Investigating “Little Worlds”… seemingly found in nature… ? :)

Celebrating with red and pink waffles, banana hearts and kisses!

Has it really been almost three weeks since my last update? It’s been a bit chaotic in the studio in the middle of wedding season (closing up the orders on NINE weddings!), but a productive one. With all the drawing, illustrating, painting and collaging I’ve been doing as of late, I got to thinking how fun it would be to start combining some of the over 130+ city skylines I’ve drawn, into the “fine art” of illustration. First up… the London, England city skyline featured with an abstracted British flag motif in “Reign Over London”… Inspired by Queen Elizabeth I. More soon…

I am reminded of this beautiful find after going through my storage in New York and re-discovering a book I had purchased about it (La Galleria della Carte Geografiche in Vaticano) while living in Rome in 2006 to study architecture. My roommate Kim and I just happened to find it by mistake on your way to the Sistine Chapel, and we fell in love with it! 40 massive colorful map frescoes painted between the years of 1580 – 1581 by Carlo Pellegrino Danti of Perugia, Italy… line the almost 395′ long gallery/hall. The detail is incredible… and what can I say? I love maps and skylines!

I can’t help but post the drawing I did of the Venice city skyline, drawn from a different perspective, but still recognizable as Venice almost 430 years later!

Yesterday, we had a chance to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Central Park East (better known as “The Met”) and I was impressed with an exhibition of small, intimate paintings and sketches by famous artists entitled “XS”. Among the myriads of little wonders, I was most impressed with a tiny 3×5″ drawing of a “skyline” entitled “Junkerngasse in Bern” by Paul Klee in 1893. It is the same size and detailed as my own City Skyline Series and it struck a chord with me.

Another display which caught my attention, was a series by artist Paul Cadmus entitled “The Seven Deadly Sins” dated from 1945 – 1947. Each “sin” was depicted in such a way that it would make anyone think twice about committing one! Well worth the trip to the Met to view this collection.