Happy ?@!$'n Birthday

So, I'm 31 today...don't know quite what to say that. It's not that I feel old, far from it. It's just that I thought I'd have accomplished so much more by now.

Been having a pretty rough go of it since April. I'd rather not get into the details but let's just say, “Mistakes were made.” I guess I can take comfort in Kevin Spacey’s line from American Beauty,

“It's never too late to get it back.”

So, that's what I'm going to try to do. Be brutally honest with myself and commit to living a better life. Go after what I really want and stop feeling so guilty about not being a “success” – whatever the hell that is.

EDM #83 - Erie Canal - Fini?

Ok, 6 months to fill in 2 square inches of trees! What the hell is wrong with me? Yes, I did accomplish other things in that time period...but this is ridiculous.

Anyway, I think this one is done...unless I decide that the water needs some definition. However, the idea of putting any more time and effort into this one page (started a year ago!) makes me nauseous quite frankly.

Part 3
Part 2
Part 1

EDM #83 - Erie Canal - Neverending Sketch

So, I'm finally getting back to this one after some time off. I think it's nearing completion but the trees take forever. Not sure how to handle the water either. I'm sure in another month or so I'll have something resembling a finished product.

Part Two
Part One

The Stack

I've got a monster stack of books that I'm slowly working my way through. What is the What by Dave Eggers and Fun Home by Alison Bechdel were Christmas gifts from my Mom (although I already had Fun Home, so I exchanged it for the new paperback edition of Everyday Matters by Danny Gregory). My Dad gave me a $50 Borders Gift Card, so I put that towards Berlin: City of Stones by Jason Lutes and The ACME Novelty Date Book by Chris Ware. I also ordered MeatHaüs 8: Headgames and MeatHaus 6 on a whim. Those are anthologies of comics by a collective started in New York by graduates of the School of Visual Arts and include work from Becky Cloonan, Farel Dalrymple, Tomer Hanuka, James Jean, and many others. Chris McD even included a quick sketch on my packing slip. Groovy!

Everything here comes with my highest possible reccomendation. Eggers is a genius, so is Ware. Bechdel's Fun Home was the breakout graphic novel of 2006, topping TIME's annual Top Ten Book list. Berlin, by the time it is completed will be one of the most significant works of historical fiction ever produced in comics, and the MeatHaus books are just great fun!

Wandering in Ithaca

I did some wandering around Ithaca, NY Friday evening. Some highlights included speaking with the artist Neil Berger at the Ink Shop Printmaking Center, the State of the Art Gallery, several used-book stores, a fairly decent comics shop (where I picked up Gilbert Hernandez's New Tales of Old Palomar, among others), and having coffee and drawing at Autumn Leaves, a cafe upstairs from a used-bookstore.

Got into a pretty heavy discussion of the events of 9/11 with Neil and William, a couple of regulars. I did a quick sketch of William while we were talking. Neil gave me a copy of Painful Deceptions: An Analysis of the September 11 Attack. It looks interesting but I havn't got around to watching it yet.

Sketchbook Construction

So, I'm coming to the close of my current sketchbook. It's a beautiful book, constructed of handmade papers from Nepal and a very cool bamboo latching system on the front cover. I'm going to be sad to see it go. I've started looking for a replacement but havn't been able to find anything quite so unique. One thing I really like about this journal is the way that the cover is not glued to the spine. This allows you to open the book ALL the way up and makes scanning double-page spreads a breeze.


So, I was wondering if anyone might be able to point me in the direction of a similar journal, or altern- atively, if anyone knows of any good resources (books or websites) for handbinding your own books?

All Over Coffee

This is stunning! Found the link to this on Cully's Blog and I'm completely floored. Incredible!

EDM #83 - Erie Canal - More Progress

That bridge was a pain in the ass. Now onto to the ten-thousand squiggle trees on the right bank...then the boat...then the canal itself...then color? When will this sketch ever end?!?!?!

