I love making small portable studios wherever I go.....
One of my favorite things to do...
and then the refill!
New Big Pencil !
48” wide!
A wonderful person at Art-A-Whirl bought my feature piece. How cool is that? Sooo I painted another similar pencil based in what I learned from that one.
I love painting these and hearing what memories these conjure up for people
The ironing board was just a great place for temp storage.
What do the pencils make you think of?
Westminster Pres Member Art Show - 3 1/2 pieces up
Westminster Presbyterian Church has an AMAZING collection of art and I am happy to have pieces hanging in the member show. 3 are solo pieces and 1 is a collaborative piece done with Marcy Conrad Nutt and the middle school youth. So I count that 1/2 piece :)
Rodney Allen Schwartz is the gallery director and makes works of art arranging and lighting art. Whether he realizes it or not he is also one of the encouragements for me to start working larger
This show is currently up until Sep 9th
We Promise To Support You 22x30 watercolor on 300lb arches
Having a write up makes it official...
So Much To Do - 8.5x11 inkwash
The First Thing We Touch - 8.5x 11 watercolor
The collaborative piece done with the middle school class.
Description from the church website
https://www.westminstermpls.org/grow/adult-ed/westminster-gallery/
Current Exhibition
Standing Hand in Hand
May 19 – September 9, 2019
The theme for this summer’s exhibition of art by Westminster members and friends is: Standing Hand In Hand and is inspired by the text of the song I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing made famous by the New Seekers.
The artists visualize for us the experience of coming together in community, of being in family, and of standing united for a common cause against repression.
Where do you find yourself standing hand in hand with other people?
I make a terrible scale figure. I am realizing that each of the pieces could be a blog post in themselves.
I hope you enjoyed the pieces. I loved painting them!
Nuttdraws.com
draw for any reason
Open Studio Dec 7-8-9!
This is a great weekend to pick up original art for Christmas NE Minneapolis from working studios in cool old buildings.
Our studio is open this weekend and I would really like to get some of these pieces in homes instead of on my walk.
This year I have over 90 originals mounted, custom matted, and shrink wrapped to make it easier and cheaper to frame. I am going to put 30% off on all of these and I believe Marcy is doing something similar.
Solar Arts and Indeed Brewery will have food trucks, some music, craft beer, and great artist this weekend.
Come pick something up or just say hi. Your encouragement is a big deal and supports this part of our lives!
Dec 7-8 Thur Fri 6:30-9:00 and 12-9 on Saturday.
Solar Arts Building - 2nd floor by the stairs - 711 NE 15th ave NE Minneapolis - above Indeed Brewery
Art-A-Whirl 2017!
Hello everyone,
If you are a friend of mine on facebook (where I am much more active - https://www.facebook.com/nuttdraws/)you have heard plenty about it, but we have been
working hard to get ready for Art-A-Whirl 2017. This will be our 4th in the Solar Arts building (Above
Indeed Brewery). We are in a new location over by the stair. The space is a little
narrower than the last and houses Marcy, Leo, and I.
Friday, May 19th – 5:00-10:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 20th – Noon-8:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 21st – Noon-5:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 20th – Noon-8:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 21st – Noon-5:00 p.m.
711 15th avenue NE, MPLS
2nd Floor Studio 216 (by the stairs)
Please come and see us. We have repainted the place, gotten art matted, framed, and
even have progress pieces on the wall.
I will also have the recent collaboration with a high school student
through MN Make a Wish Foundation on display.
This year we have worked to original art for all budgets:
-$5 dollar linoleum cut prints
- Over 90 shrink-wrapped matted pieces from $40 - $140
- Small framed pieces from $20
- Larger framed pieces from $200 - $1600
- Non-matted smaller originals from $10 - $90
- Non-matted larger originals from $90 - $200
- Smaller signed prints framed and unframed from $10 - $40
- Marcy has prints of her Geisha and Kids looking at a
Polaroid
- Or just come to visit and see what is new and the amazing
artist on the second floor.
Northrup King is the amazing Mother Ship for Art-A-Whirl,
but if you want a more digestible amount of art and a more manageable crowd
come to the Solar Arts first. 2nd floor has about 20 working studios
with fine art, jewelry, and fantastic pottery in our “old studio”. 3rd floor has Chowgirls Lounge with
craft cocktails, Chowgirls Killer Catering local-and-organic twist on the retro
TV dinner, and the MN Sculptors Society.
Indeed will have a huge line up of outdoor music and food.
More information here about the artist in the building and
also on Indeed Breweries website will give you the music lineup:
http://solarartsbuilding.com/artawhirl2017/
You can’t make it to Art-A-Whirl or the crowds aren’t your thing,
we are always open on First Thursday or we can meet most evenings with a little
planning.
Just look for the giant TRex! by the door.
James, Marcy, and Leo
www.nuttdraws@hotmail.com
Westminster Presbyterian Church
This is a piece I have been working on all week in walnut ink and watercolor.
We have lost someone special and this Westminster Presbyterian Church has embraced the family. I worked on this as I thought through what community means.
Very loose interpretation based off of an old photo. I took some liberties. Some of the higher windows are stone but I wish they were glass so I made them so.
Anyway, hope you enjoy my little therapy session.
This is 11x17
The Clevelander view from the beachside seats
I was an invited artist to the Clevelander in South Beach on a dream trip twice a few years ago. I was invited to come and sketch as much as I could for 4 days.
I see that I never posted this process image, drawn and painted at night and onsite while enjoying the atmosphere. The next day with actual sunlight I pushed and pulled a few things.
This is pretty typical of my process and also shows my paint kit.
This was such an amazing trip. If you ever visit the Clevelander they also own the Essex House on the same block. It is beautiful, the courtyard is amazing, and Zen Sai is fantastic as well.
a panarama from my vantage point
Laying out the big shapes and getting the proportions right
The inking starts. This is not a tracing, this is drawing a second time and often times I am making changes on my second pass.
