Okay, so last weekend my wife and I got the chance to go out on a date and decided to head to historic downtown Glendale, AZ, for their second 3rd Friday event. I must admit, sadly, the scene was pretty dead, apart from the decent crowds at two local restaurants.
We decided to check one of them out – a restaurant called Piazza Al Forno.
Surprisingly, my wife and I got right in to the restaurant, as there were a few crowds outside waiting for large tables and they had a couple two-tops available. We ordered calamari, a glass of wine each, and their Meat Pie (oh yeah, baby). The pizza was wood grilled with a slightly crispy, thin and somewhat doughy crust (very good), the mozzarella was home made, too. Guy Fieri actually did a segment on this place on his show Drive-ins, Diners and Dives (say that 3 X fast!). The service was excellent and I even got to speak with one of the owners, a chef named Justin – nice guy – and really knows what he’s doing.
After dinner we headed down to where my new office will be (yay!) and talked to a few of my neighbors who were gracious enough to stay open late to support 3rd Friday. Then, we headed down the street to Coffee & Tea Express, where we met the owner, Linda (I think). They had live music there and some great coffee.
Overall, we really enjoyed our evening, but I’ve got to say, 3rd Fridays has quite a ways to go before it becomes what Glendale needs it to be. Until then, I’m going to try and support it as much as I can. You should too if you can make it out. Phoenix’s First Fridays didn’t happen overnight – took at least a few years before it really exploded, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Glendale has LOTS of potential. If you haven’t been there in a while, you should go back – there are a ton of great little gems popping up.
Posted in Illustration, The Honest Sketch Project.
Tagged with Historic Downtown Glendale.
By dom
– February 23, 2010
Growth has been happening in major ways. It’s funny because it seems to always happen for me in February. I celebrated owning my own business for two years in February. Hired my first employee. I’m moving into a new space soon (for business) and there is some stretching in myself that is happening with all of these changes. It’s exciting, scary, and just rad. Yes, I said rad.
Sorry I haven’t posted a sketch in a while. I’m going to start getting into the habit of doing at least one a week again. Until next time – hope life finds you growing.
Posted in Photo Illustration Caricatures.
By dom
– February 20, 2010
Happy New Year everyone. I’m on this new diet/exercise program that I started before the new year, so that’s what this sketch is about. It’s pretty amazing and I’ve already lost like 20 lbs! I never thought I could do something like this, as I happen to LOVE food. I’m determined to stick with it. I’ll post some more sketches soon!
Posted in Illustration, The Honest Sketch Project.
By dom
– January 19, 2010
Crazy busy lately! This is WAY overdue, and as you can see from the date, I did the thing like ions ago! It’s definitely time for a new few sketches. I’m gonna try and take some time Friday to do another one. I miss my sketch time – but we all gotta eat, too! Hope you enjoy this one. It was just a nice mellow Friday when I did this and I was feeling pretty sunshiny.
BTW – if you want to be alerted each time there’s a new sketch, just subscribe to my RSS feed on the right!
Posted in Illustration, The Honest Sketch Project.
By dom
– September 24, 2009
Yes, it’s true. I have an extreme fetish for black pens. The brands I use most often are before you. Just the other day, I ran to Walgreens and bought about $20 worth of black pens. I really like the Pilot V5 and Sharpie’s new “Pen” is pretty cool. I just don’t use pencils much, but I should. Do you have a good pen you can recommend? I’m always looking for good new brands of pens.
Posted in Illustration, The Honest Sketch Project.
By dom
– September 2, 2009
Okay, its been a while since I’ve posted something. I’ve been pretty busy, which probably explains my latest sketch. Funny how a lot of these things I’m mentioning in this sketch, are things I’m thankful for, huh? Anxiety is such a pain in the ass. Seems like a lot of people are dealing with it and I know a lot of people who have battled with actual anxiety attacks. Seems like a strange concept, but I think they’re real. Anyway, I’ve tried to take some of the pressure off of doing these things every day – I want them to be a relaxing and fun experience, not another item on my to-do list. Have enough of those. That said, there will be another within a day or so.
