Drawing Jonathan 12/13/12

SKIPPED TRACK PRACTICE for Mark Beard, again! Shh, don't tell my coach! These drawings were worth it, though. After posting about last week's watercolor woes, I needed to redeem myself. I took my time and more thoughtfully placed colors this week, with much better results! 

Join the Voices 5 Miler 12/2/12

SOMETIMES I FORGET this is blog is about art AND running. I haven't had any running related posts in a while. So, I thought I'd post I ran the NYRR's Join the Voices 5 Miler at the beginning of the month. It's been a while since I've run a race. It was nice to get back on the line, but I definitely felt a little rusty. I guess my lack of running posts is a reflection of my focus on art for the past year or so.

Also, I wanted to share these photos my friend Da Ping Lou took. While the photo's are lovely, I have to say I look awful in the second one. Eyes closed -- I guess I didn't want to faces the miles ahead!

Drawing Bayne 12/6/12

LAST WEEK I SKIPPED OUT ON TRACK PRACTICE to go drawing with Mark Beard (again). This week we had a great model by the name of Bayne. Although he was solid like the Batman character, he looked much more like Thor, Son of Asgard, than someone who'd crawled from the depths.

Drawing with Mark Beard Part 2

LAST NIGHT I was able to take another night to go drawing in the studio of Mark Beard. Again, it was a pleasure. An added bonus, one of my good (and uber-talented) friends Javier Ameijeiras was there! Check out my drawings of Carter.

Drawing with Mark Beard

LAST NIGHT WAS A TREAT! (Get it? Halloween humor! Sorry...) I had the opportunity to join artist, Mark Beard, for an evening of life drawing. I got an invitation to his studio for the session; and it was something very special. Entering his studio is like entering the studio of a Renaissance artist. Every wall is covered with classic drawings and paintings, busts and sculptures pop up here and there, old books and reference photos strewn about (okay, maybe an Edwardian artist's studio), and projects in-progress are tucked in the corner to be scrutinized later.

The space is fitting, of course, for Mark's work. He is responsible for the amazing murals you'll see in the Abercrombie & Fitch stores, which look like they're from the Edwardian era. Beautiful Abercrombiesque athletes doing the sorts of things you'd expect -- rowing boats, riding bikes, playing football, painted like gods. He's a master of his craft.

It was clear where Mark found his inspiration from. Gabriel, the model, was clearly a real athlete. He could have been carved out of stone.

A big thank you to Mark Beard for hosting the session this week. I can't wait to go back!

Pools: Reflections by Kelly Klein

BIG NEWS!!!!! 

Pools: Reflections by Kelly Klein is now on sale. Pools: Reflections (published by Rizzoli, designed by Sam Shahid) is Kelly Klein's follow up to Pools, published in 1992. The original was a history book of the medium, filled with classic beauties and many vintage images. The follow-up, 20 years later, takes a contemporary look at the pool. The images show works of art and new architectural feats, as well as, pools that have been abandoned and taken on a second life. It is also the first hardcover book that has MY NAME IN IT!!!! Such an exciting moment for me!

At the end of last year, Pools: Reflections' designer, Sam Shahid, recommended me to Kelly Klein to assist her with image research as well as some minor production tasks. I jumped at the opportunity to work with Kelly. She began as a designer for Calvin Klein and later moved into editorial and fashion photography, with an impressive laundry list of clients. Later she began authoring books, curating simply beautiful stories of pictures. Some of her titles include Pools, Underworld, Horse, and now Pools: Reflections.

I learned so much from the experience and from Kelly. She has such a keen eye for beauty and amazing scope, that enabled her to collect this vivid story. Additionally, it was an education of the world of photography. I have become acquainted with so many new artists I can hardly handle it and I'm so excited to continue to learn.

The icing on the cake is that the whole experience was tons of fun. Kelly was a joy to work for and it didn't hurt that I got to work out of her swanky office, first in the Meatpacking and later in Chelsea. This last week I was a little star-stuck at the book launch party. The event was held at Barney's (who is selling the special edition, that comes with a hard-case and t-shirt) and the room was filled with celebrities from the fashion and photography world. I was able to identify the likes of Bruce Weber, Calvin Klein, and Simon Doonan; but unfortunately, I'm sure I missed some other folks since I rarely get to peek into that world.

Last, but not least, all profits from the sale of Pools: Reflections will go to ACRIA an HIV/AIDS charity that works to develop new medication and is searching for a cure.

I'm so happy I got the opportunity to work on Pools: Reflections and with Kelly Klein, and it's is so exciting to see my name printed in a hardcover. Be sure to buy your copy today!! If you're nice to me, I'll even autography it for you. ;)

Pines Nude Drawing, July 21, 2012

Last weekend was a blast in Fire Island. A lot of time was spent with friends, in the sun, and of course at Pines Nude Drawings. We had an AMAZING model for the session. He was in perfect shape, knew how pose, and he had such a great sense of humor that just added to the fun of the session. I really felt like I got my stride this week. I'm quite happy with the drawings I came home with. These are just a few of my favorites.

The model, Jacob Thompson, is an actor/model who recently finished a tour of the show "Cats" as Rum Tum Tugger!

Pines Nude Drawing, July 7, 2012

I'm catching up a little on my posting. Here are images from my second trip the Fire Island Pines Pines Nude Drawing. We had several beautiful models for the session. The model that sat the longest really had some great poses. Honestly, I felt a little off with my drawing this day but I managed to get a few good images. Also, I finally brought out my watercolors! Hopefully, later in the season, I'll use them during some longer poses...