More progress
Starting to clean up
Now for color
I use a limited pallete and then only three colors from that. Especially when I paint in the dark with colored lights.
Blocking out more color.
In the daylight. Working while eating.
More or less finished.
This was a fun trip. I have a second round of drawings that I have never posted but the first round can be found here:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/14205969/Miami-Beach-At-the-Clevelander
Hope you enjoyed a peek at my process!
IS SKETCHING RELEVANT TO DESIGN THINKING IN ARCHITECTURE...I SAY YES
Some time ago submitted these 11 X 17 boards to a sketch competition for d3. 2013 submission call. These boards, along with a1,500 others were hung the Fordham University in NYC.
Since then I have used these boards over and over when the subject of sketching in architecture comes up.
This is a pretty good summary of my work when it comes to design thinking and how it relates to drawing.
I hope you enjoy these.
This first board is about digital sketching. For me it isn't either or. It is just a different medium. You approach a charcoal drawing differently than an ink wash. It is the same with digital versus traditional media. Craft is craft.
I do A LOT of travel sketching. As an architect to me it is similar to a musician practicing their favorite artist melody lines. To learn to see (or hear), try to figure out what they were saying and why it worked (or didn't), and especially to remember.
At this point I can walk while drawing and painting. I can also draw upside down almost as well as right side up. Somehow my handwriting is so much better than the normal way but it is much slower.
Often times I am in conversations about how to put complex assemblies together. I have found these types of drawings to really help that conversation along and get past the basics and on to the good ideas from the folks in the field.
As architects, we do a ton of 3d modeling. I set up the basic bones of a building faster in 3d which gives me something accurate to sketch options over. Pick and option, model that, print and sketch over to the next level of detail and options, model and test that, sketch over it....you get the picture but I almost have construction documents when I am done.
This is also a good way to have conversations with multiple trades. The construction folk look at it toward constructability, sequencing, and cost. The owner or developer wants to see the image and the feel along with cost. There are lots of players with different centers of their universe and this lets me communicate in a way to talks to all of them.
Plus.... I just love drawing and use any excuse I can.
Hope you enjoyed this.
Samples of my other work can be found by searching James Nutt and Behance.
Spoon and Cherry- a favorite sketch
If you know Minneapolis you know about this huge Spoon and Cherry sculpture. This is an urban sketch done while sketching with the Metro Sketchers. The original is hanging at the White Bear Center for the arts and I have professional prints on water color paper at my studio for $75.
This is done with my travel inkwash technique of older water pens filled with ink applied with a water pen filled with water.
The red is Noodlers Cayenne, the blacks are Noodlers Lexington Grey and Black.
11x14
This smaller version is from my daily sketchbook. I can't remember which came first.
Keep Drawing!
Sketching In Lutsen over Thanksgiving
Traveling to Lutsen
Marcy and I
utilized the Thanksgiving holiday to go to Lutsen to unwind. On these family trips we always squeeze in a
little time to sketch and paint. I
expected there to be more snow on the ground, but the lack of it created a
color pallete that kept me painting.
These are a few of the sketches and I hope you enjoy
them.
Coffee cup sketch.
Duluth Cafe
If you haven’t been to Duluth Grill you will never find it on your own. It is fantastic and the comfort food has a foody twist to it. They also have a wide range of fantastic local art. Their coffee mugs are made by a local artist and a good warm up painting to start the trip.
Lutsen Totem
Most of the wood
columns around the lodge are carved in an abstract Totem theme. During dinner I
was able to study this a little. I noticed it other place around the property and
I wonder who first came up with it.
My Breakfast View
This is the view I
spent a lot of time with looking at Lake Superior. I spent a lot of time at
this table painting.
Gondola ride
Adam in our office
suggested that we go to the ski hill and take the Gondola ride up the mountain to
a restaurant bar. The Gondolas are
exactly the same as at the state fair but the ride is a lot more extreme. Straight up this cliff to incredible
views. We had the whole family painting
up here. I was able to get several smaller pieces done. The food was just OK
but the location was spectacular.
Lutsen Grass
I mentioned the
colors of the grass without so much snow. This piece is a simple painting
trying to catch the essence. I was also trying out my “fan” type watercolor
brush.
My Favorite Tree
Often times I will precolor a page and draw on top of it later. (See below) This is a good example. After a long time of water coloring I had all of this paint on my palette. I just hate sopping it up and throwing it away, so I mixed it all together and the color became this nice brown. I washed the page with it and waited for inspiration. I woke up 2 mornings later with this idea of painting the tree I kept staring at between me and the lake.
Built Wash
I haven't decided if this is a finished piece or if inspiration will hit me to paint over it.
Lake Superior from Lutsen Resort
This is the view I woke up to and enjoyed every morning. This image itself is my attempt at the Tea Milk and Honey 3 stage water color approach I recently read about in Marc Taro Holmes wonderful new book The Urban Sketcher: Techniques for Seeing and Drawing on Location.
There were more sketches, but these tell the best story, I hope you enjoyed them.
James Nutt
Red Door Studio Art-A-Whirl 2014
I didn't realize that I hadn't posted this blog entry from Art-A-Whirl 2014!
Thank you to everyone who came out. It has been a dream of mine to be in Art-A-Whirl since we moved to Minneapolis. I always thought someone might let me use a little space on their walls. I never expected to have a full blown studio in one!
5 artist share this space. 2 photographers and 3 architect needed an art outlet!
The place was packed all weekend! Really wonderful to meet so many people and discuss art. We worked so hard to get this set up and it was worth it.
This image is typical of how many people were in the studio the whole time. Leo really did great with the people and even tried to sell some art.
My friend Pat Mackey stopped by wearing the required architect black shirt.
