Sundries

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sundries
India ink, Dr. Martin's watercolors and white pencil.

My mother bought me my first razor when I was 14. She hated my chocolate-smudge mustache and insisted I wipe it off my face. The bribe: an electric razor, a Norelco triple-header, the state-of-the-art 0f the early 1970s, ideal for sculpting one’s Burt Reynoldsian fu-manchu and two inch sideburns. I returned from the bathroom after its maiden voyage. Mum balked, “Why didn’t you shave?” I protested, I had triple-headed off all the peach fuzz on my downy cheeks. “What about your lip?,” she snapped. “What? I have to lose my ‘stache?” She pointed an angry finger back toward the bathroom. I’ve never had a mustache since.
My boy shaves once or twice a week. He’s completely unattached to his own facial hair and loves to scrape it off. He’s an odd boy with his regular short haircuts. No piercings, tatts, fohawks for him. I don’t think he’s square, just self-sufficient.

Posted in Art

Sketchbook #3

dannygregory9 Comments

Sketchbook3Here’s another video tour of one of my early sketchbooks. Old #3 was one of the first I handbound, nice heavy bond pages in a marbleized paper shell, courtesy of my recent classes at the Center for Book Arts. I was forcing myself to work in narrow confines back then — just line and a couple of warm grey brush markers to add tone. It’s interesting to me to see how my technique developed through the course of this partiucalar book and I was clearly itching for more media by book’s end.
(Those of you troubled by the quality of my last video will be glad to know that after much trial and error, I have developed a good video setup that is easier to watch and listen to. I hope it makes a difference.)

Glenny and me

Incidentally, I had a lovely time in Portland this week, chatting with attendees of the Art and Soul creativity conference and then giving a 90 minute talk on how and why I developed my drawing habit. I was amazed and delighted at how many people showed up armed with dogeared copies of my books and I was flattered that so many insisted I pose with them and have my picture taken. They threatened to invite me to next year’s conference in Virginia and I parried by threatening to come.

Death Valley Sketchbook

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deathvalleyjournal

A decade ago, I did a week-long drawing trip through Nevada and parts of California with my pal, D.Price. The sketchbook I kept (only my 7th to that point) was the first step in my publishing career. When I shared it with an editor at City & Co., who liked it so much she asked me to assemble a book of my journals. Ultimately, though I ended up placing that book with Princeton Architectural Press (Everyday Matters), it was so nice to have someone interested in my work and this concentrated drawing trip was the kick-off point.
I was flipping through the original journal today and thought I’d make a little video tour. It’s also notable as several other firsts — one of my first hand-bound books, one of the first times I made a dedicated journal for one trip, and one of the first times I experimented with watercolors.

The film I made ended up being eleven minutes long, so I cut it into two episodes. You can see them both there.

Oh, and if you like this sort of thing, let me know and I’ll do more if it. (Though I am not trying to make anything technically sophisticated with these little films, I would love to know if there’s any particular information you’d like to know about my sketchbooks). I appreciate your comments and insights.

I'm a Mac. I'm a PC.

dannygregory11 Comments

author1I got my first Apple in 1983 or so, a IIC. From then on, I remained in the Apple lane, never even looking at PCs or Windows. Thanks to Photoshop and Final Cut, my ability to make just about anything on my computer expanded my creative world. Over the past quarter century, I have owned a dozen or so macs and macbooks and ipods and am responsible for the conversion of lots of my friends.
People who were not on board with Macs seemed unimaginative, conservative, clueless. The fact that they outnumbered me ten to one just confirmed my commitment. I had the same resistance to Blackberrys, until my company insisted I get one.
Maybe that Blackberry was Bill Gates’ foot in my door. Increasingly I realized that these days I do most things on-line. Sure, I use Photoshop some and edit the occasional video but the fact is I spend several hours a day on my computer and 90% of them involve the web and email. Oh, and my Blackberry has gotten me used to doing a lot of online things on the elevator, in bed, walking down the street.
Recently, the right fan on my two-year-old MacBook Pro conked out and it started making a lot of whirring noise. It also crashed quite often and the fact that I still have Tiger rather than Snow Leopard installed has become a limitation. This weekend, I decided to bite the bullet and start shopping for a new laptop. (Actually, it’s a bit laughable to call my MacBook a laptop; it is chained down to my desk by its external mouse, second keyboard, USB hub and two external backup drives. It’s been months since I was able to budge it.)
I started at the apple website, going through a shopping list of features. Okay, I want a nice fat drive, and a 3 Gig processor and extra ram and Applecare and… by the time I was done, I’d spent almost 3,500 hypothetical dollars to end up with something that seemed pretty much like what I had bought two years ago.
I wandered down to J&R electronics and looked through their wares. At first I though the prices were misprints — there were huge displays for a couple of hundred bucks, rows and rows of sleek, gleaming laptops for $600 or less. The newest thing in laptops is something small, simple and almost primitive — the netbook; no CD drive, no spinning hard drive, just a reasonable processor, a bright display, a full keyboard, and the ability to get online, all in a package that weighs a couple of pounds and is priced at roughly 1/10 of my dream MacBook.
Now there’s one obvious difference: Windows. I have always assumed that this ubiquitous operating system was ugly, confusing, non-responsive and really hard to set up (not to mention the status quo and domain of account executives, the military and Republicans). But I was willing to take the leap because I’d only be using the netbook to go online; I wouldnt even install email but do it through the browser.
I bought a navy blue Asus EEE for $375, brought it home, turned it on and with 90 seconds was connected to my Airport Express and online. I have shut down my trusty MacBook Pro to give it a well-deserved rest and will only turn it on to touch up scans and polish videos. Unless, of course, I discover I can do all that online as well.
I think I can make this transition because increasingly I have less of a relationship with my computer than with the places I go with it.
It’s more like a TV or a house phone, an appliance rather than a custom environment made just for me. I am more comfortable with being mainstream because the Internet allows me so many options. Soon enough, we will all live in the cloud of computing, where all of our files reside online and applications just appear when we need them. That’s fine with me.
I will let you know how my conversion goes…

My landscape book

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Here’s a little guided video tour through one of the sketchbooks I’ve been working on. All landscapes, all ink, all extra-awesome.

