A 75K kitchen on a 50 cent piece of paper...

This drawing was created with Prismacolor markers and pencils, it took about ten hours to complete. I demonstrate this exercise to my advanced class and spend two class sessions doing so, just because of all the complex elements involved. In this picture we're dealing with gradient planes, reflective surfaces, a variety of materials, perspective, and different lighting sources all rendered by hand with the pencils and markers. It's a grueling assignment to get through but in the end, my students come away with achieving a great deal.

This week I'm going to highlight some of the rendering I teach design students at Canada College. In my classes we use various media such as colored pencils, markers, pastels, and watercolor to convey design ideas to clients. The image above is a good example how various media can be mixed to achieve a strong rendering. In this drawing I used grey markers for the mirror effect on the desk, markers on the floor, pastel on the wall, and pencil on the chair and artwork. A dash of white-out on the artwork creates the illusion of reflected light on glass.



I'm constantly telling my students that a good rendering starts with a good drawing, so they're required to keep sketchbooks devoted to drawing. The chairs above represent three different styles rendered with markers only. The left chair is silk, the middle is zebra hide, the Ghost Chair on the right is made out of polycarbonate and is rendered with grey markers. I like teaching this technique because the results are immediate and exciting for the students.

Strange Mutations

Started my day by inking these hybrid animal sketches in my sketchbook while listing to Gregorian chants and waiting for the coffee to kick in. Looks like a promising weekend. Carry on, fellow mutants...

Today is a studio day. I'll put a few hours into that manzanita branch, sketch out some ideas for a new series of bird altars I've been thinking about, work on Shaari's bird for her foyer, and grade some papers. A full and fun day ahead.

Enjoy the bear drawings from my sketchbook!

Between Two Worlds is nearly finished. This past week I brought some of the fire light to the distant hills and yesterday I finished the raven. All that's left is the branch which I'll start today. I have a manzanita branch in my studio that I'll use as a model. This is my favorite part of the painting process, seeing the end!

The Fine Art of Living

As I get older I'm appreciating the simple luxuries in life, such as April's weekly supply of fresh-cut flowers for our home, a glass of wine, an excellent meal, and time spent with family and friends. I never bought into the notion of the suffering artist, I believe a life well lived supports the creative drive. You certainly don't need to be wealthy to live well, just open your eyes to the simple things in your life that make you happy and savor them.

Recently we had dinner with our friends Danny and Michelle at their home in Sonoma. Michelle knows how to bring simple luxuries into her home and a dinner at their house is always something to remember, in fact it's a work of art. They have nearly a dozen of my paintings throughout their house and it's always good to go back and visit the older Holland work.

Old Friends
April, me, Kristan, Jim, Danny, Michelle, Joan, Richard, Mateo (holding camera)

On this long weekend I hope you'll reflect on the gifts that are in your life and hopefully reconnect with friends and family. (Thanks, Michelle and Danny!)

Here's a fun little sequence from my sketchbook. Sometimes I cut out shapes so the content on the following page is exposed and becomes part of the page being viewed. Note the swimming koi with the topo map bodies. Turn the page:



The koi become the clouds from the previous page... the fun just never ends in my life!!