London Trip

So I decided to go to London to end the year. Samuel Johnson has said "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life."

I like London, but I'm not sure I agree. In any case, he was biased, being that he was an Englishman, and don't all homogeneous cultures tend to think of themselves as the best and the brightest? I'm sure the Chinese probably have a variation as to why their cities are the best. This may be an old joke, but certainly the food must be better. When I was first in England over 10 years ago, the food was pretty bad. Now it's just okay. The potato chips however, are fantastic, if you like meat-flavored potato chips. Which I do. Sue me.

Annnyway....
I did a lot of sketching in the National Portrait Gallery, which is just off to the side of the National Gallery. I like the portrait gallery better. I suppose because I'm more into pictures of real people, and also because there are several good Sargent paintings there. What's funny is that in the National Gallery, there are romantic depictions of historical events. One of my favorite paintings there (or as the British would say "favourite") is "The Execution of the Lady Jane Grey". Jane Grey was executed by Queen Mary (a.k.a "Bloody" Mary). There was a romantic movie that came out about the event sometime in the 80's I think, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes (Welsey from "The Princess Bride").

Here's the National Gallery painting of Lady Jane Grey
And here is the National Portrait Gallery portrait of her (i.e. what she really looked like)I think this is the reason why the British go slightly crazy when one of the aristocracy is born and he/she isn't hideous.

The National Portrait Gallery is a fun place to see what England's historical figures actually looked like. Sometimes it's also fun because of all the wigs the men used to wear. There is one room that is full of men in wigs. They were the cool kids of their time, politicians, philosophers, and were called the Kit-Kat Club. All-titled, and I really do think, uniformly ugly. But who needs looks when you have money, right?

There is also a very large painting done by Sargent depicting the officers of WWI. It's an impressive painting in that it was done at all, but in terms of a work of art, it really didn't do anything for me. However, the sense of what WWI did and what was lost, was clear. Because in the same room as this:

there is a sculpture of one of the pilots of WWI. The sculpture, which was probably only about 3 feet tall, there is the sense of determination and joy of life that maybe you can only have when you're 21. Which is how old this man (boy?) was, when he was shot down.

And it made me think about all those old men's faces, with their solemn, proud, "we are the serious men doing serious work" expressions. Perhaps they were heroes too, perhaps they did understand the gravity of the choices they were making. But every single last one of them was too old to go to the front.

So there you go.

Kaia

So, this is a straightforward sketch of my newish niece, otherwise known as "The Best Baby in the World". When she gets older, I am going to buy her candy and toys, and lie to my sister and brother-in-law that I was a responsible and disciplined auntie. It's going to be awesome.

I felt I was a little heavy handed here in the sketch, it lacks the delicacy I think sketches of babies need. I generally don't like non-cartoony drawings of babies for the reasons I don't love this drawing. It's difficult to make them look "soft". I think most drawings and paintings of babies, end up making them look like those weird Renaissance cherubs...just overstuffed.

Speaking of Renaissance, Taschen has their 25th anniversary series out, and heavily discounted versions of some of their books. The Leonardo one is noteable...as it originally came out for $200, and you can get it on Amazon for $47. Look for Frank Zollner as the author.

A really beautiful Michelangelo book by the same author, also from Taschen is out. Unfortunately, that one is actually $200.

Cafe sketches -Cole Valley



So I did these back in Sept while housesitting for my friend Sadie. Her neighborhood has a large quantity of extremely good looking, youngish people. It's like kids from the Haight got money, decided to stop taking recreational drugs, and now only take a bong hit once in awhile to maintain their alternative credentials and perhaps, nostalgia value.

Like how I sometimes listen to Madonna music...not because I think it's any good, but because it's easy time travel to a different , less complicated time of my life.

A less critical time in my life apparently, because I obviously liked Madonna music then.

