two new still-life sketches

This is a still-life pencil drawing I am finishing at the LAA studio:


And this is a compositional drawing for a still-life painting I am working on in my studio. It is a little bit trickier in that the final painting will be 16"w x 14"h. However, I drew it somewhat smaller, at 15"w. But I found that this website helped a lot, as I was able to type in the drawing's width (15"), along with the reproduction height and width (16"x14"), and it gave me the missing height of 13.125" to use on my drawing. It also gave me the enlargement percentage of 106.6% to use in my transfer:

sketch of baby jack

a quick drawing of baby jack, done while he was asleep in his car seat, in pen and crayon...

florence drawings

I went to Florence, Italy for a couple of days to get some inspiration, and to do some sketching. The Uffizi, Pitti Palace, and the Accademia had very long lines stretching around the building so I didn't go to those, but other museums in Florence are virtually empty. Places like:

The Museum of the opera di Santa Maria del Fiore:


The Medici Chapel:


and the Bargello.


I took one day to see the Tuscan countryside, here's a quick sketch:


Also, I recommend highly the hotel I stayed at, the Soggiorno Michelangelo Hotel. It is just north of the Accademia. I was welcomed by Oscar, who runs the establishment, and the accommodations couldn't have been better, or more quiet.

Jack Jr.

My son Jack was born three weeks ago. He is quite fun to draw as he sleeps for long stretches. The "Jum-Jum" is a nickname that his older brother gave him which I liked very much.

completed "still life in red"

This is the finished painting, "Still-life in Red", size 12"x12", oil on linen. It is larger than the oil sketch shown a few posts back and more carefully modelled, but very similar in color.




Also, this is a two session demo figure drawing from class at LAA:

small still-life drawings

These are four small compostional sketches drawn at the Lyme Art Association. They are done in a few hours each with the goal of creating an interesting composition out of a quickly set-up still-life arrangment. With any composition, one should walk around the room examining the subject from every view-point before deciding on an angle to work from:

still-life in red

This is a just completed 5"x5" oil sketch painted in my studio with natural light: