that time again

It's #DrawingAugust time on twitter!

That magical time of year when people try to do some sort of daily markmaking and post the result with the hashtag so everyone can share and enjoy.

It's what got me started drawing, for which I will always be grateful.

I encourage anyone who feels inclined to jump right in -

the atmosphere is most welcoming!

Here are my first four, poorly photographed (I almost always do my markmaking at night, and take the snap with my sketchbook in one hand and camera in the other) but with lots of words to distract you from the quality of the snaps. Let's see if that works.

Day One: ink and watercolor, mug on a knitted coaster.

This is the big mug I used to have tea in every single day until the 13th of July, when I broke the glass insert for my teapot. I haven't made tea since. I am not saying this makes sense. Obviously there are other ways to make tea.

Anyway, this is a very nice handmade mug.

I hope I don't break it.

Day Two: an ink sketch based on a painting by Winslow Homer.

I often draw from photographs, but drawing from someone else's painting is new. I think I'll do more of it. Not attempting to copy paintings, but using them the way I use photographs. But isn't it interesting to see artists who can duplicate work? I vividly remember walking toward a gallery in the Louvre and suddenly getting a whiff of linseed oil. A painter was at work, making a copy. In the Louvre! And I wasn't allowed to take a waterbrush into the Fitchburg Art Museum.

(Maybe it was me?)

Day Three: an ink line drawing, detail of the perimeter fencing.

Today this exact spot on the Upper West Side fence is under a lot of pressure. Yesterday a large limb came down across the fence about 20 feet along, and it's creating tension in both directions. I'm hoping to have someone here with a chainsaw soon to help remove it.

 There is quite a lot of chainsaw work ahead, I am sorry to say.

Yesterday's storm was mighty.

I was very, very fortunate in terms of damage.

But it's hard not to feel sad when big, healthy trees come down.

If I had more land - and therefore more forest - it would be easier to see everything within the bigger picture of forest ecology. I know it, I understand it, I appreciate it. On my own hectare, of course I still see it that way, but I suppose I feel change on a more personal level? I don't know. I just know I do feel sad about the massive oaks that came down in the wooded part of my property.

Day Four: ink and watercolor,

detail of a bronze Tiffany Studios candleholder, c.1905.

Not much to say about this one. I was poking around online looking at Tiffany

desksets the way you do, and came across a pair of these candleholders on an auction site. After the elaborate decoration of the desksets, I found the simplicity of this design visually soothing. What do you think about Tiffany creations? Any favorites?

And that's it so far, for #DrawingAugust 2020.

I hope your Summer is going well.

Here it has been consistently uncomfortable - hot and muggy - nearly every day.

With thunderstorms for drama, followed by more hot and humid.

Piper and I have been spending the majority of our time
reclining on our respective lounges, letting the air conditioner blow breathable air
as directly as possible into our lungs.

It's not a bad life, but it sure doesn't get much done.

~~~~~