Part One

Ancient History Redux

Couldn't sleep tonight so, I went digging through an old stack of books and came across another old sketchbook spanning 2002-2005. There's not a whole lot of interest in there but I did find these two sketches of Aron Ralston and Lance Armstrong from the summer of ’04. You may recall Ralston. He's the climber who got trapped by a boulder in a secluded canyon in Utah and was forced to amputate his own arm in order to survive. These guys were on my mind at the time because I'd just had surgery to reconstruct my left ACL and meniscus. While my meager suffering is nothing compared to what they went through, it was a long road to recovery.

Someone (maybe my sister?) gave me Armstrong's biography, It's Not About the Bike, and it was one of the first books I read after surgery. I'd definitely recommend it for anyone trying to come back from an injury or illness. It certainly inspired me to go all out in physical therapy and I was rewarded with being back to full-time skiing in 5 months (standard procedure is a return to sports in 7 months).

EDM #83 - Erie Canal - A Work in Progress

I must be the world's most infrequent blogger. One post a month! Pathetic! Alright, new year, new commitment to art. And to prove that I'm not doing absolutely nothing here's a sketch I've been working on recently. I took the photograph in August, halfheartedly started it in colored pencils sometime in September, let it languish until this past week when I re-booted it with a .005 Micron pen. You may remember the streetlights from an earlier post. Although, more than likely not as that went up more than 4 months ago!

So, there ya go...now that I've got this half-finished skribble posted I'm hoping it will force me to be more productive (one of my resolutions for this year) and finally finish this sketchbook...which was intended as a Christmas present. Will it become a Valentine's gift? 4th of July? NEXT Christmas? Stay tuned...

Anselm Kiefer @ The National Gallery of Art

Here's one I've been tinkering with for a looooooong time. In September, Nicole and I went to Washington, D.C. for my cousin Erin's wedding. We took an extra day and visited the National Gallery of Art on the Mall. It was something I'd really wanted to share with Nicole and it was an incredible experience. We spent most of our time in the East Building which contains the contemporary collection (20th Century). Nicole was particularly drawn to this massive mural by Anselm Kiefer. I took a picture and began this sketch after the fact (October sometime?). I've been poking at it ever since...trying to capture some of the rich textures in the original, experimenting with different cross-hatching techniques, various pens and pencils...It still doesn't feel quite finished but I'm going to put it to bed as is.

EDM #91 - Apple

I've been neglecting the blog for a bit...but I've got a good reason. I moved! That's right, got myself a spankin' new apartment in the sprawling metropolis that is Blodgett Mills, NY. I would not be surprised if this is the only blog being produced in Blodgett Mills or the only functional computer for that matter. So isolated is tiny Blodgett Mills, that TimeWarner took two weeks to get a technician out here to set up my internet connection. Anyways, I'm up and running now and here's a sketch to prove it!

This apple was picked before I moved. The sketch is from about a month ago and is only my third attempt at watercolors, so be kind. I tried a little salt to add some texture... not sure about the results.

Butterfly Conservatory

Last Weekend Nicole and I went to Niagara Falls. The weather was gorgeous and we had a wonderful time. The fall foliage was at its peak and the views of the falls were truly spectacular. We even had dinner atop the Minolta tower. We were the last table to leave and had the whole restaurant to ourselves for a private viewing of one of the last fireworks displays of the season. Saturday we had lunch at the Secret Garden restaurant and spent the afternoon at the Butterfly Conservatory just north of downtown. What an amazing place! Thousands of stunningly beautiful butterflies dance around you in a lush tropical paradise. It was absolutely beautiful. Here's a drawing I did from one of the many photographs I took there.

Ballpoint Quickies

I feel like this blog thing of mine is a little neglected. So, here's a couple quick ballpoint sketches done in the last couple of days.

On the left is my left hand and below is a quick face where I ran out of room on the back of one of those page-a-day calendars. (They pile up around my desk and usually get doodled on. This one got a little more attention than usual, which is why you see it here.)

