Sunday Morning in Audubon Park

My wife and I spent a good part of our morning sitting in Audubon Park drawing the trees. I think we both might have wanted to work on our drawings a bit longer, but by 11:00 the heat was so intense that we were more than ready to head over to Cafe Luna for some cold drinks. Even with the heat, it was still a very nice way to spend a Sunday morning. I came away with this drawing of one of the magnificent live oaks in red conte.

A Big Man With a Big Grin

This was drawn from a photo in the New York Times. Apparently this guy is a manager at a company called AMB, which does some sort of complicated real estate thing that I don't understand but which is probably destroying our economy in some way or another. I don't think I actually captured much of a likeness, as the finished drawing looks to me like a cross between Lyndon Johnson and the Penguin from Batman. Even so, it was a lot of fun to work on and I think it's a good learning experience to draw portraits of people who have unusual sorts of features and facial structure, as this guy most certainly does.

House on Jefferson Avenue, New Orleans

This is a house on Jefferson ave in New Orleans, just across the street from the CCs coffee shop at the corner of Jefferson and Magazine. I drew this in a few sittings, starting out from a table in front of the coffee shop and then finishing off a few of the details from a photograph at home.

Asian Art Room at the New Orleans Museum of Art

I've spent a lot of time over the past couple of weeks wandering around the New Orleans Museum of Art. The Asian art room is especially cool. I drew this suit of Japanese armor in several sittings over the past three weeks:



I went a little quicker on this Chinese statue. They have two of these in a case side-by-side and I think I may go back and do a more detailed study.

More Figure Drawing at Fair Grinds Cafe

I've been going to the figure drawing sessions at Fair Grinds Cafe almost every week for a while now and I've really been enjoying it. My first few drawings last night felt a little flat, so I started switching back and forth between ink and pencil in an effort to force myself to take a different approach. I'm pretty happy with how these came out and I'll probably start doing more of these in ink when I go back next week.

City Park, New Orleans

I went out to City Park a couple of times this weekend and found myself wondering why I don't go there more often. This is one of the many gorgeous oak trees, drawn on newsprint with charcoal pencil.

Calhoun Street, New Orleans

I spent a good chunk of last Saturday morning wandering around uptown looking for something interesting to draw. I really liked the way these trees on Calhoun street formed a sort of arch in front of the houses. This is one of those drawings where I'm really not sure if it's finished or not. I ran out of time while I was working on the cars and thought I might put in more detail on them when I got home, but looking at it now I think they might be better if I just leave them the way they are.

Soup's On

My wife made soup last night and, while I wasn't much help in the preparation, I did my best to capture her delicious efforts in my sketchbook.

Figure Drawing at Fair Grinds Cafe

Fair Grinds in mid-city has a figure drawing session on Thursday nights. I went down last week and had a great time drawing from a model for the first time in many moons, although I had to leave before the long pose. Still, I think I got a few good ones in from the 5-10 minutes poses. Note for anyone who might be viewing this page at work: these are drawings of a model posing without the burden of clothing.

Sketching in the French Quarter

Steeple of Saint Louis Cathedral.




A doorway in the courtyard at the Royal Grounds Cafe, which is by far my favorite place to get coffee in the Quarter.


This stern looking gentleman of the law was not actually present today, at least not in the flesh. This is the statue of Justice Edward Douglas White on the steps of the courthouse on Royal Street.

Watercolor still life

Here are a couple of attempts at a watercolor still life with some apples and my wife's extremely stylish green dress. On the second attempt I decided to try to work in a little ink to draw out some of the lines. I should note that I did this in a couple of sittings and that I had to do the last few shadows from memory after the apples started to smell a little funny and I was forced to throw them away in the interest of olfactory happiness throughout my household.

Watercolor

I've been taking a watercolor workshop over the past few weeks with Joan DaGradi (see her blog), a wonderful local painter who has also turned out to be a really excellent teacher. I'm still getting a handle on the materials and trying to find ways to keep my paintings from degenerating into untamed maelstroms of dripping chaos, but I've really been enjoying it. Included below are a couple of my early efforts. The self portrait was done in front of the mirror while the hippo, sadly, was not drawn from life. Someday I will head down to the zoo and try that for real.

Another Mardi Gras Photo

I drew this from a photo I took during the Thoth parade on Saint Charles ave. Being a New Orleans police officer during Mardi Gras seems like it could be really aggravating and stressful, but this guy had a giant smile on his face the whole time he was out there.

I worked on this over a couple of sittings with a charcoal pencil and, while I am mostly happy with it, I think I kind of blew it on the left arm and a couple of proportion issues throughout the figure. There was a good stretch when I was living in San Francisco when my wife and I got pretty into figure drawing through some sessions with City College, but I haven't been able to find anything comparable in New Orleans. Working on this drawing has left me with an itch to get back into it, so hopefully I can find a place to draw from a model. I'd appreciate any suggestions if someone reading this knows of a place around town that isn't too expensive.

Z'otz Cafe Window

Z'otz cafe on Oak street is quickly becoming one of my favorite spots in New Orleans. My wife and I spent a good chunk of our morning sitting in their courtyard, enjoying some coffee and some amazing weather. I also took the opportunity to sketch their window and a few of their many plants.

Mardi Gras

I really wanted to get out and do some sketching during Mardi Gras, but I'm afraid I ended up getting a little distracted by the parades and the parties and I never got around to it. I did take a lot of pictures though, and this ink drawing is from one that I took during Thoth last Saturday.