Stuff Stuff: Marc R. Hanson

one of my favorite Plein Air painters lately has been Marc R. Hanson. He has a great sense of color and very efficient brush stokes. Also, for the month of April, he did a series of 50 Plein Air paintings all around his home in Minnesota. All were great and really captured the changing season. I may have to take a class from him one day since he lives just a few hours away. You can check out his blog here

Stuff Stuff: Josh Keyes

I saw Josh Keyes's work a few years ago but he has now added fire to his chopped up landscapes. There is something very scientific about his work. He dissects nature and urban landscapes and either sets up little scenes like at the natural history museum or shows a slice like a core sample taken out of the ground. Here [via booooooom.com]

Stuff Stuff

I thought I'd add a little more interest to this blog by highlighting some art stuff I've found interesting lately. And in honor of the name Town Town I've decided to call it Stuff Stuff.

For the first installment of Stuff Stuff I present some cool movie posters done in a modern vintage style by the illustrator Tom Whalen (Here)

Illustration Friday: Worn

As an architect, I feel I'm obligated to like modern architecture. And, while I appreciate the ideas behind it; the clean lines, and the unfussy simplicity of shapes and forms, I really don't like how it wears over time. For the most part, not enough attention is paid to how elements such as water will react to the building.

Illustration Friday: Drifting

the winds in flat polar regions creates very distinctive arrows in the snow that point in the direction of the wind. These arrows can be very helpful when navigating an otherwise barren terrain.

So if you ever want to get an Eskimo lost, you should install a bunch of really big fans and point them in all sorts of crazy directions.

thanks Discovery Channel.

Illustration Friday: Unfold

I just purchased a book of Norman Rockwell illustrations from Half-priced books the other day. He was an amazing illustrator and story teller. One thing that caught my eye was how every detail in the picture added to the story and the more you studied it the more the story UNFOLDed. So I figured I would try something similar with my own illustration. I took a simple scene and tried to have every detail expand on the story.

As with Rockwell's work I think its a pretty normal scene, just some dishes piled up on a counter top. But if looked at a little closer, a story unfolds.

The bottels and nipples: a new baby has recently arrived
The empty vase: the flowers sent to welcome the new baby have died and been thrown out. Time is moving on and we are settling in.
The water pitcher with filter: our tap water sucks and we use this picture with a filter to mix the formula.
The dishes in the dish rack: we live in an old house with no dishwasher
The two glasses: there are two adults in the house
The monkey plate: an older brother lives here too. Notice how he is curious but a little scared of the whole situation.
Most Everything is blue except the new bottles: we are used to having a boy, a girl is new and a little strange.

Illustration Friday: Craving

I have been craving the opportunity to do some Plein Air painting but I never seem to get around to it. I guess I just have to make it a priority to do it sometime this summer.