The T-Rex! got the most attention of everything I had posted. I sold several prints. T-Rex! is back in Hazels NE for the time being. I have sold prints to or created new cardboard pieces for several people since the show.
Lots of friends who stopped by are in this picture.
The NewStudio Architecture crew came by!
Indeed Brewery and the band outside kept the place packed. There was so much fun stuff going on that it was crazy.
Leo had fun.
Our hallways are also art galleries. We are at the end of the hall so this gives a good indication of how busy it stayed.
Another shot of the common space.
The space is was only empty before the start and after!
Art-A-Whirl was a blast. We will be open most First Thursdays if anyone wants to visit and see what we are up to. Thanks for all the support of our art. It really helps!
James Nutt
A wonderful evening in Excelsior Springs, Mo
From Minneapolis to Excelsior Springs, Mo
On a trip to drop my son off with his grandparents in Arkansas I had a two day trip back to do as I pleased. I had always thought of stopping by Excelsior Springs to visit Cathy Johnson. Cathy is an artist I greatly admire and helped me with advice and encouragement and a great example of living by art.
These are roughly in the order I sketched them. 90% on site work. The last 10% was line weight ramp up and some color touchup. It was getting dark, and I will admit a little creepy being the only one walking around downtown once it got dark.
On a trip to drop my son off with his grandparents in Arkansas I had a two day trip back to do as I pleased. I had always thought of stopping by Excelsior Springs to visit Cathy Johnson. Cathy is an artist I greatly admire and helped me with advice and encouragement and a great example of living by art.
These are roughly in the order I sketched them. 90% on site work. The last 10% was line weight ramp up and some color touchup. It was getting dark, and I will admit a little creepy being the only one walking around downtown once it got dark.
Cathy and her husband Joseph graciously welcomed me in. I had no idea if they only had time for a quick visit but it turns out we all went to dinner together at a beautiful hotel downtown. The restaurant at The Elms is quite beautiful and food was great. As soon as the food was done the sketchbooks came out!
Neat little building corner. I think it was the Mill Inn. I need to go back and put the lettering in.
It was starting to get dark and the color got away from me. This building isn't really green, but now that I have some distance on my frustration that it turned green I really like it. Always be careful with mixing yellow at night. You really can't see it so use about 1/3 as much yellow as you think. Or just go for it and have bright interesting colors the next day. Either works!
This was just a neat building corner.
Such a wonderful evening. After they left I had about 45 minutes to an hour of daylight and made a quick walking tour grabbing what sketches the light allowed. I think I may have been one of 5 people out and about downtown.
The night before I loaded up two pages with color for some yet unknown project the next day. Over breakfast I did these two drawings. The family in front of me turned out to be an art teacher from Omaha that I wound up showing my sketches and paint kits to. It is always fun to meet people.
Such a nice morning and beautiful patio to have breakfast at. I should have drawn the biscuits and gravy but they somehow went away to quickly!
James Nutt
www.nuttdraws.blogspot.com
James Nutt Sketching in Philadelphia and Washington DC
This week I had work travel. I left a little early to sketch in Philadelphia. I spent Sunday from 3-7:30 in Ritten Square and walking distance. The next day I took a train to Washington DC and got a few sketches of to amazing train stations in the same day!
I hope you enjoy. These are roughly in order.
15 years of Urban Sketching
15 Years of Urban Sketching
Lately I have been going through old files and boxes of art stuff. I thought it would be fun to post drawings from 1999 to now. I have an assortment like this on my Behance page hhttps://www.behance.net/JamesNutt.
Roughly in chronological order..... 2014 to 1999
Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I did revisiting them.
Keep Drawing
James Nutt AIA
www.nuttdraws.blogspot.com
Nuttdraws Gets a New Home! The Solar Arts Building! (Above the Indeed Brewery in NE Minneapolis)
WE HAVE A
SPACE IN THE NE ARTS COMMUNITY! STUDIO #207 IN THE SOLAR ARTS BUILDING WILL BE
THE NEW HOME OF NUTTDRAWS AND C+N STUDIO ON MAY 1ST 2014!
Our new home away from home -
http://solarartsbuilding.com
I am so excited. For the past 8
years I have had a dream of being a part of the NE Arts community and
especially Art-A-Whirl (http://nemaa.org/art-a-whirl). I would go every year
and it would be painful because I thought, " I could do this, but I am
not." Last year it was more enjoyable because I was producing and I
thought, "how great would it be a part of this scene and have a
space."
Almost a year ago at my St Paul Almanac
showing a few friends started talking about getting a space together. Stephanie
started looking and over time found the Solar Arts building. Marcy got on
board and quickly this whole dream became real. We lost our first space to a
group of poets. (You don't get to say that everyday) but another space
opened up and we jumped on it!
So, believe it or not, we
now have a space AND will be in Art a Whirl. And in true James and Marcy
Fashion the show is 2 weeks after we get the space! We have a lot of work to
do.
Marcy and I will share a
space together. Our small upstairs in our house will be almost empty
because it still has the C+N furniture plus my 4'x5' motorized drawing desk and
all that goes with my art. So we also get another room in our house!
Our studio mates are the
talented Stephanie Dunn (http://www.stephaniedunndesign.com) and Holly
Scholl (http://www.hollyschollphotography.com/)
in the other spaces. We are in negotiations with a 5th person to make it
affordable. We also plan to make the space available to rent as a temporary
photo studio.
The building has open house
nights on First Thursdays and features the artist on the site
(http://solarartsbuilding.com/the-artists/).
My hope is to have a place
to create art, meet other artist, and hopefully sell and take commissions. I am
really looking forward to meeting the community.
Being above a taproom
doesn't hurt either.....
I also hear chocolate and sandwiches are on their way too!
The building!
The "not yet ours" space.
Our front door! (We will work on that)
I am excited enough it has been hard to sleep! Visit if you can!
