Fishin’

This was a summer themed cover illo for the Mid-Atlantic SCBWI summer edition newsletter. The final piece has a masthead and text superimposed over the center part of the composition (thus the space in the composition). I will post the image with text from the final newsletter as soon as it is published.

requiem

This has been a sad week. The close of March closed a huge chapter in my family’s life. On March 31st, we lost my father-in-law after a five year battle with the enemy, cancer. He was a wonderful, warm person, who never met a stranger. Popsie, you’ll be missed so much. Your loss has put even me at a loss for words. No words can soften the blow or fill the great void your passing has left.

In memory of my father in law…who was more of a father to me than my own…

Winston Douglas Traylor
September 14, 1943 - March 31, 2008
Husband, Father, Grandfather, Brother, Friend

 I can’t help but remember this poem by Emily Dickinson:

Safe in their alabaster chambers,
Untouched by morning and untouched by noon,
Sleep the meek members of the resurrection,
Rafter of satin, and roof of stone.

Light laughs the breeze in her castle of sunshine;
Babbles the bee in a stolid ear;
Pipe the sweet birds in ignorant cadence -
Ah, what sagacity perished here!

Grand go the years in the crescent above them;
Worlds scoop their arcs, and firmaments row,
Diadems drop and Doges surrender,
Soundless as dots on a disk of snow.

~Emily Dickinson

one ring to bind them…

loverly…betrothal ring designs for a couple of neat people I am fortunate enough to know.

Sand and Sun

I played hookie yesterday with my girlfriend T.E. and, in a rare moment of irresponsiblilty, went to the Outer Banks of NC. It was a quick day trip with no real intent other than to taste the salt air, hang out on the sand, dip toes into the ocean and have a mango margarita or two with California Style Fish Tacos at Mama Kwan’s (on Milepost 9.5 on the main highway!). MMMMMahi mahi!

The weather wasn’t exactly the most accommodating for our little adventure, as it rained in spurts all morning through to early afternoon. But that didn’t keep us out of the shops and the outlets. We hit the beach around 2 in what seemed like an opening in the clouds but the break was short lived and we were hit with BIG rain so we headed northward up the coast in the silver bullet (my VW) eventually finding another good public beach access and we parked our chairs and our backsides on a fairly deserted strip of sand to watch some summers-end stragglers and a small group of skimboarding, suntanned boys play in the surf. The clouds periodically parted to reveal patches of azure sky and the porpoises breached and crested very close to shore on the placid water.

So we sat there and watched the best show on earth, lulled into a peaceful sleep by the waves. T.E. was first to fall out. I noticed she grew suddenly silent and turned my gaze on her napping form. I played in the sand, creating a little sun face with shells for decoration and eventually got bored and passed into my own dreams of porpoises at play.

What a fantastic day that was! We had a great trip, in spite of the weather. Who could ask for better than the peace of the waves crashing and a desolate beach in the fall. Wishing you all such happy moments!

TT

Staff Infection

No, I don’t have one…(although I have been feeling pretty rough this week with the remnants of a stupid pink-eye infection in the early week teamed with the onslaught of this season’s allergen attack and not one but two broken molars that eneded up having to be crowned, ugh) . Staff Infection is my “verbal slip” for “staff meeting.” This is probably because I’d rather have one than go to the other.

I don’t know why, but I have recently found myself being called into the big, weekly staff meetings at my “day” job to brief what is going on in the Creative Services Group (which is no longer a group since they outsourced the only other designer and the marketing chick quit and was never replaced - it’s more like just the Creative Services Person). Personally, I feel that large meetings are a gigantic waste of time and resources. They seldom are organized enough to accomplish a purpose and rarely do they achieve a predetermined goal, much less a predetermined time limit. This week’s staff meeting lasted almost two hours. I had about five minutes (or less) worth of information to pass on and none of the rest of the information being shared was pertinent to my ability to complete my tasks. So, I make the most of my time in allowing my mind to wander and I sketch all over my notebook.

