, if my friend Jebadiah gets his wish, the rest of my life. I hope he has enough wall space to hang it all.

Premature Resolution: To Be Reborn

I woke up this morning at 3:00 am and never went back to sleep. On my mind...how long has it been since I put pencil to paper for myself. My interior design work has so consumed ALL my creative outlets. Can I nurse myself back to making art for me again? Am I strong enough to feed my creative energy enough to produce work?

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy interior design. I have wonderful clients. But drawing is my first child.

So...here it is: The 100 drawings in a 100 days worked pretty well for me to make a daily habit of drawing. Now, it is time to aim higher. ONE DRAWING EACH DAY FOR A YEAR. Holy smokes, I said it. Let's see if I do it.

Beginning January 1st, I will produce one drawing each day. Here's to hopin'.

Giving Birth to Rejuvenation

I was able to spend a nice relaxing weekend on the small island of Guemes last weekend. Even though it rained all day on Saturday, it was so nice to stop everything and relax.

Went to Edison, saw some friends, some art and went to the Bread Farm. If you ever find yourself near Edison go to the Bread Farm. You can't miss it. You can't miss anything in Edison. And, get yourself a package of graham crackers. These are the best graham crackers you will ever, I mean ever, have.

Oh, also, did a little drawing...

Setin'em Down & Knockin'em Up

My workdays are so hard that I have to take a coffee break before my job even begins. Most mornings you can find me in a Starbucks drinking my coffee, reading, playing Brick on my Blackberry, or drawing random people who were unlucky enough to sit near me. Here are a few of those poor souls...

Not Shooting Blanks

It seems like everytime I post I apologize for not posting. Well, life is busy. It doesn't mean I have been letting the art sit idle. I sketch (not as much as I should). I make new work (I could make more). But I have been the creative and busy interior designer and loving every minute of it.

I did find the time to make a new print for the Arthritis Foundation auction. I did three different versions. Which is your favorite? Let me know why it is your favorite and if you're lucky, I'll send it to you.

Moseying Along

I am a day late in my post but better late than never, que no? Some progress has been made on the lone cowboy. Not as much as I would have liked but it is moseying along. I wish I had the energy to do more during the week but it has been a busy one.

As I mentioned before the new career includes some drawing as well. I wish I could post those here but since they are done while under the employ of someone else, I figure it best to not post without permission. I have also been commissioned to do a couple of portraits. Again, I have not asked for permission of the patron so I am opting not to show those either.

However, Krystal and I have been helping a friend with the interior design of his new house. Along with some suggestions with what to do with some of the interior detailing, we gave him our advice when he purchased a custom made sofa. Part of that was to do a drawing of the sofa that he ordered so he could better visualize his major purchase. He made quite a few changes to the sofa such as the leg detail, the amount of cushions, and adding the tufting and welting to the seats. Here is that drawing.

Drawing is getting done in one form or another and that is keeping me very pleased.

Draw!

It isn't much but at least it is a start. I had a very busy week and didn't get to the drawing board as much as I wanted to but I at least started the drawing. Now, hopefully, it will continue and you can check back at the progress of the drawing and see what you think. This drawing is about 36" x 36" and in graphite.

My subject matter here is the little plastic toy cowboy. I'm sure everyone remembers the little plastic green army men as well as the cowboys and Indians. Well, I am reproducing one on a large scale and if it turns out well I may continue on with the Indian. And, if I am still happy with what I am doing then I plan on drawing a Mexican. You remember playing with plastic toy Mexicans, don't you? No? Neither do I. Why not? Oh, because Mexicans were never a part of American kid culture or a part of the educational curriculum. We never had any chapter on Mexican history when I went to high school. I think the only Mexicans in American history that were mentioned were during the battle at the Alamo. We all know how that turned out.

When I was a child, like most little boys, I was enthralled with cowboys and Indians. I remember watching old spaghetti westerns with my dad and if there was a Mexican character or the Mexican army rode in, my father would always say, "here come the good guys!"

I also had a thought that these drawings might lead into some portraits of those old Hispanic actors that have been long forgotten. Who knows? Maybe I'll make my own little plastic toy Mexican figures.

On A Roll!

Friday number two! That's two Fridays in a row. Not necessarily on a roll, yet. But the paper on the easel is.

My major accomplishment for the week was to clean off that mess I like to refer to as inspiration and put some clean, blank paper on it. I wish it were as simple as it sounds but I have never had this particular set up before. Usually I will tape a single sheet of paper to the easel. Here I had to make two brackets which was basically bending flat iron around a closet rod, drill a couple of holes into them, and attach them to the top of the easel. Then run said closet rod through. Works pretty well.

The next step is starting the drawing...

My hands weren't quiet that idle this week. I really was in the mood to bend metal. I had acquired a nice little piece of live edge wood and decided to make a little spot table. I did a few quick little sketches, ran them past the head designer in the house (my lovely wife), and then put it into production. Here is the final result.

I had planned on leaving that front edge unfinished but after seeing the pictures, I think I have changed my mind. I'll have to check with the head designer.

First time this year...

How sad is that. March is nearly over and this is the first post of 2010. Yikes! I promise to be better...well, take it for what it is worth.

I for the most part work from home. Fridays are a play day so I am planning on making it my post day. Every Friday there should be a new post.

I am also starting something I have wanted to do since I began the blog. That is, to show progress on a drawing as it happens, weekly. This plan, like the 100 drawings in 100 days plan, is to get me to draw. I have basically two careers and drawing is a part of both. One being an interior designer doesn't involve a lot of drawing but it happens occasionally and I enjoy it. Being an artist, you would think, should compromise of drawing all the time. However, there is a business side to it that takes up more time than you would think. Anyway, drawing is what I am here to do so...

Here is my easel. It is only one of my drawing surfaces. As you can see I don't use it much. This past week was spent cleaning the studio and more importantly cleaning off my easel. Mission accomplished. Let's see how far I get by next week. See you then.