Aug 31 - New Orleans, LA

Last night in NOLA.  I was incredibly lucky to have landed in the midst of some great people to weather the storm (TS/Hurricane Isaac) with and I couldn't have asked for a better overall experience in the city.  The place is clearly a biker's dream--flat terrain, easy-going people, everything is close by . . . and believe you me, I am convinced my exercise routine is going to require a bike when I get back home!  I was inspired to design a city-icon image based on my biking trip to the river-front just as Isaac was blowing in, and I'll work on that tonight/tomorrow.

The storm and subsequent changes to TWO flight itineraries kicked Albuquerque/Santa Fe and Los Angeles off the route list, unfortunately.  I fly out tomorrow morning and begin one of the longest travel days I'll have ever had: New Orleans > Dallas/Ft. Worth > Albuquerque > Phoenix > Los Angeles, then grab a rental car and drive up to Santa Barbara.  Long day.

New Orleans, LA - Hotel Monteleone Alley (sketch)

This is the backside of the Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter; their red-lettered roof sign is visible from I-10 if you happen to be driving through.  I did this to practice that rough sketch look again, but THIS time I did the initial sketch in pencil then overlaid with pen and marker color . . . turned out much better!

Also, I went back to Jackson Square a little later and ran into the ink artist I mentioned in an earlier post who was doing this type of sketch work and I got his info--nice guy.  I'm going to try for this cleaner look that he does since I can certainly see the skill and attention to detail in his sketches, but I'm not entirely sure I want to go that route all the time . . . I LIKE the messy look, both for what it is and because I can clean it up to be either more realistic or stylized.  Also, I heard two people say "It's really tight and on the fly," and "I really like that style," about my work as they were looking over my shoulder.  So.

I'll figure it all out eventually.

New Orleans, LA - 4 Way Fam on Bourbon St (sketch)

I wanted to do another rough sketch like the kind I'd done in Nashville last week, but decided (for some reason) to skip the initial pencil work and just jump right into using a pen.  That fatal decision made this sketch turn out really dark and extra messy, so I'll definitely redo this back in the studio for cleaner lines, brighter colors, etc.

BUT, it so happens that for THIS particular sketch I caught a few guys from Mobile, AL who were in town for some work and to sell a few of their demo CDs; they came over to see what I was working on.  Since we were all artists starting out, I had them autograph the sketch because you just never know, right?  Good luck, guys!

New Orleans, LA - Tap Boys (sketch)

This is what happens when you settle in to sketch out some activity happening across the street and ten seconds later (literally!) the subjects disappear . . . well, they were somewhere around 10 years old, tops, so I should've known better.  The youngest one had taps on his green converse high-tops!

Note to self: carry ones and fives to keep the street performers in one place.

I don't know what I'm going to do with this one.  Probably just file it away as a learning experience.  Ha!

New Orleans, LA - The Arrival of The Nanny (illustration)

This was inspired by a comment made by a little girl while telling a story during a shadow puppet show.  I think it (the illustration) could be either happy or sinister, so if you let any little ones make up a story based on this picture, be sure to let me know which way they go with it!

New Orleans, LA - Frog and Jellyfish Play Ball (illustration)

While the power was out the other night, one of my new friends showed us a quick video of a shadow puppet show her two very young nieces put on for fun based on stories they made up.  One of them was about a Frog who heard a cry outside his house, "Help!  Help!  Come play with me!"  It was a Jellyfish.  The frog went outside and the two played ball and had fun, and all was right with the world.

Inspiration is everywhere if you're open to it.

Naturally, this was done a la story book illustration style.  I think of this and the next one collectively as "pictures to inspire story time."

Aug 31 - New Orleans, LA

The power finally came back on, the sun came out, the storm was over and the city got back to its hustle and bustle . . . so I was back out this morning taking more photos and grabbing a few sketches for my last day in New Orleans.

Click the photos to see what's new in the NOLA album:

Mobile, AL - City Icons (illustration)

Mobile is Azalea City--everywhere I went, when I asked people what they considered to be a city icon, almost every time the answer started with "Oh, you have to get the azaleas!"  So I did.

