Keeping it simple

I did get out the paints today, to paint my date book cover red.
But more on that another day. I also painted a canvas red
as an underpainting and may start a little portrait tomorrow.

Today I drew. Working on David Lobenberg's idea of less
is more, http://davidlobenberg.blogspot.com/
I worked on simple ink sketches done with a brush
marker for the most part. The drawings are all done on white
paper, with black ink, but I'm having a hard time getting
the camera to see that reality.

A fast sketch of my friend Lyn
marker on bond paper
81/2 x 11 inches

I went to a great movie, which I highly recommend yesterday --
Slumdog Millionaire. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/
Steven and I and Sam sat riveted at the
story of a young uneducated Indian man winning at the Who
Wants to be a Millionaire game. It was terrifying, funny,
moving -- the whole gamut of emotions and sensations.
But watching it clarifies how far we have to go to make the
world equal for all -- to give every child a chance. That's
also true right here in Toronto. It's estimated that one child
in 6 in Canada lives in poverty. My students write about this
every year, and are shocked at the facts they uncover.

Back to drawing. This couple of weeks of drawing
instead of painting has been good for me. For one thing
the discipline of drawing is always important to a painter
trying to capture something like an accurate image.
Skip Lawrence is right when he says -- "it's not what
you see, it's what you make". http://www.skiplawrence.com/
But what you see determines what you make in a portrait.

My brother Andrew
marker on bond paper
8 1/2 x 11 inches

I know I went a bit overboard with the line on the dog, but I still
like this sketch of my brother's dog Tao. He is without a doubt
one of the cutest dogs I've ever met. I'm not taking anything away
from Zoey when I say this, she knows Tao is cute, and would
agree with me 100%.

Tao
marker on bond paper
8 1/2 x 11 inches

I hope you've had a happy day, and are back to the drawing
board or easel and liking the results.

Have a -what-do-you-know-it's-the-weekend-again! day.