#drawing
liisa is a toronto girl that you’ve probably walked by and maybe noted her 5’11” frame (amazons!!!) but you’ve probably seen her in many a fashion magazine and not realised it. her mouth is what helps me immediately recognise her but she’s otherwise quite chameleon-like to me like another
model i seem to like to try and draw. i’m told she is quite the antimodel, from an attitude perspective, which is always a good thing. i can’t remember where i got this image from but i may try and take this further, illustration wise. liisa winkler in moleskine.
below are drawings from a session at ocad quite some time ago. i think this was the first time i had gone in a while. life drawing is such a love / hate thing for me. i’ve been going more regularly as of late and i feel like my drawings are getting tenser and tenser. the drawings are definitely messier and i dare say less organised. i think i’m trying too hard but i still love the challenge of the setting and the various ways one can challenge oneself to draw differently. i’m not sure how much it shows but during these sessions i am trying to draw a little outside of my comfort zone.
1 min poses
5 & 10 min
20 min
so on this day in a park in montreal, after walking nearly all day, i had some great company while basking in the sun. the owner of this bike had a stash of wine on ice that he kept going back to. in the middle of the afternoon. ducks were being chased in the pond by dogs. one guy decided to lie at the edge of the water where he was eventually run over by a dog. drawing this left me with one arm that was more tanned than the other. and after we left? well, we went to have three orders of poutine at la banquise. a picture might’ve done the job but i would only have had one, maybe two of these memories. this has been another edition of deep thoughts, by jack handy.
i guess maps was the song that first made me pay attention to the yeah yeah yeahs. i think their latest album is one of the few i wasn’t disappointed by this year. it sounds a little more produced than i expected but it works for me. i like the balance of synth they put in; some bands have tried hard to do this and it’s just been baaaaaaad. yes i’m talking about you, coldplay. i’d say my favourite track is zero. brian chase, karen o, and nick zinner (not in that order) in moleskine.
i’m actually busy with projects if you can believe that so posting frequency is getting even lower. not much to say about this one. photo by hedi slimane, in moleskine
my search for good new music is usually fruitless but one day i came across
thunderheist. i’m not going to say that their stuff is for everyone; their debut isn’t particularly deep conceptually or lyrically. the electro-beats are pretty good though. if i had to say, theirs is like junk food music but the junk food is really good. they could really bring it to the next level though, if the ripples don’t stop at the surface. toronto’s own grahm zilla and isis salam in moleskine.
i have tried some staedtler brush pens in the past but the nibs are essentially foam dewdrops or something with no bristles. they’re decent for some effects but i think i like their results more on smoother drawing paper. texturewise, well, it’s not so easy to achieve this (for me, but i could just suck). i should probably just watercolour more but the lazy genius in me loves the compactness of brush pens and i’ve found one that works for me so far. i wish they’d release coloured inks for it here. it’s not without it’s quirks as well but the range and precision can’t be beat in my books. you judge? above is the pentel.
this is with the staedtlers.
also, i don’t know what to call these? drawings? paintings? the ink seems waterbased so….watercolours? my ignorance knows no bounds.
it seems i relate a lot of things to music. IF’s topic is tango but i kept thinking of waltz #2 – one of my favourite songs. i can’t really think of many songs that actually employ a waltz tempo these days. either way he seemed to dance a fine line between many elements over his life time but his talent was pretty undeniable. i’m not the best of guitar players but his ability was pretty crazy – try playing angeles. elliott’s music could probably be described as sombre in general but i suppose that depends on how you’re looking at it. if you haven’t heard of him, you probably heard his stuff if you checked out good will hunting. anyway, i say his stuff is worth the listen. while you’re at it, go listen to between the bars and pitseleh. go. elliott smith in moleskine, 8×10″
found this image on
blogTO and decided to doodle it for something different. the trucks are in a graveyard for semis and trucks of that size. the photos were really nice. i would have thought that someone would have tried to recycle or reuse parts of these trucks, given our current climate-centric temperament these days, but even the hollowed out cab was pretty much in tact. maybe one day. ballpoint pen in moleskine, 8×10″
though i do have a graphite piece in the works at the moment, i haven’t completed something in a while. looking back through some old stuff i came across this one. this is one i finished by poking away at it over the course of probably three years. it’s hard not to look at it and think about how grueling it sometimes seems to try and complete something. the hair in this one was quite the labour for me. of course, i’m happy with it i think. it’s a nice reminder for me to keep pushing through anything, let alone drawings or paintings. julia ormond on paper, 8×11″.