From left to right: the city's favorite flowering shrub, Bellingrath Gardens, Bragg-Mitchell Mansion, the government building (designed to look like a sailing ship), two of the city's tallest skyline features (RSA Battle House Tower and Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel), the fountain at Bienville Square, and some of the park with its Spanish Moss-draped live oaks.

Everyone should see Mobile at some time in their lives--it's beautiful.  I only recommend the trip occur in the spring (April), when the azaleas are actually in bloom.  (Heh!)

Nashville, TN - Dragon Park (illustration)

There's a huge children's park in Nashville near Vanderbilt University that has some amazing play structures. One of them is this really long dragon statue completely covered in tile mosaic images from various stories--I'll add some of the pictures below for fun.  Anywho, this dragon statue was worth a colorful illustration for the trip.  Caution: artistic license ahead.

Knoxville, TN - The Tin Roof (sketch)

I'm loving this rough-sketch look!  I'll tighten this one up at home, though it'll stay rough like this for the final version.

Knoxville, TN - Butterflies at Cades Cove (illustration)

Still learning my way around these illustration markers.  They have a tendency to smear the india ink when I use them after I've sketched out the lines, so for this sketch I tried doing things a little differently.  The blocks of "wash" were applied first in a loose style, following the color and overall shapes of things I was looking at (the insects, stones, light patterns), then I used the pen to refine those blocks into a recognizable image.

This is one of my favourites from the trip so far and I can't wait to rescan this one when I get back home as this image doesn't do it justice.  It's a small pix, about 4 x 5in., and "very sale-able" I've been told . . . I'm thinking art cards, maybe?

Knoxville, TN - Smokey Mountains (sketch)

Just sort of kickin' around today waiting for the power on the laptop to die, messing around with markers between card games and gusts of wind from Isaac.  Went back into my older photos and did a couple of sketches from Knoxville for later work in the studio.

Despite these two sketches are clearly of trees, they'll probably end up as some abstract painting without the leafy scribble; if you ask me about the painting later I'll probably say something really profound about the symbolism of life's rapid pace in the peaceful chaos of the universe's movement, or the music of the stars and wind represented as love and solidarity. . . I don't know, whatever sounds really artistically profound that really isn't an answer at all.  Or maybe I'll just keep it simple and agree with whatever the viewer thinks it is, but really they're just trees backlit by sunlight.

New Orleans, LA - Jazz at Cafe Du Monde (illustration)

I made myself pick a spot to work on my "people skills," and so I found myself at Cafe Du Monde across the street from Jackson Square.  I ate a plate of beignets first, though.

I figured if I just started with simple line drawings at first to capture the silhouettes, then follow up with the shading, then I might be able to pull this off . . . and it worked!  I celebrated with more beignets.

The jazz guys were moving around so much I hard time getting them down on paper.  Note to self: practice drawing moving targets; order more beignets.

New Orleans, LA - Jackson Square park (illustration)

My focus here was to catch the contrast of the iron fountain and light posts and the various greenery in front of the pale cream color of the cathedral.  I didn't start out going for a cartoonish look, but I started with the banana leaves and just had so much fun with those I just pushed it in that direction.

This is actually a mixed media.  The vegetation, fountain, and the lamp posts were "under painted" with colored pencil before applying the markers.

New Orleans, LA - St. Louis Cathedral (sketch)

Blasted this one out trying to mess around with a new technique with the markers and an alcohol solution AND practicing my "plein air", so I only paid marginal attention to the actual building details and layout in the sketch.  Some things worked, some things didn't.

I think I like making these look a little rougher like the alley sketch from Nashville.  Oh!  I almost forgot to mention it: there was an artist on Jackson Square that was selling these types of roughed-in original sketches with a watercolor wash for $100!  (It wasn't me.)

Aug 27 - New Orleans, LA

I arrived in New Orleans yesterday afternoon and my host took me on a bicycle tour of the French Quarter and the river front (the Moonwalk).  The streets were packed, Jackson Square was alive with a ring of artists, performers, and tourists; I got a $5 caricature lesson from one of the guys we stopped to talk to.

Today, though, things are different.  The city's been in a state of emergency since last night thanks to TS Isaac coming in tomorrow, and though there isn't a sense of panic or rushing about in the neighborhoods, folks are missing from the streets and store-fronts because they're off preparing for gale-force winds and 9 - 14" of rain.  The Quarter is quiet and the normally welcoming full-length windows are shuddered or boarded up. Not much to photograph or sketch there.

