Lyle Lovett Portrait Illustration

This is my entry for the BookMooch Journal "A Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love." Lyle Lovett, ink on paper, 2008.

Lyle Lovett, ink on paper, 2008. Click image to see full-size.

I'm really enjoying this marker sketch process. They're either cheap markers or old markers, so in either case they dry out quickly. That gives me an opportunity to layer colors like I would with glazes in painting.

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The BookMooch Journals are an offshoot of BookMooch. Read more about the journals here.

Related: I've been updating my Flickr page. Pop in for a visit, yeah? The Mooch Journals have a Flickr pool, too.

Illustration Friday: Foggy

Let Things Be Foggy, ink on paper, 2008 Let Things Be Foggy, ink on paper, July 2008.

I began this sketch during my stay in Canadian, Texas over the Fourth of July holiday. I don't have any major shows planned or new projects in progress at this point, so I feel a mite bit purposeless. (It's been a long time since my schedule was this open.) Plus, I'm exploring some less graphic, more painterly stylistic ground. This foggy place is the perfect environment in which to let some new ideas germinate.

See more of Illustration Friday here.

Here is a snapshot of my desk upon completing the drawing, where you can see my collage sketch:

Worktable snapshot, 2008.07.12

Not What I Meant

Not What I Meant, acrylic on wood, 2008Not What I Meant, acrylic on wood panel, 2008. Click image to enlarge.

A few years back I came into a whole pile of these 8 x 22 inch wood panels. I think they were raw cabinet doors that hadn't been shaped and finished. Usually I paint on them vertically, so this is the first time I've used one in its wide format. Just in time for Illustration Friday: Wide.

Not What I Meant, detail view, 2008

Not What I Meant, detail view.

This panel was actually a so-so painting several years back. (In fact, it was one of a series of paintings I did that turned out so poorly that I realized I needed to go back to school and learn to paint. Hence: graduate school.) To start the painting you see here, I sanded the previous painting's surface, then added the red and blue. I scratched the fish shapes away with an exacto knife (and many many blades). It's so satisfying to transform a failure into a success.