Microns, Where have You Been All My Life?

Here are some sketches drawn while in various forms of transit around the Chicago area. All drawn with Micron pens, which are pretty fantastic fade-less fine point pens.

Songs: 

I've Been Everywhere - Johnny Cash

Airmail Special - Ella Fitzgerald

Another Travelin' Song - Bright Eyes (NSFW Language)

Hourly Comic, 2011.

Yesterday I participated in the Hourly Comic drawing. Inspired by John Campbell of Pictures For Sad Children, the hourly comic consists of one comic (panel) for every hour you're awake. Here was my Tuesday.

My favorite parts are the lunch drawing, because that is a pretty accurate depiction of how much I enjoy sandwiches, & the venturing out in the snow with my roommate Sarah. She was very enamored with the snow, & I was... not.

Songs & Videos:

The Snowpocalypse - Will Yates (via Myspace)

Bookends - Simon & Garfunkel (YouTube)

Stormy Weather - Ella Fitzgerald

Summer smART Show - Musician Photos!

Recently I had some photos in the Summer smART Show at the Flat Iron Arts building in Wicker Park.
These are digital prints from school in Alfred, matted here in Chicago. The instruments are made of duct tape.
More photos from the series.

Songs:

L'Accodeoniste - Edith Piaf (iLike)

Infinity Guitars - Sleigh Bells (HypeMachine)

Clarinet Marmalade - Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra Ft. Bix Beiderbecke (YouTube)

You Turned The Tables On Me - Ella Fitzgerald (iLike)

Cello Song (feat. Jose Gonzalez) - The Books (YouTube)

SOFA so Good!

Chicago recently held the SOFA (Sculpture Objects and Functional Art) conference. Held at Navy Pier, it featured works from ceramic and glass artists from around the globe. It was really fascinating to see what everyone was making out of essentially the same few basic materials. Glass, clay, and wood are extremely versatile. And the Corning Museum of Glass was doing demonstrations with their own portable hot shop!

Artists' work pictured here: Lauren Kalman, Kurt Weiser, Anne Lemanski, and Anna Williams.

A Playlist for SOFA: Songs/Videos:

Sofa Song - The Kooks

A Spoonful Weighs a Ton - The Flaming Lips
Lip Gloss - Lil Mama

Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me) - Paul McCartney and Wings
You Ain't No Picasso - Bishop Allen

Jaws Theme - John Williams
Fins - Jimmy Buffett

Talking Bird - Death Cab for Cutie
Lullaby of Birdland - Ella Fitzgerald

Illustrations by Request

I wanted to get back to drawing, and I like having an assignment to work on. I asked friends what they'd like me to sketch.

Here's the results of round one. An octopus, the chest-burst scene from Alien, potatoes in a frying pan, and the Chicken vs. Egg question.












Songs:

Octopus's Garden - The Beatles (YouTube)

Let's Call The Whole Thing Off - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (YouTube)

Hello My Baby - Michigan J. Frog (YouTube)

A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off - The Magnetic Fields (imeem)

I'm Beginning To See The Light

Working like a mad lady in the neon shop this week. Here's what the inside of last week's starfish lamp looks like, some nice, simple shapes. The neon will be held on to the frame with standoff glass toggles.
And onto the next neon starfish. The pieces will be layered, like this, blacked out, and the image of a starfish will be scraped away out of the different glass tubes. It'll be a reddish-pink color. There are 6 tubes here, all with electrodes sealed onto the ends. There's a lot of patterns that can be made, too, checkerboards and waves. Now, to pump them all!
And now presenting, in several installments, a Neon Mix (Vol. 1):

I'm Beginning To See The Light - Ella Fitzgerald

Electricity- The Avalanches

Neon Bible - The Arcade Fire

Danger of the Water

This week's Illustration Friday topic: Breezy.

I like to think of illustrations as stills from a movie. And now, I present the soundtrack:

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot

Russian Sailors' Dance - Reinhold Gliere (Youtube)

Sloop John B - The Beach Boys

Ocean of Noise - The Arcade Fire

Danger of the Water- The Futureheads

Stormy Weather - Ella Fitzgerald (Youtube)

Raincoat Song - The Decemberists

The Mariner's Revenge Song - The Decemberists