I managed to get a few good sketches and photographs this morning while the skies were still blue; later they got a little silvery because the cloud cover had moved in, which washed out a lot of the image colors.  Most of the pictures (not shown in the album) I'm keeping back to use as reference material for later pieces.

Click on the picture below to view the New Orleans album of my day in the French Quarter and river side:

Aug 25 - Mobile, AL (sketches)

(sigh)

Today was one of those days when everything I tried to do ended up being a disappointment.  The photos were okay, the sketches were rushed (dang ants!) or I was feeling frustrated that the markers weren't blending like I wanted them to, or I tried to use people as subjects and (as usual) failed.  Also, I forgot to put on sunscreen today and got a horrible farmer's tan line just under my knees (lol)!

Or, to paraphrase: bleh!

In the interest of full disclosure I've posted the sketches here in this post rather than give them their own postings . . . they don't deserve them!  I'll try these subjects again on the flight out of New Orleans (on the 28th) and push them a little further.  I also picked up a few supplies today that I hope will enable me to work with the markers a little differently when I want to use them as a color wash (versus a solid like with the cartoons).

And, to focus on the positive, the sketch I did with the people in it shows at least my non-existent people-as-subjects skills are getting better.  I'll keep practicing.

New photos in the Mobile album--click the picture!

Fort Conde, Mobile, AL

Mobile, AL - Bienville Square Fountain (sketch)

Drawing water in sunlight against a dark green-black fountain = more difficult than you might imagine.

Mobile, AL - Japanese Garden (sketch)

Just a quickie sketch while we were cooling off in the gazebo by the bridge--there's a photo of this same spot in the Mobile album (link in the previous post).  I'll revisit this back in the studio for a larger, cleaner version.

Aug 24 - Mobile, AL

Wow--I'm slipping into town just in time for the first week of classes at the University, Beer Fest downtown, and just ahead of Tropical Storm Isaac!  Now if only the Chili Cookoff was happening or the fishing rodeo I'd be set for the next few days with a mysterious cold that sadly laid me up for about a week or so while I "recovered."  [cough, cough]

I got in touch with some old friends from school (USA, go Jags!) who gave me some pointers on what to see downtown for this project, and my host also suggested going to Bellingrath Gardens, which is a sight to see year-round and one of Mobile's true gems.

We went to the Gardens first; I could spend a week camping out there and still not get all the photos I wanted to!  Did a quick sketch in the Japanese Garden and then we took off for downtown.

For those who are not familiar with the city (which is pronounced mo-BEEL after the Maubila indians, not MO-bul like it's portable), it was once the 3rd largest city in the US and has French and Spanish roots.  Sadly, most of the historic part of the city has been lost to fire or misguided architects of the previous century, but some of the older historic buildings have survived, along with the centuries-old live oaks that line the older residential streets and area green spaces.

Click the photo below to see today's pictures taken at Bellingrath Gardens and in "historic" downtown Mobile (around Dauphin and St. Joseph Sts.):

Nashville, TN - city icons

As I left Nashville I thought about how I wanted to lay out the city icons and almost immediately I came to realize I wanted to lay all these out into one continuous image; I had a layout in mind before I hit the last exit out of town.  When Jose and I worked out the travel arrangements we calculated on having "passenger time" to work on stuff in the car, and I missed having that opportunity yesterday while I had to wait SEVEN HOURS to finally reach a place a stopping point for the day.

But, I got it done.  The portable scanner I'm using is throwing off the colors, making them too bright and exaggerating the imperfections in the ink layers, which I can't seem to fix in the image software I have (per my understanding).  This doesn't appear as richly colored as the real deal, which is unfortunate because THIS image I want to recolor, but the real one looks awesome.  I'll rescan all of these once I'm home again.

From left to right: Visitor's Center; Hall of Fame antenna; the new Music City Center; four buildings from The District: Tootsie's (purple), Jack's BBQ, a random filler, BB King's Restaurant and Blues Club; the original Grand Ole Opry house, the new Grand Ole Opry mega-mix; the Cumberland River; and the large art sculpture across the river I didn't get the name of.

