Day three hundred and thirty-six: Ever since I studied 16th-century Italian woodcuts intensely about a year ago, I’ve been enchanted by the bark-crusted trunks of twisting trees and stumps. I have a theory that every great artist has made one or two during the course of their career. This evening I visited the Pennsylvania Academy […]
Also tagged landscape, nature, woodcutDay three hundred and nineteen: Tonight I felt like playing with ink and wash in an old master style. So I found an 18th-century drawing in the Thrivent Financial Collection, and tried to imitate a small part of it. What you see here is the head and shoulders of Joseph, as drawn by the Venetian […]
Also tagged art on art, face, watercolorDay two hundred and eighty-six: Quite simple: more drafting practice, playing with pen and wash to improve my draftsmanship. Like yesterday, sculpture seems to serves as a good model. This Roman woman hails from the archeological museum in Naples. I added pupils to the eyes, because while the sculpture looks fine with a blank stare, […]
Also tagged figure study, watercolorDay two hundred and eighty-five: I decided today that with only 80 sketches left, I might want to do less copying of the work of master draftsmen, and more creating of my own. Early in the year, I toyed with the idea of learning how to draw human figures well, but I never really sorted […]
Also tagged chalk, figure study, watercolorDay two hundred and eighty-three: Here’s a first: what I decide to sketch took a fraction of the time I thought it would! Usually it’s the other way around. This afternoon, a curator’s request sent me into a gallery of drawings, and although I had seen the drawing before, my recent work with pen and […]
Also tagged natureDay two hundred and eighty-two: Gorgeous, warm autumn weather in Philadelphia drew me to the river for a lovely row. This was the view from the dock of the Undine Barge Club before I launched. My new favorite pen with brown ink seemed perfect for the quick job, but begged for a few chalk white […]
Also tagged chalk, landscapeDay two hundred and fifty-one: More playing around with media today: this time a mix of black pen and dusky watercolor washes to create an imaginary mountain lake at nightfall. This study was inspired by my memory of landscape etchings by D. Y. Cameron.
Also tagged cameron, landscape, watercolorDay one hundred and thirty: Today I was cataloging prints at work, which means I get to look at amazing works on paper while I key data about them into a computer database. A sweetly sleeping cat on a pillow in the lower left corner of an intaglio print by the 16th-century artist Federico Barocci […]
Also tagged animal, art on art, pencilThis sketch is the one hundred and tenth in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year… Day one hundred and ten: All day I’ve had an image in my mind: the form of a runner, fragmented and repeating as if caught by stop-motion photography. My quick sketch of […]
Also tagged abstract, charcoal, figure studyThis sketch is the ninety-eighth in a 365-day challenge to draw a picture a day, every day, for a year… Day ninety-eight: Whoops! Getting this posted just under the wire. I am preparing a paper to present next Friday at an art history conference, a project which has distracted me all evening. So in a […]
Also tagged cartoon, self portrait