How long has it been!?

Shame on me! I have not blogged in several months! This is unforgivable!

Since the end of August a lot has happened; I went to London and had a lovely time, I participated in a Fund Raising Run-Walk for the Wildlife Society, I became a minister with the First Nation Ministry so I could marry two of my best friends, and then I visited my boyfriend's family in California. Now things seem to be slowing down slightly and I am aware that I have not posted any art lately!

Today I just completed making my Holiday Cards and I would love to send one to anyone who follows my blog and who will send me their address. In the next few days I will post a scan of the card. Hope everyone is healthy and doing well!

Planning a Holiday in London

I have a "holiday" planned in less than a month. My boyfriend and I are going to London for a week and I am pleased to report that although this will be my fourth time there this will be his first trip to England. I cannot wait! I love the history of the city, the crazy way the streets are laid out, and of course the food in London. Fish and chips with a cold pint of cider are the makings of a perfect meal. No place on earth does it better than London.

It took us a long time before we finally settled on going to London. Just by chance I had been working on this illustration for some time beforehand. Right when I was finishing up the last few details we bought our plane tickets and booked our hotel. (Perhaps this means I had a premonition!)

This illustration is a combination of several things. The cute little mini cooper is based on a classic cooper which is parked in a neighbor's driveway a few blocks from me in Brooklyn. I then used a combination of my vacation photos and historical images to create the London street. The dome in the back in St. Paul's Cathedral. (On one vacation my mother and I walked up thousands of stairs to see the view from the very tip top of that dome!)

If you are interested in this card please check out my Etsy Page for further information. http://www.etsy.com/shop/danieljosephdurkin . Also, if anyone reading this has done something super awesome during a stay in London please send me a recommendation! Cheers!

This is a card I created from a scratch board I drew of Coney Island, in Brooklyn, NY. All of my friends will tell you that Coney Island one of my favorite spots. It is a short-ish subway ride from my apartment and it contains the perfect mix of glamour and grit. The hot dogs are fantastic, the cheese flavored topping is suspiciously bright yellow, and there are still huge portraits painted on the sides of the buildings for a freak show. The area is "in transition" right now which in New York means that condos and banks are coming to take the neighborhood away from the Freaks. Coney will always live in the collective conscience through movies like On the Town, Annie Hall, Requiem for a Dream, and The Warriors.

This picture prominently depicts the Parachute Jump, a which is sadly no longer running. This structure serves as the main landmark on the boardwalk. Behind the Parachute Jump you can see several tall apartment buildings, the Wonder Wheel, and the Cyclone. The large sandy beach stretches to the right of the picture and eventually to Brighton Beach, New York's Russian Community. (Another one of my favorite spots!) Since Coney is on the Atlantic Ocean large weather fronts are not unusual to see as they slowly float out to sea and make their way to England. Here I have depicted some of the most magnificent clouds I have ever seen.

If you like this card please check out my Etsy page where it is available for purchase. http://www.etsy.com/shop/danieljosephdurkin . I would like to thank everyone for checking out this posting. Hope you're having an exciting summer! -Dan :)

It is cherry blossom season and I am proud to have finally completed a card for this quasi-holiday. Here in Brooklyn, our local Botanic Garden has a fantastic annual "Sakura Matsuri, Cherry Blossom Festival". This year I went with my friend Shawn and we were amazed at how many New Yorkers will come out in droves to celebrate together... We suspected that many were using Sakura Matsuri as an excuse to dress in a kimono or in the costume of their favorite animated character.

The illustration here is of the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC. Although I have never been to DC in Spring, I have heard that their Cherry Blossom Festival is wonderful. If you are interested in this card please check out my Etsy page at www.etsy.com/shop/danieljosephdurkin. The question is... what do I draw next? Suggestions? Please post a comment or send me an email!

Hope everyone is well!

Koi Pond

I love koi fish! It was just a matter of time before they ended up appearing on a card. My boxes of photographs have been filled with snap shots of koi fish from garden ponds for the last several years. Drawing koi also gave me the fun excuse to work with a very exciting shade of orange. If you like this card it is available on my Etsy page at http://www.etsy.com/shop/danieljosephdurkin .

