yet another memory sketch

I saw this guy the other day on my way to my Brooklyn studio space. He didn't look that confused but I thought pushing his expression would make a more convincing drawing.

Memory Sketch from Thursday

I was eating breakfast at the South Slope Diner on 4th and Union this morning. Are they still called that? They keep changing their name...New College, South slope, It's something else now, but I stop at 2 name changes. Root Hill , if you change your name again I'm still calling you Root Hill ( they used to be Brooklyn Bean). Do I change my name every few months? Should I start introducing myself as PJ or Felipe? Aaaaanyway..... I digress. This lady was crossing the street with her daughter, It was windy and not really raining that hard. what's with the umbrella?

Memory sketch

I've been taking Stephen Silver's character design class over at schoolism.com, and it's been a very rewarding experience thus far. One of the exercises he stresses is memory sketching. This gentleman I saw on the corner of 3rd avenue the other morning. Man Alive was he ever thin, I walked passed him and was so caught up in the shape of his head and hat that I didn't bother drawing in the rest of his body. This is a lot of fun to do and I suggest it to any artist to practice and have fun with.

A napkin with Wilbur on it

Wilbur, on a napkin, on his first shift late Tuesday night last week. He'll be tending bar on Sundays at Canal Bar. Sundays are one of my favorite evenings to have a couple of cold ones and draw in my sketchbook at the bar, well, that and Tuesdays. Tuesdays are pretty damn fine as well. See you this Sunday at Canal Bar, and perhaps on Tuesday also.

Gowanus Yacht Club Napkins

After a great Memorial Day bbq at the Canal Bar on 3rd avenue, Josh, Wilbur and I walked up to Smith street with some Coconuts, left over from Friday's Carrol Street bbq. Thanks to the undercover cops for NOT giving us public drinking tickets/fines/jail time.

As we sat there and drank our black label beer, Zee and I started to sketch, as Josh and Wilbur cracked away at the remaining coconuts.

This girl sat very still and was an easy subject for both of us to sketch.

This is a great drawing by Zee. As the girl and her friends left we showed her the drawings and she seemed to really like them. She was visiting from Beirut(Lebanon) and hopefully she has a good stay in Brooklyn.

More Yacht Club Napkins

the Grease Pencil

These quick sketches were done on the R train coming home from life drawing a few weeks back. I like using the Grease Pencil or "China Marker" because it necessitates a quick, loose style of drawing. The first time I used a grease pencil was at Burger King in Richmond B.C. After removing the whopper from the microwave, I would mark off if it had extra onions or if it had no tomatoes. Then I'd stuff my mouth full of onion rings.

Barbes sketches

A few weeks ago Mick and I took a stroll up to Barbes on 6th avenue to watch some live music and sketch.

We sat on the side near the very front, and when Zee showed up he was standing with the crowd packed into the small room. Halfway through the set some crazy drunk guy shows up and of course, it was someone Zee and I had met briefly last summer. As he shouted and banged his hands on the ceiling, hugging Zee and pointing in my direction I could barely contain my laughter.

The Trombonist in the second band was well into his 60's and was rocking out. His wife was in the crowd and she took lots of pictures. Zee drew her once he got a seat with us.

A couple of very pretty ladies were dancing to our right, and of course I could not help but ignore the performers in front of me.

Barbes is a great little place to sketch and I'll definitely be back very soon.

Great Lakes

Being a passenger in an airplane makes me nervous for a few reasons. I've been around pilots all my life and I know they are just as infallible as the next person. I also have this reoccurring dream where a jet liner falls from the sky and as it does I watch it closely to see in which direction I should run, narrowly escaping the burning debris. So a couple of weeks ago I took a late night stroll to Great Lakes on fifth ave, had a couple of Brooklyn Lagers and sketched Ginger, to take my mind off the impending early morning flight to Toronto. Thank you to Justin for the picture.

walking canvas party

I hate nightclubs, I always have. I'm sure there are some nice people that go to clubs and maybe that person is YOU, but if I want to dance I usually do so in the comfort of my own kitchen when no one is looking. As my friend Steve says "If you see me dancing call me a taxi right away." I'm not really one for deafening pop music, overpriced drinks and excesses of douchebaggery. I like to take in my douchebaggery in small doses, that's why I stick to bars these days WITH ONE EXCEPTION - friends of mine have been putting on these full moon party events (www.moonlightnights.org) and the last event was a walking canvas party at 40C on ave C. Lots of cool people and a friendly vibe made for a pleasant, albeit exhaustive evening, I don't recall taking too many brakes between 10pm and 4am. Thank you to all who let me draw on you, and for all those drinks.

Two girls one napkin

I shook my father's hand and at the same time unbuckled my seat belt. "Give me a call later if you need to be picked up" he told me. I wouldn't be needing a ride though, no need to wake him up at midnight. If my friends were too drunk to drive me home then I'd phone up a taxi cab. It was 8pm and I was to meet Ted and Chris at 8:30. Mike and Eric would show up later. I was early and I knew it, I desperately needed to get some bar sketching in before they all showed up. As the waitress took my beer order a drunk fat woman in her 30's to her right yelled for some napkins. "I'll have a few napkins too if you don't mind" I chipped in. She thought I was joking, there was no spill at my table.
Upon returning from the bar with some napkins to my full beer I fumbled for my pens and proceeded to sketch, except for the first time in a long time I was afraid of someone getting offended if they caught me drawing them. I played it safe and sketched some of the waitresses from the back. I would avoid drawing the men in the bar that night, and later would give all the drawings away to the respective girls.

Out with Zartosht the other night, these 2 girls didn't mind me drawing them at all, nor did the one on the left mind Z drawing a beautiful tattoo on her back.
Z picked up dinner and I took care of the cab ride home.