Catalpa Blossom revisited

The Catalpa tree is a lush resident in any yard. We re fortunate to have several in our neighborhood, where right around mid June their white blossoms erupt from their green pods for and display a tremendous depth of surface and play of purple reds and undulating whites. I look forward to the show every year...if only to have the experience of attempting to capture their mini-majesty.

The blossoms last for about a week. Then they disappear...and we wait for another year for them to be reborn and grace the street of our town once again.

Italian apartment

A friend of ours just returned from Florence. We got to talking about our shared experiences and it brought back a flood of memories. I found these sketches from our old apartment which I thought were a nice exploration in the domesticity of the environment we spent our first year of marriage...one is a collection of small scale containers, the other is the contained surfaces of a large scale volume out our back window...

Sketch experiment

These sketches were done on site and left for friends, family and even strangers as small gifts. The challenge was trying to document the images since I was not bringing them home to scan. So an experiment ensued. I photographed each with my iphone and then tweaked in photoshop at this later date.

The first sketch in NC was a warm up for the week. It found it's way to Toronto.

The first shell study found it's way to Dallas.

This sketch was still wet when photographed, it remained in Toronto where it was constructed.

The classic napkin sketch was of a pianist in the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. It remained there as a thank you for a wonderful concert of classics.

In Terminal B at the Atlanta international airport is my favorite airport restaurant in the states, Cafe Intermezzo. This was left in addition to the tip...A thankyou for another great meal!

some dining sketches

Dining is always a ritual, and at times in the uniqueness of the environment or the casualness of the coffee, a record of the moment is always appreciated to trigger the memories of that day, that place, that experience...

A wonderful escape to our favorite little bakery elicited this little espresso sketch above.

While in Toronto my Uncle brought me to this exquisite (and expensive) little restaurant, Actinole. Very clever in using found objects in the basement for the bar (reused drawers) and for the bar shelves (old factory window frame)

Spent a wonderful late lunch with a fellow designer and generated this little sketch in Utah. Always an exploration of light, surface and construction. As repetitive as these seem, I am yet to get bored with them...

At the Border...again

Well a quick trip to Toronto provided another round of border sketches...a small tip: if crossing through Niagara to get to Canada, do not go through the Lewiston Bridge entrance. That is...unless you want to start your own collection of these views...

Corolla adventure

We spent some time in Corolla, NC recently. I always find it a great place to discover old lines, spaces and forms. This time I was interested in exploring space and object relationships. Whether it was the folding axis of the lighthouse (horizontal to vertical), the expanse of an empty beach or the hollow of a discovered shell, space became the unforeseen subject of this adventure.

Two Salt Lake City Performers

While in Salt Lake city I experienced the diverse and wonderful talents of two different sets of musicians: The  Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. The musicians, being as diverse as they are inspiring, they were captured in ways that complimented their individual (and collective) style...

Man in the Moon

The adversity of these sketches is what delights me most about them. In the dark, inside a transparent poncho, under a slow dripping sky, I documented scenes of Glenn Beck's Man in the Moon event. Very quick, obscured, and dappled with rain, the sketches capture the vivacity of the stage performers and the environment they had to perform through...

Mother's day Flowers, Fathers Day coffee

It is traditional for me and the kids to go hunting for flowers on Mother's day morning, create a bouquet before she wakes and draw the flowers by end of the day so they are forever retained. This is the subject of this sketch...

For Father's day, we went to our favorite little bakery in Skaneateles and the flowers above were complimented by the sketch below:

Both sketches consider the effects of light. The container in the flowers explore light in transmition while the coffee sketch explores the light of shadows and their layering on a surface.

NYC nostalgia

I'm getting nostalgic for NYC. My Uncle bill and his wife Nadine just got back from there with a host of amazing photos. Looking through some sketches I found this one from 2005. 8 views of the city. This is an exercise I often do with my students and is often one of the favorite assignments of the semester. 

hand drawn polaroids, I suppose.

9th street espresso post cards - gift set

A good friend gave us our favorite NYC coffee, 9th Street Espresso, as a gift. After finishing the first of two bags off, it was subsequently turned into a "re-gift" with a sketchy twist...

Coffee sketch again...

Out of Postcards, baker paper was all that was at hand. Loved the response to the water...Gift to Katy and Chris at the Bakery.

PETRIE dESIGN goes Live!!!

I have been absent for a bit from the blog as I have been gearing up to go live with this new site/venture: petriedesign.com . Give it a look and see the broad range of architecturally centric explorations that are occurring! Meanwhile I hope to be uploading more sketches, coffee and others...as the days of summer unfold.

America 2.0

This is a commission from 1791 Supply Company (http://1791.shop.musictoday.com/) interested in re-envisioning several iconic pieces of american architecture. Each makes a combined statement of the values of the past while interpreting an architectural response of the aspirations of our future. Detail images to come.

The series is planned for production in early 2013 and will be available for purchased through the 1791 site:
 http://1791.shop.musictoday.com/