Sketchbook Word Drawings - Jan / 2014

I have a new morning routine in the studio. As soon as my computer business (email, sports scores, silly kitten videos) is completed I turn my computer off. So now my morning meditation  and drawing sessions are not only humless, but more importantly, less interrupted by the beeping of incoming emails. I have learned that I CANNOT disregard unread emails and because of this my creative time was constantly being compromised. So in an effort to have a little more focus in my morning drawing session, the computer stays off. I have continued to work on sketchbook word drawing in the book that I had previously mentioned. Here's what transpired in it during the month of January.

Bitches Brew - January 2, 2014

Azimuth - January 21, 2014

New York, Yew Nork - January 22, 2014

Wee Willie Winkle - January 3, 2014

Lost in Space - January 24, 2014

Mojo - January 25, 2014

Pester - January 28, 2014

Simon Says - January 17, 2013

Four New Humorous Paintings

The holidays fell in the middle of the week this past season and it made for  a couple of weeks of assignment scarcity. I took advantage of the time to do some small humorous paintings that I have been meaning to get to. So here are the latest, hot off the easel. Each of these paintings are acrylic on wood panel 12"W × 16"H. I have built a wood frame upon which these are glued, giving them a depth of 1.75". The sides are painted, making a very attractive presentation. Prints of each of these are available on my print site at: www.humorousprints.com

January Funnies

Here is a selection of sketchbook cartoons from the last month. Straight out of the sketchbook with a little Pshop background color added. I send out a monthly email of this type of work. If you like to be included on my list, please drop me a line.

Sketchbook Word Drawings - Nov & Dec / 2013

I have continued to work in that sketchbook with crappy paper, which happens to be pretty good for short pen strokes. Which is ideal for word drawings. I sometimes wonder if I will ever run out of words for these. So far, so good. The combinations seem endless.

Fair Ball - Nov 19, 2013

Mission of Mercy - Nov 27, 2013

Respite - Nov 20, 2013

Razor Burn - Dec 1, 2013

Reflex - Relax - Dec 3, 2013

Vintage - Dec 18, 2013

Net Gain - Dec 6, 2013

Smog of War - Dec 30, 2013

December Funnies

Here are a selection of sketchbook cartoons from last month's drawing sessions.

Three New Abstracts

Here are three new abstracts that I've completed over the last several weeks. For Chatter and Kalamazoo, I started the canvases covered with words and symbols respectively. My thought was to energize the surface before adding gestural brushstrokes. Since it is left to chance as to what words and symbols are still visible, I think it adds another level of serendipity.

Chatter - Acrylic on Canvas - 30"H × 42"W

Kalamazoo - Acrylic on Canvas - 31"H × 54"W

Bix - Acrylic on Canvas - 30"H × 31"W

Word Sketchbook Drawings

I have an adage: Never fall in love with an art product. As soon as you fall in love, said product will be discontinued and unavailable and you are left with a broken heart and the task of finding a replacement. This has happened to me time after time with sketchbooks. I had just finished a case of books made by Creative Mark called Relexions.(8.5"W ×11"H, white linen cover) and when I went to reorder, I found that that particular book had been discontinued. I did some homework on the web and did find another book that I was hopeful about. Another book by Creative Mark, again called Reflexions, but this one had a black cover. So I bought three. Much to my chagrin the paper was inferior and my crow quill pen ripped the paper. It was a terrible book for my purposes. So I took to Facebook to bitch about my sketchbook woes and received the following level headed reprimand/advice from my buddy Rob Dunlavey, "Hey, buck up Hal! Listen to your media (inferior or excellent) and make the images that result from the dialog." He was right, of course and I discovered that these sketchbooks were pretty good for word drawings.

For the last several years I have been making layered word paintings. The words in these paintings are free associated and touch on popular culture, geography, literature, art, history and what ever else pops into my head. I'm sure a psychotherapist could have a field day with these paintings. I have also done alot of sketchbook work along these lines. So I will devote these inferior books to word drawings. To finish the story, I was able to find a reasonably priced sketchbook with suitable paper from a company called Stillman & Birn. And all is right in the universe once again.

Here are some pages from my this new word sketchbook, drawn in my morning sketchbook sessions from Nov 5 - Nov 12, 2013.