New Orleans, LA - Biking Through Isaac (illustration)

Yes, we did.  Through town, down to the Moonwalk (river walk on the Mississippi), and through the Quarter.  We had to call it quits, though, once things started flying at our heads.

My nod to the city and bikers who hosted me during Hurricane Isaac, a la the Icon series.  Just for fun.

New Orleans, LA - City Icons (illustration)

I bopped around the French Quarter during my entire stay in NOLA, which is right on the Mississippi River. No complaints from me, even with the hurricane!

From left to right: homage to the city's French history and Mardis Gras (beads were like ornaments in everything from railings to tree limbs), the Crescent City Connection (twin cantilever bridges), painters set up around Jackson Square, the green and white-striped canvas roof of Cafe du Monde, the statue of General Jackson in the Square, the famous Natchez steam sternwheeler and it's calliope pipes and double stacks, and the Saint Louis Cathedral.

I was lucky enough to catch the calliope in action one afternoon and the happy jazz tunes puffing out of the steamer added a little pep to my pedaling.  I actually knew the words to one of them (thanks to a few years living with grandparents), and joined in with a few sidewalk musicians who bongoed or tapped in rhythm.  The Quarter along the river front became one of my favourite spots in America.

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:

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: