Love

Happy Valentines Day everyone!
I drew this for my wonderful wife on her birthday this year. I'm so proud of her and thankful to have her by my side. Not to mention this little bugger too:



I also made heart friendly vegan pancakes this weekend. They were quite good. Here is the recipe:

1 Cup Flour (All purpose)
1 Cup Almond Meal (Trader Joes)
3.5 Tsp Baking Powder
1 1/4 Cup Rice Milk
1 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal (Trader Joes)
3 Tbs Water
1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1. Mix Flax meal and water and let stand for 2 minutes (This is the egg substitute, alternatively you could use a couple Tbsps of organic "no sugar / fructose syrup added" apple sauce)
2. Wisk together remaining dry ingredients
3. Mix together wet ingredients.
4. Make a well in the dry bowl and pour wet into it. Mix until just combined.
5. 1/4 cup per cake into a pan over medium heat.

The olive oil makes them taste very buttery even without butter. I ate them plain and they were delicious. But top with fruit or berries for added yumminess. These will have more of a fluffy cakey consistency than a typical pancake. They are slightly more fragile so flip them gently.

Self Portrait of the Artist as a Memory of a Rock Star

This piece is actually a culmination of 20 years of work. I started with a couple a drawings from my high school sketch book. One was a psychedelic portrait of Jimmi Hendrix and the other a study for a self portrait. I scanned these two drawings and overlaid them together in Photoshop. Along with a third image for which some back story is appropriate.

In high school my intrigue and enthusiasm about various rock stars led to me playing music and attempting to be a rock star myself. A couple years or so after high school I joined an indie "conspiracy rock" group called The Penny Regime. My "audition" was an impromptu sitting in with them at a live gig at EJ Bugs in Fells Point. I sat in on drums and having no drum sticks, played with coat hangers and rolled up City Papers. I continued playing in this band for 7 years, switching to bass after the first couple. In 2010 we had a reunion show at The Ottobar and Mike "Cheech" Simmons took some photos of our set. I used one of those photos as an additional overlay to create the final composite image used as the basis for this drawing. The drawing itself is on a piece of paper from the same high school sketch book. The "penny regime" scrawled in the top corner was written there way back in the late 1990s when I first started playing in the group.

When viewed from a close perspective the original two older drawings are more prominent. But when viewed from a greater distance of about 10 feet (or as a thumbnail on screen) the newer reunion show photo image comes more into focus as the older fade into memory.

This piece was inspired by and created for the exhibition Self Portrait as a Rock Star at the Current Gallery on Jan 28, 2011.
More Info : www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=114089415311952

Current Gallery Website

Mike's original photo is here: www.flickr.com/photos/haileysimmons/4656294495/in/faves-8...

Below are the three separate source images side by side.

Pollenation

Here's a new drawing I just finished up. Going through my old sketchbooks made me pick up a ball point pen which used to be my pen of choice. Now I prefer rollerball tips which behave a little more consistently. I used a pen my father in law made on his lathe which is good for writing but feels a little weird to draw with. But having a few small obstacles like that forces an element of unpredictability into the process which is nice. As has been my usual practice of late, all color was done digitally so the original is black and white only and can be viewed on our flickr page if you click on the image.

Old School #5 - The Beast with Yoda

This is yet another whacked out drawing from my old high school sketch book. I was definitely into the abstract surreal stream of consciousness doodling at the time. Can you find the hidden Yoda?

Ols School #4 - Shaman

Continuing this theme of old sketches pulled my sketchbook from high school, circa 1993.

Old School #3 - Oculous

Another little sketch from my old high school sketch book circa 1993.

Old School #3 - Mesa Verde's Mad

Here is another drawing from my old high school sketch book circa 1993. If you click on the picture you can see a larger version on flickr as a lot of the detail get's lost at this small blog size.

Old School #2 - Cuvicle

Another one from my old sketchbook circa 1993, my senior year in high school.

Old School #1 - Note to Self

I pulled out some old sketchbooks from high school when my friend Ian told me about a call for submissions for an art show he thought I was up my alley. So I started scanning in old drawings to archive them as the books are getting old and paper is yellowing.

This is one of my favorites from this book. I'll be posting a bunch more over the next couple weeks too so stay tuned.

sea witch

sea witch, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

I worked this Cecaelia up over the weekend. We recently got a membership to the aquarium so perhaps that influenced this marine based monstrosity. As is typical with a lot of my drawings I did not start out with a plan, or rather I did and then quickly diverted from it as soon as I began. It reminds me of a blend of Mayan, Greek mosaic and modern pop styles.

paperwork

I had a meeting with a client this week at one of the cafe's downtown. He was running a bit late so I sketched the man sitting at the table across from me. The man was working away on a bunch of paperwork. Despite my trying not to be obviously staring at him I think he picked up on me looking over at him periodically and eventually he got up and left. I can't help but wonder what he was working on so intently.

autumn eyes

It's so hot today I'm longing for cooler climbs and autumn days where the air is crisp and the leaves are falling from the trees and starring at you. Ok so that last part may be a bit strange, but that is what I scribbled up a while back when I stumbled onto this site: http://www.zefrank.com/scribbler/scribblertoo/
It's a fun little tool that I expect to back and play with some more from time to time. So here's looking at you zefrank!

morsel... now in glorious technicolor!

morselcolor, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

Here is a colorized version of the "morsel" drawing from my previous post. I'm not sure which I like better. What do you think?

morsel

morsel, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

I started out just drawing an acorn. Then I decided it needed a tree branch and a squirrel. It's the time of year when lots of squirrels are around. With all the snow today they're surely huddling up and eating their stash.

BIrthday Present = Ink Gull

inkgull, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

My wonderful wife got me a new scanner for my birthday. My old one gave up the ghost quite some time ago. So now I can scan my doodles in directly rather than putzing around taking a digital photo of them and then cleaning them up in Photoshop.

So here is a recent doodle I've been waiting for the new scanner to post. Now I can rally take off! Thanks baby!!!

Joey Cape

Joey Cape, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

My friend Mel Fratta-Yukna commissioned me to make a drawing of musician Joey Cape to use for T-shirts and promo. I had to whip it out over night to get it to them in time. The label ended up up voting it down, so it wasn't used for the promo materials. But I'm still pretty proud of this one and I really enjoyed making it. I was working from a photo he provided that captured this great perspective of the guitar coming right atcha. If you haven't heard of Joey Cape, he's a great songwriter so go check him out.

sketch

sketch, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

This is an older drawing I did many years ago when I was working at a small sign shop. I often had lots of free time on my hands and drew this over the course of a week or so during downtime.

This is a style I developed in my high school years. An abstract psychedelic meandering of sorts. Working to expose the organic designs lurking beneath the surface of the paper.
I digitally edited the color, flipping it from the original. The original was blue and black ball point on white paper. Maybe I'll post it too if I can find it :)

Relay

Relay, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

Here is another Christmas present drawing I did this year. This was for our friends Jeremy & Crissy. Two bicycles in love.

Pen and marker on paper.

rocket to Christmas

rocket, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

Here is doodle I did as a Christmas present for one of our friends. Now that they've opened it, I can post it here.

Merry Christmas everyone!

voyage

voyage, originally uploaded by Mr & Mrs Speeed.

Safe travels to everyone this Thanksgiving!