Humble Pie

I´ve recently tasted humble pie. In Rome. Goes quite well with the espresso and gelato and all that...

It´s not everyday that one gets to have something as awe-inspiring, harmoniously beautiful and just simply overwhelming in front of one´s eyes. It can be a completely humbling experience as well, and even more so, to try a very feeble attempt to record this experience down with paper and pencil. Of course, I tried this a couple of weeks ago while on a visit to Rome and sitting along Bernini´s colonnade looking at The Basilica. Here are my attempts: the first two done on site, first with pencil, then with a Pilot pen and graphite. The third is the result of a 30-minute watercolor session in the studio working from photographs taken while there. Like I said, feeble. But I had fun. I´m willing to bet old Buonarroti, Bramante and Bernini didn´t have as much fun as I had.

I also tried doing some doodles in my sketchbook inside the Sistine but was told it was not allowed.

I´ll have to try again... when there´s no one.......

In spite of...

...the confusion that sometimes comes with the territory of "leading two lives", as I usually call it, I find the occasional few moments to come up with small studies for myself--a sort of counterpoint to huge, eight-meter panels--and these serve to remind me of my true calling and bring me back inside that bubble that I miss so much.

This is one of those studies. Like the previous one of the pears, I´ve tried here to make a portrait of these objects. I think every personal possession develops character with time, and a still life can actually turn into a "portrait" in the sense that one tries to "portray" the character within these seemingly mundane things. I don´t know if I´ve succeeded.

I´ve also been busy with a new (for me) venture: Illustrations for a children´s book written by my friend  and partner in crime, Mike McCarty. You can see a preview of this book and some of the illustrations by clicking on this link: http://www.theadventuresofalexthevegetariancoyote.com

Mike tells me that we are scheduled to go into print soon and it´s just a matter of time before the book hits the stands.