Currently Browsing: Why Draw? 22 articles

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Take a Breath When Reaching for a Likeness

I think the importance of immediate feedback, or a later (1 to 7 day) fresh eye appraisal is always important when sketching a portrait. I think it’s important too to take a breath when reaching for a likeness on paper or canvas. What do I mean by that? I mean it’s important to take a […]

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Try, Try Again

I watch the British Police drama “Vera.” (In the US you can see it on PBS, but awhile back I started watching it on Britbox and think the episodes come in a bit earlier.)  I watch it because I’m totally in love with Brenda Blethyn. She’s so amazing. But as I’ve already discussed on my […]

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Sometimes Leftover Paint Colors Give You Zombies

New readers to the blog might not realize at first that a lot of what I post is a sort of cautionary tale. I’m trying to get across that sketching and painting needs to be fun, if you’re going to continue. And by showing you some of the missteps I make I hope to help […]

Detail of the painting so you can see the brush pen sketch lines and the thickness of the watercolor I was using in an opaque manner.

Sketching on Any Old Paper You Have At Hand

Sometimes we can get into our heads. We can spend time telling ourselves all the reasons we can’t take time right now and paint.  As a teacher for over 30 years I think I’ve heard every excuse there is: no space to set up, don’t have the materials I want to work with; I don’t […]

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In Context—Sketching Through Pain

  Be sure to note the date—it’s last April! I’m doing just fine today and keeping up with all my physical therapy maintenance exercises. This is a couple sketches of Nic Sampson, an actor on “The Brokenwood Mysteries.” Click on this link to read my recent review of the series. (Hint, I’m a fan.) I […]

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Getting Something Down on the Page

This is a sketch from 2020. I was four months out from the second cataract surgery and I think I’d already had one secondary operation to zap some cloudiness. (But it didn’t resolve any of the double vision issues.) I was frustrated early one morning, unable to sleep. I scribbled. It felt great to get […]

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In Context: Small Details Matter

In this brush pen and watercolor sketch in a Hahnemühle Travel Journal I’m working with wet media on a drawing paper and loving it. (I’ll have a counter opinion about using non-watercolor paper coming up another day on the blog.) You can click on the image and read the in-context text, me cooling my heals, […]

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What Am I Going to Get Up To Now? Trouble?

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In Context: More on the Politics of Hair

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When Drawing Isn’t Fun

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