Wednesday, June 30, 2010

• Stolen Caravaggio recovered. (CBC News)
• The evolution of black style at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. (CBC News)
• Vandals damage three sculptures in Truro, Nova Scotia. (CBC News)

























Student

gouache
30.5 x 22.9 cm (12" x 9")


The model for this twenty minute drawing was an artist/art student, who is usually on the other end of the brush or pencil.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Leonora Carrington, Britain's lost, and Mexico's found, surrealist. (The Guardian)
• Pliny the Younger. (review)
• The art of libel in revolutionary France. (The National Post)
Captured by the Norwegians. (Daily Meh) (via things magazine)

























Man with Curly Hair

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


This drawing is many years old. I don't remember doing it, nor can I remember the model. The cushion, however, looks familiar.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

TateShots: John Squire contemplates Cy Twombly. (2008)

Thursday, June 24, 2010

• The virtues of political appeasement. (National Interest)
• The rise of modern mathematics. (The New Criterion)
• Pondering the future of freelance journalism. (C-Monster)
• A sculpture of Nellie McClung for Manitoba. (CBC News)

























Eyes Right

graphite
19.1 x 15.2 cm (7.5" x 6.5")


An older drawing and an unknown model.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

• Everyone's favourite stoic: Marcus Aurelius. (incharacter)
Blue Ball
ink, charcoal, and pastel
30.5 x 45.7 cm (12" x 18")


From my Blue Ball period.

Monday, June 21, 2010

• Junk Science Week. (Financial Post)
• The Fayetteville Museum of Art in North Carolina has been forced to close. (ArtsJournal)
• A Modigliani for someone who has everything. (Reuters)
Pencil and Pen
graphite and ink
19.1 x 27.9 cm (7.5" x 11")


This is an older drawing that I just came across while throwing out some stuff. I have no idea when I did it or who the model was; but I kind of like the drawing, especially the contrast between the two media.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

TateShots: Peter Doig (2008)

Friday, June 18, 2010

• Why are the British so rude? (The Independent)
• Art by Jeanette Barnes. (Octavia Gallery)(via things magazine)

























Clouds Above the Back Porch

gouache
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")


This is my neighbour's back porch again. There is no wire above the porch in reality. It was added simply for effect.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

• Historian Hugh Trevor-Roper. (New Humanist)
• Art conservation with light. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Pachimon postcards. (Pink Tentacle)
Sad Girl
gouache
30.5 x 45.7 cm (12" x 18")


The model wasn't sad at all when I drew her - quite the opposite. But a few misplaced strokes and she's sad.

In the future if anyone asks me about this drawing, I'm going to say that the girl was practically in tears when I drew her.

Monday, June 14, 2010

• " Why is contemporary art so awful? " (Prospect)
• Earn more money: be thin. (In These Times)
In Search of J. D. Salinger. (drb)
Dark Sky Over the Back Porch
gouache
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")

It rained like crazy just as I was finishing this painting. The sky you see in the painting was making its' way toward me as I painted. I saved the painting, but got soaked in the process.

The porch in the painting belongs to my neighbour, Brad.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

TateShots: Jeff Koons

Friday, June 11, 2010

• Thoughts on Matisse. (The Nation)
• Revisiting medieval Lübeck and neo-colonialism as solution to third world poverty. (The Atlantic)
• The Order of Assassins. (HistoryNet)
Prairie Storm
acrylic on board
12.7 x 17.7 cm (5" x 7")

This was a quick study done on unprimed mat board. The board didn't provide a good surface for the acrylic. It quickly degraded when wet.

Things would probably have gone smoother with a primed board and with an oil based paint.

In the end none of this matters, since the study is destined for the trash.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

• Narrower streets for a better city. (Good)
• 'Mr. Sammy Davis Jr.' (City Journal)
• Orville Wright saw the breaking of the sound barrier in an airplane. (American Heritage)
• Narrow streets for a better city. (Good)

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

• Finfing Edward Hopper's Nighthawks diner. (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York Part 2 and Part 1)
• Ugly New York buildings. (flickr pool)






















Copy After Modigliani

ink and graphite
11.4 x 8.9 cm (4.5" x 3.5")


Artist: Catherine Lee

This is a copy after Modigliani's 1915 portrait of Juan Gris.
If you see someone who looks like this, it's Juan Gris. Say 'hi'.

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

• Good guy or bad guy of the art crime world? Turbo Paul and his blog, art hostage. (The New York Times) (via C-Monster)
• Bad ass scooters. (Now That's Nifty) (via C-Monster)
Sleeping
gouache
30.5 x 45.7 cm (12" x 18")


I kind of lost interest once I started doing the cushions and drapery in this drawing. You can probably tell.

Monday, June 07, 2010























Copy After Dubuffet

ink and graphite
11.4 x 8.9 cm (4.5" x 3.5")


Artist: Catherine Lee

This copy of Woman Grinding Coffee by Jean Dubuffet lacks the sophistication of the original; but it's every bit as charming.

The original was painted in 1945 and can be found in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Unlike Dubuffet, Ms. Lee is not represented by The Pace Gallery of New York.

Sunday, June 06, 2010

Moon River: sung by Louis Armstrong. This is for all you fans of Johnny Mercer, and especially all you fans of Savannah, Georgia.

Friday, June 04, 2010

• Quebec provincial police have charged a man in connection with the theft of Jean-Paul Riopelle lithographs. (The Globe and Mail)
• Mark Twain and the upper Mississippi. (More Intelligent Life)
• E.M. Forster and the nature of inspiration. (The National Post)
• Photos of downtown L.A. from the air. (The Los Angeles Times)

























Cream and Green

gouache
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")


The model for this portrait had red hair and colouring. Since I was using only four colours I didn't try to match her colouring. Because of this mismatch in colour the portrait doesn't remind me of the model, even though it's fairly accurately drawn.

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Learning Locomotion with Little Dog: this amazing robot much not have much to with art, but it's amazing. (via Heading East)

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

• American artist Louise Bourgeois died Monday in New York. She was 98. (The New York Times)
• The not so secret lives of Somerset Maugham. (The Los Angeles Times)
• Skeleton armchairs. (Morbid Anatomy)

























Almost V.

ink and watercolour
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")


This is close to being an accurate portrait of V. Things seem to be in their proper place and proportion, but something is missing. What that is, I don't know.

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Crown Of Violets is a website by Katrina Caudle. She has some thoughts on the experience of modelling for artists.
• How to really park in a parking space. (The Minnesota Independent) (via Eyeteeth)
• Check out an amazing robot. (Heading East) (via C-Monster)

























Brown Head

ink and gouache
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")


Initially I wasn't thrilled with this drawing. However, it's grown on me.

Despite lying down and having no clothes on, the model is hoping to make it in the world of stand-up comedy.