Julekalender is Back!

After all well-meaning intentions to get back to regular blogging and making work go out the window, an artist tends to go back to the well of familiarity. In my case, in December, it's the well of the Julekalender, a series of drawings I did back in 2010.

I've reignited the Julekalender idea and have begun drawings for each day in December. On display in this blog post is the drawing from December 1st. It's titled "Piles of Mashed Potatoes in the Shape of the Pillars of Creation," and its inspiration is a Thanksgiving staple and one of the most famous outer space photographs ever taken.

I am hoping that this year's series of drawings will work as a cohesive group, as opposed to the whimsy and randomness of the 2010 drawings. That's not to say that all of the images will feature food or space as subject matter, but you never know.

Sunday Art #4

I'm back of the regularly scheduled art schnide with this piece I did for good friend and La Grande-ite Gregory Rawlins. He approached me a few weeks ago to do a poster for his upcoming concert at Union's LG Brewskis pub.

Lots of pen and ink on paper I found in a stack near the west wall of the studio. If you'd like a high quality version for printing, please let me know. I'm sure Greg would love extra hands hanging them around town.

Sunday Art #3 (and a half)

If you don't think that these GOP Primary Paint Swatches are hilarious,* you should check out Newt Gingrich's South Carolina Primary victory speech. He never misses a beat, dropping references to Barack Obama's "left wing friends in San Francisco" and how we're headed towards an "Alinksy/European socialist" regime. Pretty good stuff.

The South Carolina GOP Primary Paint Swatch™colors come from screen captures from last Thursday's Fox News debate in Charleston.

Now Newt's campaign will pick up its jowls and head down to Florida, where they'll try to upset ol' Mittens once more. If he does, it'll certainly make the next few months very interesting.

Also attached, and accompanying this swatch in the Sunday Art category, is a quick sketch of the poster I've started for the upcoming Greg Rawlins concert in Union, Oregon. I've never transposed something from a tiny pen sketch (about 3" high) to a large (11"x17") poster size, so this will be quite the experiment.



* It's totally fine if you don't think they're hilarious. They're not really that funny. I just needed a comparison for Newt's bombastic speech-making.

Sunday Art #2

Never fear, my friends: the Sunday Art train keeps a rollin' on. I hadn't forgotten about this drawing I finished earlier this week (and started last week), I just didn't have a scanner within reach to get it uploaded to the web.

I've been on a stratification kick lately when I'm doodling, and I figured to put some more effort into a more polished version of what I've been doing in meetings.

I suppose this qualifies as a regular Saturday blog post, but I might chime in later tonight if the mood strikes.

This week I'll upload some sketches I'm working on for a concert poster. A good friend wants me to draw one up for a local show, so that's the project for the next week or so.

Also, stay tuned for a new paint swatch from the South Carolina GOP primaries, taking place today.

In Sickness and In Health...

The drawing bug reared its head again last night. I finished this bad boy up this morning.

If you've never had conjunctivitis, and would like to know what it's like to look like a werewolf when you teach Photojournalism students about Philip Jones Griffiths, come on over and I can give it to you.

(You can have my PJG Powerpoint presentation too, if you like.)

Julekalender - 24 Dec.: The End (Belated)

The end of the project. It came and went so fast. I missed drawing something on the 25th, though there were plenty of family distractions to not have me worry about it too much.

I purchased a brand new set of Micron pens to work on the last three drawings. My old pens were all on their way out. Split tips, missing tips, low ink. The new ones worked quite well on the Rives heavyweight paper I used.

Many thanks to everyone that followed along as I tried this little experiment. Scans should appear in a book soon. Look for it next holiday season. It'll make a perfect stocking stuffer. Any input on future projects, drawing- or whatever-related, is much appreciated.

Here's to much more art being produced in 2011.

Julekalender - 22/23 Dec. (Belated)

This diptych evolved as the first drawing (the one on the left, the 22nd) was finishing up. The second drawing was done on Festivus.

Julekalender - 21 Dec. (Belated)

Julekalender - 20 Dec.

