Day two hundred and thirty-three: I think the moon is half full right now, and waning, although you wouldn’t know it this evening due to storm clouds and rain. The half-moon in this sketch is based on a snapshot I took around New Year’s, 2004. I believe it was waxing at the time. Good night, […]
Tagged moon, nature, oilDay two hundred and thirty-two: Designed to continue exploring a classical theme, and to practice line drawing, tonight’s sketch is based on an ancient figure of Eros in flight. The original can be found on an Athenian vase from around 480 BCE, painted by an anonymous craftsman known today as the “Dresden painter.” The vase […]
Tagged ancient, art on art, figure study, oilDay two hundred and thirty-one: If Picasso has a “blue period” and a “rose period” then I must be in a “Picasso period.” I guess this is the result of looking at nothing but Picasso prints all day. I noticed the figure on the left in an etching by Picasso titled La Danse (The Dance), […]
Tagged ancient, art on art, face, figure study, oil, picassoDay two hundred and thirty: Today’s sketch is based on a lithography by Picasso that I admired this morning, but I’m afraid that aside from general areas of light and dark, my version doesn’t look much like the original. Picasso’s is beautifully printed and looks like a rich soft pencil drawing with thick, carefully placed […]
Tagged art on art, face, pencil, picassoDay two hundred and twenty-nine: This one is silly, but I was kind of stumped as to what I should draw. I thought about trying another animal in honor of the Picasso-Buffon book I’ve been studying, but I couldn’t decide on an animal. I found myself staring at the Apple TV screen saver, which randomly […]
Day two hundred and twenty-eight: Continuing to catalog Picasso prints, I was working all day on a portfolio of animals he made in aquatint and drypoint in 1936. The series was made to illustrate an edition of the 18th-century French classic, L’Histoire Naturelle (Natural History) by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, and published in Paris […]
Tagged animal, art on art, oil, pencilDay two hundred and twenty-seven: This morning I was looking at little etchings of anonymous faces by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, and thinking about similar ones by Rembrandt. Rather than copy either of their pictures in their particular styles, I decided to make my own. I suspect they were looking at models in most cases, but […]
Tagged face, pencilDay two hundred and twenty-six: The neo-classical building of the 30th Street Station is one of the visual highlights (as is the building of the Museum of Art) along the Schuylkill River Trail, which I use when I ride my bike to work. Today’s sketch is a study of the train station from across the […]
Tagged architecture, landscape, oilDay two hundred and twenty-five: Yep, it’s Saturday, which means fruit and vegetable shopping at the Rittenhouse Square farmer’s market. Last week I bought a 50 cent jalapeño pepper — like the green one here — and every day I chopped up a slice or two of it to heat my salads a bit. This […]
Tagged food, oil, still lifeDay two hundred and twenty-four: Just as I sat down for lunch today on the patio at work, an extraordinary and wonderful thing happened: a praying mantis landed on my back and crawled up onto my shoulder. You should have seen the face of my friend, Samantha, when it happened! Next it flew about and […]
Tagged animal, insect, nature, oil