Pastel Cowboys

Cowboys are always fun to draw, especially with those huge old Western scores playing in the background. Some pastels from last year.

Girl with a toy

Olvera Street

Took the visiting parents to Olvera Street. Sketched the inside of a restaurant and some dancers.

Fun place!

Pastel Boxer

Here are some more pastels from last year. Some quick ones of a boxer and some other stuff.

Woman in Dress

Some pastels from last year.

Guest Artist 4yr old Ms. Choty

As a special treat, today I present a guest artist. My very own little cousin Sarah "Ms. Choty" Raza, done in 2000 at the ripe old age of 4 1/2. I wrote in the names of the family members as she told them to me while she drew them in my sketchbook. Check out her perfect drawing of me. It's enough to make my pal Cholki (not to be confused with Ms. Choty) who has drawn many caricatures of me, cry.

Lahore and Mountains

Some more practice with watercolors. A sweetmaker's shop, a nighttime shot of Badshahi Masjid, both in the city of Lahore and and a view of the mountains also in Pakistan.

Old Lahore Watercolor

Just getting back into watercolors. I painted the same image of the old part of Lahore in a few different ways. For the first one, I sketched out the scene in pencil then painted (building layer upon layer) and added some black marker at the end. For the rest I did no drawing, just straight painting. I felt like I had enough of a feel for it after doing the first one that I didn't need to draw it in with pencil. For the second image I just laid down some light washes and built up value a little, then went in with marker for details. For the third and fourth versions I just painted one cool and warm and the other monochromatic. I want to work on landscapes and city scenes for a bit...take a breather from drawing my poor co-workers...

BBC in stages

Mostly been lighting shots for a short film lately. I did manage to squeeze in this sketch..scanned in stages from pencil, ink to marker. It's based off a photo from the BBC news site.

Sick at home watchin' tv...

This is what you get when you're home sick watching daytime tv...

Monday Faces

Sick...drawings

Gettin' over the flu...nice to draw again...

Ballet, LAX and Acrobats

Just practicing bodies a bit...much to improve.

Shake for the Quake

Went to a concert up in San Francisco in support of the earthquake relief effort in Pakistan and India. It was organized by Project Ahimsa. Did some quick sketches to try and capture some of what I saw..and then I got busy with joining in the fun!

Oh, how I flatter people at work...

More Co-workers

Picked up a few more colors and a blending marker.

More Coworkers and the news

Here are some more unsusupecting coworkers and a sketch based off a picture of protestors I saw on the BBC News website.

Unsuspecting Coworkers

I knew those employee photoes in the company directory would come in handy...

Dancing in the Margins

Went to a dance performance called "Dancing in the Margins" and did these sketches. Lots of fun to try and catch people in motion. I didn't actually do any sketches of my two favorite performances, by Postnatyam Collective and Ana Maria Alvarez. They were so fast paced that I had to choose between watching or drawing...so I watched.

Alex Theatre LA Chamber Orchestra

Went to a fun performance by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra at the Alex Theatre courtesy of my pal Dan Read. I was just about to do a little study of the whole orchestra when the last song came to a dramatic end. I had two pencil lines down and poof. Gone. Next time...