Day two hundred and fourteen: I’ve encountered a couple of impressions from Katsushika Hokusai’s color woodcut series “36 Views of Mount Fuji” (circa 1820s) at work the last few weeks. When I poke about my computer for travel photos of things to draw, I usually run across one I took in 2004 of Mount Fuji […]
Tagged cameron, landscape, mountain, pencilDay two hundred and thirteen: Continuing the “life in Philly” theme, today’s drawing is an impression of the exterior of my apartment building. Although my address is technically Pine Street, my apartment is in the rear of the building, and overlooks a very narrow residential alley-like street called Waverly. I park my bike inside the […]
Tagged bird, pencil, self portraitDay two hundred and twelve: A few days ago my friend and fellow rower, Michael H., said he was waiting to see a drawing about rowing in Philadelphia. Today I finally made it on the water: another rowing friend, Dan, got me in a single and onto the Schuylkill River for the first time. The […]
Tagged architecture, cartoon, landscape, pencil, waterDay two hundred and eleven: In some ways it doesn’t really matter what the subject of the daily sketch may be: it’s can be very peaceful and relaxing to simply figure out how to represent something with line, light, dark, or color, as it flows spontaneously. Tonight I found a photo that I took a […]
Tagged art on art, oil, pencil, sculpture, woodcutDay two hundred and ten: Feeling uninspired, it took me awhile to land on this subject for today’s sketch. While I was scrolling through travel snapshots, I started drawing only the trees in this picture, but ended up scrawling in the architecture too. I’m not sure the exact location, but it is somewhere along the […]
Tagged architecture, landscape, pencilDay two hundred and nine: Biking home from the UPS customer service center as dusk fell, I got to experience the view of downtown Philadelphia at night. It doesn’t really look like this. The sketch was co-inspired by a photograph by Paul Strand of rooftops of tall buildings that I saw from above. It doesn’t […]
Tagged architecture, oilDay two hundred and eight: Early in the morning when I’m sitting in my living room, the bookcase across from me is reflected in the glass coffee table. I know it’s silly, but it always appears to me as a giant bookcase beside a pool of water. Looking for a quick and easy subject to […]
Tagged cartoon, landscape, oil, pencilDay two hundred and seven: A colleague at work showed me a book with pictures mimicking heads designed by the 17th-century French academy artist Charles le Brun. The original illustrations were made to demonstrate “Heads Representing the Various Passions of the Soul as They are Expressed in the Human Countenance.” I couldn’t resist making snapshots […]
Tagged art on art, face, pencilDay two hundred and six: This afternoon I was glancing through a few works by the German Expressionist artist, Franz Marc. A detail of a bird flying through the woods caught my eye, and I decided to sketch it. Marc often depicted animals, and I love the way his painting style incorporates his personal belief […]
Day two hundred and five: After a full, productive weekend, I quickly sketched a combination lock that happened to be lying next to my computer. One of the things I was working on today was getting my bike ready for more commuting around Philadelphia for work and groceries and other errands. I use a similar […]
Tagged oil, pencil, still life