House No. 188: Queen Anne House at Night

House No. 188: Queen Anne House at Night

colored pencil on upcycled matboard

10 in. x 10 in.

188/365; 07/07/11

Some more scavenged materials: this time a lovely piece of mat board discarded after being cut out of a larger piece to frame something. It is neatly beveled edges.

I wanted to work in reverse and create a ghostly glowing house in the moonlight, which is why I chose a high Victorian style, as they are ornate and always a bit eerie. Those Victorians were such a macabre bunch.

House No. 175: Cuckoo Clock

 

House No. 175: Cuckoo Clock
digital vector illustration
3 in. x 3 in.
175/365; 06/24/11

Today’s house is home to a cuckoo bird.

House No. 172: Paisley House

House No. 172: Paisley House
gel pen on paper
11.5 in. x 5.5 in.
172/365; 06/21/11

Inspired by paisley patterns and colors, a bright and sunny illustration for the longest day of the year. Happy summer!

House No. 171: Huguenot House

House No. 171: Huguenot House
colored pencil on paper
9 in. x 12 in.
171/365; 06/20/11

Today’s house is a little stone dwelling like those built by the French Calvanists in the Hudson River Valley during the eighteenth century. Drawn with waxy woodless colored pencils on heavy paper.

House No. 167: Number 7 Eccles Street, Dublin

House No. 167: Number 7 Eccles Street, Dublin
pencil on paper
12 in. x 9 in.
167/365; 06/16/11

In honor of Bloomsday, I offer a portrait of Leopold Bloom’s house, Number Seven Eccles Street, in front of a rough map of Dublin with a sketch of the front door to Number Seven, now preserved in the James Joyce Centre, and a portrait of Mr. Bloom himself.

House No. 115: City Apartment

House No. 115: City Apartment
ink, watercolor pencil, and metallic ink on repurposed card stock
2 in. x 4.25 in.
115/365; 04/25/11


Another city house today. I loved drawing the fire escapes on this one. Fire escapes and cisterns atop apartment buildings are two of my favorite things about city architecture.

House No. 114: City at Sunset

House No. 114: City at Sunset
ink and watercolor pencil on repurposed card stock
2 in. x 4.25 in.
114/365; 04/24/11

Colorful skyscrapers.

House No. 113: Pink House with Cherry Tree

House No. 113: Pink House with Cherry Tree
ink and watercolor pencil on repurposed card stock
2.25 in. x 2.33 in.
113/365; 04/23/11

Happy spring weekend!

House No. 112: Farnsworth House

House No. 112: Farnsworth House
ink and watercolor pencil on repurposed card stock
4.25 in. x 2 in.
112/365; 04/22/11

And now for something entirely different ...

It took 112 houses for me to reproduce an actual house. I never had the desire previously to do it, but I wanted to experiment with some Modern Architecture and kept thinking about the Farnsworth House and Mies van der Rohe.

The Farnsworth House is an example of the International Style. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the Farnsworth House was built to be a weekend retreat/country house for Dr. Edith Farnsworth, so it wasn't a place someone would live all the time.

It’s a bit impractical. It’s not a place to have “stuff.” It is not terribly private, either. (Remember, those who live in Mies van der Rohe houses shouldn’t throw stones.)

My head loves this design, but my heart doesn’t. What do you think?

House No. 111: Igloo

House No. 111: Igloo

ink and watercolor pencil on repurposed card stock
4.25 in. x 2 in.
111/365; 04/21/11

Igloos have been made to be sort of silly. We see them in media with fur-hooded Eskimos and penguins (wrong continent), and advertising ice cream or bagged ice. Igloos are simplified and misunderstood, quite like the tipi. Igloos are, in reality, amazing snow structures of the Inuit people of the arctic, themselves a very complicated culture that is diverse and spans portions of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia.

Igloos are an example of ingenuity and make-do. I love how homes reflect culture and available resources. For me, igloos are proof that people make comfortable, homey retreats out of whatever is available wherever people find themselves.

What is home exactly? I think that beyond shelter, containment, and safety, there is an element of comfort required to make someplace home. We make homes for those we love, and we think of home as someplace comforting. I think food is inseparable from home, as are smells. What are your requirements for home?

House No. 110: Yurts

House No. 110: Yurts
ink and watercolor pencil on repurposed card stock
4.25 in. x 2 in.
110/365; 04/20/11

You know I love some tents. I really do.

I'm still working out some troubadour-style nomadic homes in 3D materials, but I have some ideas that are cooking. I love the patterns on some Mongolian gers, and so I wanted to play with that for today's houses. I like the white is set off against the background. I imagine the interiors are lush.

