My latest drawing! Drew this for a friend earlier this year. It is all ebony pencil on water color paper. It took me about 9 hours to draw and is 14″ x 22″. The friend I drew it for is an avid Alabama fan and asked me to draw something inspired by an elephant. I didn’t want to get too “Roll Tide” with it because I am a huge Tennessee fan but all in all I was pleased with the final production.
I stumbled across some images of the Karakoram Highway, and had to do some more research. The route is also known as the KKH, and it connects China to Pakistan. It follows the trail of an ancient Silk Road used for trade between Chinas Xinjiang region and Pakinstans Hiligit-Baltistan and Kyber-Pakthunkhwa regions. For much of its 905 miles, the Karakoram Highway is overshadowed by barren mountains, which basically form a high altitude desert with very little rain. In many of the gorges it passes, it rides a shelf cut into a sheer cliff face as high as 1,600 feet above the Indus River. The highway then leaves the Indus moving away from the Himalayas for the Gilgit, Hunza and Khunjerab rivers to take on the Karakoram Range, which boat 12 of the 30 highest mountains in the world. By the time the road reaches the 15,528 foot. Khunjerab Pass, it has proves to be the highest roadway and border crossing in the world.
The KKH has also opened up many remote villages where progress in technology has not been made in hundreds of years due to lack of contact with the rest of the world. Because of the high elevation and the horrendous conditions it was constructed in, people refer to it as a new ‘wonder of the world’. It opened up for travel in 1986 and approximately 800 Pakistanis and 200 Chinese workers were killed during construction.
Suspension bridge
Bus accident on the way to Gilgit
Road cut into sheer cliff
Highway cut into the sheer cliff
Highway Map
The images are from a beautiful part of northern Italy called Pozza di Fassa, which lies in the heart of the Dolomite mountain region. The Dolomites span five provinces, (Belluno, Bolzano, Pordenone, Trento, Udine), and has three different ethnic groups, Italian, German, and Ladin. Pozza di Fassa is a true Ladin community. Pozza di Fassa is located just 60 km northeast of Trento, and has a population of 1,876. Ladin is a language that is endemic to this region, and comes from a group of dialects related to Swiss Romansh and Friulian. The name comes because it is considered a vulgar Latin.
Playing music is a hobby that I have always enjoyed. It provides a way to escape reality for a while, because it takes all of your concentration and focuses it on the music. Principles of music can also be related to design when you look at the rhythms and how these principles can relate to qualities of space. I came across this piano being reused as a garden bed and couldn’t help but think how this is another take on taking the musical qualities and turning them into design elements, this idea just being more literal.
Garden Piano
Best Gelato I have ever had! I used to get this a few times a week when I lived in Trastevere. It is conveniently located in the middle of everything! It is just west of Piazza Navona in the historic district of downtown, the “Campo Marzio.” Check it if you are ever there it is awesome- and I recommend getting it dipped in chocolate.
Via del Governo Vecchio, 112, 00186 Rome, Italy
I have been thinking a lot recently about what some of my early inspiration was to become an architect. A lot of people attribute it to perhaps playing with legos, or having an artistic background. While I did in fact play with legos, and do have an artistic background, I think a big part of my aspiration was my father. He is a computer engineer, but is actually very crafty and creative when he puts his mind to it. He built a tree house for my brother and I when I was 4, and I remember the excitement he had completing his project. He designed and built the small house, and we used it for over a decade. That is the beauty of Architecture, we get to create actual spaces for living people! I love that tree house to this day, and cannot wait to create spaces for people to create lasting memories in, just like I had in my dads tree house.
Trying to get a little design inspiration on a rainy day and found some great images.
Wish this was where I could spend my weekends!
The plants makes a breathtaking display of aerial greenery filling the glass dome of what was once a chapel. The tradition has it that the dome was built round the tree.
Was looking up images of the hobbit houses from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and stumbled across this house in Whales. The house was actually built by the owner, and he only used a few simple tools, a chainsaw, hammer, and a chisel. Get inspired! The first image is the hobbit homes, followed up by some images of the house in Whales.
Bag End
Hillside home Whales
