saturday morning sketches

American Vogue, April 1955.

BART: a thursday commute

The Queen Mary 2

The QM2 came into town yesterday, and D&J and I were among the thousands standing on the shore to watch it sail beneath the Golden Gate. Apparently they had to wait until low tide to squeeze it through--missing the bridge by about 27 feet--that's how big this thing is. There seemed to be something old about the whole affair, which I thought was nice. I like that kind of thing, i guess.

You need to check out the QM2 website, and the San Francisco Gate's photographs of the ship's arrival; they're really incredible. Click the photo below.

ritual coffee afternoon

ILLUSTRATION: John and Clare Romano Ross

To end my holiday kick, a last wintery post: beautiful woodcut illustrations by John and Clare Romano Ross. The compositions are phenomenal and really capture the energy of Manhattan. I like that they describe the city quietly—this is a city thick with snow, for walking with umbrellas.

Holiday Highlights

Snapshots from the holidays. The best ones are my sister's, and the first and last were actually the first and last taken. I don't know what this selection describes, but it was a pretty good time all in all.

Holiday Highlight: Alcatraz

Here's some sketches from our family's trip to Alcatraz, a legitimately awesome, scary, very cool place. The audio tour is just stellar, and we got a great guided tour from a park ranger. I think we all really loved this day.




And here they are as originally drawn:

San Francisco Moleskine

I finished a sketchbook on the weekend, hanging out with my friend Ric. As we batted about a story he was working on, I doodled the people around us; here are the drawings:

Holiday Highlights: The Musee Mechanique

One of the few redeeming things about the Fisherman's Wharf is the Musee Mechanique. It's an awesome window into the past, filled with working mechanical arcade devices that show stereoscopic images, perform little dances, play songs, tell fortunes, take photos, test your strength, and allow you to witness the supernatural. These here are poorly taken photos of their Carnival machine; it reminds me of a Bemelmans drawing--I love it!