Copy of Da Vinci’s Study of a Male, at Windsor Castle, Royal Library. I don’t see an image of the drawing online, although the companion frontal drawing is readily available. The original was done in red chalk, pen and ink. I used a sepia Conte stick for the chalk and a light orange chalk pencil for the ink, which was (faded to?) beige in the reproduction I have.
From life drawing class
Last week. I started from black and worked up from the shadows. I like this inverted way of drawing. Didn’t have enough time to finish, although it was an interesting way to work.
A book in between the drawings
A small commission of a single poem. I love this marbleized paper — I’ve got at least two color schemes of this design, and I hope I’ll be able to get more when I run out. I’ve had it awhile — probably 6 or 7 years. It coordinates beautifully with Schmincke ultramarine blue calligraphy gouache.
With this small commission I started a series of trial papers that I hope to keep together so that I don’t keep reinventing the wheel. I was looking for a text-weight paper that plays nicely with the ultramarine blue. Ultramarine doesn’t play nicely in the pen to begin with, so there’s all the more reason to find that paper that doesn’t add to the general trouble. I thought I was going to have to settle for Crane’s Crest, but I was finally able to make Somerset Book laid work well enough, on one side at least, which is all you need for an accordion book. Which is what this was.
Anyway, now I have similarly sized samples of both sides of Somerset Book Laid, Mohawk Vellum, Lana Laid, Arches Text Wove (which is good if you’re painting but why struggle with it for straight lettering?) and Crane’s Crest. I’ll keep using them as samples until I’ve covered them so completely I’ve got to start another sheet.
… and even more body parts
I’m not even sharing all 30 noses with you. Nice of me, eh? The second image is of the last of seven (count ’em, 7) pages of noses. I was evidently a little punchy by then: the second to last nose is a bunny nose …
More body parts
Only 1-1/2 weeks left in this compressed semester. Figure Drawing has been less painful than I anticipated, although the results have been every bit as lame as I envisioned. The difference, I think, is that I know longer worry about whether I’m going to fail. So when I do fail, it’s not that painful anymore. I’m actually more cheerful about all this than it sounds. Noses will be next.
Figure Drawing assignment — partial
Here are a mere 18 of the 30 drawings of eyes that were assigned, and due last Monday. The assignment due today: 30 mouths.
This semester is a sprint.
Sometime I’ll post some of the mouths, maybe more eyes, and a cover shot of single-poem book I made recently. Sometime when I get a chance to catch my breath …
Work in progress/regress/progress
It’s been very, very hectic here. This semester I’m taking Figure Drawing and LoFi Video. Both fun, but the scheduled is doubled up, so it will be a sprint for the next 5 weeks.
This piece (detail doesn’t include personalization stuff at the bottom) is almost finished. Frustratingly, I discovered that the last name of two of the parents (shown here blurred around the circle) was misspelled as sent to me. Aargh. I’m waiting for an absolutely completely dry correction and the intestinal fortitude to take the knife to it.
Delicious food, scintillating conversation
One of the great things about being a calligrapher is that after you’ve been to someone’s house for an evening which included a really wonderful dinner and great conversation, you can write a thank-you note that at least begins to do justice to the occasion.
Dinner was mostly Romanian, with many, many courses. Appetizers included olives, cheese, trout in pastry cups. Dinner began with crudites and eggplant dip. Then borscht — the vegetarian Romanian version is much lighter than the Russian version. Then three vegetarian dishes featuring mushrooms in phyllo containers, spinach in a crepe type of roll, and a delicious squash dish. Dessert: chestnut creme cake and some kind of raspberry tart thing. Tea, coffee, dessert wine. I probably missed something.
We waddled home late, worn out from eating and talking nonstop. It was lovely.
Feathers, Fins & Foliage: Artist Books on Florida
Feathers, Fins & Foliage: Artist Books on Florida
LeMoyne Center for the Visual Arts in Tallahassee, Florida, is seeking submissions for a juried exhibition of handmade artist books embracing themes of Florida’s natural resources – places, animals, and plants.
This exhibition will be presented in conjunction with LeMoyne’s annual exhibition of jewelry.
Postmark deadline for entries: July 11, 2008
Exhibition dates: October 3-26, 2008
Eligibility: Open to artist books of any medium and style created as either an edition or one-of-a-kind. Open to all living artists who reside in the North America over 18 years of age. Artwork must have been completed within the last 3 years.
Prospectus and entry form may be found at http://www.callibeth.com/bookshow2008/
Contact Beth Lee, callibeth@callibeth.com, or Julia DeHoff, 850-224-9751, if you have questions or need more information.
Graham Creek
Yesterday I went kayaking with friends on the Graham Creek. It was a beautiful trip. We were on the water from about 5 to 9pm, I guess, and saw only one other boat. The tupelos were just beginning to bloom and the bees were beginning to gather on them. As we kayaked under blooming tupelo branches, a low drone permeated the air. Last year my friends, who also keep bees, were here on a day when the bees swarmed on the tupelo blooms and the noise was so deafening they couldn’t hear each other speaking. We were a few days too early to experience that.
As the sun went down, the reflection of the trees on the water seemed to have the same weight of reality as the trees themselves. When the bees stopped humming, the air was still except for the occasional paddle.
The spider lilies were in bloom, clumps of glowing white in the gathering gloom at the roots of the cypress stumps. These were growing close enough to the bank of the creek for me to photograph.
On the trip down to the creek, we had been talking about the connection of pagan religions to nature. (Notwithstanding the stained glass of Abbot Suger’s 13th-century Church of St. Denis which followed a theology of God as light. But I digress.) Out on the water, the overlapping roots and cypress knees reminded me of the animal style of Celtic decoration with its interlaced and knotted dogs and lions. I thought about how the monks on Holy Island began including birds in their illuminations in the Lindisfarne Gospels. And why not? They were on an island, and birds were a big part of their visual vocabulary.
So now I’m thinking about a North Florida animal style of illumination or knotwork which incorporates these roots:
Probably I’ll need to do more research. Another kayak trip. What we do for art, eh?