Day three hundred and twenty-three: A couple of days ago, I imitated a color woodcut of Mount Fuji in Japan. This afternoon, while browsing through travel photos, I came across a couple shots of the mountain as seen from Tokyo at sunset. Very different from the 19th-century version, with the sprawling, modern city laid out […]
Also tagged landscape, oilDay 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, oil, watercolorDay three hundred and sixteen: This is where the sketches all began. Last December I was in an airplane leaving Minneapolis at the break of day, and found myself thinking about my friend Sara’s daily sketches. I started doodling what I could see out the window with a pencil, and made a note of the […]
Also tagged landscapeDay 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, oil, 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, oilDay 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, oil, waterDay three hundred and ten: While cleaning the apartment today I was listening to inspirational music, and began contemplating themes of fear and faith and despair and hope. The lyrics to one song caught my ear, and remembering the expressionist woodcut I liked yesterday, I thought I would try making up a new picture. After […]
Also tagged animal, bird, face, pencilDay three hundred and nine: A very quick day trip back to the NY print fair brought me face to face with what might be my favorite German Expressionist woodcut. I’d never seen it before, but when I was going through a box of prints I immediately liked. By Erich Heckel, and titled “Wolken” (meaning […]
Also tagged abstract, art on art, Heckel, landscapeDay 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, oilDay three hundred and two: Encouraged by the response I received for yesterday’s sketch, I decided to try the same scene in pastel. Ha! It took seemingly forever. Of course, since much of the complicated architecture is mirrored in the water, I had to make everything twice. And upside down. So in the end I […]
Also tagged architecture, landscape