James Nutt, AIA
www.nuttdraws@hotmail.com
An invited visit to the Clevelander and the Essex House (Combined Posts)
((Disclaimer - this post is a combination of previous trips about the post. I have shared this story with enough people and have decided that it is a lot to expect people to find and click all 4 posts! Note that I still have progress posts to polish and post. ))
Since these original posts I have touched up, made final scans, and have posted the images on my Behance site. I would love for you to visit them because the blogged shots are simply from my iphone.... http://www.behance.net/gallery/Miami-Beach-At-the-Clevelander/14205969
I have since been in touch with the wonderful people who invited me. There are talks of other visits to see the awesome show at the Marlin's opener and other opportunities. Very fun.... Especially since my Free People Store on Collins Ave is almost open and my chance at more trips are coming to an end.
Now, the whole story...all in one place...
We did make it on to Miami and on time enough. We were picked up by the hotel and as such started our wonderful trip.
Dinner
I will post the rest of the sketches in other blogs (this is long enough) but it REALLY was a great vacation. We REALLY were taken care of in a way that I hadn't before. I REALLY felt appreciated for my art in a way that I never have before...so thank you. Everyone to a person was fantastic to us. Even when Leo was grumpy in the high end (AMAZING FOOD! WOW) Zen Sai.
Since these original posts I have touched up, made final scans, and have posted the images on my Behance site. I would love for you to visit them because the blogged shots are simply from my iphone.... http://www.behance.net/gallery/Miami-Beach-At-the-Clevelander/14205969
I have since been in touch with the wonderful people who invited me. There are talks of other visits to see the awesome show at the Marlin's opener and other opportunities. Very fun.... Especially since my Free People Store on Collins Ave is almost open and my chance at more trips are coming to an end.
Now, the whole story...all in one place...
Let's make up a trip. A day dream. Let's say you are on routine (getting a building permit) business trip for your client (Free People). This usually means travel to a beautiful places and having evenings to yourself. Say you do this (twice) in Miami Beach. Say you are a constant sketcher and stop at a very cool outdoor bar with this crazy shape that just has to be sketched. You pull out your kit, order your beer and just play while imagining this was your job. ( I love my job but I would love for this to define my semi retirement) Say a few sketches really pop and you put it on your meager little blog online wondering who will enjoy it. AND what if the hotel saw it, and loved it, and called you about it. They say, I don't know what I want to do, but you have captured the spirit, etc etc. What if they called you on the coldest day in Minnesota (-14 degrees - 44 windchill) in a decade and said, "We have decided to pay for your flight, and take care of you while you are here. Just pick something before it gets crazy in February and we won't even give you direction. Just come and feel taken care of and do what you do." Add to this daydream that you didn't take vacation this year and decided to cash in miles and have Marcy and Leo crash your room? Then the hotel says that's fine and we will pick you all up and they can eat too! Yeah right....dream on sucker! All you did was enjoy your beer and the beautiful people, and the pigments swirling around on your little sketch book.
WELL, THIS DID HAPPEN, I KEPT WAITING FOR IT TO FALL APART AND IT KEPT GETTING MORE AND MORE REAL. NOW IT IS DONE AND IT STILL FEELS SUREAL. THANK YOU CLEVELANDER AND ESSEX HOUSE AND TOM BURCHETT, MIKE PALMA, IAN ABDON,AND CHRISTINA WARD! VIP TREATMENT TO A PERSON!
Anyone who follows my blog knows I love other people's process and assume people like to see mine. I have documented the trip. I produced about 14 images onsite and have plans for about 5 more. For the images on site I took periodic pictures. ( I also teach and these come in handy). I plan to to post the semi final images in about 3 blogs and then the process for each image later for the process junkies like me.
This first series is intended to give you a sense of what we left...frozen Minneapolis and crazy work...to being literally pampered in a beautiful hotel room and warm palm trees. I still feel like it was a dream although it was only earlier this week.
TO BEGIN:
I took this picture yesterday morning to show the people in Miami. This is the view outside my office. The little squares are ice houses. It looks like a small skyline but the frozen lake is large and flat and these houses are a long distance apart. But, this is just for reference as we head to Miami!
This morning we finished packing and woke up with what we thought was enough time. It had really snowed the night before and the car was covered and the trip in was slow with blowing snow.
I travel a lot. However I was shocked at how packed the airport was. I never fly Sat morning, and this was alarming. Thank goodness for the family line they put us in or we wouldn't have made it. We also stopped in the middle of the concourse and decided to CRAM everything together and skip the bag check in line. This was the move that let us make our flight. Well, that and bringing handsome Leo.
\\
Warm ups on the plane.
This is an image in top of a previously inked page. This is white gouache over the top of the dried ink.
Just some general sketching and painting to pass the time and warm up. (I notice my palm trees were much less practiced than they are now as I am proof reading this!)
But after 6 hours of conference calls (3 projects) on Friday, a crazy crazy sat morning airport and barely making it (despite being there early), my butt is seated, the email is set to manual, and I am on vacation and ready to relax and sketch.
For warm ups I was able to knock out a couple of sketches for EVERY DAY MATTERS on the iPad
Once we land, Leo is still on board and carrying his weight.
Dinner at the Clevelander and surprised that the main street closed to traffic for the Art Deco weekend!
Back in the room we are greeted with a bottle of wine and chocolate covered oreos....Plus a phone call from Ian....Seriously..we are treated well.
Isn't she just a beautiful person? I love this woman.
Leo LOVED the cookies...Loved them...Still talks about them...
Leo enjoying the room decor.....
Breakfast at a place that Marcy and I had a date back in ...well I don't like to think about the math but it was one of our first and we were here for the AIAS convention before we graduated and we were just dating then. I still remember the date vividly and eat here every time I visit.
