For as long as I've been able to hold a pencil, I've always loved to draw. Whether it's to capture some special experience, explore one of my many interests, create a gift for a loved one, or fulfill the needs of a client, drawing is a joy that comes very naturally to me. Painting and sculpting were natural progressions from drawing for me, although I don't get to do those nearly as much as I'd like to.
First up is a collection of aquatic weed drawings. The goal was to create botanic illustrations for the purpose of plant identification. The client also wanted the option to display them in color, so I've included a few examples of sketches that I digitally colored after drawing them. Each of these original drawings is only about three inches tall.
For this project, a storm surge scientist wanted me to create an analysis of the changes in the habitat of southeast Louisiana before and after the construction of an ill-conceived shipping channel. I created these images by compiling many historical Louisiana habitat surveys into two comprehensive maps; one for 1950 and one for 2005. I then chose two sites with which to create comparison images for the two years, projected the complete maps onto a three dimensional plane, and finally hand-rendered the results in pencil to create a consistent visual style that more clearly communicated the changes in land use and habitats over time.
Here are several drawings that I did. Some were for work, some for fun.
I don't get to paint nearly as much as I'd like to, so these examples are all at least twenty years old. The swamp paintings were done in a Chinese painting class under the instruction of a master painter named Wan Ding. We were fully separated by a language barrier and communicated mostly through painting. The style was a very enjoyable challenge for me, as the extremely deliberate and permanent nature of every stroke was vastly different from the meticulous refinement that I typically pursued.
I've always had a natural aptitude for spatial design challenges. Whether it's creating human-scale spaces for people to inhabit or envisioning an object within a block of wood or clay, it just makes sense to me. So while I'd love to find more time to carve wood and sculpt clay, lately those opportunities are limited to making gifts for my children.
