Cafe Express in Little Italy

By far one of the best little caffinated treasures in Syracuse, Paolo serves an amazing espresso and cappuccino. His mother makes the canolli and cream puffs and the conversation some how always turns to Futbol. This sketch was a "thank you" sketch to Paolo for treating me and my family so well last Sunday.

By now, if you are following this blog, these drawings are probably getting redundant. I understand completely. but the practice in this repetition of form and identifying place has as much to do with establishing a record, a memory, as it does in the exercise of the pen and wash. These postcards are akin to graphic or compositional push-ups or jumping jacks.
They are quick, repeptive, pretty easy in the beginning, but more difficult near the end. It allows the hand and eye to remain in dialogue over one of my most enjoyable distractions.

Three lunch sketches

While waiting, dining, or just getting my mind off the days work, these sketches explore some of the spaces I inhabit during lunch on any given day. The line, the field, and the use of the square or centering to balance each piece are involved in the lay-out and composition.

Komachi's is a departure from the usual perspective. It is a planar play of edges and surfaces. This little Japanese restaurant off of Marshall street by Syaracuse U. has a great atmosphere and the interior design has several more sketches to capture.

Stopping by The italian Chef for a slice of Pizza and then to Cafe Moca for some of the best espresso in the city, I go from the mss produced image of Italy, to the most authentic Italian atmosphere I have experienced in the states.

These two were done when I was breaking in the new sketchbook. So they remain on the literal side. It seems after I attempt the literal lines of sight, the analytical come much easier. And there is always that quiet intimidation of the new book of blank pages.

In this case it is a 6 1/2" x 7 1/2"Kunst and papier No. 1004 16. The German paper is fantastic and the binding lays flat. The only awkward thing is the not quite square proportion. Otherwise I am looking forward to filling it up!

A very quick sketch on St. Patricks day at Ilario's Tattoria in Little Italy. Notice how the square saves this bit. oh And I got scolded for composing the view with the pepepr mill...wasn't mine to touch I found out. ha!

Not just Another Post Card

This one is a little special. It is from December...so a little older, but it sits in front of my computer at home as a reminder to an amazing first year studio I had the privilege of directing in the Fall of 2010. We were at Empire Brewery in Armory square, our final hurrah, after an eventful iceskating venture...stitches and all...and as we finished our meal I was asked about my coffee cup series...The product was this little sketch where the whole construction was talked through so that it was understood that the aesthetic of the piece was the product of the preceision, technique and logic of a composition so banal as a mug and saucer.

KING+KING Exhibit

Had the chance stop by King+King today in Syracuse to take some pictures of the MYOP(t)IC show which is up until mid-May. It is primarily the Florence sketches with a few smaller panels. The space is nice if but some what fragmented. Just a joy to have it up really. Here's a look:

2nd Story Coffee on Westcot in Syracuse

Well my run around town to differing coffee houses has expanded to Westcot St. 2nd story cafe is...as you would suspect...on the second floor. A quiet lounge-Bohemian atmosphere. comfortale and spacious, it has all the quirkiness of a casual college hangout...no matching chairs, ample soft and hard seating, and local artisans displaying their goods around the wall. Eclectic. Not sure how the green walls work, but ok. Just happens there was a guy in a red shirt at a table with red legs next to a small red table. In the foreground was my red mug. intersting.

Wrapping up the show



 The MYOP(t)IC show ended February 13th...wow almost a month ago. The Italian Sketches have since moved onto King+King Architects in Syracuse NY. They have a small gallery area at their main entrance that is host to the series. Here is a sampling below, images of the actual display to come...


Teatro Odeon



Cafe at Cafe Nuovo Poste and a section of the Boboli Gardens



Lorentian Library



coffee sketches in Florence



Sunny Cappuccino

On March 8 2011 I ventured to one of my favorite Cafe's in Syracuse "Cafe Kubal" http://www.cafekubal.com/
The BEST cappuccinos in Syracuse without question especially since they just hired Chris. You can read all about him on the Kubal web site. Anyway this sketch was a "welcome" sketch for him.

You can see the shadow of the cup coming directly towards me. I was sitting at the window looking south around 1pm on a rare sunny day in Syracuse. The counter top was actually black (the darker smaller "shadow" is actually the reflection in the counter) but I find myself being too reserved to go full on BLACK. I even have issues with getting the colors darker and deeper. a nice part of the drawing is the cup and spoon in section in the upper right is one continuous line. The composition in the bottom corner is a massing sketch of components of the cafe.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all.
I have recently converted all my images of the MYOP(t)IC sketches to a more managable size ans should be posting them soon. Am also looking at starting a Flicker account with them. I am also in the process of getting the Catalogue together for purchasing through LuLu. Here are a few sketches from Sketchbook 8:

MYOP(t)IC Exhibit opens at Colgate

On December 6th MYOP(t)IC opened in the Clifford Gallery at Colgate University. This is the first exhibit of my work publicly which is a personal milestone but also an achievement in that the majority of the sketchbooks over the last 15 years are on display for people to look through. Here is the link to the gallery:
http://merz.colgate.edu/

This is the cover of the announcement postcard recently sent out.
I will be posting pages from my books over the next few weeks while working on a catalogue for the show.