Currently Browsing: The Drawing Life 187 articles
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 […]
Sharpening a Pencil to an Ultra-fine Point
If the above video doesn’t play, please view it directly on Vimeo at this link. I’ve often been asked how I get an ultra-fine point on my graphite pencils. Some time ago I promised to make a quick video to show people the process. I apologize to all my students who just had rely […]
In Context—Playing Catch Up
I’ve been offline for five days and it seems like I’ve forgotten everything about the computer and the programs I work in. I’m playing catch-up and a post here was on the top of the list. It has been a difficult month physically for me: increased vision difficulties and a back spasm that made […]
The Final Lectures—Self-assessments, Goals, Working with Intention, Lies of the Internal Critic, and a Pep Talk
This is part 4 of my farewell to teaching series. That’s a long blog post title, but that about covers it. This 46 minute video is excerpts from my Wrap Up Webinar with my final Drawing Practice online session. I talk about the topics in the title. For past drawing students just showing up […]
The Final Lectures Series: Which Question
Note: If you’re playing the home version game—today’s image on the blog’s landing page is a sketch of Dame Margaret Rutherford. It’s in the video. This is part two in my farewell to teaching series of posts. In today’s video (an excerpt from the mid-session webinar in my last Drawing Practice class), I address […]
Wrapping Up Teaching…What Does That Mean?
This is the first in a series of posts in which I say goodbye to teaching. For the next two weeks I’m going to have posts and a couple fun videos which I like to call “‘The Final Lectures’ Series.” I hope you’ll join me. So what does the title of today’s post mean? Am […]
In Context: Acceptance
This is from my 5 x 8 inch or so Hand•Book Watercolor Journal I was carrying in my purse at the time. I was sitting in the eye doctor’s office for the umpteenth time, sketching people in line at the counter as I wanted for my appointment. (I am fascinated by winter coats and so […]
Making Fun Lines
Just a quick little post. I was waiting for an appointment. It’s a waiting room where I’ve already drawn all the walls, halls, furniture, and decor! I looked up a bearded model on the iPhone Sktchy App and sat there in very low light, scribbling away. Even thought the pen was going dry, it feels […]
Drawing in the Dark
Towards the end of last year Dick and I drove out one snowy night on an errand. We stopped at a gas station to fill up the tank. I took those few moments to quickly sketch the intersection before me. I did not have an interior car light. We were at a side pump that […]
Don’t Stop, Keep Going
I think one of the biggest mistakes an artist keeping a visual journal or sketchbook can make is to stop when he gets frustrated. That’s when you kick it up a notch, hunker down, repeat, repeat, repeat. Keep searching for that line, or that likeness, whatever it maybe. If you give up too quickly […]