The scan happens to be yesterday’s rambling doodle and a pretty good idea of how I think (pretty random, eh?). I have found that it’s good for me to exploit whatever opportunities I can get to draw. I Drawing every day and it keeps my mind going with fresh ideas. The sketch started out as a study of people’s hands. I have been pushing myself to work on the tough subject matter that I normally avoid. Seeing with new eyes and what better place to take advantage of about 25 life models with all different sizes and shapes of hands than in a meeting?

UK Revisited…

Finally, I get a moment to breathe after weeks of steady-on deadlines and work to catch up on. I had to get the kids squared away for summer break and enrolled in their respective summer programs. It’s a chore I dread every year. I start weighing options in March and for whatever reason, never get things settled until the eleventh hour.

I put some more of my favorite pictures of London out on the web on my picasa site. You can check them out here or you can click the picture above. Keep checking back on the picasa site, I’ll eventually post all the UK pictures there.

Cheerio from London part 2

British money is interesting. Unlike US dollars, pound notes are all different sizes. This is good for figuring out what your paying for but hard to wad up and stuff in your wallet. On the plus side, prices here are WYSIWYG. The tax, gratuity, and any other thing gets added and it is generally rounded off to the nearest whole no. This makes paying with those awkward coins and notes easy as pie. And there’s no guesswork as to final resolution on the till.

There’s no tipping in pubs but you do practice good etiquette by returning your empty to the bar (there’s a pad you usually put it on ).

Fish and Chips are good. English clothes sizes are weird…(one size up from your norm). The fashion is nice. I like the styles here for spring better than back home. The clerks are more courteous, too. They are so polite…and very curious as to where I am from. They like my accent - not too many americans walking the streets of London (weirdly enough)

Streets are clearly marked, here but you must take care crossing traffic…cars speed at breakneck pace. And I am just now adjusting to looking right first to cross the road. You‚Äôd be surprised. ‚Ä®
Off to bed now. I am so tired. More later…look at pictures.

Cheerio from London

I‚Äôve been here one full day and it‚Äôs been a whirlwind of work and play. I‚Äôve already been on the train and I rode the tube (the underground)…learned the hard way to wear my rain jacket and carry my brolly (umbrella) wherever I go London weather has a way of changing with no notice. It was like three seasons in one day.

I‚Äôve seen so much, it‚Äôs hard to put it all in one entry. The tube was quite an experience. Pubs (short for Public Houses) are the standard here…one or two on every corner. They are lively places where you meet with your mates, have a pint and enjoy conversation. The managers of the two that I met are really down to earth and friendly.
‚Ä®London really feels like home, alot. Cobblestone streets and winding alleys remind me a lot of the Shockoe Bottom and the Fan District. The pubs are a lot like Joe‚Äôs Inn and Longstreets (only much more cosy). The ale is good…really good.

I‚Äôm off now to go riding at 6 am in Hyde Park and watch HM Royal Guard do their practice sessions with the cavalry in preparation for some big parade coming up. Should be an adventure. Check out the first wave of pics… TT

Illustration Friday: Topic: Change Autumn is one …

Illustration Friday: Topic: Change

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons and we really do get a full blown autumn here in the Old Dominion. The leaves in my backyard have already started changing, and the days are getting cool enough to turn off the AC (yes, lower electric bills!). I see the change all around, in the squirrels that live in the trees in our yard, busily stocking their nests for the winter and the kids have gone back to school. Swimming pools are closing up as the cooler months inevitably march forward.

Illustration Friday: Topic: Match Ok, this may b…

Illustration Friday: Topic: Match

Ok, this may be a stretch…but this is the rough sketch for an illustration of a russian folk tale. I haven’t begun adding color to it but when I do, I will repost the piece. But aren’t they a good match…a handsome prince and his Russian princess.

One of my inspirations has long been the Russian Laquerware Miniatures from Palekh and Fedoskino. The detail in these tiny masterpieces is amazing. If you have never seen anything of the like, I suggest you check some out. This site has a good overview of the different styles that generate from the towns of the same names. Palekh, Fedoskino, Mstera and Kholui. The colors are fantastic, some are scenes of whimsy. The speak of times long ago and places far away.