The Art of Relaxation

When it comes to laziness, Nigel has got to be King.

Nigel is the type of cat that will not move from the step he is laying on if you are coming up the stairs. You actually need to step over him. He is not a small cat, so he takes up the entire step. Although, he looks to have lost weight, he is probably still a good 14-15 pounds (down from 18).

In this picture, Nigel probably would not move if you went to the bedroom door and opened it. Instead, he would look up at you annoyed.

Some days, I wish I could just lay around and do nothing but look annoyed at the people around me.

Portable Art Supplies

Portable Art Supplies
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

I carry this around with me when I just want a couple pencils, pens and an eraser.

I've had this case for at least 20 years and it is still in great condition..

Illustration Friday -- Red

Today's Illustration Friday topic was Red. This was the first thing that crossed my mind.

Backyard Art

My neighbors
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

One of the things I love about living in downtown Frederick are the backyards. The different colors and styles show the individuality of the homeowners as well as the different architectures of the houses.

This shot was taken from my backyard while on the kids fort.

First Snowman of Winter

First snowman of winter
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

This is about as much snow as we got. The boys enjoyed making a snowman today.

It consists of hair made out a pine tree limb, arms made from twigs, nose and mouth made from carrots, and eyes, mustache and beard made from Double Chocolate Cookie Crisp cereal.

Doodle of the Day -- 2007.01.21

2007.01.21 -- Doodle of the Day
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

I did this while the kids were playing on their L-Max's this morning. Mac saw me drawing and decided that he wanted to draw something, too. It eventually turned into Mac and I drawing pictures while James played his L-Max.

It started out with the box. I then added the first tear drop, then the second tear drop. Finally, I added the details to the eye and sort of paisley.

Illustration Friday - Super Hero

2007.01.19 -- IF - Super Hero
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

Wasn't sure if I was going to do it this week, but this came out while watching TV tonight.

Thanks for stopping by!

Art at Work

Since I have not really taken any pictures or drawn anything lately, I figured that I would post something that I did at work. This was a simple network diagram I did for one of my customers to connect their East Coast and West Coast Satellite networks together as well as their Network Operations Center.

I know its not much, but its the only "art" that I have been doing the last couple of days.


Stay tuned. I hope to have something more interesting up soon.

Sunset in Northern Virginia

Driving home from work yesterday, I saw this out my drivers side window. I thought with the tree silhouetted like it is, I had to stop and catch this shot.

This was taken on Route 15 between Lucketts, VA and Point of Rocks, MD.

Mr. Angry Eyes

When I took Spot and Alice out last night, Spot went crazy and tried to climb the tree next to their kennel. When I shined my flashlight into the tree, I found this opossum looking back at me.

As you can see, he was not happy to be disturbed. As my kids would say, "He has his angry eyes on."

I wish I took this picture :(

I wish I took this picture :(
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

Instead, this was a picture that I downloaded from my five year olds camera.

He took his camera in the car while he and I ran errands. I hear him snapping pictures, but I never knew he was taking pictures like this from the back seat. There are actually a dozen or so more just as good.

I'm thinking of playing around with it and cropping and changing it to sepia or something like that. I want to keep the angled look of it though.

Prehistoric Sesame Street

Prehistoric Sesame Street
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

Todays post is about "Children's Art."

This morning, James was playing with his dinosaurs and had them take over Sesame Street. This was not the first time I saw them do this. I really enjoy when they combine different toys together and come up with something like this.

Personally, I like the yellow one climbing the building.

Did you have the Sesame Street building? Did you combine different toys together when you played with them?

Spot

Spot
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

I was trying out various depth of field settings and liked this the best (f/8). I can't believe how crisp this lens is!

Doodle of the Day -- 2007.01.11

2007.01.11 -- Doodle of the Day
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

Yesterday was an uneventful day. I took no pictures and I did no drawings. Just went to bed early.

