urban sketching

property of Disney-Pixar / Up artists painting scenery

So several months back we were watching the special features for the Pixar film Up when Billy was inspired by one of our favorite artists, Ronnie Del Carmen, who had a mobile water coloring kit. Billy decided that he would like to have one, so after some quick googling to identify what Ronnie Del Carmen was using, we headed over to the only art supply store in our hometown, Michael's, to see what we could find.

While we could not find the exact same Winsor & Newton "field" kit, we did find something comparable and we ended up purchasing it (it didn't hurt that we also had one of thos Michael's 40% off coupons, either).

Since purchasing the compact water coloring set, we've been having lots of fun walking down as a family to our neighborhood park and enjoying some time outdoors.

A couple weeks ago Billy decided to paint our favorite home in the neighborhood...he plopped down in the park grass facing the home and began sketching...

We spent about an hour and a half playing at the park while Billy got everything inked in before we lost all our light and headed back home. The next day we returned for another hour or so while he began to add watercolor to it....

On the third and final day we came back and Billy completed the illustration. What was really neat was that when I had instagrammed a photo of Billy working on this, someone knew the woman who had grown up in this home (her father designed and built the home and still currently resides there) and it was actually someone that we distantly knew, and she was so sweet she actually reached out to us and offered to purchase the painting to gift to her father for Father's Day.

While Billy had initially planned on keeping this painting (we adore this home! The modern lines remind us vaguely of The Incredible's home), we were thrilled to see it go to the home owner himself.

Since picking up the compact watercoloring kit we've actually purchased a few more items to make painting on the go easier for Billy...I will have to share those fun purchases in a future blog post! 

All in all, it's been very relaxing to step away from the computer, or the iPhones, or the TV screen and go create some art in the great outdoors....even if this was just down the street from us. :) 

meg arnold photography

You may remember our friends Matt and Megan from Tandem Web Solutions? We actually did the logo design for Tandem and Matt has been our go to web guy for all our coding needs. 

Well, Matt recently accepted a wonderful job offer (still web coding) in the Bay Area and so off our friends the Arnold's went to start a new chapter in their lives. 

We are so excited that part of their new chapter includes Megan fulfilling a lifelong dream and taking her passion for photography to the professional level. 

And of course we were thrilled to create the logomark for her new business venture. Megan wanted a professional design that would be timeless and simple and so Billy go to work creating these custom letterforms for her new identity. 

We can't wait to watch her journey unfold out in the big city and you too can follow her right here. 

Congratulations to you both, Matt and Megan. Your success has been well earned and while we already miss knowing that you two are just down the street, we can't wait to visit you in your new hometown.