Day three hundred and twenty-two: Today I spent a couple of hours looking at small books made by the self taught artist, James Castle. This sketch imitates one of the figures that appears repeatedly on the tiny, brittle pages, and is often cloaked in a quilt-like pattern of checks and spots.
Also tagged art on art, figure study, pastel, watercolorDay three hundred and fifteen: On Friday afternoons we’ve been hosting a printmaking class in the study room. Today we were looking at some prints by Mauricio Lasansky, and one in particular caught my attention. This sketch is a study of a small detail from one of his intaglio prints, for which the copper plate […]
Also tagged abstract, animal, conte crayon, pastel, pencilDay three hundred and thirteen: Back to the beach. I think I’ve made a couple of sunrise sketches from the Corcovado beach in southwest Costa Rica, but not a sunset. This impressionistic view of the Pacific was inspired by a photo I took years ago. I’ve always liked the interplay of orange and blue between […]
Also tagged landscape, nature, pastelDay three hundred and eleven: Turning the clocks back for Daylight Savings meant biking home along the Schuylkill River path after dark. The nighttime view was fresh and new, and I was mesmerized by the dark shapes of bridges beyond bridges, and lines of lights shimmering in black, still water. In this simplified study, I […]
Also tagged architecture, pastel, waterDay three hundred and six: Today at work I was asked to track down the “precise title” of an artwork that has, for two decades, been titled “untitled.” A colleague and I joked how often we see artworks called “untitled” followed by parentheses and a descriptive title. So when, for lack of mental focus, I […]
Also tagged abstract, pastelDay two hundred and ninety-five: Poking about photos I’ve taken in art museums, I ran across several from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. At the time, in 2009, I remember being surprised by his color choices in several of the paintings, and the bold use of brushstroke Munch used to blend the colors on […]
Also tagged abstract, face, munch, pastelDay two hundred and ninety-one: This afternoon I looked at the Rembrandt print from which I made yesterday’s sketch under a microscope. With the help of a few terrific paper conservators, we confirmed what I suspected: the print shows the effects of drypoint burr. Drypoint uses a sharp point to scratch the lines directly into […]
Also tagged animal, pastel, Rembrandt, watercolorDay two hundred and eighty-eight: What a great day! After shopping at the market in Rittenhouse Square, my colleague and friend, Samantha, came over and we made butternut squash ravioli from scratch. It was a lot of work, but when we finished, and coated the ravioli in browned-butter sage sauce, it was truly delicious. Today’s […]
Also tagged food, pastel, still lifeDay two hundred and seventy-two: Usually I refer to my drawings as sketches because I don’t consider them finished. This one, however, is VERY sketchy. I chose the French chateau, Chenonceau, as my subject, but then realized I didn’t want to spend the time necessary to make a polished image of the bridge-like palace. I […]
Also tagged architecture, pastelDay two hundred and sixty-nine: This afternoon I was showing photographs by Philadelphia photographer Ray Metzker to a curator from another museum. Many were spectacular, but one caught my eye in particular. It captured the silhouette of a pedestrian and his reflection in wet pavement. Today’s sketch was inspired by that photograph, although the composition […]
Also tagged figure study, pastel