COBOL ARTS

Illustration Friday - Blur

2009-11-09T14:11:00.000-08:00

we recently went to Chicago mainly to see the recently completed Contemporary Gallery part of the Art Institute Of Chicago. Like the rest of the museum it was wonderful, one of the best art museums I've seen. There was a room of works by Gerhard Richter including some of his blurred out of focus paintings based on black and white photos. This is a quick pen and brush portrait of Richter touched up in Gimp with the Gaussian Blur filter

Illustration Friday - Skinny

2009-11-01T19:47:00.000-08:00

The first person I thought of for this topic was Twiggy, as it says on her website - Twiggy was the world's first supermodel: a skinny kid with the face of an angel who became an icon.

Illustration Friday - Fast

2009-10-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

Gandhi was one of the most interesting political figures of the 20th Century. He used fasting extensively as a non violent means to attain political goals as shown in these excerpts from a biographical timeline

1932 - In September, while still in jail, Gandhi begins a "fast unto death" to improve the status of the Untouchable caste. The fast ends after six days when the British Government accepts a settlement agreement between the Untouchables and higher caste Indians.

1933 - In April Gandhi fasts for 21 days to again focus attention on the plight of the Untouchables. He is released from jail during this fast but rearrested with his wife and 30 followers on 31 July after commencing a new "individual" civil disobedience campaign and sentenced to a year in jail.

1943 - On 10 February Gandhi begins a 21-day fast to win his freedom. The British are unmoved and refuse to release him from custody.

1947 - Sectarian riots erupt as Muslims in India flee to Pakistan while Hindus in the Pakistan flee the opposite way. As many as two million die in north India, at least 12 million become refugees, and a limited war over the incorporation of Kashmir into India breaks out between the two nation states. Gandhi pleas for peace, using fasts to shame rioting mobs into order.

"If the peace is broken again I will come back and undertake a fast unto the death and die if necessary," he warns.

1948 - On 30 January Gandhi is assassinated in New Delhi while on his way to his evening prayer meeting. His assassin is a Hindu extremist who opposes Gandhi's willingness to engage in dialogue with Muslims.

Illustration Friday - Frozen

2009-10-21T14:58:00.000-07:00

Icicle formations by Lake Ontario, winter is coming, this year I'm determined to enjoy it

Illustration Friday - Flying

2009-10-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

there is very little more beautiful than large birds of prey soaring in the sky

Illustration Friday - Germs

2009-10-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

based on what I've been reading in the papers about Swine flu and what not else they are coming to get us, wash your hands, folks

Illustration Friday - Pattern

2009-09-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

I wasn't sure what to do for this topic, too many possibilities really, but I think this works quite well

Illustration Friday - Infinite

2009-09-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

I will be away most of next week so I am posting this older oil painting for the topic. Watching a beautiful sunset is one of those moments when I feel that I perhaps get a small glimpse of infinity

Illustration Friday - Welcome

2009-09-16T16:29:00.000-07:00

it was a pleasure to welcome back my favourite TV show for a third season. Mad Men has great writing, an amazing cast and top notch production values. One of the best shows ever

Illustration Friday - Strong

2009-09-05T20:22:00.000-07:00

I was looking through some old sketchbooks and these 2 coloured pencil efforts from 1984 seemed to fit this week's topic very well

Illustration Friday - Magnify

2009-09-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

sometimes magnification shows us things we'd rather not see, this is loosely based on a photo of a splash of seawater from the ocean off Hawaii, the crab-like thing is the size of a grain of rice. Anyone want to go swimming?

Illustration Friday - Caution

2009-08-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

always use caution when cooking with hot peppers, a little goes a long way

Illustration Friday - Wrapped

2009-08-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

Christo and Jean-Claude are famous for their large scale art projects many of which involve wrapping buildings or landscapes such as a Paris bridge and the Berlin Reichstag. They are controversial but I love their work, I was fortunate to be able to see the Gates installation in Central Park

Illustration Friday - Impatience

2009-08-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

We have all heard the term "Impatient As A Flamingo", have we not?
Well, probably not, I just made it up since I couldn't think of anything else for this topic.

Illustration Friday - Modify

2009-08-01T13:32:00.000-07:00

I started with a portrait in sepia ink of the late Irish novelist, John McGahern, a current favourite of mine. I modified it by reworking it with black ink and then I subsequently used an old Microsoft Paint It program and made 2 other modified versions

Illustration Friday - Hollow

2009-07-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us - if at all - not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.

from the poem by T.S. Eliot

Illustration Friday - Shaky

2009-07-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

Ch-ch-ch-ee-ee-ee-r-s. Cheers!

Illustration Friday - Worn

2009-06-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

Worn out, this sketch is based on one of Duane Hanson's great sculptures, this one's called "The Executive". It reminds me of many nights on the commuter train back from work, I used to think of it as the Night of the Living Dead

Illustration Friday - Drifting

2009-06-24T04:33:00.000-07:00

I really had a hard time coming up with something for this topic, this is a quick sketch of a boat in the Havana harbour

Illustration Friday - Unfold

2009-06-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

"The universe is unfolding as it should." Many would argue whether Pierre Elliott Trudeau was the greatest Prime Minister Canada ever had, but most would agree that he was the most intelligent. He famously used this quote from Desiderata on a number of occasions

Illustration Friday - Craving

2009-06-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

I gave up cigarettes a long time ago and I finally gave up cigars a few years ago but the craving is still not completely gone

Illustration Friday - Adapt

2009-05-31T20:40:00.000-07:00

It was Charles Darwin who said: "Survival is ultimately dependent on the ability to change and evolve". These days it is put a little more succinctly: "Adapt or die."

Illustration Friday - Cracked

2009-05-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

the old style hard boiled private eyes like Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade usually cracked a few skulls before they cracked the case

Illustration Friday - Contagious

2009-05-17T14:24:00.000-07:00

perhaps the most famous contagious disease is the plague that devastated Europe. The great sculptor Bernini lost a brother to the plague, his work Damned Soul, apparently a self portrait, evokes the horror the disease must have created

Illustration Friday - Parade

2009-05-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

We've been having a lot of fun watching the rapidly growing baby geese in the conservation area behind our backyard so I made this quick Mothers Day card, I think it suits this topic as well