Visiting South Africa: July 2018

Posted on August 31, 2018 by portfoliolongo.com

This past July (2018) Annyth and I spent a week at Zulu Nyala, a private game reserve near Hluhluwe Kwazulu Natal. We were lucky; we managed to see all five of Africa’s big five game animals: lion, leopard, rhinoceros (black and white), elephant, and the African buffalo. We saw plenty of others as well – up close! Beforehand, we spent a week and a half first in Cape Town and then in Johannesburg, where we toured with an old friend, Ruth, whom we hadn’t seen for 25 years.

Annyth, Ruth, and I met in 1989 in Washington, DC at American University, where the three of us were graduate students in anthropology. Ruth is from Johannesburg and still lives in Johannesburg. Learn more about Ruth here. With the exception of a few emails and maybe a Skype call several years ago, we had no contact with Ruth, but we somehow always regarded her as a dear friend. So it wasn’t a surprise that, after a quarter of a century, our time with Ruth was spectacularly awesome. We got to meet her partner, Toni; her colleague, Meryl; her brother, Jonathan and his family; others as well; plus, we got to see Cape Town and Johannesburg through Ruth’s eyes to a large extent. It turns out that our friendship had quietly grown over the years, and now because of our reunion, it’ll continue to grow for years to come.

Here’s the image I sent Ruth a week or so before Annyth and I showed up in South Africa: {Please click on all images to enlarge.}

They didn’t really put this sign up…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, iColorama (click on image to enlarge)

Getting there by air…(practice/play time with my iPad Pro and mainly the Sketch Club drawing/painting ap:

On the runway…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama (click on image to enlarge)

Still waiting…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama (click on image to enlarge)

Some guy in Atlanta also going on our 13 hour flight…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama (click on image to enlarge)

Started wondering…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama (click on image to enlarge)

Cape Town, Robben Island:

Rainbow Ruth in Muizenberg…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama (click on image to enlarge)

South African penguins: iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama (click on the rest of these images to enlarge, ok?)

Our guide at Robben Island Museum, a former political prisoner himself…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama

Short hop to Richards Bay from Johannesburg:

Short Hop from Joburg to Richards Bay

Zulu Nyala:

Giraffes…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama

Impala…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama

Zebra…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama

The noble warthog…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama

Hippo…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama

Elephant…(She co-stared in the video below) iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama

You just have to see this:

ok, back to my iPad drawing:

Rhino (white)…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama

Lion…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama

Our tent…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, Procreate, and iColorama

Our excellent guide, Chris (senior)…iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Sketch Club, and iColorama

Thanks for visiting!! Comment below, if you’re so inclined.

The Bible: Crystal Ball or Mirror?

Posted on June 16, 2018 by portfoliolongo.com

I know a little bit about the bible. I have an M.Div. for Christ’s sake; it’s one of three graduate degrees for Pete’s sake! I may no longer be an ordained Benedictine monk, but I sure as Hell sat through my share of biblical studies, theology, even some Greek and Latin courses. Most of them were interesting, some even fascinating. I had a brilliant seminary professor, one of several like that, in fact, who approached the study of sacred scriptures from a literary-criticism perspective, steeped in critical hermeneutics, semiology, and philology…right up my alley. He planted the following image in my mind. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions; but, I find it interesting that the image conjures up a ton of contrasting and startling questions about how religion is used by some to predict and control (i.e. dominate) on one hand, and how, on the other hand, it’s used by others simply to deepen one’s appreciation of the Mystery of Life and come to terms with the ethical implications of that universally-applicable and humbling factor.

Check out Smoke and Mirrors here on this illustroblog, please.

click on image to enlarge

An Evening of Live Music and iPad Drawing in Arcata, CA

Posted on June 11, 2018 by portfoliolongo.com

I’d like to let the photos and images do the talking in this post because it was an intricate confluence of chances, that evening of May 21, 2018. A few years before that at my first Mobile Digital Arts and Creativity Summit in Palo Alto, CA I met Claire Iris Schencke, digital artist extraordinaire. Check her out here. Claire lives in Arcata, CA, and so since Ann and I were planning to be in the neighborhood on our North Coast road trip, I let Claire know.

Claire Iris Schencke and yours truly

As it turned out, Claire, who routinely does live iPad drawings at live music events, invited us to such an event at the unquestionably funky home of Gregg Moore, whose “crib” is well known for exquisite live music. Check this out for yourself, please.

Gregg Moore in his Crib…hey, there’s Kaisa Mäensivu seated, she’s the talented upright bassist

That evening we were treated to the Oskar Stenmark Trio. Click here to learn more about and listen to Flugelhornist/player/composer/arranger/educator – Oskar…from Sweden. Notice also how Claire is situated close by with her iPad connected to a large monitor so that she can render a simultaneous, colorful, digital interpretation of the musical experience for others inclined to enhance their own experience.

Claire live iPad drawing; Ukrainian American pianist Alex Pryrodny; Finnish bass player, Kaisa Mäensivu; and, of course, Swedish flugelhorn player, Oskar Stenmark, momentarily playing the airhorn.

I was invited to open my iPad Pro, and these are the three – quick – digital renderings that I contributed to the evening. I’ll let the images and that final photo close out this post. Let me simply add that this evening was a genuine and memorable treat!

Sketch Club app; incidentally, Oskar ended this particular piece with an actual animal horn, which, I hope, explains why he isn’t holding his famous flugelhorn.

Sketch Club app (my fav., click on image to enlarge)

Paper 53

Claire Iris Schencke and your humble servant with iPad drawings from the evening

Northern California Roadtrip: Ferndale and Eureka

Posted on May 27, 2018 by portfoliolongo.com

We headquartered in Ferndale, CA and made excursions north to Eureka.
Here’s a Victorian storefront in Ferndale.

click on image to enlarge

While in Eireka, CA, we took a mini cruise around Humboldt Bay on the Madaket.

A Sikh

Posted on May 7, 2018 by portfoliolongo.com

Last night, May 6, 2018, while watching United Shades of America, catching an interesting and informative episode focusing on Sikhism, seeing my first Californian Sikh almond farmer, and being intrigued by the turban (click here to view a gallery from the show), I sketched the following image on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil, using Sketch Club and iColorama:

click on image to enlarge

Guitar Hands

Posted on April 30, 2018 by portfoliolongo.com

A distorted quickie done in Sketch Club on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil and then tweaked a bit in iColorama.

click on image to enlarge

Heavens to Betsy: Deregulate this!

Posted on April 6, 2018 by portfoliolongo.com

I’m just going to say it. These folks are deep-down frightened. They see what’s unfolding, and no matter how hard they slam on the brakes, there’s no stopping the inevitable demographic and economic changes and the corresponding cultural diversification and darkening of our collective pigmentation. Right now all they can do is wall themselves off economically, skim off as much as possible for themselves, take refuge in their own amnesia, and throw it in reverse.

Beer context: Pine and Palm’s Pacific Coast Porter
17th Street Pub
Sketch Club, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil