New York Part 1 – The Silver Shed

I am going to do a post a day for the next four days on our recent trip to New York (because I took a lot of photos).  My first post will be photos from the place we stayed.  Laura and I use the website airbedandbreakfast.com a lot and have found some truly remarkable places to stay (and for cheap).  Our accommodations in Manhattan turned out to be one of the coolest experiences on our trip. 

The guy who was leasing out the room is a sculptor and lives with about four other artists in a house on the roof of a building in mid-town.  You literally take the elevator up some office building to the top floor – walk up another flight of stairs – and their house/studio is in the middle of the roof.  It was like sleeping in a studio from school mixed with a penthouse apartment.

It had a great view of the Empire State Building and of all the water towers you could ask for.  These guys probably had the largest “yard” in Manhattan.  When you visit a city as a tourist, there is so much of it that is automatically shut off to you.  Especially New York - because you see apartments and offices everywhere but you only see them from the street as an outsider.  But staying somewhere like this allows you to penetrate the tourist walls just by giving you a little more perspective. 

So on with the pictures:

IF - Star Gazing

Great topic today.  So great that I am going to include a few extras.  First up, a time lapse video of the milky way rising over the Davis mountains.  Right around the half way point it really gets good and I suggest watching it full screen.

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

And a Calvin and Hobbes.

And to round it off we have the Anselm Kiefer painting "Falling Stars":

Boundary/Limit Drawings

My last drawings for my drawing class.  The first explores the words “boundary” and “limit” by way of life and death.

The second drawing is an accumulation of the ideas and techniques explored in the class.  It is a depiction of the Apollo and Daphne myth.

Philadelphia Matrimony

We had a great trip up to Philadelphia and NYC over the past five days.  I post on NY in a couple of days but for now I’ll share some of our trip to Philly. 

We went up to Philly for the wedding of our friend Hans.  I probably wouldn’t have thought to visit Philadelphia except for the wedding and I think that these low expectations really helped me enjoy the city.  It helped that we were experiencing it with some good friends and had a beautiful place to stay. 

Philly is a very lively city with a very distinct sense of history – expressed through its neighborhoods, green spaces, food, and architecture.  We actually didn’t get to see the “historical” section of town with the liberty bell and independence hall but Hans actually lives in a row home south philly and we spent a lot of time exploring the area between his house and downtown. 

On another occasion we got lost in a ghetto in West Philly (which I found ironic that a year ago I was driving through Bel-Air).  In general we had a great time and though it was a short trip we crammed a lot in. 

On with the pictures:

City Hall (notice the window units)

30th Street Train Station

The house that we stayed at.

Han's street, they were really packed in there

Interior of his house

Melynda's Great Dane - Han's new roomate

She loved to chase you around the pool but was afraid to get in.

The newly married couple

The awesome reception place.

It was right across from a small river and park.

We took a side excursion to the Brandywine river museum to check out paintings by the Wyeth family.  The museum was in a old converted mill.

IF - Artificial

While I didn’t do a drawn illustration today, I did make an object that I believe will serve nicely for the IF topic this week.  I made a miniature lego version of Manhattan.  If one defines artificial as something created by man, Manhattan is one of the top places in the world where man’s hand is ubiquitous.  And to top off the artificial theme, this object of an artificial place is made by me with artificial material (plastic) with artificial means (laser cutter).  What is even more ironic is that I don’t really believe there is such a thing as artificial, though that is a discussion for another day.  On with the pictures:

Some more views:

 A comparison with Google Earth:

Passage/Transition Drawings Part 2

My second post on my drawing class from work.  The following drawings/scultpture is based off the words passage and transition.

This one showed a consistent viewpoint that changed through the ages.

This one compared the relative lifespans of a dragonfly, a human, and a bristlecone pine.

The following are are pictures of a sculpture that was based on the words.  It was made out of plywood and plexiglass.  The first three pictures are the plexiglass before I shuffled in the plywood: