Matthew Laurence December Post

This post is from the 'quotes' sketchbook from Jo McIlroy. This a a favorite quote used during celebrations. Enjoy!

One Day at a time (Louise E. Donaghey's Book)

The theme one day at a time was something that I was not so sure on how to approach. I wanted to have some timeline to be incorporated within the design and implement the printmaking examples I was using for the new course i was teaching. So I thought to add a tattoo of a personal timeline onto the self-portrait. I hope that I continue to exist beyond the 2034 date near my jugular vein, or perhaps it is an expiration date (Louise, check in with me on Wednesday, June 2034).. Stay tuned-

Matthew Laurence/ Daydreams

Hello my name is Matthew and my theme for this sketchbook is 'DAYDREAMS'. The cover for this sketchbook is shown above. Over the summer I visited my father's place and in the guest room was this small antique crib toy that I photographed and wanted to incorporate into some type of artwork. I played around with Adobe Photoshop and separated the crib from the background and added a color gradient and downloaded a bird brush to add the winged creatures into the sky. Later, I printed the image out onto photographic paper and then applied several layers of tempera paint to the background and scratched away the surface to get that deteriorated look. Last, I added color markers to the work in addition to applying several layers of varnish to protect the surface.

This is my first image of the 'DAYDREAM' theme. It is a collage of work that started out as a teacher example for my printmaking class that is focusing on the principle of design, unity/harmony. This work uses the technique of the collagraph to which textures of objects are printed off of. the leaves taken from my apartment complex were used for the collagraph and a bit of photo collage from a magazine laying around completed the work. I will be using a number of my posted based off of a collage of media since it is something I find enjoyable and allows me to 'play'.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood- 

Patrick's Hamster Wheel of Life

Sandy's sketchbook  "Hamster Wheel of Life" was passed to me right during a period of time where there was just no possible way I was going to complete the sketch - I was too busy.  So, I passed the book on and am just now getting back to it.  I had a crazy 5 weekends in a row where I was not home in Singapore and in that time I had a lot of fun and accomplished many things, but rest, relaxation and sketchbooks were not among them.  We did LegoLand and a trip to Phuket as a family before I set off for an R&D trip, then I had a few days in Singapore before heading to KL to co-lead a Google Apps BootCamp, present a few sessions and a closing keynote for the Google Summit.  I capped that string off with a few days of work then a trip to Hong Kong Disney.  Phew.  A slow Saturday of sketchbooking is my reward.

I tried to capture the idea that all the events and fun were keeping me moving while at the same time grinding me up.

In The Distance...

My Theme:
It is where the moon is, it is where that train whistle is coming from, it is the time when we get to take the trip to Hong Kong Disney, and it is where Gramma and Grampa live - all of these things are in the distance.  We use this phrase a lot with our little O.G.G.  It helps.   All these things exist.  They are things that we will experience up close again, even if not this second.

Sketch 1:
In the distance, we plan to experience what we are now calling our "Year of Adventure."  We will take the year to follow our passions, to hike, to kayak, to learn (but not from a textbook).  We will travel the US going from city to city, studying their histories and drinking their beers.  We'll spend entire days biking and entire days reading.  We'll practice our Spanish and our Ukulele.  We'll play, we'll eat well and we will savour each day...in the distance.

Learned:
I used illustrator and Photoshop.  I learned about clipping masks and putting effects onto those clipping masks.