Jugs in German

This is 11" x 2" and is done on a scrap of Stonehenge "Kraft" color paper. I am using Pilot Iroshizuku Kiri-same ink ("Autumn Shower") grey ink in a pen rigged with a "fude" nib. And for the color I am just beginning to use the new Schmincke Horadam Aquarell pan watercolors. So far I really am enjoying these because of their opacity. Almost perfect on the Kraft paper. These are more like the opaque wc pencils and more like gouache than they are like my good ole DSmith watercolors squeezed from the tubes. I like the Schmincke pans very much so far.

Me and Andy, and Andy

This sketch is about 7" x 7" and is done with wet watercolor pencils on Stonehenge "Kraft" paper. The original is a glazed terracotta panel entitled Madonna and Child with Cherubim, made by Andrea della Robbia circa 1485, and donated to the NGA in the 1930's by Andrew Mellon.

Character and Personality

Begin by selecting people whose movements are lively and animated. Don't draw just anyone who crosses your line of vision. Instead, single out those who strike you as being interesting characters. Observe a single figure; take him or her apart mentally and imagine what kind of a person he or she is. Then decide whether or not you like the look of the person. Whatever your reaction, accept it and use it as the basis of your illustration. This approach will enable you to effectively define and convey the character and personality of your subject.

So says Paul Hogarth in Drawing People (1971), Chapter 3: Drawing People in Public Places, p. 23. The image is from that chapter and is entitled Mid-morning tea at Bentley's, Westmorland Street, Dublin 1969 and is delightful.

Me too.

Wednesday's 'Daily Drawing' from Chris Piascik. Says and shows it all for me, particularly that yelp exiting the "I". Yowzer.

Pot o' Cranesbill

This is about 5" x 7", done with wc pencils and gouache, on Stonehenge "Kraft" paper. Simultaneous musings are blurred out. "Do not adjust your set."

Map Art Extraordinaire

Isn't this great?

See more of Ingrid Dabringer's map art here.

She explains it here.

Barnes Salute (and RIP?)

Here is an interactive and narrated tour of four rooms in the Barnes Collection in Philly PA, by the NYTimes. It's one of the most remarkable museums around. It closed last month, in preparation for it's move to its new digs downtown.

SETI Blinky

Nose Swan in Kansas

This is about 5" x 7", ink and watercolor pencil and gouache on S&B Delta paper.

Punto Com

This is about 5" x 5", pen and ink and gouache on Stonehenge "Kraft"
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Wordplay. Keep these in rotation: absolutely, all, all in all, altogether, comprehensively, consummately, entirely, exactly, exclusively, flat out, full blast, fully, in toto, just, perfectly, quite, thoroughly, top to bottom, unconditionally, unmitigatedly, utterly, wholeheartedly, wholly

Pin Tower

Lake Cypress

Serrure

Sunglasses, on the Bus

This is about 6" x 6" and done with a Copic brush pen and then Supracolor wc pencils and gouache. The gouache and the wc pencils mix to create some messy and interesting textures.

SETI Orton

Hair On Fire

Jugs

This is 6" x 3" more or less, in ink and watercolor.

The art of keeping up with yesterday

Just because it's easier than actually going out and sketching anything real

Water and Sky

Another Calvert Bay iphone pic from my down county trip.

Waterman

Ink and gouache, about 5-12" x 6", on Stonehenge Kraft paper

Down County

My visit "down county" to St. Mary's County and vicinity included:
-- Historic St. Mary's City's "Mid-Summer Faire". (It was on Saturday. There appears to be a rule that all period-costumed staff have to go about their day barefoot. At least those depicting mid- to lower-caste folk. Very faithful!).
-- I hung about the dock where the Maryland Dove is berthed (so I could make a little painting of it), Trinity Church, and the Godiah Spray Plantation. I also listened to choir practice from St. Mary's Hall, on the campus of the college.

-- I studied the locals at supper at Courtney's and I very briefly visited Solomons Island (crossing - yikes!- the Governor Johnson Bridge over the Patuxent River).
-- But I REALLY especially enjoyed my crab cakes on grilled ciabatta washed down with two root beers at Blue Wind Gourmet, in California, MD, where I stopped on the way home. Excellent spot!

The view above is a little cove off Calvert Bay (upon which my inn was situated), snapped around about the 7am 'stillness' time.
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At left: historic colonial cow.

Anamnesis

Gouache sketch (with some ink lines) on Stonehenge paper, about 4-1/2" x 6-1/2"

Coming Going

Signature

I don't care how dorky this footwear will look on the streets of DC. Who isn't still tempted by their sheer lushness? Cowgirl! Yippee Eye Yo!

Busy days:
-- My day of Japanese papermaking with Jacqueline Mallegni was lovely. I was grateful to have visited her studio, her land (right on the Chama River in Abiquiú), her house, and sampled her hospitality and taken advantage of her experience and (especially) her patience. I made a dozen or so pieces of paper and now what? Hmmm!
-- Our visit to Puye Cliff Dwellings, near Los Alamos included a guided hike among the remnants of the structures. Every step along the path yielded more and more pottery shards of almost mind-boggling variety and color and finish. See pix here and here.
-- Other miscellaneous events: Sunday brunch with my friend Paula from Abq at the Range Cafe in Bernalillo; a zip through some of the gardens on the 16th Annual Santa Fe Botanical Garden June Home Garden Tour (what drought?); "Western-style" furniture shopping (stay tuned!) . . .

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See more:

El Santuario de Chimayo

Our visit to one of my favorite places, El Santuario de Chimayo, included a lovely impromptu visit with Father Roca, who was strolling in the Plaza. He asked where we were from and told us about his long-ago visit to a monastery in Maryland.

As during past visits, there were very few people in the Sanctuary and in the adjacent plaza. It's an extraordinary place. Made more so by the sunlit peace surrounding it.
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