Day three hundred and fifty-nine: This is a very quick sketch of a snapshot I took during a walk after Christmas dinner. I know it’s a pretty sloppy study, and the original is much more complex, with additional trees and shadows. However, I wanted most to try and capture the bright bronze colors created by a late-afternoon sun on the barn and ceramic tiled silo.
Tagged landscape, oil, pastel
Day three hundred and fifty-seven: There were several little prints by William Blake (English, 1757-1827) in the study room today. One nocturnal landscape caught my eye in particular, both for the gnarly tree and the crescent moon wrapped around a black circle. When I began to imitate the print, I started sketching with black, but quickly realized it would be better to paint the background black and erase my way into areas of white. And that is exactly what I did.
Tagged blake, landscape, nocturne, oil, pastel
Day three hundred and fifty-six: In the mood for a quick landscape, and thinking it would be nice to do something Italian, I found a snapshot I took from a bus from Sorrento to Amalfi in June, 2010. This simple study is an attempt to organize shapes and colors to create the effect of a forested, mountain coast on a misty summer morning.
Tagged landscape, oil, pastel
Day three hundred and fifty-five: For those who have studied Surrealist photography, this image may be familiar. It’s a photograph made around 1930 by Man Ray of the movement’s leader André Breton. I’ve known about it for several years now, and have always found it strange and delightful. When I started sketching it this evening, I began rather haphazardly and without attention to Breton’s true features. So the eyes and the goggles are skewed, and the face is entirely too narrow. But as I continued to layer and blend tones of gray, to more closely imitate the black and white photo, I became enthralled with the process. In the end, my lack of accuracy seems to fit the silliness of the subject, and I’m as enchanted by my sketch as I am by the original.
Tagged abstract, art on art, face, oil, pastel
Day three hundred and fifty-four: Tonight’s sketch is loosely based on a floating figure in a print made by William Blake around 1800. I believe it was an early white line etching, although I don’t know many details about how it was made or the exact process. When I briefly looked at an impression the other day, I was impressed by the tumultuous texture created by interweaving black and white lines, especially in the background of a stormy night sky. My version is not nearly as tidy as Blake’s, and more expressionist than romantic.
Tagged art on art, figure study
Day three hundred and fifty-three: One thing I’ve learned this year is that I love making lots of vertical lines with a pencil. It’s especially satisfying for me at the end of a long day because it doesn’t really require much thought. My hand seems to naturally make the gesture, and I enjoy watching the development of shades and shapes randomly emerge across the screen. Tonight I filled a large area with indistinguishable forms before working in the shadows of a face.
Tagged abstract, face, pencil
Day three hundred and fifty-two: A day filled with the usual chores along with additional holiday tasks and planning left me little time or energy for a complex drawing. This very rapid sketch is based on a view from a hill overlooking the rooftop of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto Japan.
Tagged landscape, oil, pastel
Day three hundred and fifty-one: Nearly every Saturday since I moved to Philadelphia, I have a visited a particular orchard’s stand at the Rittenhouse Square market. First, Caprica and I enjoyed a variety of delicious peaches, followed in the Fall by several kinds of apples. This morning, the farmer who now recognizes me as “a regular” mentioned that this would be his last week in the park until next May. He pointed out that the selection of apples available were odd shapes and sizes, and not the prettiest. I picked over them, looking for the nicest ones, and came across a very beautiful, but very little apple. Smaller than Caprica! I immediately added it to the lot in my bag, knowing then and there that it would make today’s drawing. Caprica was far less interested (he’s only enthusiastic about cut apples), but I tricked him into posing long enough for me to snap a pic upon which I could base my sketch.
Tagged bird, food, oil, pastel
Day three hundred and fifty: Some days I guess I’m just in the mood to draw. I’ve always liked a particular photograph I took of a juvenile great blue heron at the mouth of the Madrigal River in Costa Rica, but I’ve never managed to sketch it. I’ve considered it several times, but abandoned the subject before I even started. Once I began to sketch the bird, but quickly scrapped it for something with a simpler background. Tonight, on a relaxing Friday evening, it seemed like the perfect thing to work on. It was as much fun to paint and blend out-of-focus ocean waves, as it was to shape the bird and imitate its feathers and distinct markings.
Tagged bird, nature, oil, pastel