Day one hundred and twenty-nine: This little tulip is blooming outside my side door, and I like its coloring a lot. So in keeping the recent flower theme, I thought it should make the sketch of the day.
Tagged flower, oil, still life
Day one hundred and twenty-eight: Several years ago I was quite enthusiastic about orchids. Friends started giving me orchids as gifts or to rescue, and now I have more than one reasonably needs. I used to spend quite a bit of time caring for them, but now I give them water and light and let them fend for themselves. Some do better than others. Once a year most of the phalaenopsis plants bloom around the same time, and right now I have eight or so in full flower. Today’s sketch is a study of one of them. I found the complexity of the flower more difficult to realistically reproduce than I expected, hence the incomplete composition. This particular plant is one I gave to my parents around a year ago, and they gave it back when they moved to Tonga, where I suspect they get to see all kinds of orchids.
Tagged flower, oil, pencil, still life
Day one hundred and twenty-seven: It’s a special time of year! The magnolia tree in the back yard has been slowly blooming the last several days, and I’ve wanted to sketch a few blossoms. It’s in full bloom today, and I thought I had better sketch it soon, as the warmer weather will push the petals past their prime quickly. I love the blossoms of the magnolia tree, and enjoy their spare, subtle beauty.
Tagged flower, nature, oil, still life
Day one hundred and twenty-six: Riding instead of driving tonight, I had the pleasure of really looking at the shapes and lights formed around an urban highway. This abstract gathers a few of those forms in an attempt to relate the aesthetic essence of that experience. I imagine this idea to be in line with abstract expressionism, but I’m not an expert on that type of modern art. And I’m too tired to look it up this evening. Any art knowledgeable friends care to educate me? If not, I think I’ll call myself an aesthetic essencist, and this picture the start of a new movement called aesthetic essencism.
Tagged abstract, oil
Day one hundred and twenty-five: When I started this sketch-blog project, I had hoped to become better at creating something from scratch. I’ve always been pretty good at mimicking something else, especially if I work at it for a while. Erasers are very helpful too. This evening I thought I’d see what happened if I just started sketching a face without looking at anyone, a photo, or an artwork. This is what happened: a sketch of no one in particular. As for drawing skill, I actually think I may have picked up a few things over the last 125 days, especially shading techniques. But it’s too bad this fellow turned out so glum. Next I’d like to develop the ability to deliberately render emotion and action. Of course, that would require more practice than I can get through a quick sketch per day. More than anything, this project has taught me to really appreciate artists’ achievements!
This sketch is the one hundred and twenty-fourth in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year… Day one hundred and twenty-four: I’ve been meaning to attempt a sketch of my sun conure, Helo, for several weeks. His primary wing feathers are very long right now, so he’s particularly beautiful with the extra shades of blue. Soon they’ll be clipped back so he can’t fly all over the place and act like a menace. (No clipping his wings doesn’t hurt: it’s like a haircut!)
Tagged animal, bird, pencil
This sketch is the one hundred and twenty-third in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…
Day one hundred and twenty-three: This evening I was talking with some friends, and couldn’t take my eyes off an acquaintance’s fantastic shirt with a large angel and serpent-person creature. It appeared to me to be copied from a late sixteenth-century engraving, and if pressed, I would have guessed Hendrik Goltzius. With him in mind, I was browsing through an exhibition catalog looking for something to sketch, and low and behold, there was the engraving! It wasn’t made by Goltzius, but rather by another Netherlandish printmaker during the same period: Hieronymus Wierix in 1584. Today’s sketch is a detail of Saint Michael, who in the picture is overcoming Satan. The precision and detail in the original engraving is extraordinary, and I emulated it as much as I could in the time available.
A picture of the print can be seen at the British Museum’s website.
Tagged art on art, figure study, pencil
This sketch is the one hundred and twenty-second in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…
Day one hundred and twenty-two: I was all ready to attempt a magnolia blossom from the backyard in a Chinese painting style, when I received some photos from my parents. They attended an Easter art show in Tonga, where they are Peace Corps volunteers. I was so surprised by a few shots of students who boldly painted their bodies, I just had to sketch one. The other day had been looking at paintings by Pechstein, Kirchner, and Ensor, and the colors (Kirchner), setting (Pechstein), abstraction (Pechstein and Ensor), and morbid symbols (Ensor), in the students’ body paint reminded me of those modern works from around the turn of the 20th century.
Tagged art on art, figure study, oil, pencil
This sketch is the one hundred and twenty-first in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…
Day one hundred and twenty-one: After yesterday’s study based on an etching by D. Y. Cameron, I thought I’d try making my own etched-like sketch of an architectural setting. This study is the neoclassical façade of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts building. I started by creating a layer of “plate tone” in the spirit of Whistler, Cameron, and others, but didn’t find my “etched” lines sufficient to render the setting. So I enhanced the tone and sketched in some added swaths of color. The result reminds of a strange hand-colored etching, or perhaps one with color aquatint. Not my favorite result, but it is a study, after all.
Tagged architecture, oil, pencil
This sketch is the one hundred and twentieth in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…
Day one hundred and twenty: In honor of the last day of “Venice on Paper,” a show of prints and drawings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, today’s sketch is based on a detail from an etching by D. Y. Cameron. I might have been better off sketching the Doge’s Palace itself instead of a sketching a sketchy etching. Still, it captures a sense of D. Y.’s print, and the exercise, as usual, showed me the true skill of the original artist’s eye and hand.
Tagged architecture, art on art, cameron, pencil