SINGING BUS DRIVER OH MY GAWD

I have hoped for another encounter with the singing bus driver for many years. I have also, for the last week, hoped to finish my third bus interior by landing in the right seat on the right bus.

Friday afternoon I was blessed with both, and so I drew the singing bus driver into my book. And now I share him with you!

Hope-dashing busses

Finished July 28, 2011

There are at least three different kinds of non-bendy lowrider buses out there. I know because of how many times this week I thought I was on the right bus for finishing this picture, only to have my hopes Cruelly Dashed. This is the second of three bus interiors I'm working on. The third is almost done. If fortune smiles upon me, I'll get the right seat on that bussaroonie tomorrow.

Have thee my fellow Ottawans checked your route yet? I'm going to be lucky in the September set of route changes. Hope you will be, too.

I've found commuting awkward lately. More stand-up drawing! Maybe there are less buses on in the summer, but, shouldn't there be fewer commuters, too? Alternatively, I have been leaving five minutes later. Amazing difference for such a minor deviation.

Exhairiments, continued

July 27, 2011

Hey, check it out. I succeeded in making Different-Looking Hair! I ran across a political cartoon technique where you make all the hair black except some highlights. I normally do it the other way.

A hairy ride

July 26, 2011

I was studying drawing hair today. This afternoon's drawings brought with them the unwelcome realisation that all my hair looks the same! Bit of a letdown, really.

I've two more half-finished bus interiors now. Hoping I can finish them soon and share them here. I have so many incomplete assignments in the art segment of my life! But, I won't dwell on it. Quite frankly, this situation improves upon those years where I couldn't get anything started at all, so I'll take it, no moaning and groaning.

Glen Gower at OttawaStart blogged about photographer Ryan Emond's amazing timelapse video of Ottawa -- I have to pass this on to you because of that warm, slightly vulnerable feeling you get when someone does art about places you like, vantage points you just assumed you were alone in enjoying, until they showed up in someone's work and you learned your feelings were shared.

See-through busses

July 22, 2011

This is what you get when you start with the scenery and end with the context. I am working on another bus interior, but I have to wait until I get the same seat on the same bus again to finish it! #morelikelytobestruckbylightning

Better living through markers

July 19-20, 2011

Before and after the marker treatment. Which do you like better?

Me by Z

This is me! My friend's daughter drew me during lunch today. I was so flattered. No one has wanted to draw me in a million years. Thanks!!

Three windows

July 6, 2011

This building lay within the estate of Bavaria's representation to Brussels -- maybe the residence of the staff?

I loved the arrangement and shapes of the windows as well as the colours of the building. The rain was really coming down when I was there, so I had to do this from a picture.

And for my next piece, I'll be playing Strauss

July 3, 2011

 The table at which Hitler signed the Munich agreement. This table now
lives, shoved off the the side, in a dusty, ill-lit hallway. Once an
old National Socialist (Nazi) building, it was eventually adopted as a
music school -- our tour guide said, what else could you do with it?
-- and flyers for recitals are neatly stacked on it. Maybe the kids
lean against it while they wait for their exams. The little square
used to have a gold plaque upon it, which was where the agreement was
physically signed on the table.

And this is a Lufthansa stewardess. They didn't start the movie for
FOUR HOURS, so I also have sketches of the airplane bulkhead. I'll spare you.

July 9, 2011

Bus Blog in Munich

July 3, 2011

I got back to Ottawa last weekend with 7 more flights under my belt. I think I'm beginning to hate air travel. One flight featured an hour's worth of severe turbulence -- I wept and even the stewards looked grim -- but I survived to give my wonderful in-laws some airport chocolate in thanks for helping my man take care of a full-time job and a sick two-year-old. Wish I'd had a few more moments to get things for my loved ones, but when think tanks take you touring, they leave no minute unscheduled! 

All in all, Bus Blog would like to recommend you visit Germany. It's interesting, and complex.

A couple of drawings from Munich: above, a new synagogue in Munich, built of stone brought all the way from Jerusalem. Apparently when it's lit up, the diagonals appear as Stars of David. Wish I could've seen that.

July 3, 2011

And this is BMW World. I regretted that it was me there, instead of Jeff. The building was designed to look like a hurricane, with the eye to the right of the hourglass shape. The sinuous walkways are delightful. Inside, newly whelped cars pose in wait for their new owners. Terrific.


More to come.

Back in town and going deep

Bear and Socks at home (July 14-15, 2011)

Here you see me trying to get comfortable with the green markers I got out of Wallack's clearance bin. They don't go together as well as the greys do. Speaking of which, I lost my favourite grey marker in Germany. Maybe this is the excuse I need to buy MORE MARKERS? Pant, pant.

Unfolding's Mike Levin always has interesting things to say about the Ottawa art scene. This sober discussion with a reader really got me thinking, especially the part about how once-cheap comics are now a luxury item. I'm always shocked by how dear things are nowadays, despite the fact that my wallet fits into the middle-class tax bracket.

I found a site with approximately one billion architectural renderings (I guess this is the trade term for drawings of buildings?) and they're all beautiful! This Ontario-based company has a cheeky way of attracting web traffic: each image gets labelled with a different art or architecture term (e.g. "Bic pencil" or "3D rendering") to capture search engine traffic. They got me with "Staedtler Mars graphic 3000 duo"!

Today is the last day of my stay-at-home vacation with Ada. As a working mother in a double-income family, every minute of parenting time counts. The only problem is that I don't get a lot of time to work through the challenges: to wit, the Terrible Twos. This week I've thrown myself into it. I've chatted up an old neighbour who runs a homecare, interrogated the facilitator at my Ontario Early Years Centre, watched (and reeled in sympathy) SuperNanny, read the Ottawa pages on Healthy Parenting (what a great city this is!) ... that sort of thing, but mostly, listened to the kid herself. Parenting is the toughest job I have ever done. As someone who has held dozens of jobs, I know what I am talking about!

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Next week I'll have drawings I made in Germany to share, but I want to write some accompanying bits first.

Forced blog vacay

I'm work-traveling to Germany for a week -- hoping to return with airplane drawings. Ok, I know, I know -- too easy! No bumps. See you in a week and a half.

By the way, does anyone know good places to vacation with a toddler within a 5 hour drive in Quebec, New York or Vermont?