The car is a model I'd had for years and I created a pencil drawing of a fantasy city scene around it. The gal in the skirt bears a resemblance to my wife, but she denies it.
Tropical Fish sketch drawn from life in my friend's aquarium.
Brother-in-Law's cat, ToTo.
Reptile Eye
9 x 12"
Tempera
Portrait Bust of Ingres in charcoal, drawn from sculpture by Bourdelle
In my younger days I often visited the galleries in Washington DC and drew from the sculptures. This drawing was done at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. This sculpture was bronze portrait bust by Antoine Bourdelle. I took liberties with the values, especially the vacant eyes.
"Shopping the Rusafa District in Baghdad, 2006"
This was a very dangerous time, the Summer 0f 2006.
The electrical service was sporadic so food wouldn't keep. Iraqi civilians, mostly women with their kids, had to go to the markets often to get food. There they were prayed upon by the warring guerrilla factions. Large explosions with high casualty counts made headlines, which in the minds of barbarians, somehow advances their cause. It was awful. My Iraq veteran comrades carry these haunting images which cannot be forgotten.
The electrical service was sporadic so food wouldn't keep. Iraqi civilians, mostly women with their kids, had to go to the markets often to get food. There they were prayed upon by the warring guerrilla factions. Large explosions with high casualty counts made headlines, which in the minds of barbarians, somehow advances their cause. It was awful. My Iraq veteran comrades carry these haunting images which cannot be forgotten.
Portrait study from marble bust of the painter Gerome by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
Drawing from sculpture is a great way to practice. I'm always sure to credit the sculptor.
Charcoal study of sculpture "Head of a Woman (Cressida)" by Henry Fitch Taylor
Here is a drawing I did from life of a marble bust at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gardens in Washington, DC.
Portrait Study from a metal bust "Head of Diana" by Alexander Falguiere
This is another in the series of drawings I made from sculpture at Washington, DC museums. This statue was made of a copper alloy, I believe.
Fantasy Skeleton study
This was a sketch I made based on knowledge of drawing human skeletons in Art Class. It was on the bottom of a page of drawings of tropical fish in a buddy's aquarium.
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THE TRAGIC IRAQI WOMAN
Model: Jade Elizabeth, http://elizabethclaret.daportfolio.com/
This is an ink wash drawing I did based on some sketches I made in Iraq in 2003 - 2008 and some drawings I did in an art class. The model, Jade Elizabeth, by coincidence is an Air Force veteran of the Iraq war.
Upchurch Dragon
Pencil and fountain pen
...a life drawing of a plastic figurine
This dragon began as a demonstration of how to pencil sketch that I did at a table of little kids at Upchurch elementary school. I went over the pencil sketch with a fountain pen and showed the class how pencil sketches are the first step to more involved work. I am very pleased with the spontaneity of this work. It really thrilled the kids.
Here is another view of the same dragon.
Flying House
Dry-Erase Marker
Demonstration, done in front of elementary art class
I drew constantly for my art students. Here are a few:
Close-Up view of Pilot and Chicken-Deck
Imaginative Lettering
Dry Erase Marker
Classroom demo on decorative lettering
Draw Roses
Dry Erase Marker
I forgot the thorns!
Sunken wreck
Dry Erase Marker
A classroon drawing demo
Native American Faces
Hybrid Creature
Dry Erase Marker
Scary Eyed Monster
Dry Erase Marker
Horse Drawing
Dry Erase Marker
Peacock
Dry Erase Marker
Classroom demonstration
Black Cat
Dry Erase Marker
Classroom Drawing demonstration
Spooky Halloween Gate
Dry Erase Marker
Good-bye, Upchurch!
This was the first drawing I did for the classes on my first day of school. It was on the board when all the classes came in and it got such a great response that I always tried to keep cool drawing up. Now, the man on the horse is waving goodbye... It is very Bittersweet....
Part of a series of sketches I did at Fleishhacker Zoo in San Francisco.
A Water Buffalo at Fleishhacker Zoo.
Crucifix
This wooden Crucifix hangs in my in-law's house in rural Bavaria. I drew it one Sunday morning long ago, after breakfast. I spent six years in Germany while in the service.
This is a small peuter figurine of a Crusader I bought on a trip to Germany.
My Brother-in-Law's chicken. He lives in Germany and I tried to get an Albrecht Durer feel to the drawing. Durer had a really big influence on me. Several of his prints hung in our home and I've marveled at them since I can remember.
Skull study
A model skull. He is named "Eugene" after the great French painter, Delacroix! I've done countless drawings of him so as to better understand the underlying structure of the face.
Sylvia the Panther at Fleishhacker Zoo, San Francisco, mid 1970's
This panther, Sylvia, paced endlessly around her little living space. She would stop and pose for only few seconds and then restlessly move on. Again she would stop in a different spot, strike a pose, and move on. All together there were about ten or twelve places she would stop at and I could only get a few seconds of drawing time at each station. Eventually, she would work her way back to each spot and I'd draw her for a few more seconds. In this way I gradually, a little at a time, completed several pages of sketches of her.
Narrow Baghdad Alley
I drew this from memory soon after returning home from Iraq for the last time. There was far more clutter, cars, merchants and debris on the streets of Baghdad, but the expressions on the Iraqis are fairly accurate. Also, Iraqi men do not often wear the tight jeans, either. Everyone made eye contact with us - but it was hard to read what their expressions meant. Many seemed to be so happy to see us, while others hated us to the core. It was complicated - they were desperate and afraid for their lives. Guerilla war is not for the squeamish! The mysterious ladies in black were everywhere, with thier eyes communicating always.
Aboard an Arab Dhow
This was done from memory soon after I'd been aboard an actual Dhow sailing ship on the Doha Spur in Kuwait. Kuwait fishermen were far different from their land-locked countrymen. It was like going back in time and left quite an impression on me.
Detail of Iraqi Women Shopping in Rusafa District, Baghdad
The mysterious ladies in black... I admit that I embellish their figures which are very well hidden by thier abayas. I freely take artistic license because in real life it is still very apparent that they are gorgeous by the way they move, talk and look out from behind thier veils. No disrespect intended - it's just how I see.
Masonary Wall in Germany - an Impression
After a day of exploring around the village my wife grew up in, I sketched this.
