Day 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 lifeDay two hundred and four: This busy Saturday was filled with house chores and weekend grocery shopping. I hit the Rittenhouse Square market this morning to buy fruits and vegetables for the week. I found some not-yet-ripe peaches that I put in a bowl with a couple of almost-too-ripe bananas, which should help speed up […]
Tagged food, oil, still lifeDay 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, pencil