Well, I thought February was busy….
Haven’t really had any time to update, which is the very thing that will end up killing a blog. Literally haven’t had a day off since February began. That’s both good and bad, obviously. Nature of the business is that you take work as it comes. I’m looking for a little break during the typical summer slow-down. And I do have a week of planned vacation coming up. …can’t believe the year is almost half over. But I could use a break.
Again, most of the work has been confidential. Most projects coming out of a recession are of course start-up. Not doing many marketing renderings (for finished/built work), instead, it’s mostly concept work, or schematic design level work.
I did execute a couple more formal images for Powers/Schram of Fort Lauderdale, of a mid-century modernist waterfront home. I worked with Rick Powers a couple times when he was here in Boston as an architect at Tsoi Kobus, and it was nice to reconnect and work with him again.
Street View of “Sunrise Key”, Fort Lauderdale; digital paint with pencil, 11×17
View from the Water of of “Sunrise Key”, Fort Lauderdale; digital paint with pencil, 11×17
Before executing the two images above, we studied a few black and white camera tests. These two are my favorites from among those we discarded.
Camera Test, for Sunrise Key, Water Side
Camera test, Street Side
I was partial to the lower camera station of the camera test from the water-side, but the intricate and rich landscaping plan begged for a higher camera angle, and it was decided to raise the camera to a point where the pool and landscape could be more clearly seen.
Some details of the final version of the Water Side view, at near-full resolution:
And details of the Street View:
As has become a recurring refrain here, most of the work I’ve done the past few months is confidential. Following, though, are some details from work which I’m allowed to share, though many are necessarily cropped to remove any telling information.
11×17 Pencil Rendering
Detail of same
…a portion from a very quick, chalky/gouachy little sketch, about 11×17
A detail from the same sketch
A detail from a 9×14 pencil sketch, flicked with digital hi-lites and paint, on brown kraft-paper.
…another chunk from the same sketch, a private home, in Newport Rhode Island
A tightly cropped detail from a very quick, very loose digital sketch, for a proposed roof deck bar. This detail only about 2×2 from an 11×19 sketch
A detail from the second sketch in this pair of fairly loose, sketchy digital pieces.
In looking back at these, it strikes me that each image is entirely different than the next. Rather than all pencil, or all digital, there is (I think) a healthy mix of differing approaches to the issue at hand. Rather than reflecting what works for me, I think it better illustrates that my work is about answering the client’s need. What do you need, when do you need it, and what do you have for me to work from? And most important; who is your audience? These are the questions which, for me anyway, determine what kind of image we end up with, how long it takes, what the final piece feels like…
I’ll try to be a bit better about timely updates. With the economy the way it has been, there’s a tendency to keep working, never sure when the shoe might drop. If the work keeps coming in though, that can make for a long run of heads-down work. All work and no-play, and all that. We shall see what summer holds. Since it seems to be when my clients, and their clients, take their vacations, that means it’s generally my vacation too. Have a good summer yourself.
