November 15: Family Project

I spent the better part of my free time yesterday working in support of a family project, instead of my own.
In this case, I am happy to be supporting a very worthy project, about to be launched.
Adding it up, I have spent at least four hours each week since the end of August helping my parents with digital graphics and technical advice, such as I can give.

Artwork for Vanishing Cincinnati Drawing Series by David and Barbara Day

My parents are artists. They have created a beautiful book which represents their careers as designers in business together and their favorite subject: their city, Cincinnati, Ohio. (If you've never been there, you are really missing out. Cincinnati has charm, culture, and multicultural history in abundance.)

My parents have a long standing relationship with the history, architecture, and cultural vibrance of their city. Their lives and work are inseparable from its visual culture. So much so, that the detailed drawings that are included in the forthcoming book are embedded with their passion, as much as with factual renderings of the city as it is, or as it was in memory.

So I am dedicating this post to my parents and their book, which is a celebration equivalent to a lifetime achievement award and testiment to family collaboration. I am also grateful to the many people who have given their time, energy, and resources to bring this book to life.

Vanishing Cincinnati, by David and Barbara Day will be officially released on December 1, 2012, published by Orange Frazer Press, Wilmington, OH.

You can see more of my parents' illustration work online here.

Book Cover Preliminary Drawing, Vanishing Cincinnati by David and Barbara Day

November 14: Second Autumn

You know how Hobbits talk of having Second Breakfast in Lord of the Rings? Lately we seem to be having a Second Autumn here along the Chesapeake.

I thought that Hurricane Sandy would cause all the remaining leaves to blow away, but some trees held on. There were a lot of them still green at the end of October. This week I have observed stunning reds, yellows, and a few oranges where there was dull green last week. What a spectacular autumn we've had this year!

November 13: Reindeer Games

Today I was itching to play with inks. Winter is coming and I wanted to see what gesso over ink could do for making snowy landscapes.
I pulled out a stack of glossy card stock and put down some inks. Then a layer of gesso. I took a pointed needle and scratched several sgraffito stars. I let it dry then stamped an evergreen tree with a hand-made stamp. I added the cocoa-colored reindeer last, an old stamp from All Night Media that I still love.
This experiment is not finished yet, but it seems like I might be on to something. Thinning the gesso leaves some colors visible.