Dancin' Machine

Sorry for the entry-lack, loyal readers, but I spent the holiday season at my parent's house, and they have a cable package which includes 24-hour music video channels.

If that weren't enough of a distraction, we have a new dog now! Meet Diogi, a 2-year-old mutt we got at the animal shelter. He's part Bichon Frise, but the rest of his...cultural heritage remains a mystery. He looks like he might be sort of Asian, and maybe part schnauzer, too.

To warm you up on these cold winter nights, a bunch of snowy action scenes featuring Diogi can be found under the cut. There would be more of them if I hadn't run out of white paint.

Photography and drawing are two different mediums, each with their advantages and disadvantages. There are many who paint portraits by copying a photograph of their subject, but I always prefer drawing from life; copying directly from a photo sometimes yields a stiff and or corny and or soulless and artificial drawing. Plus, I learn little from the experience. But our new dog is so fast, it's impossible to draw gestures so quickly. So in this sort of case, using photography or freeze-frames from films can be helpful in capturing some of the poses. Rather than just duplicate the scene captured, however, I just make use of the gestures, colors, direction of light, and other useful information and incorporate it into a more spontaneous drawing with a simpler and/or more attractive composition.

Are these pastel puppy pics too cloying? Well, with the change in weather, I have sucked plenty of inspiration from the withered, frostbitten teat of mother nature. So for the other half of my readership, the dark side returns next week. If all goes well, that is. It will be so dark and gloomy...I'm really going to outdo myself this time. Look forward to it, spooky kids.