I’m a member of the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators, and they’re putting on an exhibit at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh sometime next year (exact dates TBD). It’s called “Art of Facts: Uncovering Pittsburgh Stories” and will showcase Pittsburgh-related stories as illustrated by our members. We were asked to illustrate something that told a specific story that happened in or …
Wood
While I was transferring new texture photos to my computer, I scrolled through one of the folders there and found some beautiful extremes in wood. The ones I picked to share here are wood that was made into some “thing”: floors or picnic tables or walls or railroad ties. I remember where a lot of the photos were taken and have taken even more on return visits. Every one of …
Journal Doodles
I started a visual journal almost exactly nine years ago (Yikes! Has it been that long already?) on July 19, 2007. My intent was to illustrate my days so when I went to bed I could say I drew something that day. The sketchbook has been sitting dormant since Feb. 2013, and it’s high time I got back at it. …
Faces in Things
Nom nom nom (Sleeper stone used to seat railroad lines on the Allegheny Portage Railroad near Johnstown, PA)
Path of the Flood Trail in Johnstown
For our latest adventure, we wanted to immerse ourselves in a little history and headed to Johnstown and the Path of the Flood Trail. It was a short ride, but we made plenty of stops to read interpretive signs, go off-trail to see an old culvert, and get lots of tunnel photos. This is the village of South Fork as …
@Dippy_the_Dino’s rainbow scarf
On my latest trip to the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, I found Dippy sporting a colorful rainbow scarf in support of the LGBT community after the recent nightclub shooting in Orlando. Dippy is the fiberglass sculpture that sits near the entrance to the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History. He wears different scarfs in celebration and support of current regional and national/international events. The …
You Are Beautiful
The entire floor @ Artisan Café in Pittsburgh is embedded with pennies. But the message in the restroom is spelled out in contrasting silver change.
Look Up Once in a While
Because…clouds. Salisbury Viaduct clouds. Farm clouds. Shadow-making clouds. Cloudy clouds.
Look Down Once in a While
Look at this beautiful texture I found while we were visiting Slate Run. It looks like it could be the granite from a countertop or some incredible interior design pattern. Nope. It was a road. The middle of a freakin’ road. Thankfully the traffic stayed away long enough for me to snap a few close-ups (along with some mid-range and overview shots). I …
Thumbprint Tree
I’ve been working on my first “Thumbprint Tree,” this one for my niece’s upcoming wedding. I had never even heard of them until now. Very out of the loop, apparently. She told me what she wanted and sent me off to my room. Here’s the initial sketch: I needed to do a little tweaking for size, but here’s how it turned out: …
Pine Creek Bike Trail (day 2)
Of course, I might have overdone things this time with my ankle, but we needed just one more day on the trail before we headed home. We decided to walk the trail in the opposite direction from where we had just biked the day before, which meant better opportunities for photos since we weren’t moving quite as fast. Looking down Pine Creek from …
Pine Creek Bike Trail Anniversary
For our anniversary this year, we decided to head to Slate Run, Pennsylvania, and do a little biking on the Pine Creek Rail Trail. We started at the Slate Run trail head and rode about 10 miles north to Blackwell with the incentive of ice cream at Miller’s before we turned to head back. And we enjoyed yet another beautiful day. …