New Works

August 2023

I've been playing around with different ink mediums, with mixed results. I have tried out ink and pen, brush and ink, and different brush pens. My favourite by far is the Pentel Color Brush! I love the tip on this one. The grey tones are done with brush dipped in diluted ink.

Why three drawings of the same blue jay? I liked all three for different reasons! I couldn't pick "the best" (one of four did not make the cut.)

Here are also a few sketches of student at De La Salle high school in Ottawa, see the entry for May.

May 2023

I got back to sketching birds. Here are blue jays, white-throated sparrows, and a great crested flycatcher (which have been hanging around our yard recently). They are mostly in ink, but also watercolour and painted graphite.

I also have some recent sketches of students from L'école secondaire De La Salle in Ottawa. They are mostly looking down at their phone or laptop, and young people don't sit still which is great for my visual memory!

More dancers from Powwow Life Drawing at the National Arts Centre, see previous post. Plus a few more gestures drawn at my son's hockey practices and a couple of ink brush studies from online photos.

August 2022

I had the amazing opportunity to draw Powwow dancers at the National Arts Centre yesterday. They were so mesmerizing that it was very hard to focus on drawing! My eyes were glued on the dancers! Especially the hoop dancer who continually slid and shifted his hoops to tell a story, making it nearly impossible to look down at my paper. Did I mention that they move fast? The main focus was on gesture, and trying to capture a hint of their colourful regalia. There are sketches of the Traditional Jingle Dance, the Hoop Dance and the Grass Dance.

Also included in this update are a few hockey sketches from my son's last hocky practice, two new robins in ink and watercolour, a fun sketch of my son, and an ink painting of a nuthatch.