Mitama Matsuri (Lantern Festival)

Over the 3 day weekend (thanks to Marine Day) I was able to travel up to Tokyo and explore Yasukuni Shrine for the first time. It's out near Akiba in the Chuo Ward so it took me quite a while to get up to the East side of Tokyo. The following photos were shot on my D40X.

Hanami/ Cherry Blossom Viewing

I haven't uploaded any of my photography in ages on this blog. Once a year (for about 2 weeks) a major event happens in Japan; cherry blossoms are in bloom! This year I travelled to Shinjuku and Ueno to celebrate. The following photos were taken w/ my Nikon D40X.

Sketches!

Another sketch from Japan. I think I may start refining some of my sketches in the future into nice watercolor pieces. It may or may not happen. :P

Landscape Class Final

As part of the class final for my landscape painting class, we went out across the street from Marina Jack in Sarasota,FL and all worked on huge pieces of chip board in black ink. The class sat with our backs facing each other in a huge circle. It was the most fun I had had all year in the class. This is my piece of the assignment. It is duck-taped at the top because the boards was so cheap, it warped like crazy. I ended up taping it to hold it down. I had to toss this in the move back home.

African Violets

Took care of some flowers for a couple months and drew a couple highly experimental pictures every couple weeks. These are on all different types of paper using all different types of media. WAS REALLY FUN!

Altered Landscape

To me, the idea of gas station perfectly represents how we manipulate and abuse the land around us. To me, it is the quintessential landmark of global warming and the idea of human greed. I painted this primarily in ink washes and added a little line-work in at the end.

This is the last assignment for my landscape painting class.

Plein Air Paintings

Most of these were completed in one session (around 2- 3 hours). The first two were done in oil and the last 3 were done in acrylic. It's interesting experimenting again in my landscape painting class. I'm obviously most satisfied with the last painting. It's the most resolved.

Sarasota Landscape

This is a landscape I drew in two sittings (today and last Wed due to the weather). Took about 4 hours total. Ink and watercolor ~ 5" x 11"

Landscape Drawing

This is the first assignment for my landscape/ drawing class. We were required to do it in black and white. The finished drawing was 17"x 29".