Recent Doodles

This painting was inspired by Joni Mitchell’s flawless album “Blue.” This was a special commission which was auctioned off for the Maximilian J. Growchowski Memorial Fund. Proceeds from the sale of prints of this piece will be donated the fund as well. To learn more about this wonderful organization, please click here.

This one changed a lot from sketch to final. It was a situation where the sketches served more to just get my pencil moving so ideas would start popping rather than as a complete layout.

The very first panda sighting in Doodle Park. This was painted for Illustrationfriday.com. The word this week was ‘Total.’ My usual association with this word is when trying to figure out a bill at a restaurant. I’m not sure where the panda came into this, but there he is.

Painting that bookshelf was easy. It’s what all of mine look like.

His hair changed slightly in the process, but that’s about it.

I’ve started to do many sketches on tracing paper. Often, I’ll have all the elements (in this case each figure and the background) on separate sheets that I can layer. This helps me play around and get just the right placement. I can then trace the setup again and again, varying composition and color, which I lay down with colored pencils.

Gollem is an amazing little pub just over the Singel canal in Amsterdam. If you like beer, and you find yourself in Amsterdam, you should definitely stop in. I’m not much of a beer drinker myself and I loved the place.

I was lucky to spend February of 2006 in Amsterdam, with nothing to do but experience the city and paint. In that time I completed 9 paintings. This piece, the first and largest, is my only painting ever to be painted outdoors and on-site. It depicts a bridge over the Prinsengracht, one of Amsterdam’s canals, with the Westerkerk in the distance. I should state that I did take one liberty with this scene; the trees were not in bloom in February.

Thanks to Chris T. for the photos and, of course, to Kelly for the experience of a lifetime.