The next play is Into the Woods, which is a fairy-tale mash-up. It goes up in a couple weeks, and so we are in construction mode. Not all costume design is done with a needle and thread, and as you have probably guessed, I like building things that people don’t expect.

In the play, Cinderella has birds that help her out, and in most ( Read more... )

Over the last few years, there was an epidemic on many trees caused by a bug called the Emerald Ash Borer. At Parker Mill, they lost many trees. But they used the problem to make some benches.

This drawing is inspired by the “runes” on the ash-bench and some other dead-looking wood that I saw in the park.

Maybe over the next few days, I’ll ( Read more... )

The little catkins on trees always look like fairy skirts to me. Maybe it is just the influence of having read Thumbelina when I was young, but they seem so magical. More than flowers.

A sketch based on a wild lily photographed on a walk through Parker Mill Park this afternoon. Spring is coming, slowly.

There was enough frost on the car the past two mornings to leave me a little behind schedule.

The flower is about the size of a dime in reality, but the photos, of course are bigger.

When I was a kid, I loved oil pastels. I’d draw bright flowers, beautiful hillsides, and starry nights. There were drawings I’d do over and over, never exactly the same, but following the same formal constraints. Hill just so, sun or moon with these pastel-marks.

As a grown artist, I look back on those drawings with both fondness and chagrin.


( Read more... )

This entry is being written a day late. This is the drawing that I meant to do yesterday but didn’t do until tonight.

In a private lesson, we’ve been looking at famous artists. We started with Van Gogh, whose sunflowers are bright and shiny, though they don’t bloom until Summer or Autumn. Then last week and this, we’ve been looking at Georgia O’ ( Read more... )

Inspired by the intensely varied early spring weather. Call me crazy, because it is still COLD here, but my, how I’ve missed seasons!

Should probably have left out the trees, but felt like there needed to be something else to give the picture weight and direction.

It may not actually be a finished drawing. The yellow glow of the clouds doesn’t ( Read more... )

What is different about today’s drawing? Any guesses?

That’s right, it’s a lefty!

Gracie fell asleep on my right hand, and it was getting late so, without thinking I started the drawing left-handed. It took 5 minutes before I realized why it felt funny.

Is that a sign?

Inspired by today’s beautiful sunny sky, but not drawn from my photos of ( Read more... )

In Marching Band, I was in the flag corps. We would “visualize” our routines sometimes to help us practice. We’d sit in a circle, close our eyes, and imagine our bodies and our flags in perfect unison.

Today was a nice day, but it wasn’t the Platonic ideal of vernal weather. A little too cold, a little too sharp, not quite damp enough, at ( Read more... )

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