Back to Argos

The latest Tuesday Night Drawing session at Argos Studio/Gallery (in Santa Fe) featured a male model, with Pandora background music of 80s Rock.

A Wedding in Santa Fe

On August 25, 2018. Jimmy and Shiori were married at the Mermaid Tavern’s plaza in Santa Fe.

Guests from Nagasaki and Osaka (Japan), San Francisco, Houston, Portland (Oregon), Santa Rosa (California), and Hawaii attended the ceremony and reception.

Steve and Risa, musicians/friends of Jimmy’s, played a song for Jimmy and Shiori, and surprised everyone with a surprise performance with a Mariachi band.

Saturday morning. Preparations start for the 4 p.m. wedding, including the covered patio. 

Last minute adjustments.

The Mermaid Tavern Plaza.

Matt Sanford performs the wedding ceremony.

Scarlett offers a touching toast to her brother, Jimmy, and his bride, Shiori.

Later the next day, video games provide the entertainment for some. 

Margaritas.

Jimmy and Shiori head out to The Great 28, a nine-hole practice course at Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe. 

Shiori and Jimmy on the ninth fairway of The Great 28.

Robin designed a new front door to welcome the wedding guests—a sonnet, laser-etched into solid maple—masterfully built by artist/woodworker Arlan Sanford, Scarlett's father-in-law.

Portrait Class

Gabe
Oil on canvas
20" x 16"

This is Gabe, one of the models for a four-week portrait oil painting class that I attended, taught by Kevin Gorges, in Santa Fe. I think I probably unofficially flunked the class, because Kevin was pretty insistent that I attend at least the first two sessions of the next class. The big question with a portrait painting is always “Does the painting actually look like the model?” Yes. In fact, it actually looks even more like him than he does.

Thinking About Blogging

Pencil drawing from the Tuesday Night Drawing Group,
using a $40 pencil given to me by drawing-group-regular/artist/pal Karl Whitaker.

The Bad News: As far as I can tell, no one noticed that I haven't posted a blog here for a couple of years. Not even me.

The Good News: No one complained.

Other Good News: A lot of interesting stuff (interesting to me, at least) has been happening and this is a good place to make note of it for later reference, so I'm back on the occasional blog routine. Now, when when someone say’s “Whatcha’ been up to?” I can say “Thinkin’ ’bout ’bloggin’.”

Tara at an Exhibition

Tara at an Exhibition

One of our favorite Tuesday Night Drawing Group models, the multi-talented Tara, was fabulous performance art at the CCA (Center for Contemporary Arts) inaugural Art Bank exhibit. This is a piece of art of her art at the art exhibit. 

Spikey Hair

A favorite model returned this week, after a brief-but-too-long absence, with her awesome spikey hair and nice poses. 

Holly at Betterday

Friend and fellow Tuesday Night Drawing Group regular, Holly Grimm, has a beautiful exhibit of pastel landscapes at Betterday Coffee in the Solano Center on West Alameda Street (Santa Fe).

The images range from impressionistic to abstract, all featuring beautifully clean colors and color harmonies that reflect her skill as an artist in general, and specifically as a colorist.

The exhibit opened Friday, December 9 and will remain up for the month. 

Holly Grimm at the opening reception for Color Spree, her exhibit of pastel landscapes at Betterday Coffee Shop.

Open Drawer

Drawer Draws Man on Stool with Open Drawer

Hair Flow

Hair Flow
Digital print on paper
18 x 18 inches

A favorite Tuesday night model. Original charcoal life drawing, scanned and digitally enhanced, printed on paper.

Woman on a Stool

Woman on a Stool
22 x 12 inches

A charcoal drawing of one of our favorite Tuesday Night models, scanned and shaded digitally.

Oil portrait

Is just me, or is oil more colorful than charcoal? I've been trying to find time to get back to the studio and paint, but unexpected freelance projects keep showing up. Even so, I at least have been able to use pliers to force open some neglected tubes of oil paint and splash some color on canvas.

