I will not be posting much until April 7th or 8th.I have some other commitments this week. See you on the 7th.

TateShots: Marcel Dzama. Followers of TateShots on Twitter sent in their questions for artist Marcel Dzama, who answers them here.(www.twitter.com/tateshots)

• The Art Handling Olympics. (The New York Times) (@ C-Monster)
• The world's most expensive (and fuzziest) seed vault. (BLDGBLOG) (@ C-Monster)

Bad Angle
pastel
30.5 x 22.9 cm (12" x 9")

There was quite a crowd drawing this model when I arrived. The artists had surrounded the model and had left only one spot open. For some reason the view from this spot hadn't appealed to anyone. I was left with it. I pretended that it appealed to me.

• Robert Landau of Landau Fine Art in Montreal has recovered a stolen Paul Klee painting. (CBC News)
• Chekhov and Sakhalin. (The National Post)
• The Professor and Other Writings, by Terry Castle. (in character)

Green Fish
gouache
8.9 x 11.4 cm (3.5" x 4.5")

Other than a strange, misshapen fish, what is this? Your guess is as good as mine.

• Travel writing in the age of tourism. (WORLDHUM)
• Among the aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate, and the plucky, if not the great: E.M.Forster. (WeeklyStandard)
• Vintage maternity wear. (yarnish) (@ things magazine)
• Wooden churches of Russia. (Richard Davies) (@ things magazine)
• Dreaming by Ed Winkleman.

Big Heads on Stools
gouache
11.4 x 8.9 cm (4.5" x 3.5")

On a cold evening last October in Montreal, I was outside of the Musée des-beaux arts de Montréal and thinking of going in. The Musée was closed, however, through a window I could see two big, carved wooden heads on stools. The heads seemed to require drawing.

I should know the name of the sculptor of the heads, but nothing is coming to mind.

• Marina Abramović is spending three months in silent vigil at New York's Moma.
Four months would also be nice. (The Guardian)
• A celebration of Bakelite in Yonkers. (The New York Times)
• Orde Charles Wingate, a gay, brilliant, and courageous military commander. (The Telegraph)

Red Face
ink and pastel
30.5 x 45.7 cm (12" x 18")

Despite a couple of problems, this isn't bad for a quick drawing.

TateShots: David Hockney. Followers of TateShots on Twitter sent in their questions for artist David Hockney, who answers them here.(www.twitter.com/tateshots)

• Searching for a Pregnant Madonna. (Amateur d'art)
• Art dealer Larry Salander pleads guilty to $120 million fraud. (BusinessWeek) (via C-Monster)

Green Outline
graphite, pastel, and watercolour
30.5 cm x 22.9 cm (12" x 9")

I don't like this combination of media, in particular, the pastel against the watercolour. Sometimes it happens. There is not always time to figure out what you're doing when a pose only lasts a few minutes.

• Vintage Sleaze. (Does it still qualify as sleaze?)
• Christen Kobke at Britain's National Gallery. (The Telegraph)
• The mystery of Lewis Carroll. (Slate)

Disused Road
oil on canvas 30.5 x 40.6 cm (12" x 16") ■



Another familiar scene on the prairies in winter.

• Need a giant inflatable beaver? Click here.
• Zamboni driving lessons? Click here.

Striped Sheet
ink, charcoal, pastel, and watercolour
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")

This drawing was coloured away from the model. The striped sheet exists only in the drawing. The model wasn't lying on one.

• The life of Pearl S. Buck. (The Literary Review)

Pulling on a Cord
ink
30.5 x 22.9 cm (12" x 9")

The model was not actually pulling on a cord. She was resting her weight against a broom in front of her. I didn't have time to draw the broom except for the slight line above the model's head, so I'm pretending that she's pulling on a cord.

• The applause debates of classical music. (The Guardian)
• Dreaming of doing good: the life of 60's activist Mario Savio. (The Nation)

Weird Fish
ink and watercolour
11.4 x 8.9 cm (4.5" x 3.5")

I have no idea if this was a fish or not. It just lying on the sand at the bottom of an aquarium. There's another strange creature in front of it. This one I have no recollection of drawing.