The final Julekalender drawing done in Oregon. In honor of the supposed lunar eclipse (it's cloudy here), here's an ambiguous diagram that looks like it tells you something important, but really doesn't.

Julekalender - 19 Dec.

A few things about the Julekalender project:

1. I'm leaving town tomorrow.

2. I won't have access to a scanner for a while.

3. Because of items 1 and 2, there will be a slight disruption of the frequency of posting these images.

The drawings will still get made, they just might not show up every day. They might come in batches. They might be shoddy digital photos and not nice scans.

But you'll see the drawings in the end. And there have been rumblings around the home office here that drawings might continue beyond Christmas day. So stay tuned, I guess.

Julekalender - 18 Dec.

It was seven years ago. It was just a normal night in Ann Arbor, until I misinterpreted the layout of a regular sidewalk, and I was launched into the air when my bike brakes locked up.

The mayhem that ensued included finding out my roommate had been in a car accident that same day, getting into the ER to have x-rays, a cast, and 9 stitches in my chin, and figuring out how I was going to make it with one hand free for a couple of weeks.

This map is a brief visual summary of what happened that night, minus my roommate's car accident. This drawing has unlocked the following achievements:

- Largest drawing (9" x 12")

- Longest drawing (3+ hours)

- First drawing first planned on another piece of paper

- First drawing outlined first in pencil

A first-hand account of what happened that night (12/18/2003) can be found by clicking here. Please note this was from back in my emailing days of not capitalizing letters. Entire email was written with one hand. Names have been erased to protect the innocent.

*Warning: File above is higher resolution than normal. May take a while to load on slower connections.

Julekalender - 17 Dec.

Two things:

1. It snowed last night. And it makes everything look nicer outside. It had been getting to that mid-December-cold-but-not-snowy-and-everything-kind-of-looks-covered-in-soot look that kind of annoys people. So, the snow is a good thing.

2. Yesterday (the 17th) marked the birth of a good friend's new baby, and this drawing has nothing to do with that. It just so happened that I had an idea for a cake being struck by lightning. Nothing more. I swear.

Julekalender - 16 Dec.

Oh no! Those balloons are about to be cut loose by those scissors. Watch out balloons!

Julekalender - 15 Dec.

I've had two potatoes sitting around in my vegetable bowl for a long time. They were supposed to go into a recipe I was going to make a couple weeks ago. But I ended up getting a couple new potatoes and didn't use the original ones.

Last night, feeling a bit hungry in the later evening after dinner, I decided to slice up those older potatoes and see what they'd do roasted in the oven.

They turned out great. A little olive oil, some seasoning, baked a bit on each side, and it was like I was at a cool little restaurant where you can watch tv and draw.

So I ate my french fries and drew a picture relating to that notion. Where the handbag and slime ideas came from, I'll probably never know. But you need a place to keep your extra fries, right?

Julekalender - 14 Dec.

Rushed. Sloppy. Haphazard. In honor of the half birthday of Flag Day. Happy half birthday, Flag Day!

Julekalender - 13 Dec.

Quite possibly inspired by Gwyneth Paltrow's appearance on Conan last night. She had an electrical gadget near the bathtub in The Royal Tenenbaums. Hey, tenenbaum is a holiday thing too! (Sort of.)

Julekalender - 12 Dec.

A rough and stormy night called for a rough and stormy drawing. It's funny how some of these look best viewed full size on actual paper, but others look nicer when they shrink on the computer.

This one is one of the latter variety.

I have a sink full of dishes that is now calling my name.

Julekalender - 11 Dec.

More more more. Working on a humorous look at the holidays. Whatever. It's supposed to be a joke.

I'm thinking that when I'm through with the drawings, they'll all go into a new Blurb book. That would be fun, right?

Julekalender - 10 Dec.

Longest drawing so far. Probably a good two hours or more. Had to look up "wooden scaffolding" on the web for reference material.

Easily my favorite. I think I'll come back to this subject again before this is all said and done.