Life drawing

Something that I do rarely is drawing from life in my sketchbook. Often they are doodles of ideas straight from the imagination.  There is a sense of urgency in drawing from life.  The artist must decide, rather quickly, what needs to be shown and what to discard.  Here are a couple gesture drawings of a portrait of a young woman.

It's been a long time>

It is time for me to pick up where I left off over a year ago. This site is dedicated to my sketchbooks, warts and all.  I have always used sketchbooks.  For notes, brainstorming, and in enduring the many tedious meetings that I have to sit through. The act of drawing can be meditative to me.  I feel that it can focus my attentions more clearly. Now a lot of these drawings are doodles, just scribbling.  They are drawn very quickly with out the thought of being a complete work of art with in themselves. I am scanning in some sketchbooks that I have filled over the past few years.  Some of these books have been stuck in the bottom of boxes for years, hidden from view and my thoughts.  So as I scan these in it is becoming  a bit of a nostalgic journey for me.

Now, where did I leave off?


Here are some sketches that I made When I was in Los Angeles visiting LACMA.

Some of these nots are almost 10 years old.

The Greeks

The ancient Greeks are credited with giving birth to western civilization. From the philosophies of Plato and Socrates to the writings of Homer. And also an art aesthetic that influenced cultures as far away as Japan.

Babylon

Egyptian Pharaoh and Queen

"Akhenaten a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, ruled for 17 years and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the Aten, which is sometimes described as monotheistic. An early inscription likens him to the sun as compared to stars, and later official language avoids calling the Aten a god, giving the solar deity a status above mere gods."

"Nefertiti (ca. 1370 BC – ca. 1330 BC) was the Great Royal Wife (chief consort) of the EgyptianPharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they started to worship one god only. This was Aten, or the sun disc."

Wikipedia.org

Ancient Egypt

Watercolor sketch

The lower Nile was home to arguably the greatest and influential ancient civilizations. The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River Valley. The historians have divided up the time periods into kingdoms and dynasties.

Predynastic period

Early Dynastic Period

Old Kingdom

First Intermediate Period

Middle Kingdom

Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos

New Kingdom

Third Intermediate Period

Late Period

Ptolemaic Dynasty

The Pyramids of Giza are the iconic symbols of ancient Egypt.

Watercolor sketch

The Pyramids of Giza consist of the Great Pyramid of Giza (the Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu), the somewhat smaller Pyramid of Khafre a few hundred meters to the south-west, and the relatively modest-sized Pyramid of Menkaure (or Mykerinos) a few hundred meters further south-west.

Paleolithic Images

"Lascaux cave paintings"- watercolor

Lascaux is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne. They contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be 17,300 years old.

The cave contains nearly 2,000 figures, which can be grouped into three main categories — animals, human figures and abstract signs.

Working in the Sketchbook

I have been laid up for the past 3 weeks from a motorcycle accident. In that time I have started working in a new sketchbook. I have been thinking about the meaning of art and how it has shaped and changed societies. A lot of my thoughts have been germinated in my reading of Gardnier's Art through the Ages. The history of Art is the history of Us.

My first question was "What is Art?"

What do you think Art is?

Let's get this going again

Desert landscape 1, oil painting




















Desert Landscape 2, oil painting


It is not your paintings I like, it is your painting.
Albert Camus

"Down Winder" digital

Out of Rockwell's America.

""The Blues" acrylic

Bella is my blue dog. She is the biggest dog in the neighborhood, yet she is the most unassuming animal around. Bella is the master of the sad puppy face, which some people are surprised t see from this horse of a dog. I have done other drawings of her, and find her a good model to work from. Some times these animals are easier to relate too than most people. Their agendas go no further than food and some attention.

"Skull Study" indelible pencil

The human head is such a complex piece of not only biology, but also engineering .

"Etude" watercolor

This was a study at first of just messing around with the cool colors of blue and violet on a piece of scratch watercolor paper. I wanted to throw in a portrait to add some "gravitas". I have some reference photo's that I have taken over the years and in the folder I found this photo of a girl. This girl just felt right in the color scheme.

"Symbol 5" pen

What is the symbolism?