A day at the Zoo

Subway Sketching Toronto

I'm here since 4 month already. I didn't post so much.Yeah, lots of changes, and not a sketching group to join over here. Well, I went subway sketching with Bobby Chu a couple of times, but it happen to be at the same time I have to call my parents in italy... Can't do that in the metro...

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......... Then I took the sketchbook with me and did anyway sketches any time I didn't had something to read (what I like of having to travel is actually having time for reading)
Torontonian are really interesting, in 4 square meters there must be 4 different races and many more ranges of age. Well, that is a selection (bad photo comp, yes, I still have to unpack the wacom) and as usual I am not good to be picky about the choice...

Drawing Day 2009

I went to the beaches of Toronto today to see what I could draw in occasion of the Drawing Day. I found a very nice spot on rocks full of cegauls and some canadian goose. The weather was wonderful and I think I'll enjoy this place more often from now on.

Dr Sketchy Toronto

Here I am, after living in Montreal for 3 years and then in Vancouver for 10 months, I have moved once again. This time im in Toronto, this time for work. Not for love like last time, but hopefully Kym will come here as soon as there will be the chance. Till then I'm here on my own, but I have a few good friends here already, that helped me to get introduced to the town and things.

Little Italy might not be as good as in Montreal and Vancouver, and Canada here looks less Canada and more America, while some other things stay the same, just with new people...
I didn't waste too much time. I found Dr Sketchy and some other arty entertainment... but we go with one thing at the time...
I've already talked about this "Dr Sketchy" many times over in my blog, and already spoke about the Cameron House about a year ago. But this time I could go to the theatre in the back of the pub, and enjoy the drawing session it with my friend Adele.
The model was dressing something indescribable, but definitely funny. Adele wanted to steal the pink disguise.
The only a negative thing was in the middle of the show. Because of a disturbing scary mask on a mermaid. I'm really impressionable.
The Cameron House, in the front pub, was exposing Buttons painted and with feathers, hanged on the walls.
Well, this is Toronto. People are slightly more crazy, I guess.
It will be fun.

Theme of the day: Sunny on an Elephant on his wedding Day

Jonathan and Jimmy thought to start to draw with a theme at the VSG.
As that was decided at the moment and we didn't get any internet/ magazine to check Indian style, there might be several cultural mistakes. Hope anyway Sunny will laugh watching this :P

Good-bye my friends

Have been a big sketch group on Saturday 24.
Few things happening to us!
Tyler and Andrew are going to a cool concept design school in LA, Edison is gonna spend February working in Seattle, Sunny is missing lately because getting married, while I'll leave soon for Toronto.
I made then the sketch of the ppl that joined the group today (new entry of the day, Adele) and collected some funny drawing-souvenir from the guys.

For those that are still there outside saying that Vancouver is death about art, wake up! These people are trying to organize weekly events in order to share stories, ideas, styles, etc... while doing art (for example at the Studio 221).
Well, I did my propaganda for the day, I can go to sleep now :)

Travel in Italy - Christmas 2008

For X-Mas, before leaving from Vancouver, I've got a nice small sketching album from a friend.
It was a perfect idea as this time, my holidays in Italy, has been filled by some day spent traveling in few of the most beautiful Italian cities (Kym's 1st time in Italy deserved it).
Rome is missing (a part the restaurant) and one Venice picture is incomplete in my book, as I didn't have always time to stop and make my drawings. Anyway, I'm pretty happy I could those.
I didn't take any picture, as Kym have an amazing new camera, and hopefully soon he will have something on our Flickr account....

Some photos of when I was drawing in Venezia here and here

21th Sketch Crawl - Vancouver

-->Back from Holidays! Well, I had fun so for once I was not looking forward to come back. Kym and I had good time visiting Italy, eating good food and spending time with family and friends. Unluckily my home area was hit by bad weather conditions and then we had more snow than usual (the usual is none).
I’ll post some draw I did during my travel very soon ;)
Anyway, back to Vancouver and to my art activities, there was the 21st Sketch crawl on January 10th, right the day after I come back. I tried to organize as well the one for Parma, posting fliers in many places, but I still don't know of the results :S
Not as many people as last time, mostly because of bad rainy/snowy day, but we had the pleasure to get to know Shawn and Jim. Hope to see some post of them on the sketch crawl forum, they’re both really talented. Might be that Sundeep will post some photo too, but I have to understand in which of the thousand websites linked to the Vancouver Sketch group :D

Happy X-mas!

I'm currently in holidays in Italy with Kym. It's fun and also really busy :P
I'm getting ready for big family lunches!!! heheh
Happy holidays to all of you :)

Dr Sketchy in Vancouver!

