Tag Archives: tugboat

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Hopping Happenings

It’s hard to believe we’re already more than halfway through June! Things are hop-pening as I bounce between many projects every day. Here’s the latest.

Do You Have a Pebble in Your Pocket?: Met with the author last week to review rough drafts. No major compositional changes are needed–hooray! The author also explained her vision for the artwork, which was helpful as I finalize the spreads before painting. Consequently, I borrowed some field guides from the library to research what plants, animals, etc., I could incorporate. Learning about regional wildlife is fun, too.

Alice Moran: After a lot of sketching and rethinking the composition, I’m ready to start painting.

Cartage: My graphic short story project (“graphic” as in “graphic novel,” and “visual,” not “gory”). If you’re wondering what a graphic short story is, good question! It doesn’t actually exist as a genre yet. I came up with the idea 2 1/2 years ago and recently resumed figuring out just how it works. Last month, I submitted Cartage (text only) to a short story contest; in the meanwhile, I decided to move the art part along–currently designing characters and learning to draw a Mojave Wrangler. It doesn’t look like this. =)

Splugger

Other Story Endeavors: Completed a rough draft of a children’s book about a seagull and a spoon, which has turned into a bit of an odd bird (the book, not the spoon–the seagull is already an odd bird). It could either end up demonstratively quirky for elder children or significantly reduced for younger ones. Or both. We’ll see where, if, and when it goes. For those of you who are familiar with the event that sparked this story, yes, the spoon is plastic and orange.

Additionally, I’m working on plot outline for a new script and revisiting some John Churchmouse; once some other projects are nearer completion, it’ll be his turn again to hop on the scene.

Hop, hop, and away!

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Tugboat Painting to Home Port

Two Fridays ago, my painting of the M. Moran docked at its home port — the walls of my great-uncle’s house — in its new-old frame (new for the painting, old in that the frame was built several years ago). It really brightens the room and ties in to the other colors and woodwork.

MMoran-frame

What’s more, my great-uncle was so pleased that he asked me to do another painting of one of his boats! This time around, it’ll be the Alice L. Moran, another “most powerful” tug.

While visiting, I found the “Marine News” pamphlet containing the picture I worked from. I opened the first page, and, surprise, surprise, — there was a small black and white image of the original painting, complete with the stern of the ship. Although it would have been nice to know what the back of the boat looked like, it was still fun to figure out how everything that was missing might look and to reinterpret the image to fit my great-uncle’s home & frame.

The original is 23.5″ x 16″ by marine artist Charles G. Evers, whereas mine is 22″ x 30″. The background is Diamond Head, HI.

To learn a little more about the specs of this tug and the history of the M. Moran line, click here to read an excerpt from the “Marine News” article. And here to see a photo of its initial tow to Korea.

On the way there (to my great-uncle’s house, not Korea), I passed through Savannah, Georgia, and went down to the river, where, lo and behold, were two Moran tugs! One was docked, the other pushing a steamer. A lovely coincidence.

Now that school is out and I’m back in town, I’ll update this here captain’s log more frequently with bits about the myriad projects I have queued this summer.

So long!

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Tug o’ War

Indeed, the painting of this tugboat, active around wartime, is finished.

Then arises the question of whether an artist’s work is ever finished. But essentially it is finished. I may tweak a little after looking at it tomorrow. (Admittedly, I made a few changes since taking the photo you see below!) Comparing this image to the prior photographs, again we may observe the exquisite variation of dormitory lighting. Click to see a larger image.

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A No-Nonsense April 1st

We’ve marched out of March and into April — it may be May before we know it.

Despite gaining a second job at school for the remainder of the term, I’ve continued (albeit sometimes disjointedly) to work on art projects. At this point, it’s almost exclusively the M. Moran tugboat painting, which is coming along.

Click the thumbnail to see a bigger version. Click here to see the post featuring photos of an earlier stage in the process (“Tugging Along”).

mmoranprocess3_3.31.14-sm

Also, I learned that it was in fact Korea, not Japan, to which the tugboat traveled from the Continental US, stopping only in Hawaii.

On a musical note, today in my carillon lesson, my teacher showed me the summer program for Centralia Carillon — and what should appear on the cover but my drawing? Or what looks like my drawing. I say that because the program designer colorized it to make it “pop.” The trees in the drawing were tinted bright green, which is perhaps a few touches too bright, but there’s a goldish sort of yellow that makes the radiating light around the top of the tower stand out nicely. (I don’t have a picture, but if you visit Centralia, IL, on certain Friday evenings this summer, maybe you’ll get to take your own copy home. No fooling!)