Day one hundred and sixty-nine: Looking for a mini-still life I thought I could easily sketch, I grabbed a head of garlic and a couple of extra cloves. My original intention was to paint the garlic in color, but once I started the study in pencil, I decided to just go with it. Lately, one of my favorite things to add to a still life is shadow. It amazes me how something so simple can make a big difference in how real the subject appears.
Tagged food, pencil, still life
Day one hundred and sixty-eight: Driving home this evening, the night sky was flickering with lightning. As I pulled onto my street, big, heavy drops of rain began to splash on the windshield. Tired, and with little time to spare, this quick sketch is an attempt to capture the essence of a flash of lightning against drops of rain. Somehow my lightning looks a little like an upside-down tree. Oh well!
Tagged nature, nocturne, oil
Day one hundred and sixty-seven: It’s too bad smells can’t be painted, because the fragrance of the peonies I sketched this evening is glorious. So it the subtle explosion of pale pinks in the hundreds of petals that form each blossom. It would have taken me all night to complete a naturalistic representation of these two buds (let alone the refracted transparency of the bottle green vase!), so I stuck with a simple impression in the hopes of relaying these flowers’ splendid color if not their true, intense beauty.
Tagged flower, still life
Day one hundred and sixty-six: Strawberries at dinner inspired a simple still life of one this evening. Even though I eat the same strawberries from Costco all year round, they just seem to taste better under the evening sun of long summer days. So after I drew this strawberry, I ate it!
Tagged food, oil, red, still life
Day one hundred and sixty-five: When my parents joined the Peace Corps last Fall and I helped them pack up their house, I had no idea I myself would be moving less than one year later. Packing up kitchen utensils and books today reminded me of the time I spent with Mom and Dad in Chetek, sorting stuff, giving it away, tossing it out, and boxing it up. The boxes I’ve sketched here are just a few of the many that are piling up, waiting for the drive to Philadelphia in just two weeks.
Tagged pencil, still life
Day one hundred and sixty-four: Since my bird Helo made the daily sketch the other day, I thought my other feathered friend, Caprica Six, should make an appearance too. When Caprica is on me, he loves to pop in and out of the collar and sleeves of my t-shirt. He often settles himself facing out front and center in the collar, and rides around, taking in the view. I once had an employee that suggested that perhaps Caprica wants to wear the shirt just like me. I think it’s more likely Caprica believes I’m a tree, and that my t-shirt makes an ideal place to hide, play, and perch.
Tagged bird, oil
Day one hundred and sixty-three: I know this sketch is morbid, but a conversation with some friends this evening reminded me of an etching that the Belgian avant-garde artist James Ensor made in 1888 called “My Portrait in 1960.” In it, he imagined himself at the age of 100 as a skeleton. My sketch does the same, but with a twist. I look into a mirror in 2011 and see my future self as a skeleton. Ensor’s art is often, though not always, creepy or rude (or both). I’m not sure what message, if any, Ensor was trying to relay 123 years ago, but today may I suggest the timeless proverb carpe diem?
Tagged allegory, art on art, ensor, self portrait, skull
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 in Cusco.
Tagged art on art, figure study, sculpture, still life
Day 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 the specific culture and date of the object, but suffice to say it’s pre-Columbian and very old. I especially like that the same face is repeated on the figure’s forehead between the two hands.
Tagged ancient, art on art