just some of our ramblings:

i've been meaning to try my hand at digital painting.  the idea has been nagging at me since attending a lecture... about a decade ago, during uni.  so, i've finally put it to test - staged results below.  and i wish i had done this a while ago.  if anybody is considering it, i've been using ArtRage Studio Pro:  http://www.artrage.com and there's a free demo; also available are apps for the iPad. although it's digital work, i've started here (as always) with pencil & paper.  i hope i never leave that behind, but who knows what developments are next with technologies. then, scanning...

We've just finished up the new Knoxville Insurance Corp. website... It's spectacular. The client had a very specific list of needs that had to be met with this site design, based upon how their clients interact with them as an agency and their own, internal workflow. The site had to accomplish the following: ***Have a bold, easy to find and understandable method of contacting the agency quickly. ***Offer easy to access, easy to understand quote forms, both for potential clients on the site and agency reps who use the forms as they are on the phone with leads. ***Give a clear, unmistakable...

the weekend was rather rainy - which let me to being more productive with ink than with the lawnmower. this drawing (or these drawings?) started out from a sketch on the reverse side of a check: then they translated into a sketch for the daily page - clyde and his gal, (Aug 31:) after that i started giving these guys some space on a larger block, and started to put together some other couples- robin/marian amongst others: then they just started to grow themselves: i've given it the title "famous couple from history" although, perhaps some of these...

Some people get excited about organization. My wife is one of those. Everything in the house has home. We received these boxes in the post the other day via Meghan Eyerman and Blegalbloss. Seems there's been quite a bit of thought put into the creation of these - contours for the handholds are cut with humans in mind (my dog tried to run off with one…), they all stack together nicely when empty, they're easy to label, and the folds are confidently reenforced for heavier weights- not that they'll replace my bowling bag, but you know, office-y stuff. Really, they do seem to be well...

  Anyone who's spent more than a few fleeting minutes with The Bens has heard the stories of our annual paddle trips down the Big South Fork river. We've spent hours mesmerizing some, boring others and making at least one person wet his pants with stories of getting held underwater by heavy rapids, concussions, eating fresh fish on the river bank and countless unsavory conversations had around an inadequate driftwood campfire. 2012's trip added a few more stories to the collection, but they're not really what folks have come to expect from us. There's no injury or drowning or wild beasts...

  been doing this daily drawing exercise for a year - minus a small relapse during the fall.  i hope you enjoy these.  todays drawing is a bit larger than usual, in celebration of the mile marker.  it's titled 'the nerd hive' and is on it's way out the door to andrew may.

back on valentines day i posted the art of war, a few days later - the moon base water farm... they've got some decent heat over the inter webs, so thanks for sharing. since then, i've been flooded with blueprints, and it's been good (thank you red chair architects).  i've done about 20 more, smaller ones that can be seen on my art site - click here.   below are a few of my favorites:

I've never been one to be afraid of the weather, but the storms that roared through (over? around?) Somerset last week nearly made me soil myself. ed. note: Nearly? At first it was sunny and nice, with some gusty winds. Then the sky started looking a little funky: Then it started looking a little like this: Ka-pow! Lightning!: Then stuff started gettin' weird: About that time my old buddy David Wooton from back in East KY gave me a call. He was watching the news and, apparently, there was a tornado in our area. Here it 'tis in the foreground (the one in the background...

over the weekend, i found my college portfolio.  i remember being quite proud of it at the time. here are a few of the best of the worst: 1: the business card. i actually used this for the first year or so after graduation, it was kind of like giving out work valentines... i guess... "hey, here's my face" 2: strike on graphics. the assignment was to create a design logo.  the order of the day was the default illustrator brush style. 3: updraft surfing - that's pretty much what i did in my free time.  almost everything i created was inspired by billabong.  legibility...

this last year i've played a game i call book roulette - it has 2 rules: 1: judge a book by it's cover 2: read the book. here's my review of one of the lot (there were 10 in all): the jonah kit by ian watson published: 1976 / by bantam books promo line: "even more dazzling than the embedding" tagline: "A child and a dead cosmonaut — joined in the brain of a giant whale!" synopsis: … not totally sure, actually… it seemed to be built on fear around the cold war.  somehow an autistic child was linked to a russian space hero and they were both communicating with whales. ...