Although this is an illustration of koi, I have to admit that lobsters and seaside port towns have been on my mind following my recent trip to Maine! Please stay tuned for new sketches and artwork!

(Titles for this posting that you will be GLAD that I did not use; "Koi to the World", "Let's Hear it for the Koi", "Babes in Koi-land", "Koi-es Don't Cry", "Koi Vey!")

A Silver and Bronze Forest

This is photo of a recently completed wall painting commissioned by the visual team at the company I work for. They needed an autumn/winter looking background for a new collection. The idea was to pull out the silver and bronze tones so I only used two colors of metallic paint and built up several layers of each to create a sense of depth.

All in all I was pleased with what we ended up with... Anyone artist/designer will tell you that often you get half way through a project and think, "Oh no... what if this ends up looking terrible!? What'll I do!?" This particular project gave me a larger dose of that anxiety than I have felt in several months... Oh well. On to the next project!

P.S. I also just got back from a brief mini-vacation to Maine. What a great state! I took a million photographs and I am going to try to do some Maine based artwork soon. Stay tuned for updates.

Project Completed

Here is an image of my three pieces of art in the installation. The bedding and room were styled by my friend and coworker Jesse Sandobal. He was the one who commissioned these three pieces of art to tie the room together. Hopefully this will lead to other art based styling projects in the future. (We did a very successful installation together over a year ago. You can see images of it in one of my very first blog postings.)

Spring is hitting New York and I find myself walking more and more often. The first few flowers and leaves are beginning to sprout. This is going to be a beautiful Spring!

Heaven Sent Commission

Things have been busy lately. I'm pleased to report that my company commissioned three pieces of art from me... Although they did not ask for my original art or something from my portfolio I was still happy to be working. The project was for three large format canvasses with enlarged images based on sketches from a famous Italian furniture designer. We dug through his sketch book to find appropriate inspiration for our triptych. This is a photo of one of the three completed canvasses in my home. (Please note the original sketch taped beside the final art.)

Currently the book on my bedside table is titled "The Rape of Europa" by Lynn H. Nicholas. She writes a very interesting (though slightly dry) book on what happened to all of the greatest artistic masterpieces in Europe during World War II. The cover of the book has a photograph of the great hall of the Louvre totally empty except for picture frames. At the time of this commission I just happened across an image in my book of the Winged Victory being evacuated from the Louvre. If this statue could talk imagine the stories she would tell!

Once the presentation space is photographed professionally I will post additional images of the art in the finished space. Hope everyone is well, and thanks for reading!

Luck of the Irish

Here is a St. Patrick's Day card that I have spent several days trying to work out. I feel that it is a neat St. Patrick's Day card and I am proud that I have totally avoided stereotypical pitfalls like rainbows, pots of gold, and leprechauns. (Not to imply that those are bad...)

I wanted to include some writing on the inside of the card so I did research on three things, Irish toasts, Irish blessings, and Irish wit. So far, I have selected one phrase and included it inside the card; "May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live." This struck me as both clever and not cavity inducing-ly sweet.

As of writing this post I have not yet hammered out all of the details with this card. I am sure that some adjustments will be made in the next few days but for now it is available on Etsy at my site, http://www.etsy.com/shop/danieljosephdurkin.

Briefly, before I finish, I would like to mention a holiday that I have never ever heard of until a few weeks ago. Someone at a party mentioned in passing "Evacuation Day". When I wondered aloud what this day was (and silently wondered if this holiday needed a card) I was told that in the Boston Area they celebrate the day the British retreated out of Massachusetts to Nova Scotia on March 17th. This just happens by some great historical coincidence to fall on St. Patricks's Day... Thus the public sector workers of America's largest Irish Catholic city get St. Patrick's as a paid day off. How funny! (In full disclosure the blogger is an Irish Catholic who also enjoys days off.)

Love in Times Square

Here is my Valentine for this year. This is an image that has been sitting in my sketch book, patiently waiting in line for a chance to be drawn and finished, for several weeks now. I am very pleased with how it came out.

Perhaps this image in inspired by the famous black and white photo of the sailor kissing the young lady at the end of World War II... I have always loved Times Square and it is always a treat to sit down and draw something that you have a connection to.

