Stack of Pillows

Stack of Pillows
Charcoal on newsprint

One of the charcoal sketches from last Tuesday night’s life drawing group. I’m go to the Etching Studio tonight and tomorrow so I can make an etching of this drawing. 

Etching Better

Just Posing Again
Etching

Now I’ve progressed or regressed into a process of drawing a life model in charcoal, using the drawing to create a traditional etching, then scanning the etching to manipulate it in Photoshop. Very cool (I think) because I end up with an etching and the possibility of virtually unlimited variations for digital prints. Fun stuff.

Etching Bad

Crash and Burn
Etching
6" x 5"

As I mentioned before, I’m learning how to etch. You can't tell by this etching, but I’m making progress. Part of making progress is learning from your mistakes. This mistake pretty much falls into the Epic category. Just about everything bad that happened here happened at the stage of applying a soft ground coating to the copper plate: the ground is too thin, unevenly & sloppily applied; fingerprints and smudges along the edges. A real crash-and-burn etching scenario.

But wait—I sometimes spend hours in Photoshop trying to make images look this grungy. I’ve paid money for backgrounds this ugly. So rather than throw the plate and print away, I scanned the bad etching, used Photoshop’s clone tool to remove the most distracting blobs and blotches, then (most importantly) pretended I created this effect on purpose (a secret trick used by famous artists). 

Ten years from now I fully expect for someone to say “I know that image. Ten years ago my art teacher used it as an example of incredibly bad etching technique.” 

Genius is seldom recognized in cases like this. However, I do feel like I’m starting to get that tortured-artist feeling. I think that’s probably a good sign.  

Drawing Bad

Some drawing nights consist more of failures than good drawings. A failure is a drawing I don’t like. I usually don’t like a drawing because the proportions are way too inaccurate. I usually blame that on not having enough time on the pose. I’ve pretty much decided that when I’m drawing bad, if I like at least one drawing out of the approximately 20 poses that happen during a Tuesday night session, I’m happy and the three hours spent at the studio were worth it. 

Even if it’s just a two-minute drawing, like this one. 

Other Drawing Groups

Within the past month I visited a couple of other drawing groups in the area. One is in Los Alamos, 45 minutes away, and the other is a Wednesday night group that's just a minute down the road from where I live. Very convenient.

Drawing Raven

Raven at Argos
Charcoal on newsprint

On the eve of New Year's Eve, our Tuesday Night Drawing group model was Raven. Scraggly beard, massive sideburns, tattoos, a popular model in both New York and here, and, according to him, a rascal of epic proportions and a womanizer. Probably one of the nicest narcissists I’ve ever met. And hey, maybe the narcissist/womanizer thing is just part of his professional image. Suffice it to say, he had a very interesting face that was fun to draw.

Los Alamos Drawing

It was just your usual New Year's celebration gathering. Ten artists, four models, three hours of drawing. At the historic log cabin Fuller Lodge in Los Alamos, the former headquarters of an exclusive boys school. In the 1940s the Lodge became the headquarters of the top secret Manhattan Project {as in “atomic  bomb”).

Three of us from the Tuesday Night Drawing group drove up “The Hill” to Los Alamos for the Monday night special drawing event put on by the Los Alamos Life Drawing Group. Friendly people, great models, historic setting, and a great way to warm up for all that drawing that's bound to happen tonight, New Year's Eve.

Happy 2015.

Another Angel Appearance at Argos

Another Angel Appearance at Argos
Digital print on aluminum
22" x 16"

Most artists, and even some models, are not aware of the angel wings that are visible during many of the poses at Argos Gallery. I never say anything, but I suspect that a couple of the other regulars have seen them too.

The Tuesday Night Drawing Pillow

Woman with the Tuesday Night Drawing Pillow

The most recent Tuesday Night Drawing Group that meets at Argos Gallery happened on the night before Christmas Eve, which was a good excuse to gift a one-of-a-kind art pillow to the gallery. I scanned a sketch from an earlier December Tuesday Night Drawing session and had it printed on a pillow at Zazzle.com.

