Homework: Still Life Versions

Homework for class: Ink Drawing

I started with simple, tiny, (2" X 4"), 

02 Micron pen drawings  (below)

But afterwards, I couldn't resist 

making a color version. (above)

 I love the feel of the ink line, 

but one should not keep scribbling 

on one's little drawing because one will be left with:

Only a black surface.

So, I continued scratching & hatching 

on new versions.

(Above): minimal line.

I love it, but it takes restraint 

to not keep going. And, so it is in life. 

Learning to know when & how to stop,
or to move on to the next.

Why a Drawing Class?

 "Why would you take a drawing class

when you already know how to draw?" someone asked.

Because:

• In drawing one never stops progressing & learning.

• One learns from other students as well as a teacher.

• New energy & motivation.

• New exercises & materials = good bye comfort zone!

• Homework!

• Community of folks with similiar passions

The above drawing may appear to be similiar 

to many I've posted.

But:

It was re-drawn with my familiar ink 

from a fast, on-location pencil sketch

which was new & different.

I haven't used graphite in a long time. 

And I used a "WOODLESS PENCIL", 

introduced to us in class. Very dark, smooth, & rich! 

An in-class exercise also affected the way I'm drawing now: 

Drawing with our non-dominant hand! 

A wonderful way to loosen one's approach!

I HAD to do it when I had a wrist injury,

but the comfort zone made me abandon the practice 

when the wrist healed. 

Illustrations: Library Kids' Stuff

This little guy bear has been coming with me 

to library story times for a long time.

We don't do that many, now that we are retired,
but we still do enjoy them.

This is an image I created for the children's page 

of the Scarborough Public Library, 
back in my days of being children's room library worker.

The Sight of the Stars

"For my part, I know nothing with any certainty.

But the sight of the stars makes me dream."

~Vincent Van Gogh

Last night I dreamed I was looking up at the stars 

 & remembering how I loved to do that in the past. 

These days I dream,

but I forget to go out to look at the sight of the stars.

From the Walking Bridge, these days, 

I watch loons, ducks, gulls, cormorants & seals. 

The Walking Bridge which goes over the Passy River 

where it runs into Belfast Harbor 

and then to Penobscot Bay 

 which opens out to the open sea.

From the Walking Bridge these early evenings, 

I am treated to the sight of curtains of rain 

falling from violet-gray dense clouds

10 miles out across the Bay, 

over the Castine Peninsula 

& beyond that Blue Hill.

Up close along the path to the Walking Bridge 

I am treated to sweet ferns dancing, 

inviting me to touch them

with their natural perfume.

These days wild flowers are shrivelling 

& displaying seeds with white feathery wings. 

These days, through the car windows 

on Maine road trips, 

I am treated to the sight of rolling hills 

& gold toned meadows,

distant hills, & apples sparkling on trees. 

I want last night's dream to come true,

to enjoy the these early autumn nights, 

as well as these amazing days.

Portland Cafés

So I moved from a city that I love to a small town that I love. I've been tuning into feelings of homesickness, lately, mal du pays, nostalgia, longing, in Polish its called tęsknota.There are concrete aspects of the city that I don't miss: pollution, traffic, low flying airplanes. But I miss some places terribly: the cafés for example. Some of them moved away as did I: Cambridge Café, Portland Coffee Roasting, and Mornings in Paris. Above is a scene from 2000 at the old Portland Coffee Roasting that was on Commercial Street. Cafés are for many people places for conversation, for me, they are most often a place where I love studying my French and, of course, sketching.