Self Portrait and Faces

This is a college buddy of mine from Art Center in Pasadena. We ended up being room mates on Oakland St . We went with a group of friends to a football game and on the way home we discovered that we were both going to celebrate our birthdays on the SAME DAY. It kind of freaked us out and we have had a strange kinda bond ever since. He is 1 hour older that me , adjusting for Mountain Time. He is an Art Professor at a Community College around St. Louis.



















Its been awhile and I have put a little too much energy into " On Being Frank ". This was a sketch Doodle that I did for fun in my sketchbook back in my Pasadena Ca. days. By my head was ol Gus dusting the studio with a mask over his nose and mouth.

The rest of these pen and ink drawings are in my ol sketchbook. One of about 30 such books. Most are quick idea scribbles and others are more thought out such as the ones I have posted here.

I think I will change the name of this Blog again. Finding the right Name is kinda important to me and holds a spirit in the words. One of my close friends who is Irish has always called me OrDoodle...I think I will go with that as it has a playful jest and feel. And I am comfortable hearing it .


________

Prophets

These two individuals were some of my favorite models. What just occurred to me as I posted these drawings for a client was that they are linked by a religion.

The man on top was a member of a Christian commune and somehow they stumbled upon some writings of some earlier Church fathers and they all decided to become Greek Orthodox. So, on the outskirts of Santa Rosa is a Greek Orthodox Commune and all the men have grown out their beards. This man is Irish and he is one of the leaders of the group. He posed for me 2 times.

The bottom fellow is my bud Steve who is also my Web Master. He did the Evangelical Christian routine until he gave up on the total lack of depth which he was experiencing. He tried to become an Anglican priest to now avail and now is also Greek Orthodox. The services are about 3 hrs long followed by a large communal meal. Good eats I might add.

Grandpa in Bernallio , New Mexico

My grandfather on my Mom's side was Ralph Rodriguez Sr. He raised a rather large family through the depression. He had a country store and sold groceries to the locals as well as to Hopi and Navaho Indians. I have many fond memories of traveling by train to Bernallio on the "El Capitan" Santa Fe train line. I did a drawing of him in front of a storage building on his ranch where they ground maize. He even had a Hopi oven on the property. It's on his ranch that I learned my fear and distrust of Turkeys. They are evil and vindictive critters . I have no problem eating them.

mixed media on vellum

Fairfax,Ca 1.2

This is a preliminary drawing on tracing paper for another drawing. I was heavily influenced by Chuck Close at this time. I think I was 23. I can't remember this designer but he graduated Art Center in Pasadena with me. He was in Advertising Design and he and his partner had a studio across from mine on Raymond Street. They hit it big time right away by designing the animated intro to Alex Haley's " Roots".

Drawing in Graphite. I started to do a series of friends of mine in this style. Then I got a call from Lucasfilm and started to work on " ET" and neglected the "FineArt" side of me for a long time.








I drew this on location in Guadalajara, Mexico . I was an exchange student as a senior in High School and I was representing the City of Rosemead Ca.














These were previously posted " On Being Frank". They have a new home.

___

I also will be uploading a portfolio of old sketch book stuff here. Like really old. How old ? Some back to High School.....please suffer my vanity on this. If it was'nt for this blog...no one would see them. So what would be the point? Its a rhetorical question.

______