House No. 109: Petit Château

House No. 109: Petit Château 
ink and watercolor pencil on repurposed card stock
2.75 in. x 2.75 in.
109/365; 04/19/11

This little illustration is drawn on the back of another sheet from my matchbook calendar that I have mentioned before. The paper is just yummy. Very thick with just the right amount of tooth to it.

It’s funny because the photos of the drawing are so much larger than they are in life, and the details are so much easier to see. I like making these tiny drawings and am thinking about what I should do with them all. Perhaps mount them all together? What do you think?

House No. 108: Gothic House

House No. 108: Gothic House
ink and watercolor pencil on repurposed card stock
2.45 in. x 1.85 in.
108/365; 04/18/11

Today’s house is a diminutive illustration of a high Victorian style home with iron work and dark colors. I took a lot of liberties with the architecture (again) because I got going and just NEEDED to draw quoins and arches and symmetry.

I imagine that this house is dark and musty inside and has things like dress forms and wooden trunks in the attic, doilies on the furniture, and those tiny foot stools that were supposed to alleviate gout. And a silver samovar with a highly ornate repoussé coffee service. And frosted sugar cubes and nonpareils.

House No. 106: Dutch Row Houses

House No. 106: Dutch Row Houses

ink and watercolor pencil on repurposed card stock
3 in. x 1.6 in.
106/365; 04/16/11

I still have Dutch things on my mind. I think that yesterday's house left me wanting for something more Dutch-y. (And I still have pancakes on my mind too, but I digress.) These are stripped-down Dutch row houses, and I am rather partial to their stepped-gabled facades and bright colors. They are perky and reflect Holland’s ubiquitous tulips. I think simple was the way to go with these.  I do enjoy making something into an icon, and that is probably why I enjoy designing logos so much.

House No. 105: Dutch Colonial

House No. 105: Dutch Colonial

ink and watercolor pencil on repurposed card stock
2.5 in. x 1.75 in.
105/365; 04/15/11

I didn’t mean for my Dutch colonial revival house to look like it was on acid. It just happened. It's all dayglo and listing to one side, and I took a lot of liberties with the architecture because, hey, I can make it way more fun and also slightly cage-y looking.

I think that if I lived in a Dutch colonial revival house, I would feel trapped, though that barred appearance was really more of an accident than a statement. I have never been a fan of the style, and I am not entirely sure why I decided to draw it.

I think that I had Dutch things in my head because I was reading A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg, and she gives a recipe for Dutch Baby Pancakes, and I have sort of been obsessed with the thought. Although, I think that Dutch Babies are really German. I have had pannekoek when I was in the Netherlands, and those are also amazing. I think that I really need pancakes. Stat.

House No. 104: Little House in the Big Woods

House No. 104: Little House in the Big Woods
ink and watercolor pencil on repurposed card stock
4.25 in. x 2 in.
104/365; 04/14/11

Did you ever read the Little House books? In fourth grade, I was obsessed with them and read each book several times until about sixth grade when I first read A Wrinkle in Time and my obsession with Madeline L’Engle began. I think I loved books in which children had to be resourceful. Before Laura, it was The Boxcar Children (Only the first one. After that, the books become forced.) and Z for Zachariah.

Today’s house, Laura’s Little House in the Big Woods is inspired by The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure, a favorite author and blogger of mine. The book is being released today, and I cannot wait to read it. In fact, it has me wanting to reread the Little House books. If you are into such things, check out HalfPintIngalls on the Twittergraph. Hilarious.

House No. 103: Tents

House No. 103: Tents
ink and metallic marker on repurposed card stock
3.45 in. x 3.45 in.
103/365; 04/13/11

I think these are tents for carnies or circus folk. Or for medieval troubadours. I fluctuate on their story. Nonetheless, I am fascinated by nomadic life and impermanent structures. I love gers and yurts and the tents in Harry Potter.

For today’s house I revisited the Tiny Tent that I made last month. I think that I would like to make a whole caravan of tents, and I am sort of working them out in my head right now: how and out of what will I make them? What colors and size should they be? What is their story?

House No. 83: Folk House

House No. 83: Folk House

digital illustration

10 in. x 10 in.

083/365; 03/24/11

 

This week I have been inspired by folk art and handicraft. Today's house was influenced by the bright colors and sketched decorative shapes of Scandinavian folk art.

House No. 77: Cottage

 

House No. 77: Cottage

vector illustration

3.45 in. x 3.45 in.

077/365; 03/18/11

I created this little cottage in Adobe Illustrator. Happy Friday!

House No. 74: Beware the Ides of March

House No. 74: Beware the Ides of March

ink on paper

8.5 in. x 6 in.
074/365; 03/15/11

Today’s house was inspired by my friend Elizabeth (known by many as EBambi) who suggested that, in honor of today's date, that I post a sketch of Caesar’s Palace.