Category Archives: art

Still watercoloring

Between an iOS update and a WordPress update, image upload’s been broken for me so I’m catching up on some backlog.

Last week’s class was spent “playing” in those ovoid shapes with some different techniques. I wasn’t especially happy with any of them. I’m still too green for going that far out with stuff, IMO.

I had some time at the end of class and made that landscape-ish corner. I used some of the lesson in there, which helped.

3 hours of class after a workday is a lot. I’m usually pretty beat by the time we’re done.

Watercolor week 1

I started a watercolor studio class last night. I have very little general art experience and zero painting experience, so this is all new to me.

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned, I’m a life-long buyer of art supplies and now I’ve finally screwed up the courage to put media to paper. I’m sure it will be humbling.

Some re-inks

I’ve got a little small-bottle set of those iroshizuku inks. I love the tsuki-yo, which is a nice blue-black, so I reloaded the Vanishing Point with it. I use that pen a lot at the office.

The Metropolitan doesn’t get as much use, so I swapped in the kon-peki, which is a nice medium blue. I’ll find a way to get more use out of it. I love the way it looks.

Of the three pens, the Lamy Safari was the one I didn’t write out of ink. The cartridge just dried out. It’s a drag, but I have more pens than I have writing time. I still have a few of these sweet purple Lamy cartridges, so I just swapped one in.

The fountain pen fire I had at the turn of the year has cooled a good bit. I like the pens I’ve got and I use them often. I’m definitely not hot to grab more of them right now.

Just 10 minutes

I’ve never been a big incense guy. I don’t mind the smells, I just constantly leave the room while they’re burning and it’s a fire hazard.

Same thing with candles. I had to stop running them when I’m alone in the house because I keep leaving the room they’re in.

This cute(?) little Japanese, match-sized, incense stick is right up my alley. Even I can sit in a room for 10 minutes, probably.

2022 Richmond Folk Festival poster

I am smitten with the poster for the Folk Festival this year.

Cassandra Kim‘s fanciful animals are cute and cool. The Richmond Folk Festival posters have, over the years, showcased different styles. 2022’s is a great entry in the series.

I love that it is a proper oil painting (and you can bid on the original).

This time-lapse is nuts. It looks like magic.

CYCLES – A film by Jason Goldwatch & The Alchemist

I’m sure I know more of The Alchemist’s work than I can think of right now, but this is a great audio/visual show.

Pencil Advent Calendar

The late, great CW Pencil Enterprise was a boutique pencil shop in NYC. Like so many small shops, they got whacked pretty badly in the pandemic. They tried to make changes to stay afloat, but closed this fall.

One of the last things they sold was their annual pencil advent calendar. This was the first year I was able to get one, as they historically sell out within minutes.

24 envelopes, each with a pencil (or maybe some pencil-related ephemera?). I’m excited.

The Super Cops (1974)

I caught the last chunk of this movie last night while flipping channels. It’s got lots of standard-issue 70’s NYC cop movie stuff in it, but the standout to me is the music. Holy cow is it good.

Jerry Fielding, a victim of the Red Scare in the 50’s, did the score to this but is more famous for his work for The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs. I’m gonna pull this whole movie down as an audio file so I can dig into some audio clips and beats.

Fresh new leather

I lost my wallet on Father’s Day. I 100% blame it on going to a little too hard and ignoring the age-old adage, “don’t put anything on the roof of your car that you’re not willing to lose”. I somehow got my phone back in the car, but the wallet (and my vaccine card!) are gone. I held out hope for a week or two that maybe a good samaritan would drop it in a mailbox, but that didn’t happen.

I went back to the source, Rider Boot, a local leather guy(??) here in RVA. I traded some emails with Ron, commiserated over the loss, and talked through a replacement. It’s not 100% the same, but damn if he doesn’t make nice stuff.

I’ve already promised myself to never ever ever ever ever ever put my wallet on the roof of my car again.

Blomerth Wallpaper

Brian Blomerth was the featured artist in the latest Smoke Signal from Desert Island Comics.

I really loves this guys work. It’s playful and psychedelic. This wallpaper selection is neither, but it made me laugh.