Hard As Nails

I've been thinking about the dust bowl a lot and listening to a lot of Gillian Welch lately. I guess once you swill all that around in your head for a while, something like this comes out. Having said that, I've learned I'm still not any better at painting sad things without having them bum me out. I guess I'll have to paint someone falling down soon.

Treachery

"Our greatest warrior is a traitor. Can anyone be trusted?" George Washington
My high school history book describes Benedict Arnold's feelings that he was under-appreciated as "petulant." Like he was a little boy. Not to say that I'm a huge fan of Arnold, or that I'd high-five him on his infamous decision to sell out West Point...but, on the other hand, he's a really sad character. I saw a documentary recently that made the case that he outlived his glory. That if he had died at the battle of Saratoga, he would have been a great war hero. I'm inclined to agree. Instead, he lived, got more and more warped by internalizing everybody's bullshit, and his life turned out to be a huge bummer.

These Are The Times That Try Men's Souls

Happy Independence Day, folks! May your Wednesday be full of barbeque, beer, and things that go boom!!

Not to be Forgotten

Stop trying to make Sketch happen.

Sketchbook strong. View from Ardmore Starbucks.

George at the Forge

I'm not exactly sure why, but this is how I spent today. I recently went out to the Brandywine Battlefield and also Valley Forge for the first time since I was like 7, and it was a super delightful day. My new history-era crush is suddenly the revolution.
I am certain this would make my father very proud.
I've always thought about Valley Forge the way that Washington Irving described it in his Life of George Washington:
"Hungry and cold were the poor fellows who had so long been keeping the field; for provisions were scant, clothing worn out, and so badly off were they for shoes, that the footsteps of many might be tracked in blood."
Even though apparently the winter of 1779 in New Jersey was much rougher.
But whatever, that's kind of where this odd painting came from. Expect to see more in this vein.

Tardy & Foolhardy

I've been totally terrible about uploading scans of anything I've been doing. It's shameful, truly. BUT! Here's a pile of what's shakin in my sketchbook!

Limping Along

Trees and John Prine make me happy. As does this spring-y weather we've been having. And just everything, I think.

AND ALSO I HAVE A NEW WEBSITE. CHECK IT OUT!

Fell By the Wayside

Holiday Arting Around

Been slacking on personal work in a serious way, but look at some of this holiday stuff I've made!



Here's a card I sent to some folks



And some wrapping paper I painted



And these are the MVPs of this year's wrap-a-palooza

Happy Holidays everybody!

Tippecanoe & Tyler Too

i cannot believe it's december. i cannot believe that i only have two spreads of this sketchbook left.

Willows, Civil War Generals, and Patsy

Rolling Stones covering Sam Cooke? Dream Dream Dream. Also, check out Keith singing backup. Adorbs.

Belated

Juicy Doubles

KvetchSketch

Collab's Alive and Well

I know that one of the only swaps from Ten Paces and Draw that I've ever posted on my personal blog was a collaboration between me and the fabulous Justin Volz. And even though I've been doing these swaps since late March (OH MAN MORE THAN 6 MONTHS), I'm not usually interested in double-posting them over here on my other blog. But this one was too good to pass up.




I love how much quieter and trendier Justin's sketch is. He's so super great, and so much different than my work, which comes out so much goofier and kidsier than his sketch. But that's what I like about my work, and what I like about his work, in such a different way.

And that right there is the whole point of the blog. I'm glad that 6 months in I'm still learning stuff, and still stoked to be a part of it. So HEY GO CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE SWAPS!

Hamilton=Glory

Red Part 2

And here's one of those thumbnails come to life!

Little Red Riding Hood

Been a while since I did a legit storyboard. But I really crushed through this one, 32 PAGES, 1 DAY. THUMBNAILFEST.

Anyway, here are a few of them that I thought looked cool.



Not exactly refined, but I suppose neither am I.

NLC Philly Part Deux

I have been so absent from this blog...when I finally get back to it it's just gonna be an art dump. Here is why:







So that happened. But yesterday I did some graphic design work (HAAAHAAA) for Laura's political organization again. You can see the last piece I did for them HERE. But this one had a whole lot more text and a lot less illustration, which makes me itchy...but I tried my best to make it look professional anyway. And I did a Philly skyline!