CosCreative

The super hero to the stars (aka mr. matt) was courteous enough to lend me a pencil drawing to play with. I think it's really interesting to take someone else's original and change it's mood. The original drawing was incredibly clean, and I wanted to try and change the feeling of the piece. I think she looks like a Geisha who's been around the block a few too many times now.

While creating numerous spreadsheets for statistical analysis of my new job, my roommate and I watched Sense and Sensibility. I'm embarrassed to say that I had never watched this movie from start to finish, and I know that it is a favorite of many of my friends. I liked this movie because everyone can quote Shakespearean Sonnets with such ease, and I haven't thought about them since my undergraduate theatre days. So why not think about them more often.

This one is used heavily in Sense and Sensibility, and I actually had to learn this when I was a Freshman in College. I can always sort of quote it, but I'd like to know it better.

Sonnet 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds.
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his
height be taken.
Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and
cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and
weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

This sonnet makes me a bit sad, because I wonder if it can really be true.

This is the girliest illustration I have ever done. I wanted to draw the Boston Tea Party, with Indians and crates of Tea being thrown overboard. My roommate volunteered to sit for me drinking Tea instead. This is Ellie drinking Tea and thinking about trees one might see while driving a BMW down a windy road, listening to Vivaldi. She thinks it is her thinking, "will I have a big nose and double chins in this picture Marcos is doing of me." I tell her she is ridiculous. I drew a blanket over her legs, because I couldn't get them right. That's right- I'm an art cheater.

Quick sketch of Michelle receiving the Oscar. What did she win it for, and what was her acceptance speech? That's up to you.

I haven't written an installment of the Green Coat in a while. Look at January posts if you need to get caught up. This will eventually be a comic book. Only two more installments to go.

Kristen and Allison were never friends, but had Rebecca in common. Rebecca was too tan, and thought it fashionable to be called Beccs. Rebecca-Beccs, threw parties using Evite, and would talk to everyone for approximately one minute at a time. Kristen and Allison both wanted to be Rebecca-Beccs, but secretly loathed her. After one evening at some fundraiserpartywinterfestdrinksohmygodit’llbesomuchfunifyoudon’tgoI’llnevertalktoyouagain, Allison asked if she could go to Kristen’s apartment for a quick bathroom break, before taking a cross town train.

Allison was hesitant, because the line for the bathroom was not that long.
Allison paid a lot of money to live by a lot of bars.
Allison felt that she had to say yes, and offer a glass of wine.
Allison really wanted to go to bed.
Damn Thursday night parties.

Kristen accepted, and wanted a tour of the apartment. Allison never liked her apartment much, but did like the closet space. She opened the door to the Green Coat, and Kristen spied it. What a great Coat. I don’t ever wear that Coat, it’s too Green. Borrow it if you like.

Kristen should have said no, but she tucked it into an old Banana Republic Bag, and toted it on her cross town train.

This is how I feel today.

This is a picture of my roommate Ellie and my cat Hank. I think it looks like an illustration from a Spanish Text Book. In this illustration, Ellie is saying, "Estoy muy cansado." Hank is saying, "Yo tambien, Ellie, quiero a dormir en esta silla moreno."

I had most of the day off today, and I was able to watch a special on the victims of Hurricane Katrina. One of the things that they pointed out, is that the images of Hurricane Katrina are always floating around, but people have become immune to them because it happened 5 months ago. The stories behind the images are horrible, and what's even more horrible is that it happened, and is still happening in our own country. It's easy to say that the people in Louisiana and Mississippi can overcome their situation, much like the people of New York after 9/11, but it happened in the most depressed area of the states, and the FEMA contributions are dwindling. Everyone's getting to a point of apathy about these images, but when you meditate over them, you realize that there is so much more going on, and so much more to do. This is a popular image that pops up on the web, but I couldn't find the names of the woman and child. Maybe if everyone's personal story was told, more would be done.

I bought a new car today- a 2002 Volkswagen Jetta. I think it looks a lot like Elroy from the Jetsons. So, I will now call it Elroy. Elroy is a strange color combination- and no one at the lot could quite settle on what color it was- Was it blue? Or green? I call it metallic bleen.

I should never be let into Michael's Craft Store alone. There's just too much temptation to grab everything. I got a lot of new marker/ ink supplies for illustration, and here was a practice session. I also got a new circle maker, so I can make all sorts of fun circles.

Pen and watercolor pencil- Song.

Who didn't love Superman 2?

Ah Soap. I thought that this would be an incredibly easy project to undertake- I was wrong. Thankfully, I was under the watchful eye of my dear friend Michelle. Using a soap making kit I made a bunch of small soaps. The actual soap was a cucumber melon, but then I added dye, Moroccan sand, cranberry seeds, and a bunch of other soapy things to add variation. I stamped the tops of the soap with a small rubber duckie stamp. The problem with small soaps is that I don't really have a place to put them in my bathroom. I guess I can keep them on the plate and see if anyone eats them by accident, thinking they're candy.

Michelle and I want to do more three dimensional crafts. We've thought of Pinyatas, Masks, and pottery- any other ideas out there??