And if they flew by too quick, here are some snaps.

What next?

dannygregory4 Comments

Summer 09: Drawing in Enterprise, ORDanny:

I love to draw. I am happiest when I am drawing. There is a peacefulness.
I have a blog that I began almost literally at the same moment that I started to draw: Up and Down Town
I have no art training whatsoever.
What advice would you give someone who loves to do this? To go to school and study illustration, or to keep on keeping on?

Jennifer

Dear Jennifer:

I love to draw too. And the only training I’ve gotten is by filling lots of books with drawing and looking long and hard at the art of people whose work I like.
Because I like drawing, I draw. On occasion, I have been asked and paid to draw something. It’s a lot less fun than drawing whatever whenever I like. It’s fun getting checks and it’s fun seeing my work in print. But not nearly as much fun as drawing. (well, unless the checks are stupendous but for most illustrators, they rarely are).
I have met quite a lot of people who like to draw and then went to school to study art and, by and large, school did not do much to make them love art more. Sure, they got to draw or paint all day, but they also became a lot more anxious and self-critical and overly-intellectual, and eventually lost a lot of the spirit that drive them to art school in the first place. Ironically, they invite me to schools to remind illustration students of how much drawing can be.
Now of course I know nothing about you or what else you love to do or have considered studying, but I would say that if you have to ask me whether you should go to school to study illustration, then no, you probably shouldn’t. If you felt there was a lot to learn about drawing that you couldn’t get without paying a school to teach you, then, you’d probably have applied already. But if you just love to draw and want to try more and more ways to do it, then get some books from the library, take a few life-drawing classes, go out sketching buildings and zoos and the like with your friends, and see where it leads you. You are already sharing your work on the web so chances are, if it is to be, you will develop a following and eventually someone will offer to pay you to draw them something. See how that makes you feel. See how it makes you feel the tenth time. See how many times you have to do it before you have paid off your student loans.
I hope I’m not disappointing you with my advice. The fact is you are enormously lucky to have discovered that you love to draw. However, liking drawing and making a profession of it are two very different things. I like to cook but I don’t feel the need to work in a restaurant kitchen. I like to drive, but I ‘m not getting my taxi or trucking license. I like to walk, to breathe, to take naps,listen to music, and read books, but I am perfectly able to advance in those disciplines without professional help.
Now, this is all of course, my own very particular POV, but then you did ask me what I think. Perhaps you should ask people who have a bit more experience with studying art in school and what they say.
I hope this has been helpful to you, Jennifer. Please keep drawing, whatever you decided to do.

Your pal,
Danny

Danny:

Because you don’t know me, you can’t have anticipated that I would love your response, so I will tip you off – I loved it. Thank you. Not only did I love your response, but I also really really appreciated that you took the time to write it. I did approach a few academic advisers before writing to you, and of course they were going to recommend a program for me (shock, I know). I suppose I love your response because it was what I already knew. (Everyone sounds smart when they sound like me.)
I’ve been paid to write and to edit. That is easy, but not fun. As much as I like to nap, I have absolutely never desired a career in this field – my husband, on the other hand, would faint in rapture at the mere thought.
I don’t need stupendous checks. I will explore my own drawing some more, and see what happens.
And thank you again. Very much.

Jennifer

My Yorkshire – a visit with Richard Bell

dannygregory14 Comments

My-Yorkshire1

When I went to Yorkshire to visit my drawing pal, Richard Bell, an ITV film crew showed up to profile him. They shot us as we drew together and later, they took him off for a tramp in the wild.
See me act like a New Yorker and horrify the locals while painting a snack truck.
(ITV was kind enough to send me a tape but they have not posted the show online so I am taking the liberty of sharing it here.)

http://www.youtube.com/v/OxBPwhkhuBs&hl=en&fs=1&

(Part 1 of 2)

http://www.youtube.com/v/M1hvQsXLSk0&hl=en&fs=1&

(Part 2 of 2)

I'll be speaking in Portland

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I am very excited to announce that I’ll be addressing the Art and Soul Retreat in Portland on September 29th. I’ll be kicking off a fantastic week of creativity. My talk will  be open to conference attendees and also to the general public. Find our more here. I hope to see you there!

Drawing with Tim

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Tim is three now and it’s high time he learned a trick or two. I read in an old German dog-training handbook (“Wie die Ausbildung von drei Kilo Wiener, um Ihnen eine heiß Tasse Kaffee” by Dackel J. PferdApfel) that, with the judicious application of a stout cudgel and hard taffy, one can get even the most timid long-haired miniature Dachshund to speak.

We spent a frustrating weekend working through the manual with Tim and were finally rewarded with his first few words. After a month of follow-up work, he is now entirely fluent in English, has shed most of his Dusseldorf accent (replaced for some reason with a Bensonhurst growl), and bores us with long monologues about lunch meat, cats, and the perils of thunderstorms.

Now we’re working on a much bigger challenge — getting him to draw. On Tuesday night, we began his first drawing lesson and he did a passable portrait of me, before moving on to sketch some flank steak, a barbecued chicken and a meatloaf. Fortunately, a local documentary film crew was on hand to capture his first faltering steps and they’ve been posted online.

I urge you to try to encourage your own family members to draw. It’s fun, it’s relaxing, and it’s easier than chasing your tail.

This video is also available in HD and on Youtube.