Day two hundred and eighty-four: While helping my colleague, Brooks, set out artwork for a visiting class studying illustration, three small original drawings by Rockwell Kent caught my eye. They were made for the title pages of three volumes of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. I became fascinated with the skill with which Kent was able […]
Day two hundred and eighty-three: Here’s a first: what I decide to sketch took a fraction of the time I thought it would! Usually it’s the other way around. This afternoon, a curator’s request sent me into a gallery of drawings, and although I had seen the drawing before, my recent work with pen and […]
Tagged nature, pen and inkDay two hundred and eighty-two: Gorgeous, warm autumn weather in Philadelphia drew me to the river for a lovely row. This was the view from the dock of the Undine Barge Club before I launched. My new favorite pen with brown ink seemed perfect for the quick job, but begged for a few chalk white […]
Tagged chalk, landscape, pen and inkDay two hundred and eighty-one: My friend Kurt’s drawings in pen and ink reminded me of some of my favorite landscapes by Domenico Campagnola. I was inspired poke about the “Pens” settings in the Corel Painter program, and I discovered one called “Real Variable Width Pen.” I found that if I made the “expression” for […]
Tagged Campagnola, landscape, natureDay two hundred and eighty: After yesterday’s sketch, I thought about another way to approach create a snowy mountain. This time I used a dryer brush that wouldn’t diffuse much, and I left areas of white paper to be the snow. Then added detail with an even dryer camel. By the time I got to […]
Tagged landscape, watercolorDay two hundred and seventy-nine: More experiments with watercolor. This time trying to recreate a series of mountains, with one tall snow-capped peak towering in the distance. I gave up on the puffy gray clouds I was trying to make, and deleted them altogether. I will probably continue playing with watercolor, but may need to […]
Tagged landscape, watercolorDay two hundred and seventy-eight: We were studying several drawings by self-taught artists at work today. If I remember correctly, one was called “Man Talking to Fish in a Chefs Hat and Frogs.” Another was “Pink Man, Pink Bird, and Green Fish” (the fish was actually neon yellow). Many of the drawings used less traditional […]
Tagged animal, marker, pencilDay two hundred and seventy-seven: I must have doodled half a dozen scribbles before I started looking for a photo I could sketch. As I picked through files, a snapshot of a landscape I took from a train accidentally opened, and finally gave my pencil focus. I started to enjoy playing with lines of light […]
Tagged landscape, pencil, waterDay two hundred and seventy-six: No fancy or artful attempt tonight. Just a happy doodle to express a heartwarming discovery. I made it back to Philadelphia on a Monday a couple of hours earlier than I would have gotten home from work. Made a grocery run, and then decided I had the time to try […]
Tagged foodDay two hundred and seventy-five: Keeping it simple on my last night in Minneapolis, I finger painted the Lake Street Bridge. This iPad doodle is the view that I could see from my seat on a giant rock during the Head of the Mississippi regatta today, where I reconnected with many rowing friends, and listened […]
Tagged architecture, landscape, water