12.22.12. Merry Christmas

Be nice and have a very merry Christmas and a safe and healthy new year.

11.27.12 Golf with Obama

Last night, I dreamed that I was playing golf with Barack Obama. Which is strange because I don't play golf. He told me the thing he misses most about Chicago is Chicago-style hot dogs.

11.22.12 Sadie

This is Sadie. She's a grande dame and has lived next door for many years. She belongs to Barbara & Frank. Yesterday was Barbara's birthday. She'd be mad at me if I told you her age. I made this watercolor for her. She's crazy about dogs and loves Sadie to pieces. Sadie is her child. Happy Birthday Barbara. And, Happy Thanksgiving to you and all my blog friends.

10.31.12 Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds, in Big Sur, California, were "getting drunk" on these purple blossoms according to our guide, Stephen Copeland, at Ventana Inn. I did notice that the little birds had to rest often on tree branches. First time I ever saw a Hummingbird stop humming.

10.24.12 Drawing Janet

My friend and anatomy drawing teacher, Sarah Kaiser, works with a wonderful figure model, Janet, at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. We've been drawing her at Sarah's studio in Evanston on Wednesday nights. Great poses. Janet is also an artist and teaches painting in Chicago.

Kyle Martin grew up on a farm in Reedsburg, WI and has become a very good painter. Any ideas how unlikely that is in a farming community? He has a very clear vision of what he wants to capture in his work. I met him a couple of years ago at a showing of his paintings in a shop in Reedsburg and have kept in contact with him. I've been out painting with him, too. Last weekend, Lisa and I bought one of his paintings of a pickup truck stuck in a snow bank in front of a house washed in sun light. He has a great eye! And, he's a very nice person. His blog is kyle-martin.blogspot.com.

8.17.12 Diane Hosfield

My mother-in law, Diane Hosfield, is the family seamstress. She's the go-to person for alterations and repairs. Here, she's making an adjustment on our Bulldog's harness.

Today, she and my father-in-law, Jim Hosfield, are landing in London to begin a two-weeklong tour of England. For octogenarians, they are healthy, very active and well-travelled.

8.5.12 Ruth with dogs

Ruth Loveless, Lisa's cousin from Carlinville, IL, came up to visit us at our lake house in La Valle, WI this weekend. The weather was perfect. As usual, we have plenty of dogs, including Rooster, Christopher's English Springer Spaniel.

8.1.12 John Brent

John Brent has worked at Jewel grocery store at the Plaza del Lago shopping center, Wilmette, IL for 21 years. I've known him most of that time. He's a cashier. More importantly, he's a good person.

7.14.12 Carolina Primrose Gladiola

We had our first good rain this afternoon. A real downpour. Afterwards, the sun reappeared and I went to the Botanic Garden to walk and take some photos. Lots of flowers blooming. And, green fruit--grapes, pears, apples. Wasn't too crowded for a Saturday. The rain probably chased them away.

7.7.12 LAX

Spent a couple of hours at LAX airport last night before taking the red-eye home to Chicago. I drove out to L.A. with my daughter, Kate, and her bulldog, Eden. Kate just moved to L.A. 

"Delawn" 6.20/12

‎"Delawn" drawn from life in my anatomy drawing class at Evanston Art Center with Sarah Kaiser.

6.2.12 Sunbathers at the Ritz pool

I could really get used to drawing at poolside: great views, nice music, happy people, sun, swimming and a cocktail.

6.1.12 Poolside at the Ritz

After a rainy morning, skies cleared and hotel guests headed to the pool deck.

5.5.12 Thirsty Chloe

Most mornings, when I get up, I'm greeted by a yowling, thirsty, yellow cat in the bathroom. Just to shut her up, I turn on the faucet on my sink. I know I'm just enabling her. Whatever.

4.25.12 "Woman Reading on Rug with Cat"

This is an artist's proof of a new etching I'm working on. It has a chine-collé. That's the small, color print of El Corazon (the heart) that I got in Mexico. I put it on the etching plate before I printed. I love the woman's white body and the cat on the pillow over the detailed pattern of the oriental rug. The size is 9"x12". I'm working on a series of nudes reading. Maybe one will be chosen for the poster for Nat'l Library Week? Not.

4.15.12 Woman reading in her bath

I was searching Google images for Pierre Bonnard's painting of a woman in her bath. Great painting. I think the model was his wife. Anyway, I found a photo of this scene (sans the flowers) and drew it. I love the private moment. She's enjoying her bath. Reading a book. Having a smoke and a glass of wine. It's sensual without being pornographic. I'm going to use the same image for an etching.

4.14.12 Tulips in Vase

Although I love the colors of tulips, I'm also interested in their linear quality, especially in a glass vase. Most people think of The Netherlands when they see tulips but they originated in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Persia, Iran) before they were brought to Northwestern Europe. In the early 1600's, they became so valued that they were considered a currency by many, creating a "tulip mania" for awhile.

