I keep sketchbooks and doddle-books. Sketchbooks are for quick sketches where freshness and directness are important. Sketches can be simple or elaborate. Aaron Blaise is a good artists who has some YouTube videos about his sketchbooks and why he keeps them. If you are an artist or art student, keep a sketchbook. I also keep…
I started a small oil yesterday. I transferred the drawing, or cartoon, to the canvas as I had earlier to a sheet of watercolor paper. You can see from the photo that both formats are of the same size. The watercolor paper is pretty good. I might finish it with watercolors, gauche, or a mixture…
Sometimes when I draw, like in the oil sketch in the middle of this photo, I grab hold of things quickly and stop before the moment passes. Other times, I enjoy what I’m doing so much I don’t want to stop. Looking, seeing, and knowing on and on. SO WHY STOP? There is no end…
I finished the underpainting today for Portrait of a Man Wearing Sunglasses, my second session with the painting. The painting is 32″ x 48.” Simple composition. Unlike last week’s Fork, I transferred the design to the canvas with a cartoon. For Fork, because it’s so large, I drew directly on the canvas then inked over…
I had good painting sessions with Fork. The painting is so large, 4.5 x 5.5 feet, that I started painting portions of it before I completed all parts of the drawing. Today I completed the drawing and pushed the under painting farther along. There are 12 figures in the narrow space and even though they’re…
The first session with my new painting, Fork, mangled a new brush. Fork is a large painting, 54″ x 66″. Because it’s so large I am not transferring a cartoon to the canvas but drawing directly on the surface, as you can see in this detail. The lower third of the drawing isn’t actually finished…
The drawing on the easel in the following photo is lead on pastel paper. I’d intended to highlight it with white but decided it was OK as it is. The painting on the easel, Woman in the Plum-colored Hat, is still newish, not many sessions yet. It’s 30″ x 40.” I was satisfied by today’s…
The thing about this Fabriano drawing pad is I can work-up drawings with pencil or pen–my two favorite materials–without mess or fuss. The really good paper I save for charcoal or pastel, but this paper is terrific for pencil drawing. This photo shows two recent pencil drawings on Fabriano bristol. This morning, I finished a…