Day one hundred and sixty: Home from Peru and exhausted from travel, I thought I would make one last simple study of a pre-Columbian artifact. This sketch is based on a Chimú figure sculpted in wood during the Imperial Period (1300-1532 BCE). The tall thin object is on display at the Museo de Arte Precolombino […]
Tagged art on art, figure study, sculpture, still lifeDay one hundred and fifty-nine: With only a few minutes to spare today before departing Lima on the red-eye flight back to the U.S., I decided to make a simple line sketch in about five minutes. It is based on a face carved in stone on display at the Larco Museum. I forgot to capture […]
Tagged ancient, art on artDay one hundred and fifty-eight: After sketching a couple of ancient bottles in pencil yesterday, I wanted to try drawing another from the Museo de Arte Precolombino in more detail. This ceramic bottle is notable for the simplification of zoomorphic elements, including concentric circles that represent the snake’s scaly skin. Believe it or not, I […]
Tagged ancient, art on art, still lifeDay one hundred and fifty-seven: When I looked at these bottles this afternoon, I wasn’t sure qwhether I had just walked into a gallery at the Museum of Modern Art in New York or the Museo de Arte Precolombino in Cusco, Peru. Made between 2000-3000 years ago, each bottle demonstrates a remarkable and rare expression […]
Tagged ancient, art on art, pencil, still lifeDay one hundred and fifty-six: Watching the sun break over the mountains and illuminate the Inca city of Machu Picchu is a spectacular experience. After checking in at the sun temple to confirm that it is not quite the winter solstice, I took this photo of the eastern ruins casting shadows across the grassy central […]
Tagged architecture, landscape, nature, oilDay one hundred and fifty-five: After hiking straight up about 941 feet via a steep and twisting series of stone steps, squeezing through a narrow tunnel, and tentatively perching myself on the the knife-shaped summit of Waynapicchu Moutain (altitude 8,924 feet), I snapped an aerial view photo of the Machu Picchu complex below. I had […]
Tagged architecture, landscape, nature, oilDay one hundred and fifty-four: Despite gray skies this afternoon, the sun burned through the haze just enough to cast a shadow on the sundial at Machu Picchu. This drawing is based on a photo I snapped with my iPhone just before sunset. The complex geometry of the sundial appears to have been carved out […]
Tagged architecture, landscape, oilDay one hundred and fifty-three: This afternoon I took the iPad to the Ollantaytambo sun temple and started looking for something I thought I could draw relatively quickly. I ended up sitting on a terrace across from my favorite wall in the complex, which as far as I can tell, faces the rising sun of […]
Tagged architecture, pencilDay one hundred and fifty-two: I started this sketch after breakfast and came back to it a few times between bartering in the market. It’s based on my favorite photo from my hike in the Pisac archeological park yesterday. The guidebook suggests that the Incas were masters at integrating architecture into the mountainous landscape, and […]
Tagged landscapeDay one hundred and fifty-one: The central square of the Andean mountain town of Pisac is filled with stalls selling everything from carved gourds to ceramic bowls to tapestries and cloths of all kinds. This study of the stall across the street from the hotel does not do the actual colors and patterns of the […]
Tagged still life