Aug 22 - Nashville, TN (Part II)

So here I sit in the hotel-of-the-night—nearly done with Nashville, but I’ve still got to do the city icon cartoon(s).  There was so much to see here I could easily spend weeks trying to capture the city and all its neighborhoods, not just The District I spent so much time in!  I’m going to keep thinking about the various things I want to incorporate into a cartoon sketch and see if I can work those out in the morning—I may have to just focus on one and save the others for later when I’m stuck in mass transit for hours and hours.  I also still have some time in the morning to kick around before I leave, and I keep thinking I want to go back to Music Row and grab a few photos.

Music Row is what they call 16^th and 17^th Streets on the west end of town near Vanderbilt University, and it’s where most of the city’s recording businesses are.  You’d think they’d be small corporate-looking buildings or something, but the street is actually full of posh and very beautiful craftsman-style houses.  The entire length of each street for about two blocks is nothing but studio, next to studio, next to studio, and because each one has a small sign out front with the studio’s name, it reminded me of every college’s Fraternity Row. . . but with more class and less beer can ornamentation.  Perfect for an icon line-up, cartoon style!

That’s it for tonight: tomorrow is another long traveling day.  A few more pictures have been added to the Nashville photo album, too.  'Night!

Nashville, TN - Printer's Alley (sketch)

One thing I’ve noticed while working on “the road” is the sketches are less formal or “clean” than what I thought I’d do.  The trip is still early yet, but I think the work is mirroring the energy of the place I’m in—or maybe it’s just me that’s doing the mirroring.  When I’ve been in the calm, scenic areas the pictures were themselves calm, flowing . . . easy; when I’ve been in the bustle of the cities the pictures were also energetic, almost frenzied.  Interestingly, it’s taken me the same amount of time to do both types of pictures, regardless of their “energy.”

After I finished the Visitor’s Center sketch I hiked up 5^th Ave toward Printer’s Alley.  About halfway up I stopped to grab a quick bite and waited for the afternoon shadows to catch up—that is, I waited for the day to progress a little further so I could get better, more distinct shadows on the buildings.  The afternoon sun (about 3 hrs before sunset) is amazing for just about any color-work outside, since it casts a warm golden glow on whatever the sun hits—perfect for photos if you’re out with a camera.  One chocolate chocolate-chunk cookie later it was time to go do that sketch . . . 

 . . . turns out Printer's Alley is a busy spot, despite the photos I managed to take of it that didn't have any people in them at all.  Met some very interesting people while there: a local artist, the most famous homeless man in Nashville (he was very clean, friendly, and as informative as the guys down at the visitor's center), a spontaneous group of musicians who treated me to a song with harmonicas and spoons, and a handful of curious passers-by.  

Printer's Alley, looking south toward Church Street.

Nashville, TN - Visitor's Center (sketch)

A little something from the sketchbook.  As usual the scanner clipped a little off the sides.  You'll see this building again in some kind of mosaic on canvas, I think.

Aug 22 - Nashville, TN (Part I)

It occurred to me this morning that I’ve been neglecting my blog posts.  Sure, I’ve been making them, but I’ve been doing them as the last thing I do each night before my brain shuts off completely.  Today I resolved to change that and be a little better about recording thoughts and observations through-out the day.  Non-readers, you can just scroll down to whatever pictures and links I’ve posted.

This morning I checked out of the Drake Inn (Stay where the stars stay!) and said goodbye to the Elvises (Elvi?) painted on my wall.  Although the idea of staying in a historic mid-century motel that has seen its share of film productions is intriguing to this wanderer, the reality is that the stars are long gone and the motel’s shine is a little dimmer with age.  I’m reminded of a similarly “vintage” motel in Winchester; I hope these declining beauties will survive long enough to be restored to a funky-cool glory.

I digress.

The first thing I wanted to do was drive back to the Parthenon in Centennial Park and take better pictures than I got yesterday, as well as work on a sketch or two.  Unfortunately the lighting conditions were too poor for my little point-and-shoot camera to overcome.  I did grab a quick sketch of some of the exterior architecture, though, but for the most part I think this structure will be rendered in cartoon form rather than anything more detailed now.  Inside they had smaller reproductions of some of the statuary on the building, and I learned that what I originally thought were camels (yeah, I know, camels in ancient Greece seemed odd to me, too) were actually horses used to pull the moon chariot of Selene as she descends down beneath the horizon. 

