Fall / Winter Gallery 2013

Here is our gallery from fall and winter adventures 2013, celebrating our parent's 50th anniversary and Nana's 75th birthday in sunny San Francisco. Then we had a great holiday visit with Nana and Poppie. All the best in 2014.

Travelling

My daughter looking down from the airport balcony 

Black Rhino

A quick sketch from a fun day the Denver Zoo with my daughter.

Permanently Sour

I think she has lemon for teeth, because she looks bitter

Pooh with my crew

Some mindless sketches while watching Pooh with my kids.

Jeopardy Woes

Godammit, Alex!  My clicker is broken!  MY CLICKER!!

Petrifying Profile

Sketching, while sitting in a meeting.  Her looks reflect her personality.

Oooh, I look good!

The storyboard of Mammoth Chuck checking out his disguise to get on the Covenant Cruise.

And the final scene from the animated short.

Watch the short here

Amazing hair

Each and every hair on his head is gelled meticulously into place.

Metro North Ticket Taker

"Tickets, please"

Who Likes Eating Field Mice?

This owl does.  A lot.

Future Looking Up

This guy's future is looking up...or maybe just he is.

Arctic Fox is cool

Some studies of the cool Arctic fox from the Rudolph Gonna Get Paid animated short

Watercolor birdhouse

A watercolor sketch of the (vacant) birdhouse on our back fence.

Summer Fun Photo Gallery

Here is a photo gallery from our summer travels to Marion, MA and Leland, MI, to visit family.

Pompous Professor

Profile of this pompous professor. So patronizing. 

Your nearest exit

Your nearest exit is around here somewhere.  I think.

Momma and her boy

Momma's proud of her boy, especially his adam's apple

Saturday Sketches

A few faces of friendly folks

Standing man study

This guy sure can stand around.

Spiffy for a date

She was on a date.  It wasn't going very well.

Wednesday's faces

 A collection of characters from today.

Seat belt directions

"Put the tab in the buckle"

TweedleDee

He's keeping an eye out for his brother.

Apple still life

A gift for my wife's family, for continued hospitality on a wonderful trip.

Flying Home

The first class flight attendant and the creepy guy from seat 4b.

Our flight attendant ladies, back in steerage.

The Charismatic Weggie

Her amazing weggie was inspiring my pants to the same

Faces from a Michigan mall

A collection of characters found at a Michigan mall

I missed the color on the backpack guy.  He looks like the walking dead.

I only got a quick look at this lady, so took come creative freedom with her features.

Quite a Presentation

This business traveler was quite happy with herself.

She must have given quite a presentation to corporate.

Junior Ranger 2013 at White Ranch

This weekend was our favorite weekend of the summer, the Jefferson County Junior Ranger camping weekend at White Ranch park.  The Jefferson County park rangers do such an amazing job!

Photo Gallery from the weekend

The programs are creative and outstanding, with one of my favorites being a nature / art station, encouraging the Jr. Rangers to bring sketch books and to draw, paint or sketch their surroundings in nature.

Anya on the watercolor table

I spent much of the day at the art table, as nothing is more fun than spending a day sketching and watercoloring.  

The view from the art table

Anya and I collaborate on a piece together

One of the programs was insect collection.  It was tremendous to see the quantity of bio mass in each swipe of the net in the grasses.  

Kees and Ethan capturing samples

We caught a tremendous variety of insects, from the very small to the large and eye catching.  Here is a sketch painting of our favorite finds.

A beautiful beetle

I love simple watercolor studies and with the forests all around, I found this tree calling to me.

A simple tree study

Velocity Werks Logo Design

Working with a SiteCore technology placement company, I designed a logo for the company, with a unique name: Velocity Werks.  Working from the simple proof design that the company management team approved, I wanted to create something that would stand out, while making sure it stays true to the company branding vision.

The first thing that I wanted to emphasize was the unique spelling of the word Werks.  I wanted to draw attention to the 'e', so that the spelling change is not confusing, but rather what makes this brand unique.

The first proof created a 2-D gear logo, with the e.  The e can stand on its own, as well as part of the name.

I took the previous branding and worked a 3D effect, to give a more current edge flavor.

And, then I provided a simple approach, with single gradient of color and just a simple splash of color to draw attention to the 'e' in the spelling of  Werks.   Simplicity is the way to go and this was the winner.

Looking for a SiteCore developer?  Visit Velocity Werks at  http://VelocityWerks.com

Family Photo Gallery: Spring 2013

A great start to 2013! Come join in for some of our adventures.


Last Gallery: Holidays 2012 Gallery

Back to Back Lookout Mountain Loops

With spring here, weather getting warming and Scapin, my beloved Italian steel road bike, freshly tuned, I have caught the cycling bug, as I seem to do each time this year.  I am lucky enough to live close to Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado, so I generally do my regular loop up the mountain and down the I-70 frontage road.

Scapin with the green, spring foothills behind

On my first ride up the mountain, I got walked by the single speed mountain bike.   Oh, the shame.  I am in moderate shape and currently doing 30 minute climbs (from the towers to the Buffalo Bill's Grave sign) and this guy went past me like I was standing still.  I knew at that time that I had no choice but to a second lap to redeem myself.

I can't put my finger on what the elevation grade 

looks like, but I can't stop staring at them.

The second climb felt better, as I had the opportunity to pass some folks on the climb, including the infamous "gear head". A gear head is a person that owns the most expensive, cutting edge equipment yet rides at a pace that warrants training wheels.

See the entire ride here:

View Back to Back Lookout Mountain Loop in a larger map

On my second lap descent, I was hit with a spring squall, complete with wind, rain and even hail.  Tired and welted, I returned home ready to ride another day.

Nine mile trail ride with Kees

Kees, my seven year old son, and I have been riding the trails for a couple of years, and he is ready to lay down some miles.  So on this afternoon, when he had an early release from school and I had a free afternoon, we geared up for a afternoon ride.

Kees riding the trails as spring storms approach in the distance.

I gave him my old Camelback backpack and water bladder, loaded up with snacks and gear and headed up to South Table Mountain.   He shocked me with this strength and endurance, as we rode over 9 miles together.  The ride was actually cut short as the storms that were once over Denver had made it west and were overhead and we sped home.  Winds, rain and hail chased into the house, but it was  longest, most impressive ride I had with the young man.

See the complete ride here:

View South Table ride in a larger map

Sunday Night Character Studies

Sunday's night sketchbook with some character studies for Extinct.

Weekend Coffee Shop Sketches

Always fascinating is the American coffee shop and their folks, a wonderful place to pause my life and sketch real life.

Skinny jeans and a huge latte.  I am not sure how all that coffee fits into this guy's body.

Then there are the folks that browse the snack counter.  Snacks = high calorie, sugar and cream infused food-like items.  She made the final decision on one of each.

Also great is watching the new world of dating and relationship progression.  In our technology age, it seems that the progression of a relationship is device based.  It seems that dating starts with a mutual PDA date.  This is where the couple spends the time on their PDAs, hopefully texting each other.  This progresses to the Laptop date, where the couple has that "no talking" comfort level and spends their time on their own laptops, next to each other.  Again, I hope they are Facebooking, chatting or, at least, emailing each other.

Here are some spillage / muffin top sketches.  Who doesn't love the ever expanding waistline of America?  Me.

I think she is so happy because of her hair.  I know I am happy because of her hair.

And then this one is sad, because of her hair.  Again, I am sad because of her hair