Food Glorious Food

I did a boring photo shoot of grocery bags full of food. The good thing was all the exotic foods that were bought. I knew right away I wanted to do a drawing. I selected a few things of interest and went at it. Our food stylist was named Liza. She has a cooking website. Check it out here. Yun and I went to a great restaurant near our apartment the other night and she was in there eating. Guess we went to the right place.

Flower Power

I almost never make a drawing like this but it was so zen I couldn't resist. It came out pretty plain so I jazzed it up with my stamps and whatnot. I did a photo shoot at a great photographer's studio. The only problem is the space was very sterile. There was not a lot of chochkies strewn about. I had to make due. The photographer, Craig Cutler, showed me some photos he was taking out in New Jersey. There is a dude out there who puts dinosaurs together. Some are 120 feet long. He told me it's all done in a giant warehouse. The guy works for all the major museums, even the Smithsonian. I'd love to have one of his prints. You can see Craig's work here.

Sopranos

A lot of television shows and movies get made in New York. Therefore I see a lot of places I know in scenes. A good example is the Sopranos. Most of the planet watched the last season. If you watched the last few episodes there was a scene where Tony beats a guy up and then drags him to the foot railing of the bar and knocks all his teeth out. The cool thing was it's a little Italian restaurant a few blocks from my house. I eat there once in a while. The film crew made it look a lot more dramatic than it really looks in person. In honor of the Sopranos I went and drew the outside of the place. If you are ever there, try the sausages parmigiana with spaghetti for $14.95.

Rooster

My friend Jun asked me to meet her one night and go out. She gave me the address and said she would be there at midnight. Turns out it was the Cock. An extremely gay, gay bar. When I get inside there is television sets everywhere. Movies are playing. Of course it's of tons of guys doing stuff to each other. Doesn't faze me though. Jun is like an hour late. After a certain point, it was a bit rough to be hanging out in there. Lots of transvestites were hanging out and they are always fun. One afternoon I was looking for something to draw and I stumbled across the place once again. As I was drawing this, the owner, Allan came out. He wanted to know if he could get a copy. I said,"no problem." I asked him if he knew Jun and he absolutely did. It would be nice to have my drawing hanging in such a famous place. Next time Jun takes me I'll have something to stare at besides the television sets. Allan said he'd give me some free passes and drink tickets. I will pass them on to some of my appropriate friends.

Grab Bag

I was asked to participate in a book where artists are given tasks that they don't ordinarily do. I had to make a sculpture. This is what I came up with. I didn't have a lot of time to spend on it. So I found this hollow plastic head. I guess it's used to display hats or something. I sawed the top off. Then I got a nice plant at the farmer's market along with some compost. Then I painted the eyes and dripping tears. I went out near my apartment to a spot that had an empty cement pedistle. Again I'm not much of a photographer. I took a bunch of shots and hoped one came out. I left it there as is. I wonder how long it will last. Maybe some folks will get a smile out of it.

Coincident

I arrived home one day after doing this drawing. Yun asked if she could see what I'd done. When I showed her she couldn't believe it. She said she and her friend had eaten there when I was in Toronto. It was her plan to take me there for dinner. It is very far from our apartment. It's not like it's in our neighborhood or something. She couldn't believe I had walked and weaved through the streets and ended up in front of that particular building. We must be on the same wavelength.

Change

Danny and I did a day of drawing. We ended up on the west side of Manhattan. It was one of those typical vistas that I always draw. I wanted to something a little different with this one. I figured I would attempt to stretch everything out to make it look like it was shot with a wide angle lense. When Danny saw it he asked, "why did you do that?" I just wanted to be different, not always do things the same way over and over. It's not easy for me to change. That goes for my life as well as drawing. When I do though, usually good things happen. I am on my way to Italy tomorrow for vacation. I will try to post next week from there. We'll see how it goes. In a few weeks the drawings I do there should start to show up.