New Pens

I bought some new pens on the advice of another artist. I actually bought a set of 12 pens - Nexus Kohinoor. Kohinoor has a good name - I have done a lot of technical drawing with their technical pens. They have been exceptional. However, these pens are extremely inconsistent. Of the 12 that came in the set, only 4 worked. The supplier offered to send me another set free of charge and when they arrived, only 3 worked! It's too bad because I do like the ones that work until they stop working. Ah well, the search goes on for that perfect pen....

Painting Class - June 1 and 6th

Ron wanted me to copy a painting of his for my next exercise. I worked on this for two classes - about 5 hours. I didn't get to some of the final details but I did OK with color, drawing, and edges. Oil on panel - 11x14.

Morrocan Gala

More journaling pages from my 5x7 Handbook Journal. These Moroccan lamps hang from my canopy bed. They're cool when the candles are lit and they put out all these dots of light that move around the room - gives the room a nice romantic ambiance.

The people on the right side are there to hide a major screwup in drawing. I should major screwup more because I often like the outcome of fixing the screwup. That's where the art juice really kicks in. I love that. There are some strangers in there but there are also two of my roommates from college and the woman in front is Salvador Dali's wife, Gala.

Painting Class - May 25th and 27th

I actually had 2 nights to complete this painting. That's almost 6 hours. It turned out pretty close in color and the drawing was fairly accurate too. It's no masterpiece and I don't think I want to paint that red blanket again anytime real soon but as study and exercise, I'm pleased with it and feel I'm making some progress.

Painting Class - May 20

I think this is one of my best oil paintings to date. I like the way it all came together. I worked out overall values, drawing, color, and composition in a nice controlled but organic way and then started getting into the details at the right time. I didn't finish it but I think I could with the foundation I built for it.

Plein Air at the Lake

This is sort of my first solo plein air effort. I went out to the lake, where I wouldn't be seen, and therefore embarassed. Not sure why I'm embarassed to be seen painting so badly but then I post it on my blog for all the world to see. Maybe I'm just certain I will improve. Oil on panel - 11x14

Painting Class - May 18

This is kind of a bizzarre still life that Ron set up for a few of us. I didn't want to paint it at first but soon found myself immersed in the challenge of it. A reflective pig placed in this shell-like-something-or-other. The challenge I had with it was I kept getting into the details before I had the overall colors and values established. This is oil on panel (11x14)

Loosening Up

Here is a quick sketch from my "Biggie" Sketchpad - 11x14

London Sketches

Pencil and watercolor sketches for a change. I must have lost my pen...

Bali Memorial, London

In 5x8 Blue Handbook Journal - digital color added in Painter 11



I didn't really know what this was until recently. I was in London over New Years and since I didn't want to visit the Churchill War Rooms with the group I was with, I found a nice place to sit and sketch - I thought. I sat on the little bench that is in the shadow of globe in the lower photo and started drawing. It was pretty empty when I started the drawing but within about 5 minutes there was a crowd of people taking pictures and I realized I was sitting in some kind of monument. I got up and left and walked across the street to a park and sketched the little scene on the right hand page. Today, going through my sketches, I googled the "peace dove globe" that I was drawing and found out what it really was. It is a memorial dedicated to the 202 people killed in Kuta, Bali in 2002, 28 of whom were Britons. There are 202 peace doves carved into this 5' round marble globe representing every person that died in that bombing.

I hate terrorism. It's the worst part of humanity. I don't understand it. It's worse than suicide, worse than murder, worse than lying, or cheating, or stealing. It is absolutely the worst thing a human can do. I also hate war. There are better ways to deal with conflict. This drawing on the left hand page means all sorts of things to me now and has all kinds of layers of feeling it didn't have before. I've been dealing with this heaviness for 2 hours now since I found the sketchbook drawing. It didn't seem finished so I worked on it digitally and in the working on it I discovered more about it and more about me. It doesn't feel right to pour it all out on this blog but I think it's one of the reasons I love drawing/sketching and painting. I learn more about the world and in that learning I discover more about who I am and what kind of person I want to be.