Season 2 of Pines Nude Drawing! June 6, 2012

I'm thoroughly enjoying my second summer in the Pines. Like last year, I'm taking some time from my rigorous schedule of tanning, beaching, partying, and tea-ing to attend the open model session, Pines Nude Drawing. Again, it is one of the highlights of my beach weekends. This image is from my first session with the group. Unfortunately, it is the only image I've gotten scanned from that day but it is one of my favorite drawings from PND!

Food Network Magazine Teaches Us How to Stuff Sausage

Summer is officially here and the Fourth of July is just around the corner! Do you have your plans made??? I bet they include some sunshine, friends, and, of course, GRILLING! Time to get out the ketchup, mustard, hamburgers, hot dogs, and sausages. Mmmmmm, love that charcoal taste.

How cool would it be if you made your own sausages this year?! Well, you're in luck! Just run to your closest magazine stand and pick up the latest issue of the Food Network Magazine. In just six easy to follow and oh-so-well illustrated steps, chef Michael Symon tells you how on page 160! Oh wait, those are my illustrations showing you how! Bet you didn't know I was an expert sausage stuffer! Enjoy!

M Booth Asks, "What's Your Challenge?"

Today was a pretty exciting day. I spent the day in the offices of M Booth - A Global Communications Company installing a mural. It was quite the experience. The office was teeming with energy; and I couldn't believe how welcoming the staff was. They brought me in to add a little pizzazz to the new dry-erase board they installed. (Which alone was pretty cool. Did you know there is dry-erase paint???! Just a few coats and ANY wall can become a dry-erase board! Whoa!)

Seems they take a team strategy to all their work. The new board's sole purpose is to help stuck team members find solutions to the challenges their facing. It asks, "What's Your Challenge?" Anyone can leave a post and everyone can reply. It's like a live Facebook wall!

Floor to ceiling, the wall was about 9 feet tall. They decided to devote the top two feet to a little something to spice it up and stimulate creative thinking. This is where I enter the picture. They asked me to come in and fill the space with fun, funky, and fresh images. It was a fun little afternoon in my studio brainstorming what to draw. You can see here some of my favorite ideas from the mural.

After checking out the Keith Haring Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum (You can read about my trip.), I was excited to work on the wall. What a great way to prep for a project! So much respect to Haring. You can bet that dry-erase markers are so much more forgiving than sumi ink!

Beyond a few little things (a slightly too short step stool, strange metal gratings hanging from the ceiling, and a lack of yellow markers) the installation went really smoothly. It was great to be in the hallway. People were constantly walking through telling me how excited they were about the wall. And by the end of the day, the mural was complete! It came out great. I really hope they get a lot of use out of it. The team approach to work in their office is outstanding.

A big thanks to Lauren and Andrew for bringing me in today to create the mural. They were such great hosts!

Keith Haring At The Brooklyn Museum

Today I checked out the Keith Haring exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. I visited upon the recommendations of some friends and was pleasantly surprised by the show. Honestly, I knew very little of Haring's work before the show. I was familiar with his street art, but hadn't realized it was part of a larger body of work, and that the street art actually came later in his career.

What I found was a much deeper body of work that included not only graffiti, but drawings, paintings, sound, and video art. An added bonus to the images were excepts from Haring's journals that illuminated his thought processes and the evolution of his work. It was quite impressive how across so many media Haring was able to use such a limited vocabulary. From start to finish similar characters were able to convey scenes depicting personal emotion, commentary on the art world, and satire on the commercialism of our society. It was quite eye-opening to me to see there was so much more behind Haring's work than a few pyramids and dogs plastered throughout NYC subway stations.

The above image is the largest image included in the exhibit. I didn't get the measurement of the piece but it had to be at least 30 feet wide by 6 feet tall. It's my favorite piece from the show. I simply cannot imagine creating a piece with such precision. With sumi ink, there is no erasing. All of these lines were created first try!! It is interesting to me not only because its size, but it is also an example of Haring combining the characters of his story-telling with the dense patterning he created in an initially separate body of work. So awe-inspiring!!

While I impressed by the in-depth display of Haring's process and evolving perspective on art and the viewer, I was disappointed by the lack of information on Keith Haring's personal life. It was obvious that Haring was drawing from his life experiences to create his work. Images of religious symbols, anonymous bodies, phalluses, and scenes of violence and sex carried throughout his body of work but no mention of it appeared on the walls of the gallery to explain why. The complete avoidance of the topic is quite appalling.


Despite this, I highly recommend the show. At the end of the exhibit is a little fun opportunity. Create your own graffiti! (Well, sort of.) You can see here Danny Jones and my Haring-inspired work. Go make your own!

Also, it was such a beautiful day today here in NYC, I couldn't help but take some time to sit outside in the sun. Here's a little sketch I did of the Brooklyn Museum and a shot I took on my phone.

Bringing My Sketchbook to the Gym!

Summer is almost here! Sunshine, flip flops, and the beaches are right around the corner. If you're like me, you're starting to look for that perfect bathing suit and sunglasses outfit. Also, you're starting to hit the gym a little more regularly than you do in those frigid months...


Here's a little project I did for fun. With a moleskine notebook and a workout from Men's Health, I made my own illustrated gym workout book! Personally, I'm looking to "Forge an Iron Chest" by the beginning of summer. Since it was just for fun (and I never intended to share it..) the illustrations, etc. are pretty simple. The pages on the left explain the exercise and I've saved the page on the right to keep track of my weight and reps. The whole thing turned out pretty nifty. So, I thought it would be fun to share. Can't wait to start using it next week. Just need to remember to LIFT while I'm there and and not DRAW....


Also, if anyone knows a good Buns of Steel workout, send it my way! ;)

*All exercises and references for the workout were taken from and copyright Menshealth.com.