Mellow Mushroom

Posted on by Thor

Crealdé School of Art is updating their gift shop and so I dropped off 5 of my books, Urban Sketching: The Complete Guide to Techniques. I signed each of the books and they are on sale in the Crealdé Gift Shop  for $20. I realize now that I should offer the books on my website as well. They can be found in any bookstore around the world in many languages, but some might want to get it from the source. I need to get used to distributing books to bookstores and gift shops and get used to keeping track of the inventory. After signing the agreement the Crealdé agreement form, I decided to get lunch at Mellow Mushroom which is just a block away from the school.

Kathy Blackmore who hired me to work at Full Sale University years ago, used to take her animation teaching staff to Mellow Mushroom once a year as a treat. I used to always order a Cosmic Karma pizza which had a delicious spread of pesto.

Kathy passed away suddenly this year and so I felt the need to go to Mellow Mushroom in her honor. Kathy was an incredible children’s book illustrator and art instructor. I am still shocked and devastated that she is gone. We worked together at Disney on Brother Bear and then I helped her at Full Sail.

In Mellow Mushroom there was a new section of mural depicting the Beatles. I think it was done by local muralist Andrew Spear. I recognize his bold line work and crosshatching style.

In college I studied painting with Gill Stone who was known for his 1960s themes illustrated album covers. When I was a student, Gill was working on a 7-foot-tall painting of Rachel Welch for Playboy owner Hugh Hefner. All the flowers, rainbows and sunbeam patters reminded me of Gills work. In Gills freshman year painting class, easels were circled up around the perimeter of the room. he simply told all the young art school students to sit at an easel and start painting. There was no technical instruction, we just did the best we could and made marks on canvas. I learned as much from my fellow students as I did from the teacher.

An artist friend has been doing a good job of convincing me that it would be nice to study at something like the Florence Atelier. Even at my late stage of life, I have much I need to learn.

My Cosmic Karma Pizza was delicious. I tend to eat too fast while I sketch. I wolf down bites so that I can lean back over the sketchbook and make more marks. I got a large chunk of cheese stuck in my throat. It wasn’t a complete blockage. I could still breathe but I felt the lump in my esophagus.  I couldn’t eat or drink any more. This had happened before. It sometimes helps to raise my hands over my head. I knew that I just needed to relax and the lump should slip down my throat. I sketched to distract myself and relax. The waitress came over and asked if everything was OK. That was a loaded question. What she meant to ask was if I wanted a box for the remaining slices of pizza I wasn’t eating. Dear God I didn’t want to choke to death on a Cosmic Karma. I considered going to the bathroom to jump up and down and try and dislodge the cheese. Just as I was about to exit my booth, I felt the mass slip its way down my throat. Thank God.

I had another slice of Cosmic Karma but took much smaller dainty bites. I also kept sketching, but not as furiously. People kept entering the restaurant and I debated about who I could get in my sketch. I did get a box for the last slice which would have stuffed me like a tick.

New York City Urban Sketching Workshop.

Posted on by Thor

I went to NYC to give an Urban Sketching workshop for the New York City
Urban Sketchers. My premises was to show how to populate a sketch by
placing figures in perspective. The workshop was held in a midtown
building on the West side near Grand Central Station. The studios are
usually used to rehears and workshop Broadway plays. As a matter of face
we could heard dancers working in the studio next door. Our studio room
had mirrored walls for the dancers to see themselves. One thing I
always tell students when I am teaching students to imagine a vanishing
point is to imagine the room has mirrored walls. The vanishing point
would be right between the students eyes in the reflection. With this
room, They didn’t have to imagine.

Mark Leibovitz the NYC go to guy acted as a model and students had to
draw him as well as other students and the reflections. I did very quick
sample drawings to demonstrate the concepts I had shared. I think some
light bulbs lit up that day. Some students brought in copies of my book,
Urban Sketching: the Complete Guide to Techniques for me to sign. After
class we all went out to lunch and then we met again at Grand Central
Station for another series of sketches in which we places crowds of
people in perspective. The second level of a grand Central Station is
now a huge Apple Store. We gathered at the edges of the balcony in the
store to draw the crowds of commuters below.


The last sketch of the day was done outside Grand Central Station of the
facade. The goal was to demonstrate three point perspective. In three
point perspective there is a vanishing point in the clouds and the lines
of buildings all converge up towards that third point. I cut my sketch
short so I could walk around and share the love by giving one on one
advice to students based on the sketch they had started.

After the last Grand Central sketch, we all went to a German beer hall
to share sketches and war stories from the day. There I could look at
students entire sketchbooks and offer advice. It was a fabulous day. I
hope to arrange similar workshops in the future. I love sharing what I
have learned from doing a sketch every day for the past 7 years.