Day two hundred and three: My sketch today is based on an artwork that was based on an artwork. Confused? Abraham Blootling made four engraved prints of lions around 1665 for a series titled Variae Leonum Icones. Each sheet pictures two lions originally designed by Peter Paul Rubens. I’ve found six of them so far […]
Tagged animal, art on art, pencilDay two hundred and one: Today I saw a drawing titled Haystacks by Vincent van Gogh. I am so accustomed to seeing his paintings, that I was surprised to see something clearly by his hand, but without the vibrant color. In the 1888 original, van Gogh used reed pen, quill and ink, over graphite. I […]
Tagged art on art, landscapeDay two hundred: This morning I came across a beautiful drawing of a Sybil based on a color woodcut by the 16th-century printmaker Ugo da Carpi, which was in turn, based on a work by Raphael. The layers of green, black, and white on the page mimicked a chiaroscuro woodcut so well, I had to […]
Tagged art on art, face, figure study, pencilDay one hundred and ninety-nine: This morning I had to look at a drawing Cézanne made in a sketchbook of Michelangelo’s dying slave at the Louvre. When I say had, I really do mean it was my job to look over this glorious page. (I’m so blessed!) And I thought to myself, “I have a […]
Tagged figure study, pencil, sculptureDay one hundred and ninety-five: Continuing the summer theme, today’s sketch was inspired by a print made by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1894. The original is titled Summer Night (The Voice), but I don’t know the background behind it. The title and the gray tones remind me not of a summer night, but […]
Day one hundred and ninety-three: I guess it’s going to be a hit-and-miss kind of week. I rushed through this sketch inspired by a theoretical building design by the 18th-century French architect Étienne-Louis Boullée. I saw the original in the study gallery of the Uffizi in Florence a few years ago, and stumbled across a […]
Tagged architecture, art on art, oil, pencilDay one hundred and ninety-two: This study is inspired by a Giorgio de Chirico oil painting I saw in a book today. Made c. 1930, the original is titled Still Life with Apollo Belvedere and Fruit, and I love, love, love it. Maybe someday I’ll make it to the Galleria dello Scudo in Verona to […]
Tagged face, food, sculpture, still lifeDay one hundred and eighty-seven: This morning I read that a man carried a small Picasso drawing out of a San Francisco art gallery and into a waiting taxicab. He didn’t pay for it. Today’s sketch is in honor of the hope that the brazen thief is caught red handed!
Tagged abstract, art on art, cartoon, face, pencilDay one hundred and eighty-six: When I decided to make a sketch based on the style of a drawing I briefly saw at work today, I forgot that straight lines are not my strength. I even tried changing the diagonal angle to the opposite side to see if being left handed might have had something […]
Tagged abstract, art on art, pencilDay one hundred and seventy-one: I drew today’s sketch out of my mind. A couple of days ago I saw a painting by contemporary German mannerist Michael Triegel that included the head from a broken sculpture. It seemed surreal to me, and reminded me of the work of Giorgio de Chirico. However, the rest of […]
Tagged abstract, art on art, face, pencil