From 200+ feet away these would totally look like camel heads, right?!

After, I drove over to the new home of the Grand Ole’ Opry hoping to get a good view for a city icon sketch.  The building has some interesting qualities, but it resembled (to me) a strange blend of arena, glass-topped mega-mall, and riverboat.  I got my sketch, but the darn building's so large it’s going to be a trick to get it to work as a city icon in a cartoon!  I already have some ideas . . .

Now I’m back downtown to retake some photos and sketch out at least two places: the visitor’s center on the corner of 5^th and Broadway, and Printer’s Alley off Church St.  But more atmosphere for you: as I write this I’m eating lunch at Jack’s BBQ, which is one of the many places recommended for awesome local dining.  They serve up a great dry-rubbed beef brisket and southern sides, but for juicier pulled ‘Q I recommend Puckett’s Grocery up the hill a few blocks. 

And do you know how some places have distinctive smells and sounds to them, like New Orleans is jazz and Cajun spice, or the beach is crashing surf and salt and cooked seafood?  The entire downtown area of Nashville is loaded with “pit” restaurants and live music venues, so the entire area smells like smoky sweet barbeque and beer, and there’s honkytonk or country playing somewhere everywhere you go. . . I think they have it piped in with the crosswalk signals.

My beef is ‘et and my tea is drunk—time to get back to the streets.  I’m across from the Visitor’s Center now and the markers are calling . . .

Knoxville, TN - World's Fair Park

World's Fair Park and the Sunsphere.  Knoxville, TN

Coming to LOTR merchandise soon!

Aug 20 - Knoxville, TN

Today was the only day I was going to be in Knoxville, TN, so I wanted to make the most of it by visiting the Smoky Mountains and getting something specific to the city itself.  I drove out to Cade's Cove in the park and took the recommended scenic drive; did my first practice en plein air sketch with the illustration markers and nabbed a lot of great photos.  Afterward I headed to the city for lunch and more photos . . . and got a great illustration of Knoxville's World's Fair Park and the Sunsphere, which will be in a following post.

Click the photo to view some of the day's pictures (more to come after the trip):

As mentioned, here's the sketch:

Clipped a little by the scanner!

Aug 19 - Driving South

I got a late start yesterday, which had nothing to do with the bachelorette party I'd attended the night before, so I beat feet down to my first stop of the trip: Knoxville, TN.  My host family for the next few nights was also running late coming in from their own weekend adventures, so all our Sunday-morning motivation troubles must have had something to do with the weather rather than post-party delays.

And speaking of, the weather was perfect for driving south on I-81.  I don't normally find myself saying foggy, overcast, drippy days are perfect for anything other than a nap on the living room sofa, but it was.  The sky wasn't gray so much as it was silver, and the moisture had the trees and fields dressed in their best greens of the summer.  I would liked to have stopped along the way to take a few choice photos or quick sketches, but I've learned the state troopers frown on that sort of thing.  The distance was going to make it hard to get all the way down to Knoxville at a decent evening hour anyway so there was no time for work, just driving.

Since I don't have photos to share of my first day on the road, allow me to paint a picture with words of some of the things I saw or passed in VA and TN:

• Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive: some of the prettiest driving in the valley!
• Blue mountains in shades of calming blue, capped with puffs of silver and white fog
• Water towers painted like a bushel of apples (Mt. Jackson) and a hot air balloon (Wytheville)
• Various caverns, and Natural Bridge
• Crumbling abandoned barns in weathered shades of red and gray, gently sagging in overgrown green fields speckled with black cows and clouds of purple grasses
• A strange A-frame church built almost entirely out of stained glass, colored from apex to foundation in shades of rich,warm browns.  It had three tall a-frame "dormers" jutting out from the side that made the whole building look jagged and sharp.  With all those browns, though, it reminded me of a piece of peanut brittle.
• The birthplace of Davy Crockett and the historical Crockett Tavern (I've had The Ballad of Davy Crockett stuck in my head since I passed those signs)

I'll revisit these images later when I'm back in the studio; this morning, however, I'm headed out to the Smoky Mountains and famous Cades Cove (Kate's Cove) for a little photography and sketching.  Until the next post, -EAJ