The barn at Micah’s backyard, Camillus
This was the first and only sunny day I got while I was up there. It was actually hot when I walked outside. Micah was convinced that none of those leaves and dandelion blooms were there the day before.
Micah in a blanket
To Micah, waking up in the morning is actually physically painful. I wasn’t allowed to take a photo of this, but he didn’t say I couldn’t draw him.
Hard to believe only a few hours later we would be fighting each other in a Broadsword Stage Combat class. That was Micah’s birthday present. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), they didn’t give us real swords. I was hoping for at least some fake wooden ones, but we used wiffle bats instead.
It was a ton of physical work for the pair of us, since neither one of us really exercises very much, and by that I mean never, ever. It was super fun though, Micah was very happy that he got to kill me in the final choreographed fight sequence. There’s a video of us doing this floating around in Facebook. I’m not posting it here, but if you can find it, you should watch it.
Micah’s living room, Camillus NY
It took me a while to get this down, mainly because I couldn’t draw the face in. I believe Micah was gesturing about Lettercase.
Heather & Micah, Seneca Lake
“Seneca Lake. It’s like the middle finger of the Finger Lakes.”
I was told that the cabin at Heather’s camp, The Louisiana, was built in 1919. It’s got electricity, but no running water. There’s also a sweet outhouse in the back, which I had the pleasure of using.
Heather’s camp, Seneca Lake, Watkins Glen
Micah’s friend has a camp at Watkins Glen, the southern tip of Seneca Lake. I’ve heard so much of this place, glad to finally see it in person. We spent Saturday wine tasting our way around Seneca Lake, from the norther tip, ending up in Watkins Glen.
By the time we got to the last winery, I was very happily tipsy. There was a hazy warm glow around everything, it’s like being a baby and wrapped inside a warm blanket. I realized that I get really touchy when I’m tipsy, like I want to touch/lean on everything, people too. Maybe it’s just my way to stay up right and not to fall asleep.
Micah’s porch, Camillus NY
Micah’s home is one of the coolest homes I’ve been to. His mom was an antique dealer, so the house is full of old/antique knick knacks. I took a boatload of photos when I came here the first time. This time around, I was too lazy to. So I just painted instead.
The porch is one of my favorite places in the house. It’s so sunny and cheerful. It’s like being outside. It’s even bright on cloudy days.
Amtrak 281, New York to Syracuse
I went to Camillus this past weekend to visit Micah. I took Amtrak up there, since I’ve never traveled by train before. It’s nice not having to go through the security check line.
It was a five-hour trip, so I slept for a really long time, and when I woke up, I still had like 4 hours to go. So I sketched. The best part about this painting is I didn’t even throw up while doing it. I almost did though, twice.
The Champagne Riot, Dominion NY
One of my co-workers is a burlesque dancer. Every second Friday of the month, she has a show. I’ve gone to a couple of them. I’ve never seen so many glitter in my life.
This is another digital light study, you can see the original here.
Washington Monument, National Mall, Washington D.C.
Took a road trip down to D.C. last weekend to see the cherry blossoms. We didn’t see much cherry blossoms, but there were tons of kites! It’s been so long since I’ve gone on a road trip. I even got to drive!
Bryant Park
Playing around with lighting again this morning before work. This is the original sketch.
I got off work last night and it was 68 outside! Seemed wrong to go straight home. Took a detour to the park and I finally got to finish a whole sketch on location! Doing it all on location forces me to be quick and loose, those are the best kind of watercolor.
Miles
Look who’s back!
My brother and his girlfriend have been “borrowing” Miles. They just gave him back yesterday. My brother’s girlfriend really likes him. I think he likes her more than me now, he didn’t want to leave her lap. It’s good for him to be around people, so I don’t mind. And the truth is when he’s not around I don’t miss him much. It gives me the freedom of a single person. But now that he’s back, I realize I do miss him. It’s nice having someone to lick your face when you walk in the door after work.
Also, three words: puppy-rental business. You know what I mean?
New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
I like this place. It was so sunny outside, I sat down for a bit before going in. You know how I feel about wasting sunshines.
The two lions guarding the entrance; I imagine if Chris Nolan were to re-do an episode of Between the Lions, they’d look like this.
59 St. 6 Station, Uptown
A dramatization of a sketch I did a few nights ago. Here’s the original sketch. Pleasant, but I prefer the altered version more. You can spin so many stories from the later.
What I noticed:
- Dramatic lighting makes a plain old subject looks like a movie. I like to play around with lighting in photoshop, it’s fast and easy to manipulate.
- Adding large, cropped objects on the foreground adds “drama” to the composition, by giving it depth and variety (in shape, that is). In some cases, like this one, they make the scene ominous. Probably because we, the audience, can’t get a clear view of who/what’s looming on the foreground.
That’s all the wisdom I can impart for tonight.
Broken English Cafe
I got some time to kill while in Brooklyn, so I ducked in here before heading out to the Transit Museum. I got some sort of baked egg dish with polenta, which sounded really intriguing, but really, it tasted like polenta with salt. Not that impressive. But that was fine, since I went in there mostly to hang out and draw. My waitress was super nice, she let me stayed in there an hour after she gave me the bill.
A few tables down, a dad and his daughter were having a brunch date. He had salad, or something healthy like that, the little girl had frech toast. In retrospect, that’s what I should’ve ordered, instead of the bleh baked egg polenta dish. See what I get for trying to act like an adult. That little girl knew what she was doing!
Brooklyn Bridge
Being a tourist in my own city is pretty great. Every place I go to is new, it’s like a cheap version of going on vacation. Last Saturday I had this nagging urger to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I knew it was going to be a windy day (like real windy), so I tried to talk myself into doing something else more reasonable, like go to a museum or any indoor activity really, but my brain just didn’t buy it. “I want to walk on the bridge, now!” So I caved.
Turned out to be a really nice walk. The wind actually detered the crowd, so it was nice and empty. But I was also freezing my ass off as I was sketching this. I finished only the line drawing before giving up. I needed to get my hands into my pockets, asap.
It was a surprisingly short walk. I got to the Brooklyn side in no time.
