Sketching at the New Orleans Museum of Art

I spent a good chunk of my morning sketching at the New Orleans Museum of Art. They have tons of good stuff to draw and it's an excellent option for an indoor drawing destination during the summer months in New Orleans. I actually started out drawing outdoors on the front steps, but it was clearly time to move inside when the sweat dripping from my face began to spoil my drawing. Was it really necessary for me to reveal that in a blog post? Probably not, but what is the internet good for if not over-sharing.

As for the drawings, the top one is a statue from Papa New Guinea and the one on the bottom is a 16th century credenza that is sitting in the Baroque painting room.

Ink Portraits

In the immortal words of Nigel Tufnel: "There is none more black."

I've been doing a lot of portraits lately and I've been slowly gravitating away from pencil and towards ink. Ink tends to go faster and it's a lot less forgiving, but I think it helps do away with my tendency to get overly fussy with pencil. The one on top is another entry from the Flickr Portrait Party and the one on the bottom is a self portrait done with pen and ink wash. As a side note, I hope to someday do self portrait where the expression on my face doesn't make me look like I'm about to punch someone. I seem to have trouble drawing and smiling at the same time.

More Portait Party Entries

I know, I'm going crazy for the portrait party. But who doesn't like a party? Well, I guess it depends on the party. If it was the kind of party where you were obligated to eat olives and artichokes with Dick Cheney while watching every episode of "Who's the Boss" back-to-back, then I'd probably rather stay home and draw.