Whatever the creature I have almost made him look human. Perhaps I should have included a blurb in a balloon coming out of his mouth. Something to the effect of, " Hey! What's happenin' ?" or "Me? I'm just chillin'."

The drawing was done during a walkabout at the Nagoya Aquarium.

70 Million: by the Franco-American band, Hold Your Horses!, presents a musical crash course in art history.

Clip de 70 Million, chanson du groupe franco-americain Hold Your Horses ! produit par L'Ogre, mettant en scène les membres du groupe dans un voyage à travers l'histoire de l'art.

• The Canadian Arctic, not for the faint of heart. (The Faster Times)
• Simple-minded moral posturing on Darfur makes the conflict worse. (spiked)

Leg Warmers
pastel
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")

Does the model look like she has fallen asleep while putting on her leg warmers, or is that just me?

• The origins of comics. (The Evolutionary Review)
• A suicide has complicated an investigation into the excavation and trading of American Native art and artifacts in the American Southwest. (The New York Times)
• At home in Soho and Malden Bridge, N.Y., with performance artist Marina Abramović. (The New York Times)

Reading at a Table
graphite and watercolour
11.4 x 8.9 cm (4.5" x 3.5")

Looks like a good book.

• Annie Leibovitz works out debt problems. (CBC News)
• Parisian photographer, JR. (The Guardian) (via C-Monster)
• Honest movie titles for 2010 Oscar winners. (College Humor) (via C-Monster)

Yoga
graphite and watercolour
30.5 x 22.9 (12" x 9")

The pose explains the title, or vice versa.

The model managed to hold this pose for forty minutes. The artists quite appreciated her efforts.

• Nina Simone. (The Washington Times)
• The Mau Mau, the British, and sloppy scholarship. (openDemocracy)
• New music (really new music). (The Boston Globe)

Long Mitts
gouache
11.4 x 8.9 cm (4.5" x 3.5")

Headless mannequins seem to be in vogue these days. There was no particular reason for drawing this mannequin other than it was in front of me and I had some time to kill.

The sketch was done a couple of months ago, and arbitrarily coloured last night.

Non ho bisogno di denaro (Mysteries of Love) by Alda Merini: performed by Antony and the Johnsons. (Art by Gustav Klimt.)

• Art and civic action in Michigan. (Modern Art Notes) Cast your vote here in the Detroit Institute of Arts Let's Save Michigan poster contest.
• In praise of artist and cartoonist Ronald Searle. (The Telegraph)
• A rewrite of the Ten Commandments. (Vanity Fair)

Teddy Bear and Pink Toilet Paper
oil
40.6 x 30.5 cm (16" x 12")


The pink toilet paper came special delivery from Japan. (It's a long story.) For some reason coloured toilet paper isn't popular in Canada except in our house.

The blue pot looks like it's on a bit of a slant to me. I may (or may not) try to correct this.

• Noir photography of contemporary China set to music by John Cage. (culturehall) (via C-Monster)
• Believe in science, or at least, in peer review. (spiked)
• The failure and success of Cesar Chavez. (The Wilson Quarterly)
• The end of the art fair. (View on Canadian Art)

• Some of Brooklyn's odder museums. (Brokelyn) (via C-Monster)
• The History of Philadelphia's Watersheds and Sewers. (Philly H2O)
• First Word: A Dictionary of New Architecture. (Architectural Record) (via things magazine)

V.
ink, charcoal, and conté
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")

The conté on the head and hands was blurred slightly using a wet brush.

• Good good music, and bad bad music. (The American)
• Ed Winkleman on crybaby artists. (edward_ winkleman)
• Henry Moore at the Tate. (The Telegraph)
• Paul Nash. (The Telegraph)

White Man
graphite, ink, and watercolour
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")

The model wasn't quite as white as this. But I guess that you've already figured that.

• Alex Katz's approach to painting as revealed in a new exhibition at Parrish Art Museum. (The New York Times)
• The Group of Seven collection of Theodosia Dawes Bond Thornton will be auctioned at Heffel's in Vancouver on May 26th. (CBC News)

Quick Portrait
graphite and watercolour
21.6 x 27.9 cm (8.5" x 11")

This is nothing more than what the title suggests, a quick portrait.