Drawing this morning on the balcony, before the rains came. People walking by, mainly moms and dads back from delivering kids to the nearby day care.

Bonus: a sensitive portrait of my foot.

The coarse cardboard at the back of the sketchbook is nice for drawing with certain types of tools. Here I used colour pencils, and also colour ballpoint pens.
Then, a more normal drawing (in execution at least) from the middle of the book, based on one of Big Daddy Roth’s dragster-driving monsters. I used to love these.

Think I’ll colour this one. Of course he needs more popping blood vessels!

Bought some fun new pens (called “Pilot FriXion Ball” gel pens, in brown, .5 mm and .7mm respectively, plus a new sketchbook, because those were on sale at the art store). So I decided to sketch with them using brown pencils to embellish, as necessary.

“Brown Studies” is not what the name really means, which I think is a Victorian code phrase for pornographic literature. I could look that up (because the internet seems to hold all knowledge, especially of those kinds of things), but won’t because I’m lazy, and just want to post these up here.

The usual from me, but maybe more variety, and possibly even a hint of coolness, because I drew some things from the recent issue of “EXCLAIM” magazine. Other things are from off the street, vaguely, or out of my roiling, fevered head.

Happily, the rains stopped yesterday, enough to allow me to sit on the balcony and get a modicum of sun. Interesting people were out in the streets, but I’m worried that they seemed more hip than the usual residents, and I wondered if this neighbourhood was further gentrifying.

The amount of English I heard spoken in the streets was a worry for me too, because I treasure my exile in this area.

Here’s my impression of the late Maurice Sendak, from a documentary I’m watching about him on youtube at the moment.

UPDATE: Link is down, too bad. Here’re some salient things from it, on another blog: [link].