This drawing is really simple- I didn't want to go crazy with shading, or watercolors, I just wanted to work on form and muscle. I've been doing a lot of Hindu Deities lately, and I feel that the proportions haven't always been correct, so I wanted to practice. Using a yoga pose book, I tried to create what would be a Shiva like figure, using color pencil. I really like this piece, even if he has 5 legs and 4 arms.

This assignment from Illustration Friday was really difficult for me- it was "Simple." I had a conversation with my friend Brandy a week ago about a drawing class that she's taking. She had to work on fruit without using any shading. I tried to do the same thing with this bamboo. I only used a green sharpie- no shading.

When I was in Jacksonville, I met a really cool guy named Michael Lorinzini (sp?). When you say Lorinzini a couple of times, you realize that it sort of sounds like a Dr. Suess creation. This is my Dr. Stafne illustration of what I think a magical Lorinzini looks like.

Flying back from a wedding, I got stuck in NC. I didn't really get to see much of it, just the Wyndham Gardens Hotel. I did this cartoon there.

I don't think of myself as a good photographer- but once in a while I take a picture that I like. This is a photograph from Michael and Clark's Wedding Party thing that we had in Jacksonville, Fl. I really like seeing their shoes.

I've been doing a lot of flying recently, and usually I just sit back, listen to the Ipod, read, and zone out. On my way to Jacksonville, I had a pitstop in Charlotte, NC. While reboarding, a guy about my age sat next to me- he was supposed to be in the middle seat, but he moved over to the window (a very courteous move). We both nervously kept looking up as the flight began to fill up, and prayed that no one would claim the seat between us. When the pilot shut the door, we were so relieved, that we actually started talking to each other. Now, I've been in uncomfortable conversation situations, but this guy seemed nice enough- could I have a good conversation with a stranger.

I creatively kept the conversation going, and learned that he had three kids, lived in JAX, but was moving to NC, was a swimmer for University of Miami, saw three plays while there, was an English Lit Major, wore contacts, was certified in Scuba, his scuba instructor was a Ex Seal, worked for a bank, that most banks center their leadership in rural communities so that there is less pressure, he tried to buy his daughter's kindergarten class happymeals, and was barred from doing so, his 3 year old could ride a bike without training wheels (while his friend's 7 year old couldn't), was worried about his kids becoming teenagers (they were 5,3,&1), had lived in Atlanta, JAX, Miami, Philadelphia, liked going to NYC, Went to Sylvan Learning Center when he was in middle school for Math, liked to manage people (and he seemed like a good manager), got 4 great book recommendations from him, and that he eats a lot of BBQ, and wishes that he could play golf more.

Did he learn that much about me? Probably not. But he's not doing a creative blog.

Tonight was another excellent craft session with my friend Michelle. We made Valentine's Day Cards (which unfortunately I can't post- I wouldn't want to ruin a surprise), and worked on our long term quilling project. Michelle and I are planning to do a large canvas quilled landscape, which is going to take a loooong time to complete. Each of the quilled flowers we did tonight took about 7-10 minutes to construct. Michelle made the ones on the top- variations on the traditional ones that I worked on (bottom). I haven't seen a quilled creation on the scale that we're working on- so maybe one day it will hang in a craft museum! Anyone feel like lending a delicate hand?

Sometimes I love looking through catalogues, and other times, I'm almost offended with how lame the spreads are. I got JCrew and Urban Outfitters today, and the spreads/clothes were awful. Maybe it was more the boring clothes- but I just thought it was lame. So I decided to take all of the lame models and turn them into LameWad-A-Tron. Kind of like the Constructocons- or Voltron.

This is a drawing (again in ink and watercolor pencil) of Vishnu riding Garuda. Shouldn't we all have giant Eagle gods to ride?

This is a ink and watercolor illustration of the Hindi Goddess, Durga. Durga manifested when evil forces threatened the very existence of the Gods. To destroy these demons, all gods offered their radiance to her creating and formed part of Durga's body. The name Durga in Sanskrit means INVINCIBLE. Durga is normally seated on a tiger. I liked placing her on a swan.

Mantra to Durga
Aum
Aing hring kleeng
chamundaye vihchey
Aum

Bart and I went to Socrates Sculpture Garden today in Astoria. It is truly the most depressing, yet fascinating place- and a great area to play with our digital cameras. One of the art installations was a large, empty box, entitled, "Empty Space." I wonder if other people have taken the same picture of themselves in the box.

My friend Destin has the most amazing collection of Transformers I have ever seen. He is a serios collecter. While at his apartment, I snapped a few shots of Megatron, Optimus Prime, and part of the collection. I changed them around in Iphoto, and am in love with the results. I think that I could do a whole art show based on Transformer art.

Here is this week's Illustration Friday project: Chair.

I finished the vocal/music tracks for Commander Cauliflower's Carrot Caper today. I had to do a big redo last night with my amazing actress roommate who voiced all of the female parts. I added a lot of music (thank you Itunes for having country western loops). The show starts this Saturday at the New York Hall of Science. Tomorrow I get to see all of the Puppets-very exciting!!!

I had some requests for my new characters MEfeastO, MEAZLbub, and SNR MEOWblo. This is an adventure at Coney Island. I haven't really worked in Cartooning before, so this is a fun way to get to draw the same characters in different positions. I used a Japanese technique of dotted lines to give focus. SNR MEOWblo is quite the cad.