Me vs. the Parthenon

This is a pencil drawing of a section of the north frieze of the Parthenon. I actually started this a few months ago but, for reasons known only to the voices in my head, tucked it away in a drawer and only just got around to finishing it. It's not quite the drawing I originally intended (I had grand plans of including a lot more of the details), but in the end I'm pretty happy with it and I think I've reached a point where I need to stop messing with it. I really would like to go to Greece someday.

Have Nothing In Your House That You Do Not Know To Be Useful Or Believe To Be Beautiful

This was drawn from a photo in a book entitled "The Gardens of William Morris" that my friend had in her living room. I'll admit that I didn't know a lot about William Morris before I started flipping through this book and I mostly selected the subject because his beard looked like it would be fun to draw. It turns out that William Morris was actually a pretty righteous individual, as evidenced by the quote I copied on the drawing. For those who can't read my handwriting (which would probably make my third grade teacher hang her head in shame), it says "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." Sound advice.

The View From Here

It's getting cold in Seattle, so the time has come to find interesting things to draw from within the comfort of my own home. This is the tree that sits just outside my living room window, which can be drawn while sitting inside enjoying the comforts of central heating and a cup of tea. I make no claim to being willing to suffer for art.

The Word of the Day is "Rhyton"

I went to the Seattle Art Museum yesterday and happened upon this rhyton which, according to the wall text, dates from somewhere around 538-331 BC. I had no idea what a rhyton was, so I looked it up on Wikipedia and discovered that it "is a container from which fluids were intended to be drunk, or else poured in some ceremony such as libation." In short, when you and your ram need to do some serious drinking, this is the way to go.

It's About Time

Tuesday night is consistently my favorite night of the week in Seattle. This is because some very good friends of mine host Tuesday Night Drawing, a weekly event in which they open their home to a small group of people, cook up a delicious dinner, and then encourage us all to sit around their dining room table and draw whatever strikes our fancy. A few of the drawings I've produced during these sessions have ended up on this blog, and I am now adding one more to the pile.

This is Not a Church

OK, I know it looks like a church. At some point it was probably even used for church-like things, but now it is occupied by a marketing company called Catalysis. I didn't realize this until after I finished the drawing and went over to look up the name, assuming it would be Saint-something-or-other (patron saint of pens running low on ink). I actually think it's very cool that a private company bought this building and seems to be making an effort to keep it looking nice. Plus I live about two blocks away, so it gives me something interesting to draw just around the corner from my apartment.

Flowers in Ink

This is a still life of an iris and some other sort of flower whose name escapes me sitting on my friend's dining room table. I might have been better able to remember the name of the other flower if there had not also been a bottle of wine sitting on this same table. I did put in some highlights with a little white conte, but it doesn't seem to have come through in the photo. Yet another case of the internet being a poor substitute for real life.

Bull!

This is an ink and watercolor sketch of the toy bull that I keep in my bathroom, which I actually drew and posted a couple of years ago under vastly different circumstances (the bull and I have both been through a lot since then). I am a firm believer in having a toy bull in the bathroom. It keeps the wolverines out.

Lunch at the Burke with a Sabre Toothed Tiger

One of the best things about working for the University of Washington is that I can wander into the Burke Museum of Natural History any time I want to free of charge. I took advantage of this during my lunch break this afternoon to spend a little quality time with a sabre toothed tiger.

Ink Still Life

Some good friends had me over for dinner and drawing last night and, having enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine, I was disinclined to get up from the table in search of a subject to draw. Lucky for me, there was a shelf right there in the room with all sorts of cool bottles and jars.

Me vs. Massimiliano Soldani

This is a drawing of a small part of a 16th century sculpture by Massimiliano Soldani called "Lamentations Over the Dead Christ." I did this in a couple of sessions, the last two of which were several months apart. The act of digging this one out and taking it back down to SAM is part of my ongoing effort to actually finish my drawings as opposed to starting in on an ambitious subject, getting a off to a decent start, and then leaving the thing 75% finished and languishing in a drawer or on a forgotten page of my sketchbook. I make no promises as to how long this effort may last.

At the Seattle Public Library with the Urban Sketchers

The Seattle Urban Sketchers group - led by the amazing Gabi Campanario - got together for a Sketch Crawl at the library this morning followed by a really inspiring talk from Gabi about his book, "The Art of Urban Sketching," which everyone should buy immediately. It was all kinds of fun and I'm looking forward to going to many more sketch crawls with this fine group of local artists.

Note: for those who can't make heads or tails of these images (which probably includes everyone on Earth who didn't happen to be at the library this morning), the one on top is the fourth floor elevator and the one on the bottom is the little scanner thingy that they use to check out your books.

Bauhuas Coffee: Breaking The Animal Drawing Streak

Those looking at my recent posts on this blog might think I draw nothing but animals, be they extinct or living in all their glory within the pages of my friend's calendar. Allow me to put an end to all of this wild speculation by posting a quick drawing I did from the balcony at Bauhaus Coffee last weekend. I think this drawing may have gone faster than usual because it was accompanied by a cup of incredibly strong coffee and a house-made Ding Dong.

Rhino vs Brush Pen

Here's another one drawn from the same calendar the produced the Infamous Blue Footed Booby Drawing. Have I mentioned how much I love my brush pen? I'm currently in the process of composing an epic poem about it, although I need to learn Greek first. I'll post that up here as soon as it's finished.

Cryolophosaurus

Nope, I had never heard of a Cryolophosaurus either until I found a picture of one in a dinosaur book. Note the bony ridge on top of the head that looks a little bit like a mohawk, resulting in a mind-bending confluence of two of the major influences of my youth - dinosaurs and punk rock. How could I not draw this?

I should note that, with a little encouragement from my wife, this was drawn in ink without an initial pencil sketch. This is kind of a terrifying way to work and it does tend to result in slightly less accurate drawings, but I think it also forces me to concentrate in different ways. It also makes things go faster, which means I can actually get to a finished piece in one sitting rather than adding to my ever-expanding pile of drawings that are 75% done but that I just don't feel like going back to.