A new model – new to me anyway – and some new media, gave my drawing a much needed boost last Friday and I was quite pleased with the results. The portrait above was done with graphite – a nice thick, soft stick of graphite. Ears, for your your information, are very difficult to draw but I did my best. Remembering that they had once been described as resembling the shape of a question mark helped.

Oil pastels were employed in the portrait below.

In both portraits the model looks younger. In reality he was in his mid-70s.

One of the drawing assignments I gave my class this summer was texture. I borrowed the texture hand worksheet from my colleague at PVHS who also gave me the idea for the texture animal combining at least three different animals.

Quite by accident I happened to spy the texture animal below while riding my bike along the Ohlone trail under the BART tracks.

If you’re interested in seeing this critter up close and personal, it’s located at Solano Ave at Masonic. It’s an example that I hope to show my students in the Fall. I particularly love the feathers. I’m not sure of the medium but I think it’s some sort of decal.

There’s more art along this path which I’ll try and feature in future posts. I love riding my bike around town!

Earlier today I got a shot for tennis elbow but my entire arm – mostly my shoulder – hurts like a mother right now. My mother is hurting me too. So in view of my injuries, all I can offer you right now is a short pose. Fear not – longer poses coming.

Somehow I always end up with the model’s back. But I’m not complaining. My worst day drawing is better than my best day at work.

Like an out of shape runner, I’ve taken up drawing again…but I’m out of practice! I have no stamina. I could barely get through the two hour class! Srsly, it was great to be rubbing charcoal across the page and even though I’m rusty and the results are primitive, it felt good. I can’t believe that it’s been over a year since I last made a drawing.

I mangled the left eye in the portrait of David but thanks to our 82 year old instructor, Jack Katz, I can now draw ears with confidence (and David has fantastic ears, I can assure you). Doesn’t it look grand?

I use the analogy of running because I believe drawing to be a practice like music or dance or sports or anything that requires perseverance. We aren’t born virtuosos and I think too often we forget that. There’s also the self-expression and the feeling of transcendence I get just smearing charcoal, carving dark lines and erasing to create highlights. This philosophy was bestowed upon me by the great drawing guru Phil Sylvester of the Drawing Studio and if you ever have a chance, do yourself a favor and take a class from Phil. You won’t regret it. Even if you think you can’t draw. You can. Anyone can.

It’s been a few weeks but I return with the regular Wednesday Doodle feature and it’s another one of Max’s doodles from years ago. Oh the twisted imagination of the male adolescent.

Before I forget, I have a few links I wanted to share with you. The Ministry of Cats turned me on to the Bread Art Project and maybe the Gray Hair gallery too. I can’t remember. It’s been a few weeks and I can barely remember anything from five minutes ago! Both cool sites and worth checking out.

Also another shot of the graduate Alice taken by Sean Morrison, photography instructor at Union High School. Check out the entire set at flickr if you have time. Pretty cool shots of high school students about to commence. I found them quite touching.

It’s kind of funny that Alice, voted “Best Smile” by her classmates, barely grinned in the photo.

Ok these are a little more sophisticated than your average doodle, I grant you that. They started life as drawings Max made more than 10 years ago. When I started learning web design in 1998, I scanned them, turned them into .gifs and made Max a mini-web site to showcase these characters.

The website is long since gone – I’ve recently switched to bluehost – but the doodles of young man’s imagination live on.

Here’s the scenario: bored and stranded at the airport, the kids steal my gold pen and proceed to doodle. I believe this was most likely a joint effort. I think Alice has the makings of a future designer or interior decorator.

On a totally unrelated note, here’s what I was working on a year ago and I still am.

Don’t you just love little girl doodle drawings?