three letter word for art

The show "Drawing On Main" went great. Dede Taylor and Erin Anderson were fantastic in helping to organize the show and get people involved! We had some terrific sponsors as well-- MacKenzie River Pizza supplied lodgepoles, Ferraro's supplied the wine and Old Main Gallery took care of the framing. We also had help from the Downtown Bozeman Partnership and a lot of help from friends and community members! I want to thank Vaughan Judge, director of the MSU School of Art, and Harvey Hamburgh, art historian, for speaking at the openings, and thanks also to everyone who attended both the receptions and the sketchcrawl workshop, despite a killer storm that left many folks stuck with tires spinning. Without further ado, some pics and art: The snowstorm aftermath: Story Mansion Some drawings from the Sketchcrawl:

I don't know what I was thinking not posting about this before the show, but I was in a great show with Adair Peck at Tart in the Emerson Center in Bozeman last week. I hustled to make some frames for the prints, and cut a bunch of mattes. It was my first time really seeing the work framed, and I though it looked good. Here are some pics: Look at those amazing miters! The show was a big success and I sold some prints! It will be up for another month, so if you're in Bozeman go and check it out.

New moleskine... This is the "real" final drawing from my last moleskine. I had to return to my old place of work yesterday morning, and while I was there, I locked my keys in my truck. So as I was waiting for my friend to bring me Linda's keys (we only have one vehicle between us) I sat on my tailgate and drew this delivery truck.

More MSU sketches. I'd always planned to a bunch but just hadn't gotten around to it. Here are some recent ones: South Hedges, the tallest building in Bozeman The historic MSU heating plant.

Some drawings from a hot and dusty (but fun) day at the fair.

misco mill gallery , originally uploaded by paul is just dandy .

view of main street from "the garage" restaurant , originally uploaded by paul is just dandy . This view had more vegetation than I usually like to deal with, which means I had to deal with it. Them's the rules. It was also different to do an urban sketch where the buildings were the third-most-important portion of the composition. I'm very lucky neither car moved for the duration of the sketch. I still wish I could've included some of the table where we were sitting.

hastings bookstore cafe area , originally uploaded by paul is just dandy . Of the chain bookstores in Bozeman, Hasting's might be the seediest. I don't know exactly why, but this place is a little on the trashy side. I don't want to sound like some sort of elitist snob (thought I almost certainly am), but between the semi-interested employees, the general disorganization and clutter, the inclusion of "creation science" books in the natural history section and the omnipresence of video game/nascar/hot rod/metal/"Left Behind" books and otherwise conservative cultural indicators the place just bugs me. That and they call the fiction section "Novels". Not that I'm particularly fond of the other chain stores, but they at least pay lip service to the idea of literacy and are kept a bit cleaner. Yet Hasting's is the only one that stays open 'til 11, so it's a decent place to draw.

I haven't drawn a lot lately, and so haven't had much to post. I started a new full-time job last week that's eaten up a lot of daytime hours when I might otherwise be drawing, and I've been pretty tired after work. I drew this last week from the second floor of the Emerson Center in Bozeman while talking about drawing with the filmmaker/photojournalist Peter Vandermark . I don't do a lot of drawing and talking at the same time (except for the kind of idle chitchat you might have while waiting for food at a restaurant), but this was a somewhat metacognitive process, so it wasn't too hard to stay focused and still communicate. I only wish I'd finished this drawing. Maybe I'll go back into it tomorrow on my day off. Or maybe not.

downtown bozeman, montana pano watercolor , originally uploaded by paul is just dandy . Ink and watercolor on block, 8" x 3"

The Bozeman Hotel sits at the corner of Rouse and Main, at what is now the eastern edge of the most historic part of downtown Bozeman. I'm starting a series of tiny ink and watercolor drawings of historic Bozeman buildings. This is the first, at 4" x 3". without color with color

I am really having fun exploring so-called "fish-eye lens" distortion, only sans camera. The more I look, the more I'm starting to see things this way. I may be losing my mind, but at least I get to draw it. From Rockford Coffee, yet again (they should start paying me) From the bed Okay, this one is pretty straightforward. From the Barnes and Noble Cafe, looking at the parked cars.

Free time is drawing time... Every thing one can see from the Rockford Coffee back booth MSU Creative Arts Library Rockford facing the other way

A random recent assortment: at The Leaf and Bean coffee shop on N. 19th I occasionally draw my life drawing students while they draw, although the sketches have to be done rapidly during long poses. I really enjoy drawing people while they are drawing people. I rarely do contour line drawings anymore, but I thought I'd try one while looking out the window of our favorite Greek restaurant in Bozeman, Greek to Me (aren't all Greek restaurants called that?) Nova Cafe on Main always has a bunch of stuff on the table to draw.