Merry Christmas!
I have been quite distracted and busy with the hustle and bustle of the holidays and have been slacking on this blog, so I promised myself I will be getting back on track shortly.
Until I get back on track, I wanted to post this in the mean-time. This is a drawing I made for my grandparents a long time ago which my dad found in their house. If I had to guess, I would say this is probably from 3rd or 4th grade. I thought it was quite fitting to put it up, as my Christmas drawing.
A few interesting points about this drawing:
1. I clearly hated wasting time coloring things in with my Magic Markers, because everything is either an outline, or a lazy scribble.
2. I didn’t understand the concept of erasing the pencil lines once I went over them in marker. (Evident in Santa’s torso. He went from slim to massive)
3. My obsession with basketball was obviously starting, since Santa’s rocking some kick-ass Nikes.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!
Magnet Monday #3
I have no idea who in my family acquired this magnet or when they did, because I myself have never been to Texas before. However it’s been on our fridge for many years, and was hand-painted, which automatically makes it interesting to me.
The Snowy Day
Being that winter is officially in full-force here in Cleveland, this seemed fitting for today.
The Snowy Day is by Ezra Jack Keats, and is another classic children’s picture-book. It received the Caldecott Award in 1963, and it definitely deserved it. At that time, most picture-books were dominated by caucasian characters and families; and this book helped break that color barrier with the main character being a young African American boy. This story focuses on the simple joy and wonder that fills Peter’s imagination on the first snow of the year. As a kid I used to always love reading this story in the winter, because it made me want to go outside and do all of the things Peter does (snowball fights, snowmen, snowangels, footprints, etc.). I also remember how fascinated I was with the cut-paper style illustrations Keats created. I can’t help but think picture-books are one of the main reasons I became an artist.
As we get older, the joy of snowfall starts to diminish, as it becomes more of a burden than a surprise. We hear so many people complaining all the time about winter conditions and how they hate the cold when in reality if we all acted more like Peter, we could enjoy ourselves, as well as the beauty of the natural world. In my opinion, I would much rather have all 4 seasons than never get to see any snow at all. I don’t know call me crazy, or just call me Peter.
The Little House
In my opinion (and many other people’s), one of the greatest picture-books ever is The Little House, written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton. It won the Caldecott Award back in 1943, and rightfully so. The book revolves around the concept of urban sprawl, as the house starts off in the country and eventually watches the city grow around it. The house loses it’s identity in the business of the city, and eventually they move the house back out to the country where it once again feels right where it belongs. Burton’s illustrations are as perfectly fitting as possible, as she leaves the house in the center of the page’s composition throughout the entire story.
Berry Surprising…
Recently, while killing time on Twitter, I saw that a buddy of mine, Matt Kowalski (a.k.a. @MKowalksi328) was following someone called @OMGFacts. I was very happy to learn that they post interesting or hard-to-believe facts everyday. I love randomness. So thanks Matt, for indirectly introducing me to OMGFacts, because I’m sure I will be illustrating more of them in the future.
Magnet Monday #2
For the second installment of Magnet Monday, I chose this old Kelleys Island magnet. Haven’t been there in a while, and drawing this made me think of how much I love it there. The overall vibe of the place is amazing; everyone is very welcoming, laid back and seemingly unconcerned with the typical stress of daily life. I’ve been there a handful of times for camping trips, as well as with my family. My favorite memory of the Island is renting bicycles and riding around all day, getting totally lost and enjoying every minute of it. The place is beautiful; I need to go back ASAP.
Vinyl-DMC
At my grandparents house there was box of records which my grandpa took from someone who was just going to throw them away. Boy am I glad they weren’t tossed. In the random collection ended up being some gems. Being that one of my favorite aspects of music is the artwork, I find records (and their massive album covers) absolutely fascinating. My favorites out the bunch were the Run-DMC vinyls.
I love the song “Hit It Run”, so for some reason I felt the urge to recreate the B-Side of the “You Be Illin” 12″ Single for today’s drawing. Clearly it’s nothing to brag about, but I was just caught up in the Run-DMC vibe tonight.
Here is a video of Run-DMC performing “Hit It Run” on Soul Train.
Something that stands out to me about this video, is that in the post-performance interview, Run is asked “What is the key to Run-DMC’s popularity?” and his very simple response is “We work hard, and we love each other.” Now if you ask one of these MTV over-ego rappers that very question nowadays, more likely than not, they would respond with some outlandishly arrogant or conceited answer. Just another reason why I love the 80′s.
AIDS Day 2009
Today is World AIDS Day 2009. The National Aids Trust (NAT) has a current campaign titled Respect & Protect, which caught my eye on Google. Its founded on the idea that by respecting and protecting ourselves and others we can stop the spread of HIV and end HIV prejudice.
I’ll be the first to admit I am not extremely knowledgeable on HIV, however there are a few statistics that stood out to me as being overwhelming. One of them is the simple fact that over two million children under the age of 15 now live with the virus. Also, the majority of people with AIDS are not even being treated. With AIDS awareness growing in the past years, it is good to know people are doing their part to help Respect & Protect.
Click here to visit the NAT’s official site.
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