Ancient History Sketches

pg1
Originally uploaded by Tim Clary.

In the summer of 2002 I decided I really needed to get back to drawing. In order to push through my usual bouts of self-doubt and procrastination I decided to use the cheapest materials I could (a $.99 9x12 newsprint sketchbook, charcoal pencils, and a kneaded eraser) and commit to filling the book as fast as I could. Two months later I had 50 pages of fast, fluid linework and dynamic compositions. I was quite pleased.

This was a great exercise and really sparked my creativity. (If only I could sustain that kind of energy all the time!)

(And since I can't figure out how to get multiple images to fly over here from Flickr, here's the link)

Scott McCloud @ R.I.T.!

Whoa! Just saw that Scott McCloud is going to be at R.I.T. on Monday Sept. 18th promoting his new book, Making Comics. Very exciting!

If you don't know McCloud, you should. He's probably the most important writer examing comics as an art form. His two previous books, Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics are seminal works not just in the comics field but are also studied in Graphic Design and Semiotics programs around the country (possibly the world). Soooooo glad I didn't miss this announcement.

Pete Turner @ Eastman

Nicole and I spent a wonderful day at the George Eastman House in Rochester. For those of you in the area you'll definately want to check out the Pete Turner exhibit which runs until February 4th. From the Eastman website:

The current exhibition, Pete Turner: Empowered by Color, on view through Feb. 4, showcases more than 50 world-renowned photographs representing all facets of Turner's work, from his first African expedition in 1959 to his latest images of architectural spaces. He is a photographic visionary who has pursued his uncompromising thirst for color saturation. Turner is a master colorist who broke all the rules in a pre-computer era, using the camera and wide-angle lens as his tools. His images have influenced generations of photographers and continue to inspire the way we view the colorful world around us.

His work is truly beautiful and if you've never been to the Eastman house (this was my first time) it's definately worth the trip for anyone interested in photography, architecture, botanical gardening, or art in general.

Everyday Matters Challenge #81 - Streetlight

Finally getting around to an actual challenge drawing! Here's a streetlight on the Erie Canal bikepath in Pittsford, NY. I had ice cream with Nicole there last Thursday and took some pictures of the canal. This sketch was done a few days later from the photos using Pitt brush pens and a touch of color pencil for the purple. (First time I've tried the new grayscale brush pens, I'm pretty excited about them) I may add some background detail of the canal but maybe not.

Nicole always asks me, “Can you smell the purple?” when we walk past these flowers.

Africa: An Artist's Journey

Laura from the Everyday Matters group recently posted a list of Artist's Journals that have been published as books. (Thanks Laura!) I'd like to add Kim Donaldson's incredible Africa: An Artist’s Journey to that list.

From Amazon.com:

Africa: An Artist's Journal is a fascinating invitation to share in the art and experience of walking where the animals walk. Kim Donaldson, an internationally renowned wildlife artist, grew up in Zimbabwe on a 150,000-acre ranch of unspoiled African bush country traversed by rivers, hills, and valleys and teeming with game. It is this stunning landscape that first inspired him to swap his hunting rifle for a camera and a sketchpad . . . and begin a lifelong passion for capturing on paper the wildlife of his native continent. Donaldson's stunning paintings and sketches have an intangible quality that can only be achieved by someone who has spent many years in the bush. Filled with spellbinding information about wildlife, culture, and history, this captivating journal is packed with scores of paintings, sketches, maps, and excerpts from Donaldson's diaries and notebooks to create a vivid and multilayered impression of this mysterious continent. Magnificent photographs and dramatic illustrations detail the spectacular plains Donaldson has visited, including Masai Mara, South Africa's Cape and Natal regions, the Serengeti, and Zembezi Valley, and more. The result is an enthralling journey through the magnificent expanse of Africa's most wonderful and surprising natural wonders.

Caribou - Alaska sketch reworked

I decided to add a caribou to the left side of this page. I think it rounds out the composition; but now I wish I'd done a better job with the otters.