And, this is today's "sculpture sketch." I experimented with different overlapping shapes. If you look at the landscape, you will see that overlap is one of the primary means of representing the distances of objects from the viewer.
Friday, January 8, 2016
Pittsburgh and Overlap
Today's landscape is a 5"x7" colored pencil of a detail of the view from downtown Pittsburgh's Point State Park where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers come together to make the Ohio River. This landscape is looking down the Ohio.
And, this is today's "sculpture sketch." I experimented with different overlapping shapes. If you look at the landscape, you will see that overlap is one of the primary means of representing the distances of objects from the viewer.
And, this is today's "sculpture sketch." I experimented with different overlapping shapes. If you look at the landscape, you will see that overlap is one of the primary means of representing the distances of objects from the viewer.
Garden Trees at the Chicago Institute of Art
7"x9" Colored Pencil, Quick Sketch of Garden Trees at the Chicago Institute of Art
So, a funny thing happened yesterday. I missed my train and ended up having some extra time in downtown Chicago. But, that's not how the story began.
It began with a morning walk. I got up early in order to have plenty of time to catch a train and ended up at the station way too early, so I went for a walk. There was no one - or at least very few people - out. I walked down by the lake and looked out on the orange dawn and took in the stillness of the morning and the distant horizon. Everything was dormant and peaceful - the city, the lake, the trees. And, the trees really struck me. Winter trees make such crisp silhouettes against the grey sky. They go from one thick trunk to thousands of threadlike tips, all in the space of a few dozen feet and by such a simple, natural process. So dramatic and so quiet all at once. I enjoyed the trees.
I walked from the shore to Michigan Avenue and along the front of the art institute. There was a locked garden on one side. It was filled with more leafless trees. They looked carefully pruned and the trunks were bumpy. Very unique. I wanted to draw them, but I had a train to catch.
Later, as I was standing on the train platform, waiting for my 9AM train, there were more trees: I could see the tops of the trees from the park above the walls of the station. A flat, grey wall, tree branches, and sky. All intricate and at the same time two dimensional and stark.
And then, a station employee came out to the platform and told me to move from platform 1 to platform 2. She said there was a problem with track 1, so all trains would be going to track 2. I and several other people moved from track 1 to track 2. Then, a few minutes later, our train rolled in to track number 1 and rolled away as we all watched helplessly from track 2 and missed it. There were some angry people, needless to say. And, as a result, I ended up with a few hours to kill while I waited for the next train. So, I went back to the Art Institute and did a very rapid drawing of the leafless trees in the garden (the drawing pictured above), and then I dashed about the Art Institute, camera in hand, and tried to take in the whole place at once. A fun way to do a museum, actually.
So, here are the trees, born of wonder and inconvenience. I'm actually glad, at this point, that I missed the train.
So, a funny thing happened yesterday. I missed my train and ended up having some extra time in downtown Chicago. But, that's not how the story began.
It began with a morning walk. I got up early in order to have plenty of time to catch a train and ended up at the station way too early, so I went for a walk. There was no one - or at least very few people - out. I walked down by the lake and looked out on the orange dawn and took in the stillness of the morning and the distant horizon. Everything was dormant and peaceful - the city, the lake, the trees. And, the trees really struck me. Winter trees make such crisp silhouettes against the grey sky. They go from one thick trunk to thousands of threadlike tips, all in the space of a few dozen feet and by such a simple, natural process. So dramatic and so quiet all at once. I enjoyed the trees.
I walked from the shore to Michigan Avenue and along the front of the art institute. There was a locked garden on one side. It was filled with more leafless trees. They looked carefully pruned and the trunks were bumpy. Very unique. I wanted to draw them, but I had a train to catch.
Later, as I was standing on the train platform, waiting for my 9AM train, there were more trees: I could see the tops of the trees from the park above the walls of the station. A flat, grey wall, tree branches, and sky. All intricate and at the same time two dimensional and stark.
And then, a station employee came out to the platform and told me to move from platform 1 to platform 2. She said there was a problem with track 1, so all trains would be going to track 2. I and several other people moved from track 1 to track 2. Then, a few minutes later, our train rolled in to track number 1 and rolled away as we all watched helplessly from track 2 and missed it. There were some angry people, needless to say. And, as a result, I ended up with a few hours to kill while I waited for the next train. So, I went back to the Art Institute and did a very rapid drawing of the leafless trees in the garden (the drawing pictured above), and then I dashed about the Art Institute, camera in hand, and tried to take in the whole place at once. A fun way to do a museum, actually.
So, here are the trees, born of wonder and inconvenience. I'm actually glad, at this point, that I missed the train.
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Crystal Court
5"x7" Colored Pencil, Crystal Court (IDS Tower), Minneapolis, MN
And, today's sculpture "sketch." The starting point was the negative space created by the slat in the benches on today's drawing.
And, today's sculpture "sketch." The starting point was the negative space created by the slat in the benches on today's drawing.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Frogtown in Winter
5"x7" Colored Pencil Drawing
My well-loved neighborhood in the snow.
Also, today I am starting a new initiative. For quite some time, I have been posting a (pretty much) daily drawing. To that, I am going to attempt to add a daily sculpture - something fairly rapid in oil clay. This will be, I think, a good way to keep the ideas flowing and to develop new projects. I think the sculptures will be based on some aspect of the drawing done that day.
Here is today's quick sculpture. Notice that it incorporates the way the trees were drawn in the drawing.
I would also love to know how people react to the little sculptures. So, please do leave comments!
My well-loved neighborhood in the snow.
Also, today I am starting a new initiative. For quite some time, I have been posting a (pretty much) daily drawing. To that, I am going to attempt to add a daily sculpture - something fairly rapid in oil clay. This will be, I think, a good way to keep the ideas flowing and to develop new projects. I think the sculptures will be based on some aspect of the drawing done that day.
Here is today's quick sculpture. Notice that it incorporates the way the trees were drawn in the drawing.
I would also love to know how people react to the little sculptures. So, please do leave comments!
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Conservatory in the Snow
5"x7" Colored Pencil, Drawn on Site of the Como Park Conservatory, St. Paul, MN
Friday, January 1, 2016
Lights Like Snow
Drawn from a photograph I took today at the Mall of America, 4.5"x6.5" Colored Pencil
The color pallet (prismacolor pencils) the latex paint was just white for the dots.
The color pallet (prismacolor pencils) the latex paint was just white for the dots.
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