Doodleversary no.2

Today marks my second anniversary as a Google Doodler. Here are a few things I've worked on over the past year. 

And in case you missed the first, here's that post. 

Juan Gris - The Third Musketeer of Cubism

I really enjoyed getting to play with shapes and abstraction in this homage to “the Third Musketeer of Cubism”, Juan Gris. My favorite thing about Gris is that while he may have pushed this supposedly very serious art form to new heights, he had fun along the way. The art never takes itself too seriously. I think that’s something to strive for.

Arbor Day

Here's a doodle running in China for Arbor Day, or Tree Planting Day. It's a mix of watercolor and digital. I'm always trying out new things with each doodle, and in this case, I used actual masking film for the first time since my art school days (years and years ago). Yep, real life masking film, which is tedious and time-consuming, versus a one-second Photoshop clip mask... The years have done nothing to improve my efficiency. That said, the result feels a little less sterile to me than using carefully placed textures. There's also something strangely therapeutic about slicing away film and painting with reckless abandon, knowing that it will all make sense when you peel off the rest of the mask.

Geocache Hunt

My painting buddy, Jimmy G and I decided to get a quick painting session in during an unusually warm and sunny weekend. We went up to Tilden Park where, apparently, a geocache hunt was going on. Looking for something to paint, I saw this little boy running along a trail on the hillside, and was struck by his bright red shirt against the greys and greens in the vegetation. He seemed to be by himself, though really, his family was just up ahead, hidden behind the brushline, and he was running to catch up. Still, there was a real sense of adventure in the moment, and I imagine a little geocaching treasure was waiting for him somewhere on that hill.

I also drew a number of studies back home, trying to remember how he was running (in case I expand this into a full illustration later). I noticed that, in general, children this age don't seem to swing their arms all that much when they run. They just kind of bounce along.

"To a young heart, everything is fun."

Happy 200th, Charles Dickens, I had a lot of fun on this one. :)