I am still making very small changes to this image but it is available on my Etsy page for purchase. Please check it out at http://www.etsy.com/shop/danieljosephdurkin . (We are running out of time before the 14th... does everyone have a card for their special someone?)

Spreading like rabbits...

Isn't it just the way this always happens? I have one sketch of a bunny in my house, and then I draw a second bunny... (they meet, fall in love...) Before I know it, there are 77 bunnies! ...or to be more specific, I have had orders for 77 Year of the Rabbit Cards.

I'd like to take a few minutes and thank everyone who checked out my Etsy shop over the last few weeks. The conversations I have shared with Etsy customers have been wonderful! I have attached a map of the United States showing where the bunny cards are concentrated. (I love those red and blue political maps at election time... can you tell?)

The whole Pacific Rim of the US had a great reaction to the cards. Thanks to Darci and Anna in Seattle, Max from Bainbridge Island, Margie in Spokane, Emily in Portland, Cecilia in San Francisco, Mymy in Menlo Park, and my good friends Jarrod and Amnon in the Bay Area. Honorable mention goes to the very chilly Minnesota, Illinois, and Colorado. Thank you Karen in River Forest, Rebecca in Lincolnwood, Lora in Minneapolis, Jeni in Mankato, and Midori in Arvada. I was pleased as punch to receive an order from Texas, Ohio, and Washington D.C. Thank you Barbara, Bonnie, and Gillian!

This map does not even show a little red symbol in Melbourne, Australia, but thanks to Kerry our little bunny is hanging out with kangaroos.

Special mention and thanks to Annette in Toronto who is sure that this is going to be her year! Also, to Howard in Brooklyn for providing helpful design tips and for suggesting yummy, local restaurants. I was pleased to be in touch again with the Parson's Family in South Carolina. (Check out their Etsy page by searching their shop name MonkeysOnTheRoof.) Thanks also to my good friend and co-worker, Nora, right here in New York City.

My friend Tania gave me instructions on how best to celebrate the Chinese New Year on February 3rd. She recommended not washing your hair or sweeping up your house because that might inadvertently sweep away your luck. She also suggested that you buy a new item of red clothing and wear it that day. (Isn't this much more interesting than silly Groundhog's Day?)

2011- Year of the Rabbit

The Lunar New Year is almost upon us! For the last several years it has become a favorite holiday of mine. My birthday is on Valentine's Day and my boyfriend and I have thrown parties at our apartment in the past. We figured out that if we called it a Valentine's Day Party single people would feel excluded. I also felt that throwing yourself a birthday party is self-indulgent... we finally decided it would be easier and more fun to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Last year was the year of Tiger. Any thoughts? I thought it was an okay year... But now we are heading into the Year of the Rabbit. According to the dependable people at a web site called theholidayspot.com we can look forward to a relaxed year in which, "Good taste and refinement will shine on everything and people will acknowledge that persuasion is better than force." Sounds good to me!

This illustration is something I've been itching to do since the year of the Horse! I have a fasination with paper lanterns and I've wanted to try to create the warm, beautiful glow that you get from them when they are lit. Thanks to my buddy Jen who approved the rabbit illustration in advance to make sure he was cute enough... You can't quite tell but this little rabbit is thinking, "This is going to be my year!"

As always this card is available on my Etsy page. Best wishes to my friends!

Paris From Above

Happy New Year Friends!

I have included an illustration I have been working on of the roofs of Paris. When we arrived in our hotel during my recent vacation there I found myself taking way too many pictures of other people's roofs. Kinda crazy... Later when I was flipping through my photos I kept thinking, "What nut got a hold of my camera and took all of these pictures?"

The image on top is of the original scratch board. The second image is printed on recycled paper and I have added a bright white and a mid-tone shadow. (It's funny, sometimes I prefer the black and white original... thoughts?) Please check out Etsy to find a series of cards that I have made from this illustration. I'd also like to give a shout out to Miss Mishel of Clinton Hill Brooklyn, John J. Hoody of Connecticut, and Aileen of Miami Beach, Florida... These great people bought some of the Grand Central Terminal Ceiling cards to use as Holiday Cards. Thanks a million!

Hope everyone had a great New Years.