Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I've been a bit busy, so I'm letting the girls bail me out and provide the art this time.
We got some unseasonably warm weather last Friday, so while I mowed the lawn one last time, Lily and Carol decorated the drive.

This one surprised me. It's Santa going down the chimney —with snow, natch. I like the slanted line at the bottom which sorta suggests a rooftop with a pitch.



Then Lily drew Santa with a hula-hoop. I think she and Carol had the chipmunks on their minds. Carol just drew two hula hoops. You can see them in pink in the top picture.



Looking forward to posting more stuff in 2009! Happy New Year!

Lily turns 4!

Lily turned four last month, so I did this one to commemorate the event. Lily requested a flamingo and Carol asked for the cat.
For the first time I sketched the piece first to give me a head start. Even so, it took some time and tried the girls' patience.
I worked on the flamingo and candles first and obviously ran out of steam when it came to the cat and cake. I fully intended to revisit it, but a downpour paid a visit first.

Another Bear

This was a nice one from last month. The girls were in a good mood too, which is always nice.

More Old Stuff

I did the bird in early April and the giraffe later that month.





I always try to get a shot of the girls with the final art, at least to give a sense of scale. Sometimes the sun is too intense, and the kids just can't muster the photo-op.

Ancient Art

I'm finally getting around to posting some old driveway art. Hopefully I'll learn to keep on top of it. We'll see.



This Polar Bear was a request for Lily —her favorite animal. We did this way back in March. I didn't go way out on a limb here, but I think the lettering is kind of appealing.

Colored Chalk on Black Ground

We don't own a lot of camping equipment, so when the weather is nice, I take the girls outside and we put colored chalk to our blacktop driveway. With all due respect to its weather-proofing properties, there is no better reason than chalk-art to keep the drive well dressed in Brewer-Cote. Seventy bucks worth of black slurry will get you a sprawling velvety substrate —black enough for a matador and rich enough for the King himself. Within a half-hour, the three of us will get the drive pretty-well covered with drawings, typography and colorful hopscotch designs.
Here is an example or two of instances when I got a bit carried away:



Please take special note of the white marks directly below the Mazda's tailpipe. This is Lily's "bear" and she's quite proud of it.



I habitually take requests from the girls. This is safe because I know Carol will always ask for King Kong. This particular version lasted a day before a thunderstorm censored me. The name is already fading.