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...