I will post the rest of the sketches in other blogs (this is long enough) but it REALLY was a great vacation. We REALLY were taken care of in a way that I hadn't before. I REALLY felt appreciated for my art in a way that I never have before...so thank you. Everyone to a person was fantastic to us. Even when Leo was grumpy in the high end (AMAZING FOOD! WOW) Zen Sai.
Now to the sketches....I hope you open the next blog.
NEXT....REPOSTED FROM THE FIRST NIGHT OF SKETCHING
THE CLEVELANDER POOL AND PATIO
This image was done on site and the first sketch of my first night's drawing. I really enjoyed this one. After a great dinner and wandering around with Leo and Marcy I took off to sketch as Leo went to sleep. I choose this spot because it is from the opposite viewpoint from the sketch that got me here.The guy taking care of me was awesome and would even watch my stuff as I took bathroom breaks. This Patio is crazy with people and this huge DJ stage that throws lights and music everywhere. This was drawn completely on site and in the dark. It is always a surprise to see how the colors actually turn out. The yellow is hard to see and much brighter the next day int the light. I did this on purpose this time because the stage throws so much light onto the palm trees, the buildings, and the people. The stretched fabric up top is the SP 4 sun deck and the C Level is directly above my head. I roughed the scene in with a pencil to get the "big rocks" in place and then went at it with a Lumacolor "B" tip pen. Then I erased the pencil and used my travel kit loaded with Horadam transparent gouache.
On a side note, it is a random world and while having lunch in this space two former Ryan Coworkers from Minneapolis turned up. Jared Olson and Gretchen Lundberg were returning from a cruise and stopped in for a drink. How crazy random.
The original
THE CLEVELANDER DJ
Sketch #2 of the first night. This is the one sketch that keeps evading me. This is my 4th or 5th attempt if you include my previous trips. It is ok, but my least favorite of the trip. However, it was really fun to do. It was a first attempt of on site ink wash (I loaded a water brush with Noodlers Polar Black and used a second water brush pen to control the water and flow). Once I brought the image into Photoshop to reduce and send to the owner I accidentally hit inverse and like that better. I have pre prepped a few watercolor pages for a 6th attempt off of reference photos. This will not beat me.... It will not...
C LEVEL
C Level is a smaller but kind of exclusive bar on the roof top. Lots of beautiful people very well dressed and having a good time. The views of the ocean and the skyline are simply amazing and there is a neon colored water fall that runs an entire wall. It was a little cool and windy while up this night so the waterfall wasn't in use, but I am told it is crazy and I believe it. It was cold enough I had a light jacket on. I am supposed to do another sketch from images that will be sent to me. Amusingly I was talking to guy (who happened to be a local architect about my age) and his girlfriend offered to trade me her dress for my jacket. I think I can save this image by working on the entourage from photos. If you are wondering....yes I still have my jacket. Lumacolor "B" pen with my travel kit of Horadam gouache and Niji water pen.
At This point it was pretty late after the flight, the wandering, and the three sketches. I don't want to say what time it was but I can say the place was still going way stronger than I could ever think about going. It is very cool to have the very quiet, original, and historic Essex House and the constant party of the Clevelander and it's rooms separate. They very much have everything covered here....What a crazy night.
This blog is Part 2 of the sketches done on site for our wonderful Miami Beach trip at the Clevelander and the Essex House. I have blogs about the process of each coming very soon.
AND THE REST OF THE SKETCHES REPOSTED
All of images are on "hand book, water color wire bound books. All but the three studies are about 3 times bigger than what I typically carry and work on when doing plien air and urban sketching. This is much larger than I usually work and now my regular size just seems so small!
The remaining images and a little backstory....
I really enjoyed this little moment.
THE ESSEX HOUSE SUITES COURTYARD
Every time we left our suite or looked out of the window we were greeted by this view. One day it rained and I swear you could see it growing. I did a very quick study in my normal sketchbook below a day before tackling this head on. The larger sketch was really fun because both Leo and Marcy were sketching next to me the whole time. The stretched fabric in the top of the picture is the party sun deck called SP 4. I loved that you could see the party area from such tranquility. While sketching from this stoop (not ours) I met and had to move for two of the most beautiful people I saw all week. At this point in the week I had moved away from the fatter lumacolor pen. I love the "B" tip pen but I was really enjoying drawing the foliage and the flex nib Noodlers Ahab (Polar Black Noodlers ink) was perfect. I ran that pen out of ink twice on this trip. I took a lot of progress shots of this image that will be fun to blog. This is probably my favorite sketch of the trip.
INK WASH ROCKET
In the Lobby of the Essex there is this great sculpture by a gentlemen I hope to get the name of. I was sitting at the lobby bar looking over my sketches and photos to plan out my sketch strategy the next day. It was late for me but early for Miami and I was the only person in the the small but beautiful Zen Sai hotel bar . To make a long but interesting story short three very drunk people came and literally leaned on me (the entire room was empty) while they tried to hook up. ( favorite conversation - lady - Lady #2 "I like your watch" guy #1 "Yea! It's Big! And it's Gold!" While looking Lady #1 who says "where are your friends? (For the third time) I think you would be a better match for my daughter instead of me, she is beautiful, I have pictures, do you want to see them?" ). Lady #2 reaches around and incredibly picks up my phone. At that point I politely gather my stuff and set back up in the lobby in front of this sculpture. The proportions were so perfect and it had to be sketched. Quick pencil, pen, erase the pencil and then ink wash. I don't know what happened to the 3 people, they were gone when I settled out, but I sure they had fun because this place doesn't stop. The bar tender was a great guy and I enjoyed talking to him. He enjoyed the sketches and took a picture of my Hipster watercolor for his girlfriend. Tuesday night I had dinner at the same seat with a hilarious couple giving Julio and the rest of the staff a good natured hard time. I saw them again this morning before I left.