4.11.12 Dominick's Daffodils

So, I was at Dominick's this afternoon, buying cayenne pepper for my daughter who's on a weird but effective diet, and I saw these daffodils and thought they'd make a good subject for a line drawing.

4.7.12 Columbine

4.2.12 Margot Loved Artichokes

My mother lived in Hollywood during the 1940's. She met my father, a Commander in the U.S. Navy, after the war, married and moved to Redondo Beach. She was an amazing cook and loved California artichokes. So do I.

3.29.12 Daughter & Mom: Panera Buckhead

I'm guessing these two are daughter and mom. I was having breakfast yesterday and noticed them looking at photos on the iPad.

3.28.12 Checking In

3.27.12 Hat & Sunglasses

Another beautiful day in Atlanta. I'm here to help move Kate, our daughter, back home to Winnetka, IL where she'll continue her job search for an Advertising Art Director position in a top ad agency. 

3.24.12 Dan Balser's Podcast

"Don't Get Me Started" is Dan Balser's biweekly podcast about the advertising business and the people in it. Dan has been an ad copywriter for 20 years, and since 2002 he has also been a teacher and Department Head at The Creative Circus advertising school in Atlanta, where our daughter, Kate, was a student for the past two years. She graduated from the Advertising Art Director program yesterday.

Today, Dan interviewed my wife, Lisa Cochrane, about her experience as head of Integrated Marketing Communications at Allstate. You can hear Dan's podcasts at his website, www.balserville.com.

3.25.12 Kate and Lisa

Saturday late afternoon by the pool at Kate's apartment in Buckhead, Atlanta, Georgia. A beautiful day. We drove to Stone Mountain State Park. Walked trails by a lake with Eden. Enjoyed a picnic lunch under dogwood blossoms and pines. Perfect weather.

3.18.12 "Meimei"

"Meimei" was a beautiful Siamese who brought comfort and joy to my friend, Lee Caligiuri of Lake Worth, Florida, during her short life. Meimei passed last September. Lee asked me to paint this watercolor in remembrance of her kitty.

3.6.12 Calamity Layne

I was picking up Lisa at Benefit Cosmetics in Evanston recently. She wasn't finished so I started talking to Stephanie, one of the cosmeticians (?). She told me about her etsy.com shop, CalamityLayne (http://www.etsy.com/shop/CalamityLayne) where she sells "vintage threads." I told her about my gallery shop on etsy and asked it I could take her photo along with Anne Marie, the lady crafting my wife's eye brows. She said "yes" and proceeded to spruce up for the shot. The photo of the ladies turned out well but I like this shot much better.

2.29.12 Dennis Haysbert

I've had the good fortune of knowing Dennis since he became the Allstate spokesman in 2003 (my wife, Lisa, is in charge of integrated communications for Allstate--including advertising). Prior to that time, I only knew Dennis as President Palmer on "24." 

Dennis is also a long-time supporter, Clean Water Ambassador and Honorary Board member of RainCatcher, an organization that delivers clean water solutions to impoverished regions in Africa and around the world. Check out their website at raincatcher.org and lend your support, too. Water is life.

2.27.12 Tessa Edwards, Aerial Armadillo

Tessa Edwards' blog, An Aerial Armadillo (http://aerialarmadillo.blogspot.com), was the first blog that I followed. She was a painter, photographer, writer and poet, as well as a humanitarian. She was raised in Africa and spent the later part of her life in England. Her artwork is strongly influenced by the images and colors from her youth.

She battled Pulmonary Fibrosis and passed on December 27, 2010, surrounded by her family in Hampshire, England.

Although I didn't know Tessa, I have a feeling that she was an energetic, honest and joyful person.

2.26.12 Oliver & Mort

Oliver and Mort are Frank Spalitta's cats. I've know Frank since his U of Iowa days where he and my son, Christopher, became friends.

2.21.12 Kurt Miller, DVM

He's been our vet since 1992, taking care of nine of our family members during those years. Shown here with Gridley at eight weeks for his first check up.

2.20.12 My barber, Alex

This is my barber, Alex. She cuts my hair at SportsClips. She does a good job and doesn't talk much. I like that. She has four kids. The oldest is 17 and the youngest is 4. He's in daycare when Alex works. He likes daycare. So does Alex.

2.5.12 Chris Greene at Pete Miller's

Went out for a drink and some live jazz last night. Caught the Chris Greene Quartet at Pete Miller's. Chris is from Evanston. Went to the University of Indiana Jazz Studies program and has been performing around Chicago since '94. 

2.2.12 Aroids

Aroids. Drawn at the Chicago Botanic Gardens Tropical Greenhouse yesterday. They're named for their arrow-shaped leaves. The have these cool, pink spires with lots of tiny flowers on them, growing out of white petals.

2.1.12 Miles Davis

1.27.12 Ellsworth Kelly