Ah, Seattle. I've lived in the shadow of the Emerald City for nearly eight years now. Here's my sketch of what is arguably the most recognized building in the entire Pacific Northwest... the 1962 World Fair's "Space Needle."



Nothing like the smell of a good pot of coffee in the morning. Unless you work in Seattle, of course. If you do, then walking past Monorail Espresso smells just about as good. ;)

Nature is always a good source of sketch subjects. Here's a drawing obviously called Tree1:



If you rent a Vespa scooter from Jet City Scooters and ride it over the Magnolia bridge, you can find this very tree located outside a school building up in that Seattle neighborhood. Jet City Scooters will deliver the rented scooter directly to you anywhere in the greater Seattle area. Then they'll pick it up when you're done with the rental period. Finally, scooter rentals for the rest of us! Right here in Seattle.

Let me know if you need more specific directions... I could look up the address and get a MapPoint map of this tree's exact location... but I'm too lazy to do that now. Maybe next time I'll be more ambitious. More likely not.

Stay tuned!

Happy birthday Lisa! I won't tell anybody how old you are today. Let's just say I'm still older... Not old, just older. (Track #6)

Here's another gecko I drew; this one came off of a cap that I wear when we run sometimes.



Speaking of running... Robin, Nathan and I ran our first 5k road race on Sunday. The "Issaquah Rotary Run 2003" was part of our annual Salmon Days festival here in town. Results were recorded by Perfect Time Events. (Check out our results live on the web by clicking on the hyperlink and scrolling down to the 2003 Issaquah Rotary Run.) We came in right smack in the middle of the pack. I ran it in about 27 minutes and Robin and Nathan came in around 30 minutes. Woo-hoo! Go Cole fam!

TTFN

How about a Gecko? Rachie loves this one...



I drew this one based on the back of a t-shirt that I brought home from Maui last time we went. Ah, Maui... It's been more than a year since we ran along your beautiful beach and tasted the fresh papayas at our outdoor breakfast table listening to the gentle sounds of the surf. We'll be back again someday.

In the meantime, at least I have a picture of a gecko to take a gander at every once in a while...

Mahalo for listenin'...!

Happy Anniversary, Robin! I love you! 16 more years of fun and adventure start today.

Here's my best nose capture to date... These lips and nose are precious to me.



I strive to be able to capture her whole face some day with my paper and pencil. A little bit of progress at a time, right?

Blog, blog, blog. I don't have time to blog... ;)

I've been trying to get some new sketches posted to blog about: what can I say, quite often there's more to do than there is time in a day. I've got several unfinished sketches nearly done, some done but not scanned in yet, and some others still that ... let's just say ... you won't see them on this website.

My daughter took a Monart class and prodcued seven masterpieces this spring. You can check them out on the web at http://members.aol.com/DLRdave/Art/RachelMonart5thGrade.html.

This one was first: Hedwig, the most famous owl in all snowy owldom.




More to come...

OK. I have to get this one posted before April expires at midnight... Oops. Missed April on the east coast. Oh well.

My daughter and I did a one-shot "Monart" lesson one night at a homeschool association meeting. We copied a chameleon under the instruction of, well, the instructor.

My daughter did this one:



I did this one:


Click on one of the images for a larger view...

Next post is ... well, OK, I have no idea what my next post will be because I haven't sketched it yet. Guess you'll just have to check back later.

Hasta,

Whew. Time flies when you're not having fun, too.

Two months have gone by since I posted last... I did these sketches as a Christmas gift to my sister. She said it was OK to post them here. This is my niece and my nephew. Copied from great photos of them.

    
Click on one of the images for a larger view...

Next post is a pair of pictures that my daughter and I did at an art lesson.

Stay tuned...

This is a quick sketch that I did of my daughter while she was watching TV this past Thanksgiving. It took me about an hour and because I was doing it quickly, it doesn't look exactly like her. It's close, but something's not quite right.

It's much easier to get realistic looking drawings when you can take your time and copy something that's static and unchanging. Live subjects are more difficult because they squirm and wiggle... ;)

Anyway, here it is:

Click on the image for a larger view...

Coming soon: some even better "photo copies"...

Happy New Year!

Back to the book:

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This is a practice sketch of a line drawing published on p. 179 of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

The human face makes an excellent drawing subject from any angle!

Next: a live subject profile.

I'm also interested in fractal images and all of the software concepts associated with making pretty, computer-generated pictures. This is a black and white image created in Frackle, a Mac and Windows fractal creator that I wrote. Followed by my hand drawn sketch of it... I did this one just to practice copying shapes correctly. Both made by me; vastly different creation techniques. Which is a nicer image?

    
Click on one of the images for a larger view...

Who says computers aren't artistic? ;)

Maybe one of these days I'll blog as much as my good friend Rob; but then again, if I blogged as much as he does, you might not be able to keep up with reading these posts... See you in '03!

I've had some other drawings done (even scanned in and uploaded) for a while and just can't seem to find the time to write a quick sentence about them here... How lame is that? ;)

Here's another "room still life." This time it's from my own house. There are a couple of mistakes in this one... but I think you'd have to sit on my family room love seat and close your right eye to figure out what they are... You decide:


Click on the image for a larger view...

More to come...

Here's what I'm calling my best sketch to date. It's a still life of my sister-in-law's living room. I drew it while I was on vacation recently.


Click on the image for a larger view...

I have two more drawings that I've started. Which will be next? You'll have to tune in and find out...

Later!

Well... I was on vacation for a while, so I had a chance to practice some drawing. I did one on my vacation that makes me particularly happy: I really am learning how to draw well just from reading this book and practicing! [Read it; you can draw too! Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain]

Before I show you that, though, here are the practice drawings I did just prior to leaving for my vacation. Lesson: sighting proportions and angles correctly yield accurate perspective renderings.

  
Click on an image for a larger view...

More soon!

OK, now I get to post my favorite (best?) drawing to date. This is a drawn copy of a photo of my grandmother from a long, long time ago. I called it "Before I Knew Grandma" and I gave her the original in a frame for her birthday in early September.

Happy Birthday Grandma!


Click the image for a larger view...

Next time: sighting and perspective practice...

I did not draw a chair. I know it looks like I drew a chair, but in reality, I was focusing on the empty spaces that border the chair and drawing the edges of the spaces. Think of it this way: I drew the white shapes' outlines and then erased the shaded background within them. And a chair magically appeared...!


Click the image for a larger view...

Next time: a hand drawn copy of a photo of my Grandma from before I was born...

My daughter is quite the young artist as well. Her colorful picture shown below was the first prize winner in a local coloring competition. It's going to be the picture on this year's Salmon Days T-shirts! Great job, Rach!



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Here's my second "real" drawing:


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Not bad for an amateur, eh?

Later,
Dave

And now, without further adieu, my first "real" drawing:



Click the image for a larger view...

By "real" drawing I mean, it's not just a copy of somebody else's drawing that I did for practice. I did it from a "real live" view, just by looking at my left hand...

Dave

First, thanks to Mr. Rob Fahrni, for poking and prodding me into actually sharing via a "blog" - he's been very patient with me.

OK, this is an online sketchbook, right? How about some sketches?

I've been learning how to draw by reading the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. And, of course, by doing the exercises she describes in the book. It really is an amazing book - she has convinced me that nearly anybody can learn how to draw - if you can see things and if you can make a pencil scratch a piece of paper, then you can learn how to draw. It's a learnable skill, not just some mysterious talent that a chosen few are born with...

First, my practice drawings (done upside down) from the chapter headings of the first Harry Potter novel, chapters 11 through 14.



Click the image for a larger view...

More to come...
Dave