Another Bargue plate

Here is another Bargue plate I did yesterday.  It forces you to first lay down the structure and proportions of a drawing.

Hand holding apple

I've been practicing drawing hands using a website for Figure and Gesture Drawing.  Hands communicate so many expressions.  This drawing expresses altruism through the gift of an apple but also in the way the hand presents the apple, as if the hand is saying "take this as a gift"

Art as Consolation

I discovered a very moving painting last year titled "The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy" by master artist Graydon Parrish.  September 11 was a very tragic day in the lives of Americans and Graydon's painting helps us to cope with our loss.  He speaks very eloquently about allegory, truth, beauty, and the trans-formative power of art in a series of YouTube videos discussing this painting.

Westerns

When I was a kid I used to love watching Western movies and TV shows.  I loved the freedom, wide open spaces, good-guy / bad-guy conflicts, romance, and sometimes tongue-in-cheek humor.  Here is a portrait of a cowboy actor you won't recognize because it looks nothing like him.  The eyes ended up a bit higher on the forehead than I intended.  But the only way to learn is to keep working at it.