I might have to get back into charcoal drawing - haven’t messed with charcoal in many years - this was a fun drawing to complete. Not complicated or anything (and nothing amazing in the resulting drawing either, for that matter), but it was an enjoyable experience.

Ah, the elusive sketchbook. I always admired the idea of a sketchbook - always at the ready for a quick sketch in-between the goings and doings of real-world things. But practically speaking, I never quite got the sketchbook. (more…)

Took my new sketchbook and drawing pens with me to Lake Arthur [Louisiana] for the week. Did not sketch as much as I would have liked, but I did enjoy the time I did have. Here are a few from the sketchbook (click to get a larger view).

Yet another old sketch.

Just another old sketch of mine. I had the thought of doing a framed series of these type pen and ink drawings of various plants or herbs. I still might - who knows?! The problem with pen and ink from the narrow perspective of a canvas painter is that you run into the problem of framing the artwork . . . dealing with glass, keeping it flat, keeping it dry, picking out and purchasing frames ahead of time - oh, and don’t get me started on matting . . . man!

This is a contour drawing from many years ago. I just ran across it in an old sketchbook and thought I’d throw it up here - I still get the feeling I posted this one already, but whatever. For your viewing pleasure…

I was just going to do a quick sketch of the seated figure [the one in the detail] while waiting for some paint to dry. It was going to fit nicely in a blank space in my notebook/journal/planner thingy. That sketch quickly grew to encompass the entire spread. Good thing I was through with all the info on these pages, eh?

I have long been a slacker in terms of keeping up any sort of sketchbook. I make no secret of it. And just because the spirit of the new year is still hanging all dewy in the air, does not mean I expect this recent bout of sketches to continue, ad infinitum. But I’ll do what I can for now - it’s good for me and might also be entertaining to some of you.

Here’s a sketch I accomplished in one sitting from an actual live model; my wife. I call it, “Tammy Taking Note,” though in reality she was playing an electronic Sudoku game (I replaced the stylus she was holding with a pencil in the sketch).

sidenote: did you know that Sodoku (with an “o” as the first vowel) is the name of a zoonotic disease - a form of rat-bite fever? I didn’t until I looked up the wrong spelling of Sudoku on wikipedia.