Finally Dr Sketchy is back in Vancouver!
When I moved here I got a bad surprise knowing the girl that was organizing it was too busy and than had to suspend it. But since a couple of months Shary Contrary re-opened it :)
I went on Monday (ops, was on the 8th, not 6th :P ) and the model, Little woo, had a very interesting dressing, with huge evil horns and light blue eye lens. She even performed a dance towards the end. Well, I'm really happy I can enjoy again this thing, even in the other side of the country :)

Per le strade di Bologna

Stavo raccontando dei piani per le vacanze di Natale ad un'amica italiana anch'essa a Vancouver, e da quell'idea ecco il mio schizzo di oggi col gruppo del Sabato. La vespa qui e' ben riconosciuta come design italiano anziche' tanti altri scouter. I was talking with my italian friend here in Van about my X-mas plans, so here the sketch of the day with the Saturday's group.

Other People in the bus

This was done at the Vancouver Sketch group of today, but first sketched on the bus. I really enjoy this group. If you're in Vancouver and want to join us, look for this group in Facebook, there are the updates for every saturdays meeting point ;)

Cirque du Soleil

I've been at the end of June at the Cirque du Soleil in Vancouver.
Was the 1st time I saw this circus company, and this show was "Corteo", which surprisingly for me, had songs sang in Italian :P The show was just amazing, with the choreography and the acrobats.
I did a couple of sketches in the break, and I'm finally finishing them with the color version. I'm enjoying a lot watercolors in the last 2 weeks and today I finally bought a blending brush, it's very useful if you want to paint outside.

Sketching at Studio 221A

Thursday, surfing on the Scketchcrawl forum, I stumbled in few post by artist I recognized to be at the meeting of last Saturday. I checked amazing the blog of Edison Yan and I discover that he meet with lots of other locals to some cafe during Saturday afternoons. Because of the Halloween Partying of the night before, the session of yesterday was guested by Jonathan Tiong, in his art Studio, a very interesting place where to have a space to do your own or collective art. If you're in Vancouver and need of a creative environment to do your art, you can contact the ppl at the 221A Studio, or you can give them suggestions for organize an art gallery. Ah, I didn't become Psicopatic ;-) The 1st draw is about my friend Sarah, babysitting for Halloween, and the 2nd one is about my other friend Melaina, dressed as Halloween version of Alice in Wonderland.

20th Sketchcrawl, also in Vancouver

It's amazing how some artist can organize something that get spread over the world.
I was participating to the Dr Sketchy in Montreal, and through Facebook I'm still getting invites for many other artistic group event, which I was sad to don't have the chance to go, as I live now in Vancouver.
This town is great for many things, but not so much going on about art. So I inscribed myself to a clay sculpturing course, in order to awake my rusted ability with traditional modeling.
But yesterday a friend told me that he's going to a sketchcrawl thing, and I realized that Vancouver has some artist that enjoy this kind of stuff as well. If you don't know this arty activity, it's been invented by an Italian that works in San Francisco, Enrico Casarosa, and you can find infos on this website: http://www.sketchcrawl.com/
or you can find the group of your town on facebook as well.
I take the chace to post a couple of sketches I did of Kym during this summer :p

I've got a website!

Finally, after so much planning and thinking about a website name to share with Kym, we got the domain two3dmonkeys.com
it still have to link to our pages, as we spent the weekend making up my own one, at morenap.two3dmonkeys.com
But it works! Enjoy it!

Faires and flowers in Victoria

A little late this post, I know, anyway, we took the chance to visit Victoria, on Vancouver Island, in the last weekend of August. That has been a really nice trip in a relaxing environment. The picture has been done in a Mexican restaurant, that had recycled paper as tablecloth and wax pastels in little baskets for each table.
So, since I just crossed one of this fairy and dragons figurine shop, here i did my draw. I would encourage more restaurant to take such nice initiative, it is a fun entertainment for the clients :)

Super Sculpey

When I was mentoring in Vancouver Film School I discover a really cool paste to model, which never dry untill you cook it. I know, sounds silly the fact that I don't know about it, but I did 2 years in high school of working clay and I never worked plastiline or similars. Anyway. I like it and it's fast to be worked. I hope to do some more model soon, as I really enjoy it.

Some caricature

Yes, I know looks late now, but I did the sketch the day after I saw Sweeney Todd and finally today I did the simile-ink version. Other than that, some other sketch in order to keep alive this blog. Sadly since I moved from Montreal I draw less. I guess it's a loss of artistic inputs that I was having at work, as lot of my colleagues were drawing in waiting times and there were some fun artistic activity in Montreal to participate. Also I need to do more 3D to keep in exercise and learn some other program in order to be updated with new technologies and be more adaptable.