Added Value

Here is a recent illustration for an article titled Added Value.

Valentine's Day Sale on T-Shirts

There's a Valentine's Day sale in my t-shirt shop, check it out! Be sure to use the coupon codes listed above.

Tinkerer

My Dad had some watches to fix over Christmas.

A Bitter Cold

The cold really gets inside your bones.

New Website Design!

I've recently revamped my website with a new design and some new work.

This redesign has everything you're used to seeing when visiting my site in addition to some new things as well. The home page is now the spot to find my most recent work with nice, big thumbnails.

There is also now a page devoted to my shop. This page includes the links you need to start shopping for my book, my t-shirts and my prints.

Enjoy!

High School Basketball - Sudbury

I sketched some spectators and bench players during a high school basketball game in Sudbury. I found the players on the losing team to be a lot more interesting to draw. They also didn't move as much as the winning team who had a lot more to cheer for, giving them more reasons to stand up and change positions.

48 Minutes of Hell

I painted this banner for the website 48 Minutes of Hell. It is a basketball blog written by Graydon Gordian, who also wrote the great foreword to my NBA portrait book, Portraits in the Paint.

Graydon is a fan of the San Antonio Spurs and writes about them pretty frequently so we wanted something to reflect the culture of their fan base. He suggested the idea of basing the banner around some Mexican Day of the Dead imagery, which includes dancing skeletons, skulls, tombstones and flowers.

To read some great writing and to see my banner in its intended design (part of the new ESPN basketball blog network), check out 48 Minutes of Hell.

Sudbury Bus Terminal, 6am

The Sudbury bus terminal is not an attractive place at 6am. This woman was talking loudly into the payphone to someone about giving her a place to stay. While she spoke, the guy working the food counter kept hollering off numbers when orders were ready. He would place the food on the counter and yell, "59 and 60!!" When no one appeared within 3 seconds he would yell again, "Fifty-NINE and SIXTY!!" He repeated this in tones increasing in annoyance until the orders were picked up.

Limes and Pamplemousse

I enjoy painting fruit and I added some technical elements to these paintings. The limes are joined by a drawing of a juicer and the grapefruit is accompanied by a serrated spoon drawing.

Barb

This is Barb. She let us use her phone when Chantal and I got locked out of the house after a round of cross country skiing. She was vacuuming and had her hair wet and in curlers. She offered us a warm place to stay and some hot chocolate while we waited for someone to come with the key. She said we could watch her while she vacuumed. It was a nice offer, but I had to shovel the driveway.

Potted Plants

I made these sketches over Christmas of a couple of potted plants. The colored parts are done with brush pens.

Portraits in the Paint: Under Review in SLAM Magazine

I was very excited to see my book of NBA portraits reviewed in SLAM magazine when I got my copy of the new issue in the mail the other day.

As many of you know, SLAM magazine featured my illustrations on their website throughout the last NBA season. Their current issue (number 125) holds a review of my book in their Under Review section (by Lang Whitaker), right next to the monthly Josh Childress Tech Corner. The issue features Allen Iverson on the cover, so go grab your copy today!

I've wanted for a long time to have my work in the magazine. I've been collecting SLAM since issue 2, so it's pretty damn cool to make it in the book. Thanks, SLAM!

From the Woods No.4

A cattail found on the frozen shores of Lake McFarlane, Sudbury. I did some more skiing on the frozen lake by following the trails of the snowmobiles.

Andrew Wyeth

I just heard that one of my favorite painters, Andrew Wyeth, has died. He was 91 years old. I only just finished reading a book about him, Andrew Wyeth A Secret Life by Richard Meryman. It was a follow up read to the NC Wyeth book I read last year and it was really interesting to read about the father first and then the son.

I grew up in a house with a couple Wyeth prints on the walls and have been a fan of his for a while. His paintings have a very quiet, thoughtful and haunting quality to them.

His most famous painting is Christina's World, which hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the book I read I was introduced to a lot of the models who appear in his paintings throughout the years. They all have interesting stories and personalities, Christina Olson being one of the most unique.

He painted in egg tempera, a medium I've never tried but am interested in trying one day. Supposedly he mixed his paints with his fingers and his hands smelled like rotten eggs.

His work has definitely been an influence on me.

"When I die don't ever worry about me. I don't believe in being there for the funeral. Remember that. I'll be flying far away, off on a new tack. Something new that's twice as good." - Andrew Wyeth

From the Woods No.3

I don't even know what this thing is properly called, but I enjoyed drawing it.

From the Woods No.2

This thing again, but this time in ink and some pencil shadows.

From the Woods

I found this thing while wandering through the woods on cross country skis. I'd say I was cross country skiing, but it was more like I was shuffling my feet with skis attached to them. Winter sports were never my thing.

Winter Relics No.2

Winter Relics

I found these little bits of twigs and berries while shoveling the driveway. The top two drawings are of a pair of shrivelled berries with incredibly sharp thorns on their stem.

Winter Leaves

These little plants were poking through the surface of the snow. The brush pen was perfect to capture their shapes.

Birch Trees No.2

There's a lot of snow in Sudbury. I actually kind of miss it living in New York. Birch trees, pine trees and snow go really well together.

Birch Trees

I've been spending some time in Canada over the holidays and have been doing a bit of sketching. Here's a small drawing of some trees and snow in Sudbury, Ontario.