Ashley


so this is the first panel from a comic that I've been working on...for way too long. I finally made some progress on it after not bringing it much past the thumbnail stage

the Grove on Chestnut and Fillmore






trying to work a little looser in the sketching. It's fun, but it does make me more nervous if someone catches me. Because unlike drawing portraits, this is not about catching people at their best, is it? It's all about noticing things like "Hey, that guy looks like a less evil Dick Cheney!" Which you know, even with the "less evil" qualification, isn't really a compliment.

It's one of the best feelings in the world to hit your stride while sketching in a cafe. The first day this weekend was a bit rough, but today went great...I started off fairly loose, and just had a lot of fun.

sculpture



This is a sculpture I did a few months ago. Water based clay. I thought I should photograph it because it's pretty fragile. In fact, the hand fell off about five minutes after I finished snapping the pictures.

I'd like to get a chance to do more detailing next time, finish up the face, fingers, toes, etc. I always seem to run out of time. It would probably help if I managed to do the solid six week sessions. Damn life always seem to get in the way of art.

cafe sketching

So I went out sketching again this weekend (last weekend I didn't do so great: very rusty) Today was pretty fun.
The guy on the far right had a combover, but it's hard to tell in the drawing. When I tried to hit a highlight there, it just looked like I was making his hair look shiny, so I took it out. I have trouble representing a "good" combover...it just always looks like I can't draw hair. If anyone can point me to people who have done this well, please let me know. :-p

There were some fantastic noses that walked through the cafe today (with bodies attached, of course)
Ok, so the following isn't strictly a sketching observation here, and I know I'm making snap judgements...sue me. But I first spotted the guy on the far right at the cafe counter and thought he had the air of someone who tells long, dull stories about himself with the idea that the listener would find them fascinating (I realize that I'm setting myself up for comments about my lack of irony in making this statement) Anyway, I was thinking this, perhaps prejudiced by the combination of balding and long hair (a fashion DON'T) or perhaps it was the long suede jacket (please see previous post about old guys and leather).

Then the guy sat next to me, and I overheard (okay, eavesdropped) on his conversation with his companion. No kidding, he started talking about irritable bowel syndrome and gastro-intestinal distress. Then he asked his companion if she were so inflicted. Answer: no. He seemed surprised, and even a bit disappointed by her answer.

I disliked him immediately. But fortunately, this will be unlikely to affect his life or mine.

"Hey, did you know I have a house in Marin?"


So I went out sketching in Union Square on Sunday. Grandpa Slick here thought he'd try and impress a girl that was likely in diapers when he was going through his 3rd divorce.

Just a note, after 45, a leather jacket looks like a desperate bid to cling to youth. The shine on the leather merely echoes the reflectivity of a growing forehead.

Let it go.

At the symphony


went to the symphony a couple of days ago. Couldn't do much drawing for obvious reasons...but felt compelled to jot down a couple. There were a lot of interesting balding patterns from where I sat...Someday, when I'm old, I will remember this, and remember my lack of sympathy for comical geriatric hairdos..and that will be my punishment.

Anger Kitten

Less of a sketch, more of a doodle. When someone really pisses me off, and something comically bad happens to them (schadenfreude, if you will), while re-telling the story, sometimes I would pantomime stroking a kitten, because the memory was just that precious.

This is that kitten.

just goofing around

I actually did some cafe sketching this weekend, but I didn't like anything I did, so I'm posting this instead. Not too exciting, a couple of weeks ago I was bored and copied some pictures of celebrities from magazines, playing around a bit with proportions. (Just in case any of you guys were wondering if Willie Nelson was actually in SF on Sunday...that would be...no)

some sketches


So I went out sketching over the weekend. I found these great sketchbooks at Arch Drafting Supplies in Potrero Hill. Basically, they're like the Cachet Earthbound sketchbooks, except they're spiral bound, instead of sewn in pages. I prefer that so I can have the book lay flat when I'm drawing. The only thing I really wish is that the paper had a little more tooth to it.