The official Tuesday Night Drawing pillow.

The opposite side of the official Tuesday Night Drawing pillow.

Customized gift wrap paper, also printed at Zazzle.com.

Martes Noche Artistas

Madonna del Martes Noche Artistas Groupo
28" x 22"
Digital print on aluminum

An art print inspired by one of the two-minute sketches from last Tuesday Night's drawing group.

Artist and Romeo y Julieta
Charcoal on newsprint

Charcoal study for an etching.

Tuesday Two Minutes

 Even though our Tuesday Night Drawing Group model was one of my favorites, most of my drawings of poses longer than two or three minutes were just bad. Some of my two and three minute drawings were OK, only because I didn't have time to think about it. There might be an art lesson there somewhere.

The Real Santa Claus

I saw him with my own eyes. 

No fake beard. 

Jolly. 

Mesmerizing smile. 

It had to be him.

I had an appointment in Abiquiu (the village an hour north of Santa Fe where Georgia O'keeffe lived) to smoke a ceremonial Cuban cigar with artists/friends Joe Hall and Doug Coffin. 

Upon arriving in Abiquiu I stopped at Bode’s (pronounced Bo - dees) General Store to do some immersive-culture stuff, like ordering a green chile cheeseburger.

Famous green chile cheeseburger at Bode's. 
Bode's slogan: "Here a long time." 

Since 1919 to be exact.

Near the cash register they were giving away free homemade cookies and punch, and taking free photos with Santa. An old-timer was playing guitar and singing Christmas songs. 

The line of people with their kids and Santa’s friendly smile made it pretty dang obvious that this was the real deal. Either that or Bode’s went to Central Casting in Hollywood and paid big bucks for a character actor to come to Abiquiu. So which explanation is more believable? Anyone? Anyone? Exactly!

Santa Claus at Bode’s General Store in Abiquiu.

After eating two-thirds of the giant green chile cheeseburger I drove across the Rio Chama and up the dirt road to Joe’s adobe. Joe and I walked across the dirt road, carrying three Romeo y Julieta Cuban cigars, fresh from London, to meet Doug at his studio, a journey of about 100 feet. Doug brought out a bottle of Port, then we went to the studio patio that overlooks Plaza Blanca, an awesome white canyon landscape made famous in several Georgia O’keeffe paintings (also known as The White Place). Since I brought the cigars, I got the patio chair where Doug’s pal Dennis Hopper would sit when they were smokin’ and chillin'. So we smoked and, as they say in Hawaii, talked story. A beautiful day. Maybe the last really perfect day before Winter sets in, Doug observed. 

Doug Coffin y Romeo y Julieta y Port

Soon after our chat turned to opera (specifically, the opera Otello that Robin and I attended in Germany), Doug gave me this LAOpera hat that he modified by adding a “heartline” to it. Very cool, I think. Very.

Since it’s gift-giving season I gave Joe, Teresa, and Doug a Happy Whatever drink coaster, 

featuring a self portrait. Note the nice mermaid wine glass. 
No, I didn't give them a nice wine glass, just a cheap coaster.

We finished the cigars, and the afternoon, inside Doug’s studio, chatting and feasting on his eclectic collection of art, artifacts, drawings, and photos. Joe and Doug were enthusiastic about my idea to organize a drawing event in Abiquiu, for which I’ve already talked to a couple of the Tuesday Night Drawing Group models who are interested and willing to make the trip. That'll be a project for early next year.

Joe and I walked back to his side of the dirt road where his-wife/my-friend/artist Teresa joined us in their studio, which is also full of amazing and beautiful art: metal art, jewelry, and wearable art. We discussed ideas for artistic collaboration, coming away with some very enticing ideas.

As I drove back toward Santa Fe after dark, I barely missed getting caught up in the Española Parade of Lights. Hundreds of cars parked on each side of the highway, bonfires, tents, families, all waiting for a parade of lighted floats that must be a local secret, since I’ve never heard of it down here in Santa Fe. 

