The Naked Silo

Selections from Sketchbook #29 (2008). These are experimental doodles drawn with flourescent highlighters. I drew in the highlights, leaving the paper alone for the shadows. When tilted at a certain angle, the negative effect is clear, but it wasn't until I photographed these sketches and inverted the colours in Photoshop that I got to see them as I had hoped they'd turn out all those years ago. It's a pretty neat effect! Darth Vader (played by David Prowse) from 1977's Star Wars . Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness) also from Star Wars . Commander Adama (played by Lorne Greene) from the 1970s version of Battlestar Galactica . Tron (played by Bruce Boxleitner) from 1982's Tron .

More selections from Sketchbook #29. I like C-3PO . I've been drawing Star Wars imagery since the first movie came out in 1977 when I would have been all of five years old (turning six in October of that year). Preliminary sketches for (abandoned?) puppet show. That's right: I was going to make a William Shatner-as-Kirk hand-and-rod puppet and perform Shakespeare monologues with it. I figured performing this material would be easy, since I could sorta do a passable Shatner impression and memorization* wouldn't be an issue because I could refer to the script while being hidden from view myself. I thought I might take it around to various venues in Prince Edward County, singing for my supper, so to speak...maybe open for real performers... I hadn't (and still haven't) built a puppet of this kind, but once the idea entered my head and I started sketching, I grew more excited about the proposed project. Will it ever happen? Who knows? The night i...

More selections from Sketchbook #29.

Selections from Sketchbook #29. Boba Fett. I was doing a graphic design/photography contract with a shoe store at this time. A good way to avoid boredom and ease tedium is to draw what's in front of you.

Selections from Sketchbook #22 (2003-04). Pencil, pastels, and that's either conté or charcoal pencil for the blacks. Unused preliminary poster design for a friend's production. Sketch of a statue of George Washington in Boston. Live-sketching a cat named Darwin.

15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 I took the photo* this painting is based on while also on horseback, right behind this woman (our guide). It was my first (and, for now, last) time on horseback, but I enjoyed it immensely and I long to get back on the horse...literally and figuratively. Not to be confused with this  crossing , or these two other crossings  (all of which are due for a re-do as oil paintings soon...probably with different names, this time, to minimize the crossings). *Shot while in Banff during the same Wagons West road trip that  this painting  derives from.

More selections from Sketchbook #21. Messing around with a messy charcoal pencil. Obvious song reference.

Selections from Sketchbook #21 (2002-03). Above three: doodling Juliana Hatfield from various promotional photos. Below two: cartoonifying Scarborough band Uncle Seth. Above: adapting some drawings by Jill Thompson; Below: simulating the style of Andi Watson.

15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 I've painted my wife, Krista , several times, with this painting being my favourite (or maybe this one  ...or maybe this one ), and her sister Caitlin has appeared in this large watercolour , but it's nice to have them both together here, overlooking a river in Banff National Park in Alberta. I mention my concerted return to watercolour painting after an unplanned four year hiatus two posts ago , but this painting was actually the first one of the New 13 started and completed (the tractor was just the first on photographed well enough to post –even Rosebud got posted before this one).

15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 I knew ever since I first laid eyes on her that I would one day paint this cute little boat. Now, with this watercolour, I've painted Rosebud three times: once in oils as part of my 33 on 33 plein air project, and once in inks as part of my County 101 painting marathon. This one's my favourite because you can see the boat better than in the oil painting and this is in colour, where the ink painting, while based on the same photo, is in black & white. The water was still and like glass that day, providing perfect mirror-like reflections.