Art Boom Boom

Earlier this week I got an email from the person handling public art for the City of Renton to inform me that my Storm Drain Cover Design had won, via the public voting for their favorite, along with one other design. There are only two storm drain covers that were to be made.

YAY!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who voted over the two weeks prior to July 31st. You helped to make this possible and I am grateful to count you as friends.

Going forward I've asked them if it's possible to video the process of making the storm drain cover at the foundry. We are negotiating that possibility and I will be posting more when I find out.

Thursday Ambidextrous Drawing. This snail moves in different ways.

Ambidextrous Tuesday. Another portrait that was done a week or so ago using both hands to draw. At this point I let my left hand do the shaping and basic features while my right hand is doing the shading. That takes the pressure off my left hand and allows for a quicker finish with my right hand, which is more able to do the shading quickly.

Because my Canon scanner/printer goes down whenever there is the slightest change to wifi or blue tooth, I have to call Canon to help get it back online. The trouble shooting interface is the worst I've ever seen and is a throw back to the 1990s as far as visual clarity and usage. I don't know what they are thinking at Canon.

So I thought I might be taking a photo and posting that instead. Which I also did here.

Over the weekend I was notified that one of my six designs for storm drain covers that the city was asking artists to do, got picked as one of the three finalists.

The one they picked was the Salmon jumping out of the water with Mount Rainier in the background. Thankful to get this far.

Retro Monday.

From one of my old sketchbooks.

Retro Monday, Memorial Day Edition: This drawing from one of my old sketchbooks fits this day. The very tiny white dog in the lower right was suggested by my then girlfriend.

Many years after creating this idea for Memorial Day, it was seen by the terrific AD of Washington State History Museum in Tacoma. She saw her character in my art, for an exhibit about explaining the concept of time to children. She hired me to do several other murals for the museum as well as a very young version of this character. It was so much fun to work on and the exhibit also hired several other amazing illustrators to do murals. Great fun.

NEW Abidextrous drawing from this week. Due to my internet being down several times and then impossibly trying to get my illogical Canon printer/scanner to work with the new password, which it wasn't, I got a bit cranky this week. Hence this drawing. But I was able to use both hands on this one easily.

Just in time for your Summer reading list... My photo book "Botanica"

A vivid celebration of nature’s quiet brilliance, Botanica invites readers into a world of color, texture, and fleeting beauty—captured through the lens of a high-resolution cell phone camera, chosen for its immediacy and spontaneity over traditional gear.

Photographed across the lush landscapes of the Pacific Northwest and the sun-drenched terrain of the American Southwest, this full-color photo book showcases an intimate collection of flowers encountered on the road, in gardens, and along trails. Each image reveals the intricate personality of its subject—from fiery petals and dew-kissed leaves to the quiet geometry of desert blooms.

Saturday Morning Doodle: Ambidextrous Edition. This drawing was done with equal parts, left and right hands.

Getting to use my right hand more and more every week but still painful and limited.

For all of you who live with Geese in your hood or see them often, know that they are not only beautiful but are very powerful creatures that will not tolerate humans very well and are prolific shit machines. One has to be ware of every part of the park, grass, lawn, sidewalk so that you don't get their little gifts on your shoes and bring that into your car... house...etc.