Happy Holidays!

Video and feature story from LoHud on Guantanamo sketches at Hopper House on display until January 10

VIDEO
Well done video by Mark Vergari, LoHud videographer and photographer.
Also a well written article by Khuram Saeed.
ARTICLE

A nice suprise

What before my wondering eye should appear but this post from Siobahn Dooley, a friend most dear..
An unexpected front-page story by LoHud reporter Khurram Saeed. If you are in the area, please come by Hopper House
82 N. Broadway, Nyack NY - opening is tonight, 5-7pm. Not only my artwork, but several other lovely works
of the figure by local artists.

Show!

It's up and I'm getting last minute things together to embellish this first time showing of my Guantanamo sketches.
So many things are making this a very special event; journalist friends I've made during my trips there are coming
from near and far, as are family and friends. Hopper House, Edward Hopper's boyhood home and now an Arts Center is the perfect place in which to debut the work. This show is in conjunction with figure drawings done by local artists at the weekly figure drawing sessions I facilitate at Hopper House.
Here is a blog posting from LoHud about the show:
http://rockland.lohudblogs.com/2009/12/09/nyacks-janet-hamlin-displays-her-guantanamo-courtroom-sketches/

Snow!

Today I woke up to the sound of snowplows and knew I was in for it. Sure enough, my very sloped driveway was slick with a slushy thick layer. Out I went in boots and coat and took more than a few sliding spills. Tis the season! So I'm posting a
happier memento of snow; this snowboarding image I had done for the AP's coverage of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Hibernating in the habitat

A chill is in the air as winter settles in; I thought this illustration of bunnies fit nicely in between all the holiday
happenings. A cozy winter for all!

Baking the bird

This is a piece I did for the AP showing how to choose and prepare a turkey for Thanksgiving. Prepping the bird can be a lot of work, but the results.. well, memorable.
Copyright AP.

Joyful saxophone

This is a personal piece I did on a lito aluminum plate, spattering and drawing, trying to capture that flow of music.

On the lighter side- football

I love branching out creatively, and my stint on board at Associated Press as a staff illustrator gave me the chance to stretch and try out a variety of styles. Fun! Football players are the perfect thing to caricature. I designed this to be in a column format for
newspapers.

Full circle- 9/11 co-conspirators to have trial in NYC

Breaking news confirmed that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and the other four co-conspirators will be tried in NYC courts, raising arguments for and against, as opposed to continuing to press charges via the Guantanamo tribunal system.

Hopper House drawing 11-12-09

Oodles of doodles

Last week's session at Hopper House- we had a very interesting model, whom I look forward to working with again.
I'll be posting details about an upcoming show of the figure drawing, as well as a first-time showing of some of the Guantanamo court art.

Amelia

I had done this illustration some time ago for an educational biography on Amelia Earhart. Her story is of course an enduring one, complete with a recent feature film release. There were several women pilots at the time, but none that have become as iconic as she.
On a similar track I happened to hear of a group of female pilots known as WASP- Women Airforce Service Pilots. They were the first women to fly military craft in World War ll as test pilots and trainers. It was a controversial contribution to the war, and records of their service were put in a classified file.They only just received the Congressional Gold Medal this year- more than 60 years later. To learn more click HERE

Happy Halloween!

Focus on the Figure/ Guantanamo sketches; showing at Hopper House Dec 12-Jan 10

I'm curating a group show of the figure drawing work done during our weekly drawing sessions. This will be a unique show in that it's really two shows; the figure drawings, and in a separate gallery room, some selected sketches from the tribunals at Guantanamo Bay. This will be the first time I will be publicly displaying the original art.

Another digital painting

A recent portrait I did for one of my regular clients, Treasury and Risk Magazine. I really enjoy working with photoshop
and multiple layers to build up the painting. You can see my technique archived in my blog postings under 'digital deliciousness'

Recent figure studies, Hopper House

These are from last week's session. Great turnout again- we're gearing up for the group show in December at Hopper House
gallery.

Oct 16 at Hopper House

Great session last Thursday; more students are showing up, so we have this tremendous diversity in ages, experience, and styles. I'm thrilled that this venue is drawing people in. Any who are interested:
Figure drawing every Thursday night from 7:30-10pm, Hopper House, 82 S. Broadway, Nyack, NY 10960
http://hopperfiguredrawing.blogspot.com/

October 7, at Hopper House

Great session at Hopper House last week. Our model was Nick, and we had a full house-lots of creative energy, and always glad I participated and stretched the creative muscle.

October 1- drawing at Hopper House

Some of the sketches from last week's drawing at Hopper house. Great model and quite a turnout. Ebbs and flows on my ends- some tight, some loose..

Back in Hopper House

Last week we had a model that really brought everyone to the drawing table- he was striking some great poses and the energy was high. These are the days when I realize why I love to draw- especially with these other artists. Pure bliss.

KSM compare and contrast

Yesterday photos of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed appeared in the Miami Herald, and from there were picked up by the NYTimes Lede Blog, Washington Post, and Daily Mail. A former West Point terrorism expert who monitors jihadist Web sites, Jarret Brachman, published images on his blog
Here you can read just how and why these photos were taken and the likely process to online distribution.
Many might recall the story of how KSM disliked the initial drawing I did of him, primarily his nose.

Figure drawing sessions start up SEPT 17, Hopper House

Fall is just about here, and the figure drawing program will be starting up again at Hopper House Thursday nights:
http://hopperfiguredrawing.blogspot.com/

Uncle Sam burdened

I did this spot for Newsday last week, on how some religious institutions in LI have made use of a law that allows them to ignore zoning restrictions and build freely, burdening the community with no tax income.

Walter Cronkite

Just finished with sketches at Guantanamo Bay, of hearings held on Omar Khadr, and al Qosi yesterday, and today, Bin al Shibh, Aziz Ali, and Hawsawi (who requested to leave, and was allowed to, when he found he was not going to be allowed to speak that day) In the media section were more families of 911 victims. At first none of the 911 co-conspirators showed up; then after a while the three did. Court reconvened after a break sans any observers. It will be interesting to see how this moves forward.

Illustration for Newsday, pre-K funding

Newsday asked me to illustrate an editorial on how much of the funding available for Pre-K classes in the LI area have gone unused. Why, might you ask? Turns out that schools are concerned that if they create a pre-k program and funding gets pulled, they end up bearing the expense; a gamble. I decided to use that angle, showing the croupier scooping the funds back, knocking the spelling blocks aside. Spelling blocks are not exactly original- but they worked with this idea.

Publisher's Weekly cover

It's been awhile since I have posted; during that time my online class began and various other projects cropped up, once of which you see here. The cover story for Publisher's Weekly is entitled 'Who Owns Holden Caulfield?"
JD Salinger, author of 'The Catcher in the Rye' is taking legal action; someone has written a book based on 'Catcher' 60 years later. It will be interesting to see what the outcome is.

You see the comp, then comped cover, and my painting before being placed. It's a combination of traditional painting, with acrylics and gesso (applied with a toothbrush to achieve the wood grain), and then I brought it into Photoshop for additonal adjustments.