I did this one a few months back. I thought our life drawing model struck an unusually nice pose so I worked it up later into a finished drawing.

 I did this a while back, not sure why I never posted it. I think it fits well on the blog, so here it is. It's a little neighborhood home in Ft Lauderdale, Fl, probably built in the 50s or 60s. I liked the underlying abstract shapes in the composition.

 I've continued to work on a figure drawing styling/treatment lately. I think the technique is working. I'm feeling good about the progress. Here's a recent drawing.

 Here are some hand studies in a style I've developed recently. 

 I've recently developed a fuller richer method of life drawing. I've been doing life drawing from a model all my life and this method helps me do better finished life drawing work. Hopefully this method will translate to other subjects such as landscape, still life, etc.

 A quick life drawing from several years back.

 Here's some practice learning how the standard planes of the face work with our individual differences.

 I did this pastel at home today. I've been keeping in practice during this Covid thing. This is from a photo of Green Cay Preserve in Boca Raton. It's a beautiful place to visit and paint, I'm pretty sure it's closed right now though. I haven't gotten out to paint onsite in quite a while, it's very hot out here in south Florida. Although I have some friends that have been painting out, they're really troopers!

 I went back to on-site life drawing after just remote life drawing for a few months. After several standard realistic drawings I couldn't resist a creative approach. This one is obviously influenced by Pablo Picasso and the Cubists. Maybe a little Paul Klee or even Fernand Leger.

Still doing life drawing via Zoom. Not a bad way to keep the drawing chops up. Here's our model who now lives in Georgia. I thought I'd try toned paper to see what I can do with it.

A friend found me some coconuts so I've updated my drawing with a fuller treatment. I actually used the same pencil but took a little different approach. So, in the future I'll use different implements to see what results. It might be interesting to see.

We've been doing something different lately. Our friend Libby has been hosting life drawing sessions for the last year or so. She now has set up life drawing sessions online amid the Covid 19 crisis. Very different but much better than doing nothing during this time. It's good to see friends and get some drawing in. In this drawing you'll notice Noel is wearing pajamas, a statement on what's happening in our lives.

Here's a drawing session of something familiar in these parts. Growing up in Key West Florida we kids learned how to open these with our bare hands. We'd have to slam them on the ground a few times first to loosen the husk. Turns out they're also good subjects to practice drawing. I used a mechanical pencil for these which gives a clean crisp line. I'm going to have to do another coconut drawing session using different types of pencils to see the different looks that result.

Yes, it's been quite a while since I've posted anything. I've been busy working on my plein aire painting. I dug this old drawing up and I think it deserves to be posted. I was concentrating on design mostly when working on this one. It's a view from the north end of Smathers Beach in my home town of Key West, FL. I think it owes treatment style to both Paul Cezanne and maybe even the Surrealists.

Here's another one I did a while back. Not sure why I never posted. Growing up in Key West, Florida, this was a familiar sight to me. I think shrimp boats are going away though, a friend said they're not building them anymore. Maybe a little Paul Cezanne Influence but mostly Andrew Wyeth.

I've gone back to doing some life drawing with some friends lately. I think I've found a nice combination of drawing implements that work well together. Here's the final drawing from last nights figure session.

I've been up in Jupiter, Fl. this week painting with some of the participants in the Plein Air Festival sponsored by the Lighthouse Art Center. A good place to see the state of plein aire painting in America today. Here's a pastel I did at Riverbend Park today.

It's been a while so let me post this still life of random objects from the studio. This one is pretty straight forward without too much of a creative finish.

I was looking through some drawings and came across this block study. Definitely owes a debt to Paul Cezanne.

Well here is an example of the 'keeping tuned' process. This is something most artists don't do enough of. These are notan/value studies I did while watching some safari videos. I think doing these kinds of studies is similar to a musician practicing scales. It helps an artist keep tuned with the most important part of a painting, design and composition.

Another one I painted over a year ago. I'm not sure why I didn't post it. This is from a lovely public gardens in Palm Beach.

I did this one over a year ago when I just started doing plein aire work. It's one of my earliest plein aire pastels. I've been told a certain charm came through on it.

The group met at a beautiful park in Davie this morning. I did one that I think worked out well. I guess it's most influenced by Paul Cezanne and Richard Mckinley.

I was back home in Key West recently and had a chance to do a pastel at Smathers Beach. It was hot and windy but, I got it done. I don't think I've ever done a pastel in Key West before.

I'm still out doing pastel drawings/paintings plein aire (onsite). We were at a very nice wildlife preserve called Green Cay in Palm Beach county. It was a beautiful day today but, I know it will keep getting warmer and warmer as we head into summer in South Florida. I'm going to have to come up with clothing strategies to keep painting onsite in the heat.

I've been outdoors doing pastel drawings/paintings onsite for a few months now. Here's one I did this morning.

A drawing inspired by my recent visit to the Jupiter, Fl plein air competition. I didn't participate, but I enjoyed meeting some of the artists and seeing their excellent work. This is a scene from Sunday morning.

I have a question. Is a pastel work a painting or a drawing? I've seen it described both ways. Since this is my drawing blog I'm going to call them drawings for this site. At any rate, here is a recent plein aire pastel drawing I did this week. Plein aire artwork is artwork done outdoors, often in one sitting or day.  This one took about an hour and a half to complete last Tuesday.

Back to a graphite drawing for old times sake, a good a reason as any. Or is it because I must?

OK it's been a while. On this one, my dad and stepmom were house sitting a few years ago and I stopped by to visit. In our friends yard was a ceramic native stove and a tiki carving. I found those two objects intriguing and several years later here's a drawing.