Recap: a Cuban cigar while enjoying the view of Plaza Blanca; a glass of Port; art; green chile cheeseburger; a hat; coasters; friends; and yeah, Santa, who, up until today, I thought was a fairy tale.

Quite a memorable December day.    

The Santa Fe Etching Club

Woman On Gold Sheets
30" x 24"
Digital print on paper

Argos, the gallery where our Tuesday Night Drawing Group meets, is also an etching studio, home of the Santa Fe Etching Club. I’ve recently become fascinated by etchings, engravings, and all sorts of intaglio printing techniques and I’m anxious to interpret some life drawings into etchings. I hope to spend a lot of time in the etching studio this month, learning about soft ground, hard ground, aquatint, and such. The drawing above is going to be one of my etching projects.

Etching Class

After making arrangements to study etching with Eric Thomson at the Santa Fe Etching Club at Argos Gallery/Studio in Santa Fe, I showed up for my first lesson expecting just a brief history of etching and printmaking. I got that and much more.

Eric, having just given me a brief explanation of the different kinds of intaglio print techniques, told me to make a drawing so we could make a “soft ground” etching. After about 30 seconds of thoughtful contemplation and panic I traced the shape of a business card on the drawing paper Eric gave me and sketched a female figure (top-left).

Next I traced the image onto tracing paper (top-right), which I placed on top of a copper plate that we prepared and covered with a very thin “soft ground” wax coating. I then retraced the image, through the tracing paper, onto the prepared copper plate. The copper plate was placed in an acid solution for 30 minutes, which etched the image into the copper where pencil pressure had been applied. We prepared a sheet of paper (soaked it in water), cleaned the copper plate (bottom-left), inked it, placed the prepared paper and plate on the press, and printed my first ever etching (bottom-right).

Just one afternoon of etching and I’m hooked.

And I learned a valuable lesson: Don't go to an etching studio without a drawing or two. You just never know if a chance to make an etching will happen or not.

 

Pigtails

Pigtails

One Leg Up

Studio Pillow

Twenty artists attended SFdrawing yesterday, better known as the Tuesday Night Drawing Group. 

We have an official maximum limit of 12 attendees, but only a handful of people ever bother to  RSVP through our Meetup site, www.meetup.com/SFdrawing. Since everyone so far has been able to squeeze in, we haven’t tried to enforce the attendance limit. 

We never know exactly how many artist will show up. We do, however, after each Tuesday night session, post the actual attendance of that night on Meetup.com. 

Pretty amazing that a little over a year and a half ago when we launched the Meetup.com site, weekly attendance was around 6 artists. Sometimes less. So I guess these are the SFdrawing Glory Days. 

Hair and Shadow

Letting Her Hair Down

Shadow

Drowsy Muse

Drowsy Muse
28" x 30"
Digital print on aluminum

A limited edition print that originated as a charcoal-on-newsprint life drawing made at the Three Muses Drawing Extravaganza last Saturday at the Center for Contemporary Art (CCA).

The quote is from Love’s Labour’s Lost:

And when Love speaks, the voice of all the gods makes heaven drowsy with the harmony.
Never durst poet touch a pen to write until his ink were temper’d with Love’s sighs

Three Muses Drawing Event

Muse Resting

Muse Waiting

Sleepy Muse

The Three Muses Drawing Extravaganza that we've been planning for a couple of months happened last Saturday night at the Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) in Santa Fe. Three models posing simultaneously for four hours. I don’t have the official attendance numbers, but there were between 35 and 40 participants. Great models, lots of drawings, and everyone seemed to be very happy with the event. Drawing after hours in a huge gallery space was a special treat.

Half way through the event we had a 20-minute break during which several of us put one of our drawings up on a magnetic wall. So now I can claim that I exhibited at the Muñoz Waxman Gallery on October 25, 2014. For a couple of hours.

More Red Hair Poses

Red Hair

Woman with Red Hair

Attendance continues to be near capacity at our Tuesday night drawing group with 14 artists showing up last night. After struggling all night with mediocre sketching efforts, I ditched the idea of trying to do a “good” drawing and just went for “bold and stylized.”

Very Red