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Looking Back at My March Project: Sketching Alun Armstrong
So much has kept me from scanning the many sketches of made of Alun Armstrong in March 2021 #MarchisSketchAlunArmstrongMonth. But I did manage to scan a few of the sketches in the past week. There are many, many more, some I quite like, some have no resemblance to Armstrong and I can only look at […]
I Forgot to Tell You About September on Patreon
I just realized, in putting up the new blog side bar image for OCTOBER that I forgot to put up the one for September. I’m sorry because it was a great month—8 videos (the last one goes up on Monday). I focused on preparing for a project and working in ink (dip pen, brush pen, […]
Two Things I’ve Just Learned
Since the pandemic started I’ve needed more containers for food. Just before the pandemic I had returned to baking bread after about a 6-year break. But with the pandemic I decided I’d rather make all the bread we eat than have Dick bring loaves home from the Co-op that had been handled and coughed on. […]
Lines: Achieving a Likeness with Different Approaches
I love working in a series just in an evening—sketching the same subject over and over to see how I can approach it with different tools, media, or even just something like line which is infinitely variable. I’ve posted three sketches of British actor Robert Morley in this post. I became a fan of his […]
I Knew Very Little About Prue Leith Until…
Last December, already a fan of “The Great British Baking Show” I knew very little about the host Prue Leith except her love of wonderfully colorful glasses, wacky jewelry, and her kindness to the bakers. While poking about on Amazon Prime one evening I found, “My Greatest Dishes.” Each episode features a famous chef going […]
In Context: Bridge Jokes
I collect bridge jokes. Or bridge anecdotes. Why is a little more obscure and not found on this journal page spread. Background: My parents are excellent bridge players—competition level in their heyday. In their 90s they are still talking, card for card, about hands they played in 1960! I don’t enjoy playing cards with my […]
In Context: The Beginning of One of Those Emotional Entanglements…
Another Delano Ames quotation. (Hahnemühle Travel Journal.) “He gulped sentimentally.” Ah to have written that, what a perceptive way to see a dog.
In Context—Quotations from Revisited Books
The one highlight of going through my books and culling things out is that I’ve been able to re-read books out-of-sight for 20 or more years. It’s like saying hello to old friends. With Delano Ames it’s a very insightful friend.
Annals of Downsizing: Why Not Fold Some Paper?
I’ve got 10,000 things to do, but why not fold 800 sheets of paper? While clearing out my storage room I found a box of pre-cut 17 x 11 inch paper with the grain running with the 11 inch side. I had it cut years ago to use for printing some zines I was making. […]
In Context: Ever Wonder What Happens to All Those Beard Portraits I Paint?
Here’s a quick sketch I made almost exactly a year ago. I was standing in the bedroom looking out through the next room into the studio at the wall of portraits I had hanging in the studio. The beard portraits I do in my journals for fun can’t be cut out and framed. But I […]