THE CLEVELANDER
This is an image they wanted of the Clevelander sign as seen from the beach road. This image took a long time. I will definitely blog the process for this one. I started during dinner with this view and sketched on this until about midnight. Once I got the line work done and all of the colors down except the yellows and greens ( you just can't see yellow at night so I saved that for the next day) I moved into the patio area and worked on it until about midnight. The staff were interested in it and kept coming by to check on progress. Some remembered me from the night before. I finished the yellow and greens on site at lunch the next day and worked on ramping up the line work. I really enjoyed this sketch. These are just camera pictures and I can't wait to do the real scans and color balance.
Noodlers Lexington Grey ink wash study with a second water pen.
Door study (these handles are much longer and more delicate but my sketchbook was short :). ). Noodlers Ahab flex nib fountain pen and Noodlers Polar Black ink.
THE ESSEX HOUSE ENTRY
The Essex House has an AMAZING area to sit at the entry doors. I spent a few hours in this space on different occasions thinking how nice it is here and how cold it is in Minneapolis. I have a few more sketches in my head that will need to come out of details in this area. The two smaller images are warm ups and studies. The larger image was done on site and originally as Noodlers Lexington Grey ink wash and my Pentel brush pen with Lexington Grey. The sketch flowed just fine but Marcy and I were both underwhelmed by it. It was just ok but everything was too mid toned. While wandering with Marcy and Leo I went back over this with the fountain pen and black in while we ate lunch. The line work on top of/ with the lex grey gave the life I was trying to convey. Be another painting of this space oh the EH above the door that won't leave my head until it is painted.
BEAUTIFUL DRINKS
I would love to do a series on the drinks in this style. This is water color pencil and a flood of water. Every time I would see a table with one of the really colorful drinks I would approach and while trying not to seem strange ask if I could photo graph it. I want to do more of these and will blog the process. I hope to tackle more from the photo graphs later.
CHOCOLATE COVERED OREOS AS A WELCOME GIFT.
Ian took very good care of us. Once we arrived we dropped off our stuff in the room. When we returned we were greeted with a bottle of wine and these chocolate covered Oreos. These also had to be sketched. I took a picture of the tray and will most likely do another sketch.
This is the last sketch before I was picked up. This is the entrance spire to the Essex House. A very stylized perspective to give honor to this great Art Deco corner and spire. I can't wait to ink this. I will use a black Pentel brush pen so the line weight is hopefully interesting. I will then scan the line work because I would like to try water soluble graphite and get a night image and accentuate the lights.
CARTOON SKETCH PLAN
These two images are how I think big picture on the sketches I want to do and basic formatting. This is also where I decide what to do on site and what to take home. I used these to walk through my ideas with the owners as well.
I hope you enjoy the sketches at least half as much as enjoyed creating them. Many need final touch up, labeling and scanning but I was impatient to share!
What a trip....more entries to come.
Keep Drawing
James Nutt AIA
Miami Beach - The Process of the Clevelander Patio Pool Sketch
The first sketch
THE CLEVELANDER POOL AND PATIO
This image was done on site and the first sketch of my first night's drawing. I really enjoyed this one. After a great dinner and wandering around with Leo and Marcy I took off to sketch as Leo went to sleep. I choose this spot because it is from the opposite viewpoint from the sketch that got me here.The guy taking care of me was awesome and would even watch my stuff as I took bathroom breaks. This Patio is crazy with people and this huge DJ stage that throws lights and music everywhere. This was drawn completely on site and in the dark. It is always a surprise to see how the colors actually turn out. The yellow is hard to see and much brighter the next day int the light. I did this on purpose this time because the stage throws so much light onto the palm trees, the buildings, and the people. The stretched fabric up top is the SP 4 sun deck and the C Level is directly above my head. I roughed the scene in with a pencil to get the "big rocks" in place and then went at it with a Lumacolor "B" tip pen. Then I erased the pencil and used my travel kit loaded with Horadam transparent gouache.
First I pencil in and try to get the big picture elements in place and the rough perspective. All of these pencil marks will be erased, left, or sometimes completely ignored.
From here I will start to ink in the major parts. I am using a Lumacolor "B" tip which is much thicker than I typically use. It works great for this image but I will abandon it later in favor of my fountain pen because of all of the foliage.
Ink complete. If you look close you will see I change my mind from what is put down in pencil for the sake of of composition and and clarity.
My work station! Thank you Clevelander...
A last tweak before color
Now for the color. These pictures are taken with the iphone flash so I can check where I am. Yellow is trickly at night in and in other night sketches I save it for the next day. This scene is so crazy with the dj lights if I get it more bold it will be perfect for the atmosphere and light work.
Laying in the darks, you can see my minimal paint kit here. It is about decisions and not about variety.
Spot check
This is a crazy plaza. So much fun to be in. Especially doing something you love. Thanks again to the guy waiting on me. He took care of me and really watched my stuff during bathroom breaks. Nicely done Sir.
Miami Beach - The Rest Of The On Site Sketches
This blog is Part 2 of the sketches done on site for our wonderful Miami Beach trip at the Clevelander and the Essex House. I have blogs about the process of each coming very soon.
All of images are on "hand book, water color wire bound books. All but the three studies are about 3 times bigger than what I typically carry and work on when doing plien air and urban sketching. This is much larger than I usually work and now my regular size just seems so small!
The remaining images and a little backstory....
I really enjoyed this little moment.
THE ESSEX HOUSE SUITES COURTYARD
Every time we left our suite or looked out of the window we were greeted by this view. One day it rained and I swear you could see it growing. I did a very quick study in my normal sketchbook below a day before tackling this head on. The larger sketch was really fun because both Leo and Marcy were sketching next to me the whole time. The stretched fabric in the top of the picture is the party sun deck called SP 4. I loved that you could see the party area from such tranquility. While sketching from this stoop (not ours) I met and had to move for two of the most beautiful people I saw all week. At this point in the week I had moved away from the fatter lumacolor pen. I love the "B" tip pen but I was really enjoying drawing the foliage and the flex nib Noodlers Ahab (Polar Black Noodlers ink) was perfect. I ran that pen out of ink twice on this trip. I took a lot of progress shots of this image that will be fun to blog. This is probably my favorite sketch of the trip.
