Phil at Argos

Yes, it's another Tuesday night at the Argos Gallery. The usual crowd of 8 or 9 is present, along with the model, Phil.

Five-minute warmup drawings.  

Phil is in pretty good shape. I guess modeling is a good way to workout.

The face isn't a good likeness at all. But like Alan Iverson famously said, "It's practice. We talkin' 'bout practice!"

Plaza Dancer

New digital canvas. 

Plaza Dancer, 40 x 20

The digital painting started as an iPhone photo, taken on the Santa Fe plaza during Indian Market.

Canvas: Chair-Days

A combination of Southwestern style and Shakespearean quote:

Wast thou ordain'd, dear father, to lose thy youth in peace, and to achieve the silver livery of advised age. And, in thy reverence and thy chair-days, thus to die in ruffian battle?
King Henry VI, Part II - Young Clifford

Chair Days, 18 x 24

The gallery wrap edges contain the quote (left edge) and the quote attribution (right edge).

Rose in Charcoal

Sketches of Rose from last night's drawing session at Argos Gallery.

A couple of warm-up poses.

45-minute poses. I feel bad when the drawing (especially the face) doesn't do justice to the model. Since that happens most of the time, I'll just have to get over it.

I wanted to rework the face, but on to another pose. 

 
Last pose of the night. I actually got a hand and a foot included in a couple of these drawings. I guess that's reason enough to consider it a successful evening of sketching.  Great pose.

Canvas: Bullfighter, San Miguel de Allende

A friend who lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, sent me photos of a bullfight there. I put the photo on the screen for reference, then sketched in Corel Painter. Multiple round-trips between Painter and Photoshop resulted in this 30 x 38 inch canvas.

Bullfighter, San Miguel de Allende.

Canvas detail.

More canvas detail.

TV Sketching: Hands for Slash

While channel-hopping on DirecTV I stumbled across a Slash concert and a shot of the mesmerized crowd as they used some sort of secret hand signals to communicate with the band. I paused the scene and made a quick hand-study sketch.

 

TV Sketching: Olympic Wrestlers

Models often strike fairly relaxed poses, because they want to avoid moving during the pose, which in turn avoids groans and grumbling from the artists who are drawing them. No problem, however, when sketching from the TV. Just hit the Pause button on the TV remote control and no matter how stressful the pose, the models stay amazingly still until you've finished drawing.

Felt tip pen (Sharpie) on white Canson paper. 

TV Sketch: Marina

Press pause on the TV remote and you have access to an unlimited variety of models to draw. In this case, a documentary about performance artist Marina Abramovic was playing and I happened upon a scene in which her massive black hair framed her face in a dramatic way.

Felt tip pen on Canson white paper.

Tuesday Night at Argos Gallery

Tuesday night and time again for one of the four weekly drawing sessions at Argos Gallery on Luisa Street. There were eight attendees, plus the model, which seems to be the average number of people drawing on Tuesday nights. However, the group will soon be advertised via flyers at local art supply stores and on Craig's List, so it could get more crowded.

Drawing starts with five five-minute warmup poses.

After a five-minute break the pose changes to 45-minute poses, with a five-minute break in the middle. 45 minutes is usually enough time to do a decent drawing. Or even a bad one. 

The pose timed-out before I could get to the feet. Most starving artists can't draw feet. Otherwise they'd be rich and famous. 

I was having trouble with this pose, wasted a couple of sheets of newsprint, then finally decided to stop trying so hard, loosen up, warm up, and just draw with reckless abandon. I like the drawing better than most. Hmmm, that's disturbing. But I like the reckless abandon thing. I also like the fact that I could later use Photoshop to move the top arm and torso line up a bit to improve the worst part of the drawing.  

After struggling through several attempts to draw this pose, I did this one, but I cropped the image to hide the legs, otherwise it might be just a little too clear what “struggling artist” really means.   

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.