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A Colorful Portrait: I Love Lavender!
Here’s a portrait from 2021 that I haven’t posted. I can’t remember what the blog topic I wanted to address with it was. I look at it now and totally fall in love with the hair and the beard again. I love how it seems to be moving up and around of its own accord. […]
When Is It a Good Time to Sketch in Pencil?
Usually I answer the question “When is it a good time to sketch in pencil?” simply by saying “Never.” I reside in the camp of, sketch in ink, live with the odd-off strokes, the pentimento. Use it all to train your eye. But sometimes you want really smooth lines, or don’t want to risk missing […]
In 2018 I Did a Project about Hats
Yep, hats; just me drawing people with hats on. Sometimes I worked in my current journal, sometimes I worked on loose sheets for my loose sheets journal. I found some while moving old digital file. Some (when they were on loose sheets) might end up on the wall. I stopped looking for people in hats […]
My Favorites Are Not Your Favorites; It’s a Good Thing
It always momentarily amazes me which paintings I post on Instagram get the most likes. Paintings I absolutely love usually gain low scores. Dogs and chickens are popular. I understand that. I offer this comment here for past students who may wonder why people are not falling in love with the painting they just posted […]
Bringing Some Files Up-to-date
I’ve been attempting to reorganize past sketching files and blog post ideas. Images pop up in the search and I think I might have already posted about them. Instead I discover that I’ve only posted a cropped portion on Instagram. I haven’t posted the full image or written about it. And it was in my […]
In Context: Look and Look Again
Just a peek into one of my journals as I watch a baking show and sketch. I have the sketches numbered as to order. The first gets at some of the bland but noticeable details, but no likeness. The second goes a bit past likeness and captures something a bit more fun. Giving yourself immediate […]
One More Thing about Tools Changing the Way We Draw
This is part three of a 3-part series on how our drawing tools change the way we draw. Part one is here. And part two was Monday and you can toggle back to it using the navigation links at the base of this post. I have focused on pens with different tips. You can expand your […]
More: Tools Really Do Change the Way You Draw
This is part two of the current series on tools changing the way that you draw. Specifically pens! You can see part one here. Today I’ve putting up three sketches of musician and artist John Lurie. He has had a series on HBO about his life on a Caribbean island. It’s a show where he […]
Synchronicity on the Page
Sometimes I sketch something and write something unrelated in my journal—simply because it’s the same day, and there is some negative space to fill. Stickers get stuck down, when they are available. (Sometimes this “pre-collage” gets drawn over! But not on this day.) Somehow things usually end up going together. I think that synchronicity the […]
Johnny Vegas—An Autobiography in Multiple Voices
Readers of RWU will know that sketches of Johnny Vegas make it into a post every now and then; and onto my instagram. I watch a lot of British TV. He’s on a lot of shows that I enjoy watching. I pick up a pen… Then the other day “the algorithm” threw out that Vegas […]