INK WASH ROCKET
In the Lobby of the Essex there is this great sculpture by a gentlemen I hope to get the name of. I was sitting at the lobby bar looking over my sketches and photos to plan out my sketch strategy the next day. It was late for me but early for Miami and I was the only person in the the small but beautiful Zen Sai hotel bar . To make a long but interesting story short three very drunk people came and literally leaned on me (the entire room was empty) while they tried to hook up. ( favorite conversation - lady - Lady #2 "I like your watch" guy #1 "Yea! It's Big! And it's Gold!" While looking Lady #1 who says "where are your friends? (For the third time) I think you would be a better match for my daughter instead of me, she is beautiful, I have pictures, do you want to see them?" ). Lady #2 reaches around and incredibly picks up my phone. At that point I politely gather my stuff and set back up in the lobby in front of this sculpture. The proportions were so perfect and it had to be sketched. Quick pencil, pen, erase the pencil and then ink wash. I don't know what happened to the 3 people, they were gone when I settled out, but I sure they had fun because this place doesn't stop. The bar tender was a great guy and I enjoyed talking to him. He enjoyed the sketches and took a picture of my Hipster watercolor for his girlfriend. Tuesday night I had dinner at the same seat with a hilarious couple giving Julio and the rest of the staff a good natured hard time. I saw them again this morning before I left.
THE CLEVELANDER
This is an image they wanted of the Clevelander sign as seen from the beach road. This image took a long time. I will definitely blog the process for this one. I started during dinner with this view and sketched on this until about midnight. Once I got the line work done and all of the colors down except the yellows and greens ( you just can't see yellow at night so I saved that for the next day) I moved into the patio area and worked on it until about midnight. The staff were interested in it and kept coming by to check on progress. Some remembered me from the night before. I finished the yellow and greens on site at lunch the next day and worked on ramping up the line work. I really enjoyed this sketch. These are just camera pictures and I can't wait to do the real scans and color balance.
Noodlers Lexington Grey ink wash study with a second water pen.
Door study (these handles are much longer and more delicate but my sketchbook was short :). ). Noodlers Ahab flex nib fountain pen and Noodlers Polar Black ink.
THE ESSEX HOUSE ENTRY
The Essex House has an AMAZING area to sit at the entry doors. I spent a few hours in this space on different occasions thinking how nice it is here and how cold it is in Minneapolis. I have a few more sketches in my head that will need to come out of details in this area. The two smaller images are warm ups and studies. The larger image was done on site and originally as Noodlers Lexington Grey ink wash and my Pentel brush pen with Lexington Grey. The sketch flowed just fine but Marcy and I were both underwhelmed by it. It was just ok but everything was too mid toned. While wandering with Marcy and Leo I went back over this with the fountain pen and black in while we ate lunch. The line work on top of/ with the lex grey gave the life I was trying to convey. Be another painting of this space oh the EH above the door that won't leave my head until it is painted.
BEAUTIFUL DRINKS
I would love to do a series on the drinks in this style. This is water color pencil and a flood of water. Every time I would see a table with one of the really colorful drinks I would approach and while trying not to seem strange ask if I could photo graph it. I want to do more of these and will blog the process. I hope to tackle more from the photo graphs later.
CHOCOLATE COVERED OREOS AS A WELCOME GIFT.
Ian took very good care of us. Once we arrived we dropped off our stuff in the room. When we returned we were greeted with a bottle of wine and these chocolate covered Oreos. These also had to be sketched. I took a picture of the tray and will most likely do another sketch.
This is the last sketch before I was picked up. This is the entrance spire to the Essex House. A very stylized perspective to give honor to this great Art Deco corner and spire. I can't wait to ink this. I will use a black Pentel brush pen so the line weight is hopefully interesting. I will then scan the line work because I would like to try water soluble graphite and get a night image and accentuate the lights.
CARTOON SKETCH PLAN
These two images are how I think big picture on the sketches I want to do and basic formatting. This is also where I decide what to do on site and what to take home. I used these to walk through my ideas with the owners as well.
I hope you enjoy the sketches at least half as much as enjoyed creating them. Many need final touch up, labeling and scanning but I was impatient to share!
What a trip....more entries to come.
Keep Drawing
James Nutt AIA
Miami Beach - The First Night of Sketching
THE CLEVELANDER POOL AND PATIO
This image was done on site and the first sketch of my first night's drawing. I really enjoyed this one. After a great dinner and wandering around with Leo and Marcy I took off to sketch as Leo went to sleep. I choose this spot because it is from the opposite viewpoint from the sketch that got me here.The guy taking care of me was awesome and would even watch my stuff as I took bathroom breaks. This Patio is crazy with people and this huge DJ stage that throws lights and music everywhere. This was drawn completely on site and in the dark. It is always a surprise to see how the colors actually turn out. The yellow is hard to see and much brighter the next day int the light. I did this on purpose this time because the stage throws so much light onto the palm trees, the buildings, and the people. The stretched fabric up top is the SP 4 sun deck and the C Level is directly above my head. I roughed the scene in with a pencil to get the "big rocks" in place and then went at it with a Lumacolor "B" tip pen. Then I erased the pencil and used my travel kit loaded with Horadam transparent gouache.
On a side note, it is a random world and while having lunch in this space two former Ryan Coworkers from Minneapolis turned up. Jared Olson and Gretchen Lundberg were returning from a cruise and stopped in for a drink. How crazy random.
