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.

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