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spring again?

This sketch is the eighty-ninth in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…

Day eighty-nine: A week or so ago as Spring seemed to have overtaken Winter, I made a drawing of receding snow and budding plants. Then it snowed another foot. Today I noticed some little sprigs poking up through the leaf mulch in the yard. I’m not entirely sure, but I think they’re tulips. Little icy piles of snow are lurking about too. This simple little sketch is my hope that the the snow disappears and these tulips bloom!

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2011 03 30 quick study Comments (0) Permalink

carrot cake

This sketch is the eighty-eight in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…

Day eighty-eight: This evening I had the pleasure of attending my friend Dan’s birthday party at the restaurant Buca in Minneapolis. The meal concluded with a rousing song and a delicious carrot cake. I love a good carrot cake!

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2011 03 29 quick study Comments (0) Permalink

old modern

This sketch is the eighty-seventh in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…

Day eighty-seven: Three hours in math class inspired the idea of academically constructing perspective and proportion for today’s sketch. As I walked to the parking ramp at the U of M, I decided to use the methods 15th-century theorist Leon Battista Alberti described as “correct.” I don’t know about the correctness, per se, but the exercise was fascinating. My composition includes the visual products of two steps in Alberti’s process within a single composition. The geometry in the top half is used to determine some measurements, but then discarded. When I finished all the measuring and line drawing, I decided it needed some color, which gives it the modern feel of a 20th-century constructivist painting.

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2011 03 28 composition Comments (0) Permalink

silhouette

This sketch is the eighty-sixth in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…

Day eighty-six: Very simple tonight. I just felt like practicing creating forms. This silhouette of a twiggy, flowering shrub is based on a detail from the place mat sitting next to my computer. The background, also from the place mat, is built up using four different shades of gray.

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2011 03 27 quick study Comments (0) Permalink

peace everywhere

This sketch is the eighty-fifth in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…

Day eighty-five: Some days, especially when I start my sketching late, I just have to draw what’s on my mind. Tonight I was thinking about fellowship with good friends, and spreading peace and hope in the world everyday. I recently noticed a poster in the cafeteria at work with a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” This sketch of many doves is an attempt to show the spirit of many people sharing experience, strength, and hope. The two colored birds are my parrots, Helo and Caprica Six, who bring me wonder and joy everyday.

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2011 03 26 quick study Comments (2) Permalink

caprica six

This sketch is the eighty-fourth in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…

Day eighty-four: This is a colored pencil study of Caprica Six, my green-cheeked conure, sitting on the keys of my piano. As parrots go, he’s very tiny at about 64 grams. He’s a busy little bird, and not all that bright. But he’s sweet as can be, and loves to whistle simple tunes. (And yes, he’s named after the cylon on Battlestar Galactic. My sun conure’s name is Helo. Maybe I’ll draw him sometime soon.)

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2011 03 25 quick study Comments (0) Permalink

mad cat

This sketch is the eighty-third in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…

Day eighty-three: I’m repeatedly amazed at how enjoyable sketching can be even when I don’t think I have a drawing in me. Tonight I just starting scribbling, and that got the juices flowing. Then I started browsing snapshots, looking for a subject. The next thing I know, I’m scratching out the face of a mad cat, working the surface with black ink and the eraser until it looks like something. The snarling open mouth of this feline is based on an ancient Roman bronze water spout on display at the Naples archeological museum.

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2011 03 24 quick study Comments (0) Permalink

cat on a hot tin roof

This sketch is the eighty-second in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…

Day eighty-two: In memory of Liz Taylor, here’s a sketch of her with Paul Newman in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958). I knew it would be a hard snapshot for me to recreate, so I worked on it as long as I could this evening.

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2011 03 23 quick study Comments (2) Permalink

rain day

This sketch is the eighty-first in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…

Day eighty-one: I woke up to heavy rain this morning, which came and went all day along with stiff winds. I love the rain, and even though it was cold, was delighted to pull out my favorite burnt-orange rain jacket and my umbrella that broke in Padua last fall, but which I repaired with a paper clip. This quick sketch is me, walking in the rain. I wanted to create the effect when rain is so heavy that you can’t quite see things. I might try this again another time. The pencil feels a little too dry to me, so I added a little color. Still dry. Maybe rich black ink next time?

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2011 03 22 quick study Comments (0) Permalink

touch of spring

This sketch is the eightieth in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year…

Day eighty: My friend Steven suggested I sketch Spring today. I decided to imagine a little landscape where receding snow gives way to sprigs of grass and a handful to tulips pushing up through last Fall’s wet leaves. The red bud tree in the distance reminds me that my neighbor’s will be budding soon. Fresh. New. Life.



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2011 03 21 quick study Comments (0) Permalink