Pieces of what I used to be.

WHOA HOLIDAYS! It's been a whole 19 days since I blogged last! Sorry, folks. I've been all around town, ya know? I went to visit my brother in Brooklyn for some pre-holiday holiday celebrations. It was really fun, and included fabulous food, lots of walking, staying in a lovely brownstone, seeing the Jim Henson exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image, sketch night at the Society of Illustrators, bumping into more friends than I planned on seeing, and buying some new yarn at Stitch Therapy, which was a block from where I was staying. I haven't knit in about four years, so it was really exciting to get started again! Below, the matching cowl and ear warmer I made from what I bought (they're really warm!!):

I caught up with an old RIT Illustration friend at the Society of Illustrators for sketch night! A new years resolution of mine is MORE DRAWING FROM LIFE! The models, as always, were fabulous!

More life drawing! Earlier this month, I experienced the Highland Park Lamberton Conservatory for the first time, and fell in love! It's like having a lush, tropical oasis in the middle of my mundane Western NY home! Membership for an entire year is only $10, so I jumped at the chance! Today was my third time there, but my first time sitting and drawing. Below, an hour long drawing:

Yay! It's here! The poster I've been working on all week! Smaller than actual size!

And... My art hung up in Kara's house! NICE!

Rye whiskey

I've been wanting to do a good dog drawing since I first saw Iron and Wine's beautiful cover art for The Shepherd's Dog, done by none other than Sam Beam of Iron and Wine. Beautiful.

I was also inspired by a really sweet dog on the train to Boston last week. This is my sketch of a whippet, I'm loving this dog's face structure, and coat. Beautiful!

Some new window paintings that are available for you holiday art shoppers at Wine Sense!!! Very exciting!

I went on an adventure the other day in search of architecture to photograph for an art-trade project. My travels took me out to Highland Park, to the "castle". It was really fun to run around here and have the place all to myself :)

From there, I went down to Mt. Hope cemetery. Do you know the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery? A cemetery has a fence around it, a graveyard does not.

I used to hike around cemeteries and graveyards quite frequently, and I do miss it. It's utterly peaceful, and many times, quite beautiful.

Mount Hope is well-known for its topography, featuring many eskers, which make hiking around really fun.

I was struck by the beauty of the old graves, yet again, for the art and typography from those who came before me.

It's sad to see that not every grave can be taken care of, despite the many workers at the cemetery. This one is a reminder of returning to the earth. One day, we, too, will be forgotten.