the traditional fruit plate

On 8x8 canvas board.

An actual painting! Practicing with acrylics.

Done in one session.

what's in front of me

I was waiting for a phone call and started drawing the jumble on my art table. I got through the whole corner and went off to do something else before the call came.

Pencil on Strathmore drawing paper.

a clay animal, this time

A little elephant I bought at a flea market. He's made of an interesting streaky stuff--the woman said it was ceramic. No, just clay, maybe.

I didn't draw in the patterning on his hide, obviously.

shades of gray

Charcoal and white pastel on random paper. Just playing.

Weber grill

Cookout season is always a good time. Love our Weber, never wanted a gas grill.

Pen and w/c on Strathmore drawing paper.

the painted-in version

I redrew this pose from an earlier black and white drawing, to practice with color placement.

Pen and w/c.

cat on green

He stayed still enough for me to get his markings right.

Pencil and w/c.

the model I work from

Why so many of my drawings look something like this (if I'm lucky).

I only draw from the live model, never a photograph.

It's boring to copy a 2D past-moment image when there's a challenge of sketching a live, twitching, may-escape-at-any-time animal.

speed with accuracy

This chair is complex enough to make repeated practice from multiple angles, in all media, interesting. This version is sliding down the boat deck, apparently.

Prismacolor water-soluble pencil, 8B, dry.

concrete cat

For years I've had this cat out in the weather. But he can still trick me into thinking he's real.

Water soluble pencil in the Fabriano Venezia journal.

burning a hole

One way to start a collage.

Various things glued down, stamped and painted. In the Fabriano Venezia journal.

greenman 2

This one looks more like Wolfman.

Ink and w/c on hot press.

previous models reappear in a pile

Going for color and energy here.

Pen and w/c in the Fabriano Venezia journal.

look for the fish

Layers of paint, pastel, charcoal and stamping became an underwater scene. It's dim, but there's a fish and some seaweed in there.

In a Fabriano Venezia journal. Great paper!

Fish enhanced--I think he's angry.

super simple sandals

These have just 2 straps, but stay on so well!

Pen and w/c on random paper.

practicing heads

Imagined ones. Pencil on Strathmore drawing paper.

Pema in pencil

Done from a photograph of Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron. I used a very soft Prismacolor water-soluble pencil, which means no erasing except of the faintest lines.

Her mouth isn't quite right, but given I put this down with no changes possible to shaded areas (erasing leaves a dark smudge instead of lifting), I'm very pleased with how it came out.

On Strathmore drawing paper.

Roz says, fill the pages fast

When trying to get out of a journal volume fast, Roz Stendahl says use all the paper but burn through the pages with sketches.

I can't wait to get away from this paper, so am filling it with anything so I can move on.

soluble graphite on spongy paper

A light touch of water worked, in spite of the paper's lack of sizing.

the color saves it

Sometimes the wonkiest drawing on the spongiest paper has such charm, that it just makes me smile.

Pen and w/c on that absorbent Asian paper in journals.

dabbling on the Fourth

Amid the yellow/blue/green of summer, some red splotches and vague tire tracks seemed to fit for today.

It only makes sense to me.

faces in the woods

The woods are so lush and exuberant now, there has to be a satisfied Green Man in there.

making postcards

A pad of blank postcards is a convenient size for quick simple, mostly colorful, sketches.

Pen, w/c and pastel pencil.