The original
THE CLEVELANDER DJ
Sketch #2 of the first night. This is the one sketch that keeps evading me. This is my 4th or 5th attempt if you include my previous trips. It is ok, but my least favorite of the trip. However, it was really fun to do. It was a first attempt of on site ink wash (I loaded a water brush with Noodlers Polar Black and used a second water brush pen to control the water and flow). Once I brought the image into Photoshop to reduce and send to the owner I accidentally hit inverse and like that better. I have pre prepped a few watercolor pages for a 6th attempt off of reference photos. This will not beat me.... It will not...
C LEVEL
C Level is a smaller but kind of exclusive bar on the roof top. Lots of beautiful people very well dressed and having a good time. The views of the ocean and the skyline are simply amazing and there is a neon colored water fall that runs an entire wall. It was a little cool and windy while up this night so the waterfall wasn't in use, but I am told it is crazy and I believe it. It was cold enough I had a light jacket on. I am supposed to do another sketch from images that will be sent to me. Amusingly I was talking to guy (who happened to be a local architect about my age) and his girlfriend offered to trade me her dress for my jacket. I think I can save this image by working on the entourage from photos. If you are wondering....yes I still have my jacket. Lumacolor "B" pen with my travel kit of Horadam gouache and Niji water pen.
At This point it was pretty late after the flight, the wandering, and the three sketches. I don't want to say what time it was but I can say the place was still going way stronger than I could ever think about going. It is very cool to have the very quiet, original, and historic Essex House and the constant party of the Clevelander and it's rooms separate. They very much have everything covered here....What a crazy night.
A Sketchers Day Dream...The Flight and Thank You!
Let's make up a trip. A day dream. Let's say you are on routine (getting a building permit) business trip for your client (Free People). This usually means travel to a beautiful places and having evenings to yourself. Say you do this (twice) in Miami Beach. Say you are a constant sketcher and stop at a very cool outdoor bar with this crazy shape that just has to be sketched. You pull out your kit, order your beer and just play while imagining this was your job. ( I love my job but I would love for this to define my semi retirement) Say a few sketches really pop and you put it on your meager little blog online wondering who will enjoy it. AND what if the hotel saw it, and loved it, and called you about it. They say, I don't know what I want to do, but you have captured the spirit, etc etc. What if they called you on the coldest day in Minnesota (-14 degrees - 44 windchill) in a decade and said, "We have decided to pay for your flight, and take care of you while you are here. Just pick something before it gets crazy in February and we won't even give you direction. Just come and feel taken care of and do what you do." Add to this daydream that you didn't take vacation this year and decided to cash in miles and have Marcy and Leo crash your room? Then the hotel says that's fine and we will pick you all up and they can eat too! Yeah right....dream on sucker! All you did was enjoy your beer and the beautiful people, and the pigments swirling around on your little sketch book.
WELL, THIS DID HAPPEN, I KEPT WAITING FOR IT TO FALL APART AND IT KEPT GETTING MORE AND MORE REAL. NOW IT IS DONE AND IT STILL FEELS SUREAL. THANK YOU CLEVELANDER AND ESSEX HOUSE AND TOM BURCHETT, MIKE PALMA, IAN ABDON,AND CHRISTINA WARD! VIP TREATMENT TO A PERSON!
Anyone who follows my blog knows I love other people's process and assume people like to see mine. I have documented the trip. I produced about 14 images onsite and have plans for about 5 more. For the images on site I took periodic pictures. ( I also teach and these come in handy). I plan to to post the semi final images in about 3 blogs and then the process for each image later for the process junkies like me.
This first series is intended to give you a sense of what we left...frozen Minneapolis and crazy work...to being literally pampered in a beautiful hotel room and warm palm trees. I still feel like it was a dream although it was only earlier this week.
TO BEGIN:
I took this picture yesterday morning to show the people in Miami. This is the view outside my office. The little squares are ice houses. It looks like a small skyline but the frozen lake is large and flat and these houses are a long distance apart. But, this is just for reference as we head to Miami!
This morning we finished packing and woke up with what we thought was enough time. It had really snowed the night before and the car was covered and the trip in was slow with blowing snow.
I travel a lot. However I was shocked at how packed the airport was. I never fly Sat morning, and this was alarming. Thank goodness for the family line they put us in or we wouldn't have made it. We also stopped in the middle of the concourse and decided to CRAM everything together and skip the bag check in line. This was the move that let us make our flight. Well, that and bringing handsome Leo.
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Warm ups on the plane.
This is an image in top of a previously inked page. This is white gouache over the top of the dried ink.
Just some general sketching and painting to pass the time and warm up. (I notice my palm trees were much less practiced than they are now as I am proof reading this!)
But after 6 hours of conference calls (3 projects) on Friday, a crazy crazy sat morning airport and barely making it (despite being there early), my butt is seated, the email is set to manual, and I am on vacation and ready to relax and sketch.
For warm ups I was able to knock out a couple of sketches for EVERY DAY MATTERS on the iPad
Once we land, Leo is still on board and carrying his weight.
Dinner at the Clevelander and surprised that the main street closed to traffic for the Art Deco weekend!
Back in the room we are greeted with a bottle of wine and chocolate covered oreos....Plus a phone call from Ian....Seriously..we are treated well.
Isn't she just a beautiful person? I love this woman.
Leo LOVED the cookies...Loved them...Still talks about them...
Leo enjoying the room decor.....
Breakfast at a place that Marcy and I had a date back in ...well I don't like to think about the math but it was one of our first and we were here for the AIAS convention before we graduated and we were just dating then. I still remember the date vividly and eat here every time I visit.
I will post the rest of the sketches in other blogs (this is long enough) but it REALLY was a great vacation. We REALLY were taken care of in a way that I hadn't before. I REALLY felt appreciated for my art in a way that I never have before...so thank you. Everyone to a person was fantastic to us. Even when Leo was grumpy in the high end (AMAZING FOOD! WOW) Zen Sai.
Now to the sketches....I hope you open the next blog.