I stole a few minutes today and drew this at work. I'll let you guess what was going through my mind today.

Doodles of the Day -- 2007.01.09

When we were in NYC last year, I picked up a sketch pad at MoMA. Its really cool with different colors pages versus the plain white ones in most sketch pads. I have finally got around to using it.

Here is one of the pages from it.

Illustration Friday -- Buzz

Illustration Friday -- Buzz
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

Here is my interpretation of this week's Illustration Friday topic, Buzz.

A 3 year olds view on life

I gave my old HP digital camera to my sons to use since they have both shown an interest in taking pictures. Today, I noticed that the memory card was getting full and downloaded them to my laptop.

This was the very first one that came off the card. This was taken under our kitchen table of our dog, Spot. My 5 year old is in the foreground.


I know that this one was taken by my 3 year old since this is my 5 year old in the red shirt. I think that his view on life is so interesting. It is such a different perspective. I'm glad that they have shown this interest and that I can see what they do from their point of view.

C. Burr Artz Public Library Lobby

Library Lobby
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

We went to the library today and for some reason, this was the first time I noticed this art work in the lobby of the C. Burr Artz Public Library. Apparently, this art has been there since they remodeled the building over a year or two ago.

The art was done by Dennis Anderson. It consists of six murals (only four are shown since the other two are to the sides of me) named 'Small Paradise.' In my opinion, it's very simple. However, it has some very interesting features within it. I'm not sure how it fits with the library theme or why it was chosen, but I like that he library has chosen to support the arts. The library actually has a number of pieces displayed around the entire building. the Children's Room has has a "Storytime Room" which includes a full wall mural of various children's book characters and a humongous tree (I think its called the Story Tree) where staff members can sit under and read to the children.

Honestly, I know nothing about the artist Dennis Anderson or any other work that he has done. If you know who he is and what other things he has done, please let me know.

Difficult Run Stream Valley Park

Difficult Run Stream Valley Park
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

I drive by this scene every day -- twice. I see this as nature's way of making art.

The history behind this is quite recent. This stream has a swamp area to the one side of it. This swamp flood often. Maybe 3 or 4 months ago, it flooded so bad that it washed the asphalt right of its base. Instead of removing it when they fixed the road, the road crew left it there to become part of the landscape. Now, its a constant reminder of how damaging running water can be.

Moon over my Maryland

DSC_3323_cropped
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

I love nature and everything about it fascinating. The moon and stars have always intrigued me with their own forms of art. The forms that the stars create and the "face" on the moon are just a couple of examples.

Today, I'm posting a picture of the moon and its beauty.

Man in Rain Doodle

2007.01.01 -- Man in Rain Doodle
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

While on a conference call today at work, this man in the rain appeared on the post-it note.

Blue Light District

Blue Light District
Originally uploaded by louhamilton23.

My goal this year is to try to post a new piece of artwork every day.

This shot was taken in my kitchen VERY late at night. I was walking back in and saw the light from my Wacom tablet shining through the vase. I had to get my camera and take a few shots.

The only thing that I did not like about this shot is that I realized the next day that the ISO setting was on AUTO and it chose 1600. I would have done the shot at 400. The result is too much noise. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

Merry New Year!

Billy Ray: Merry New Year!
Beeks: That's "happy." In this country, we say "Happy New Year."
Billy Ray: Oh, Ho! Ho! Thank you for correcting my English which stinks!
... from the movie "Trading Places"

Well, it's 2007. Another year.

I know it has been quite a long time since I have been around. Thanks to everyone who asked where I was and how I was doing in the past 5+ months. Although things are still busy, I am hoping to put some artwork up on my site in the next year. Since I have taken up a new hobby, photography, you will see a mixture of hand drawings and photos.

I hope everyone has had a good 2006 and looking forward to seeing more of you in the next year.

For my first piece of art this year, we all make hats to welcome in the new year. Here is mine.