Day one hundred and ninety-nine: This morning I had to look at a drawing Cézanne made in a sketchbook of Michelangelo’s dying slave at the Louvre. When I say had, I really do mean it was my job to look over this glorious page. (I’m so blessed!) And I thought to myself, “I have a […]
Also tagged pencil, sculptureDay one hundred and ninety-one: After poking at a quotidian sort-of still life, I abandoned it and gave myself 20 minutes to sketch this figure from a snapshot I took a few years ago in Bangkok, somewhere on the grounds of the palace. I don’t know who the figure is, or what the story might […]
Also tagged art on art, pencilDay one hundred and eighty-four: Tired after another full day of unpacking and putting things away, I barely wanted to make a sketch. Even this cartoonish pencil scrap is my third attempt at quickly representing the most intriguing thing I saw on the street today: a trumpet player scooting along the bike lane on roller […]
Also tagged pencilDay one hundred and seventy-five: Today I was studying a 1935 etching of a man falling in darkness by Emil Bernard . It’s from a series illustrating Victor Hugo’s Le Fin de Satan, but doesn’t look anything like my sketch. I was going to imitate Bernard’s figure, but then decided to simply sketch my own […]
Also tagged pencilDay 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 […]
Also tagged art on art, sculpture, still lifeDay one hundred and fifty-one: While doodling on Sketchbook Pro for the iPhone, I discovered a “brush” that imitates a series of engraved lines with every finger-stroke. So I started experimenting to see if I could create shapes with cross-hatching similar to those in 16th-century engraved copperplate prints. Most remarkable, I think, is the way […]
Also taggedDay one hundred and forty-nine: Today’s little sketch is a study of part of a sculpture titled “Paradox” by Kate Christopher. In the sculpture there is a second figure looking down. Tomorrow I’m starting a 10-day trip to Peru, and I’m trying to decide whether I should take my computer and digital drawing pad, or […]
Also tagged oil, sculptureDay one hundred and forty-seven: Every time I finish a sketch it feels like a miracle has just occurred. Today’s drawing is a study of a sculpture titled “Thunder and Lightning” by Minnesota artist Paul Granlund. I love the balance of the intertwining male and female figures. The style I used doesn’t quite capture the […]
Also tagged art on art, pencil, sculptureDay one hundred and forty-one: All the chatter about rapture this weekend led me to sketch an apocalyptic figure: St. Michael. I’ve toyed with angelic subjects a couple times in the last month or so, always copying versions by other artists. Before the world ends, I thought I should try my hand at one from […]
Also tagged conteDay one hundred and thirty-one: A late evening discussion in the Thrivent Financial Religious Art Gallery about George Bellows’ painting of The Crucifixion reminded me that I wanted to sketch this figure from one of his prints. The male nude appears in a 1923 lithograph titled Christ of the Wheel. I chose it because of […]
Also tagged art on art, charcoal