Oil portrait, detail

Cosplay at CCA

Santa Fe's Center for Contemporary Arts will host a special drawing event Saturday, October 29. Cosplay (short for "Costume Play") involves people dressing as their favorite comic book characters. This makes the third annual Fall special drawing event hosted by CCA. 

Visit the CCA website to learn more or to pay in advance and reserve a spot:

www.ccasantafe.org/visual-arts/public-programs/807-drawing-on-cosplay 

October Poses

Recent poses from our Tuesday Night Drawing group.  

Studio Stool

Over-the-Shoulder Gaze

A Gourd for Fall

Curly Hair

Woman with Curly Hair
Charcoal on Newsprint
24 x 18

Nose Bleed

Several drawings from recent Tuesday Night Drawing Groups.

Woman with Nose Bleed

Red Cloth

Arm Shadows

Hair and Back

Woman with Red Shoes

Cape

Standing Pose

Two Pillows

Woman On Two Pillows
32" x 28"
Print on Paper

In a drawing group, your view of the pose is pure chance, determined by where you set up and the model's position. With most poses, there's seldom an uninteresting viewpoint, no matter where you've set up. With some models, the pose always seems classic, from anywhere in the room.

Back in Santa Fe

Back in Santa Fe after three weeks in Japan and several days in Seoul, South Korea. Last night I passed out Japanese souvenirs to the Tuesday Night Drawing Group artists: sushi erasers and small notebooks from the 100 Yen Store in Tokyo (100 yen equals one dollar, or close enough). Just one more reason, I suppose, that the group is getting a reputation for being “notorious,” according to the local rumor mill. Even though the definition of “notorious” typically means famous or well know for some bad quality or deed, it can also include good qualities and deeds. As far as I know, the only qualities of our group that some artists consider “bad” are the non-stop chatter and the background music that happens during (and between) poses. Some artists hate that. Now that I think about it, the group was founded by Eli Levin, and that’s reason enough to be considered “notorious.” Thank you for the inspiration, Eli.  

So Long Seoul

We spent our last day in Seoul walking to bottom of the hill where the Seoul Tower is located, taking a tram to the top of the hill, and going to the top of the tower for 360° views of Seoul. This city is about 100 times larger than I thought. It's divided by the Han River.

While we were visiting the tower and a National Art Museum (an amazing exhibit of Rubens, van Dyck, Brueghel the Younger, Brueghel the Elder, and others), Elizabeth took a tour to the DMZ, the zone that separates South Korea and North Korea. No photos allowed. Darn it.

Walking towards the Seoul Tower.

A tram took us from the bottom of the hill to the Seoul Tower park at the top of the hill.

These chimneys are at the top of the hill, Beacon Hill. 450 years ago they, and others on other hills, were used to communicate warnings of invading armies, just like in the Hobbit movies. This probably where the Hobbits got the idea.

Jimmy stands next to one of many places on Tower Hill where lovers have placed padlocks to symbolize their love. Robin knew about this custom from some of the Korean TV series she has watched at home. Hmm, that looks like an International Shakespeare Center T-shirt.

Jimmy found a love lock for golf. Awwww.

This photo doesn't show it, but, according to a quick count I made, there are at least a billion locks hanging all over the place up here. Hey, where did he get that International Shakespeare Center shirt? It's strange, but I've seen shirts like that everywhere I've gone in Japan and Korea. I guess they really are international.

USA is over that way. We head that way tomorrow afternoon.

The Han River and the rest of Seoul is over there.

A typical Korean couple doing a traditional heart pose in front of stacks of love locks. You'd never catch me doing that.

More locks. After putting a lock up here, it's traditional to throw away the key. I wonder how often an ex-lover comes up here with bolt cutters.

After the Seoul Tower (shown in the background) visit, we took a taxi to the National Museum of Korea.

Relaxing at the Rubens and Other Masters exhibit. This guy insisted on posing with me.

Thai Tea for two. Unfortunately, we didn't know it was for two and in a bucket. That, along with the spicy shrimp, fried chicken and curry, made for some blog material we won't go into at this time.

Signage on a door alerts you that there are no babies, smoking, kissing, dogs, ballet, or guns allowed inside. Just obey the signage and you shouldn't have any problems.