Model with Moustache
graphite and ink
21.6 x 33.0 cm (8.5" x 13")

I do not have much to say about this drawing.

The model was holding on to an inverted box behind his head, and his back was against a cushion. The pose was awkward, but interesting.

The colour in the drawing is from a coloured pencil.

Essential Reading
ink
26.4 x 20.8 cm (10.4" x 8.2")
Joanna Toth. June 25, 2007.

Yesterday I posted a drawing of S. reading The Essential Talmud by Adin Steinsaltz. Today's post is a drawing of the same pose by Winnipeg artist and illustrator, Joanna Toth. The two drawings make an interesting contrast. Of the two, naturally, I like Joanna's drawing best, and she likes mine the best.

I've posted a couple of other terrific drawings by Joanna,
Untitled, posted on June 29, 2006, and
Woman with Umbrella, posted on July 3, 2006.

S. Reading
graphite,ink, and pastel
20.3 x 15.2 cm (8" x 6") ■


This was a thirty minute drawing. It was coloured in about two minutes, which accounts for the limited application of colour.

I may have overdone the model's hair, although it was wild. The book was The Essential Talmud by Adin Steinsaltz. Tomorrow I'll post another artist's interpretation of the same pose.

Evening Storm, Lyndale Drive
oil
16.5 x 19.8 cm (6.5" x 7.75") ■


A summer storm, of which we've been having our fair share of this summer.

Lyndale Drive is a roadway above the retaining wall. It stretches into the distance. There's a foot path on top of the wall, running alongside the fence. A trail, which you can barely see in the painting, follows the river bank. The trail is a favourite of dog walkers. The river, for those not familiar with Winnipeg, is the Red River.

This painting kept getting darker and darker as I worked on it. The actual painting is even darker than the scan.

Girl on a Chair
graphite and ink
25.4 x 19.1 cm (10" x 7.5")

A simple study of an elegant model.

Catfish
ink
3.8 x 3.4 cm (3.8" x 3.4")

This is it for today. Just a bottle of beer on the desk beside this computer. Catfish is the name of a local beer and a local fish. That's a never-used cell phone in the background.

500 Years of Women in Art

Just in case you haven't seen this elsewhere. It's worth a look. There are probably more notable omissions than notable admissions, but why quibble. It's fun.

Night Cloud and Tree
gouache
17.8 x 11.4 cm (7" x 4.5")

This was a scene above a Winnipeg street the other night as I walked home. A storm cloud and the top of a tree lit from below.

Relaxed Man
ink, watercolour, and pastel
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")

This painting went through several stages: it started out as a transparent watercolour, evolved (or devolved) into an opaque watercolour, and was finished with pastels. The transparent watercolour wasn't working. This forced a change to opaque watercolour to cover the mistakes, and then, just to see what would happen, pastel was added. The pastels don't entirely work on a rough watercolour paper. It's difficult to draw a smooth, uninterrupted line with pastel on watercolour paper. The pastel tends to sit on the ridges of the paper. The effect isn't bad, but overall I prefer a straight opaque watercolour or gouache.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which is scheduled to open in the fall or winter of 2009, has a website and blog up and running. The museum, located in Bentonville, Arkansas, was founded by Alice Walton, daugther of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton.

It will be interesting to follow the development of the museum, and its' effect on the American art scene.

Despite serious reservations about Alice Walton's politics, not to mention the museum's name, Crystal Bridges, which suggests something that Thomas Kinkade might have painted, I'm quite happy to have another reason to visit northwest Arkansas. The Ozarks and the Osark plateau are beautiful country.

Buildings, Cluny
digital image

This is another sketch done in France on a lazy afternoon a couple of years ago. A simple architectural study. It conveys something; maybe, something of a lazy afternoon.

The original ink drawing was scanned and the colour quickly added digitally.

Straight Back
ink and gouache
30.5 x 22.9 cm (12" x 9")

This model knows his business. A long pose quickly becomes uncomfortable if you're slouching.

The model, who is one of the best, sat absolutely still for over the three, forty-five minute sessions it took to do this painting.

L. Seated
graphite, ink, and charcoal
42.7 x 29.5 cm (16.8" x 11.6")

L. is a plant scientist, botanist, if you like, currently working outside of Manitoba.

As a model she works hard and always does a great job. Everyone looks forward to her modelling.

The leg nearest the viewer is a little heavy. The crude shading probably adds to the look of heaviness.

Head In Hands
graphite, ink, and pastel
22.9 x 15.2 cm (6" x 9")

As usual a very quick study. Not enough time to add colour. Does the hair and top of the head look a little weird?

This was this young man's first experience modelling. He seemed to quite enjoy it, and wants to give it another try.

Pear and Peaches
digital image

This is a photoshop creation based on a small ink and wax crayon drawing. It can only be explained as late spring ennui.

Hotel, Cluny
ink
14.7 x 19.1 cm (5.8" x 7.5")

This drawing is a couple of years old. It was done on a beautiful autumn day in Cluny, France. If I remember I had some time on my hands, and so I decided to complete a couple of sketches. This is one of them and I'll try to post the other next week.

They're both hanging beside the computer that I'm using. I look at them everyday, and they take me back to Cluny, France and away from this computer.

A. Reflecting
graphite, ink, and charcoal
29.2 x 42.4 cm (11.5" x 16.7")

Not to slight A., but my guess is that she was reflecting on something prosaic, as opposed to something profound; something like... how uncomfortable the pose was, or how much time was left in the pose, or what had possessed her in the first place to take up modelling for artists.

Sunburn
ink and pastel
21.3 x 15.2 cm (8.4" x 6") ■


Winnipeg had a couple of nice days on the weekend and you can see the result. Half of the people in the city have sunburn, including our model.

Night River
gouache
11.2 x 17.3 cm (4.4" x 6.8")

These night scenes are getting darker all the time. They're slowly making their way to being perfectly black.