Robin at Harry's Roadhouse

A quick sketch of Robin while we wait for a table at Harry's Roadhouse. 

Drawings don't have to be accurate. Or even technically competent. At least that's what I'm choosing to believe.

Sonnet 30 Triptych

The female figure: is anything more “Shakespearean” than that? Absolutely not. Especially when a Shakespearean sonnet is included. This canvas triptych divides Sonnet 31 into three parts. It is inspired by Ms Robin Williams' book Sweet Swan of Avon: Did A Woman Write Shakespeare? The book is available in paperback from Amazon.

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

I summon up remembrance of things past,

I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,

And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:

Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanished sight:

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o're
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.

Ye Olde Sketchbook Again

A couple of sketches from an older sketchbook, probably around the mid-80s.  

When I photograph a sketch that was drawn on a newsprint pad, the uneven light on the unmounted newsprint creates interesting light and dark areas that can be enhanced with filters in Photoshop. I applied a film grain effect to these drawings.     

Drawing in London

While in London last winter, I signed up for a sketching event at the Battersea Arts Centre, put on by London Drawing, an organization that organizes drawing & painting events. A year or so ago I had attended a London Drawing after-hours life drawing event at the Tate Modern, so I knew it would be an interesting experience. The drawing above is a warm-up sketch of Robin in our Uxbridge (West London) apartment, the day before the Battersea event. Gotta try to remember what charcoal feels like.  

London's Battersea Art Centre. Originally opened as Battersea Town Hall in 1893, it was converted to a community arts center in 1974. It's a theater and art space that appears to be involved in all sorts of creative endeavors.

Many models, many poses.

The attendees put their drawings on the wall during a break. The multi-levle model stand, empty now, held 9 or 10 models at a time.

Canvas: The Weaver

The Weaver, 30x40

Canvas: Fuego Night Game

A recent canvas: Minor league baseball team, Santa Fe Fuego, in their home park.

40 x 14 inches. The maroon border is the gallery wrap edge that wraps around the stretcher bars.

Detail images above and below shows the painterly effect achieved after multiple round-trips between Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter.

Canvas: Rio Chama, Near Abiquiu

Digital canvas, 36 x 18

The dark border area is a “gallery wrap” edge that wraps around the stretcher frame. The scene is from a place just north of Abiquiu, NM, where the Chama River winds through the high desert.

Detail above and below shows the impressionistic style.

The image started as three vertical photos, stitched together in Photoshop, then multiple round-trips between Photoshop and Corel Painter, utilizing filters and manual painting techniques.

Older Sketchbooks Revisited

Amazingly, during a major garage cleaning, I found a bunch of older sketchbooks. Each one was just partially used, or was mostly filled with my son's childhood drawings. But each one also contained at least a small collection of life drawings, mostly from Eli Levin's drawing groups, here in Santa Fe, years ago. The same group that continues today.

Occasionally I'll post some older sketches here, just in case I lose track of the original sketchbooks again for years on end.

A nice pose, great face, and an interesting model.

Gnarly Hands

Hands are gnarly things. The gnarlier you draw them, the better they look. Just ask Lucian Freud.

Model With Braided Hair

Another Tuesday night of drawing at Argos Gallery. 

My inner Lucian Freud is struggling to come out. 

Not really a portrait, but sort of.

A headless drawing. Because heads that are at unfamiliar angles are hard to draw, and I figured I would ruin one of the better drawings of the night. Besides, I ran out of time. She moved her foot and it confused me. I got a text message from Obama and it distracted me. Voices in my head said "Don't draw the head!" All the other artists took off their clothes because it was hot. I was scared. Of failure.