Can you relate to anxiety? If so, how do you cope? I’ve found that just doing this sketch has been EXTREMELY relaxing. I feel so much better after posting this.
Posted in Illustration, The Honest Sketch Project.
By dom
– September 2, 2009
Multiples of seven are usually good, or related to good things. Today is my fourteenth sketch and today I’m feeling pretty darn thankful for a lot of things. I’m thankful I have a job that I love and for the people who trust me to do that job for them. I’m thankful to have a wonderful woman who loves me with all of her heart. I am thankful to have to beautiful, bright, creative and funny little kids. I’m thankful for other creative people and for their efforts to improve our community and for people who are using their creativity for the forces of good. I’m thankful for you – who have been kind enough to lend me your time to read my blog, look at these sketches and maybe even comment, or send something of your own if you feel the urge.
Posted in Illustration, The Honest Sketch Project.
By dom
– August 25, 2009
THE HONEST SKETCH
Here’s how We’re Gonna Do it from Here On Out:
I’m hosting this project on my server for now, but soon, I’ll have my own site strictly for this project. What this project is all about is me, you, and them, honestly speaking from the heart and soul, through a sketch. I’m going to do a sketch every few days that expresses a real feeling, emotion, situation, or something, that is going on in my mind, life, etc. There is no pressure, no judgemental opinions, no “you shouldn’t think like this or that” kind of stuff happening here. It’s all just an effort to like, get you and me, and them to release whatever is inside that needs to come out – think of it almost as therapy, but just through release and self-expression.
I’m going to sketch from my heart – it doesn’t have to look good or be “cool.” What it does have to be, is honest. I invite – no – dare you – to submit your own sketches that express what you feel, or are thinking – it can be whatever – mundane, erotic, seriously fucked up, frustrations, anger, joy, hope – WHATEVER you feel like. I’m going to kick things off with re-doing my whole outlook on this project and posting some serious honesty in my sketches. If you decide to send me something – I promise I will keep things anonymous – if you want. I’m choosing to start this thing on my personal blog, but I’ll soon be moving it to it’s own domain and web space. So yeah, that’s pretty much it. So here’s my first “really” honest sketch:
Posted in Illustration, The Honest Sketch Project.
By dom
– August 9, 2009
Okay, so it’s been eleven years. My how time has flown by. I was at a departnment store today with my wife, and an older man asked me how my day was going. I said it was going pretty good, and that I couldn’t complain. He then said, “well, you didn’t wake up with grass above your head, so you’ve got to be doing alright.” So true.
Posted in Illustration, The Honest Sketch Project.
Tagged with domonic patrick, hand drawn illustration, hand drawn type, handdrawn illustration.
By dom
– August 9, 2009
Completely stoked for Top Chef – probably one of my favorite shows ever. I love to cook, and watching all of the talented Chefs do their thing, especially under the gun, is pretty cool. I especially love the look on Tom Colicchio’s face when dealing w/ a Chef’s poor excuses for failure. Priceless.
Posted in The Honest Sketch Project.
By dom
– August 19, 2009
Pulling allnighters is no fun, but the feeling of satisfaction from the work that’s been done is amazing.
Posted in The Honest Sketch Project.
By dom
– August 19, 2009
Have you blinged lately? Well, me neither. Don’t know why I went with the jewels…maybe because today was kind of a like a gem – w/ the kdis going back to school and all. It was for certain, a special day. Things will be a bit more quiet around the house, and I’ll get to go on meetings on a whim – not that I like meetings, but it will be nice not to have to frantically try and find a sitter each time a client needs a face to face, ya know? The kids had a great day at school and love their new teachers. In the words of Napoleon Dynamite…”Yessss.”
Posted in The Honest Sketch Project.
By dom
– August 17, 2009
