A sobering overview of the historical usage of chemical weapons usage during WWI, the Iraq wars, and the recent chemical atrocities by Syria and Russia. With former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and retired General Richard Myers, Dr. Tom Sack, President and CEO of MRIGlobal, and Dr. Ron Trewyn, the National Bio and Agro-defense […]
Pencil study of the sandstone Head of Buddha (584 AD) from the collection of the Nelson Atkins Museum:This sandstone Buddha head originally resided in Cave Eight of the Tianlongshan Buddhist caves in Shanxi province. It is dateable to 584 A.D. by the stele outside the Cave Eight entrance. Cave Eight is approximately 14 feet on a […]
Pencil study of The Elephant Hunter sculpture (1927), by Malvina Hoffman. This was one of the most striking pieces from the current retrospective of Hoffman’s work at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. If you are in Iowa, I recommend taking time to visit this exhibition.Like her mentors Borglum and Rodin, Hoffman gravitated toward interpreting the […]
A sketchbook page showing gouache drawings after Teniers (Temption of St. Anthony) and Pieter Aertsen (Adoration of the Magi – Presentation in the Temple). Here I am trying to figure out color and composition for my current paintings.
Old pencil sketch from 1995, City Union Mission. An african-american mother, her daughter and son. #sketchbook #lifedrawing #flesh #portrait #portraits #pencil #imagodei #fromlife #africanamerican
Old pencil sketch from 1995, City Union Mission. An african-american young man. Having rediscovered this from my sketchbooks many times over the last 20 years, I consider this one of the finest drawings I’ve ever made. #sketchbook #lifedrawing #flesh #portrait #portraits #pencil #imagodei #fromlife #africanamerican
#Pencil #drawing from 1992 of a mother #braiding her daughter’s hair, from City Union Mission.
#morning #watercolor and #pencil of the superlative #gulf #beach at St. Joseph State Park in #florida
2016 #Watercolor #sketch looking north at Evangel Presbyterian during #Presbytery break. #crabapple, #westernredcedar
Going through an old #sketchbook I found this #selfportrait #drawing from 1992 at #KCAI.
#watercolor #sketch of Chef Falcon’s seafood choices at @Jarochos in Armourdale, Kansas.
#sketch #portrait made in the dark of the #PeterKuper talk last night at #KCAI. He was an engaging speaker; clearly a real pro working on his own terms. I enjoyed his talk very much.
Another odd but wonderful moonscape gem of the National Park System. Don’t miss Eddie’s Burritos in nearby Alamagordo, along with the hidden treasure of Oliver Reed State Park.
A watercolor sketch, done with feet-in-pool. My family absolutely loved this place, everything about it: the fish, the snakes, the facilities, the nearby town, the surrounding mountains, the oasis-like nature of the park. Loved it.
An inadequate sketch after Kollwitz’ disturbingly penetrating self portrait etching, shown during the Nelson Atkins show World War I and the Rise of Modernism.
A sketch of Polish organist, composer, and conductor Gedyamin Grubba playing Bach on Southminster’s Casavant pipe organ.
A sketch study for Bruta The Witch, showing the protagonist metaphorically carrying the Devil on his head.
Two studies of sculpture at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. The left is of the foot of Atalanta from Mosca’s Atalanta and Meleager with the Calydonian Boar, ca. 1564-1565. The right is from the 12c. Indian Yoga-Narashimha.
Here is a ballpoint pen and ink wash illustration from Mark 5, the account of Christ healing the Gerasene demoniac.
A small watercolor study of an idealized man looking at early light through a partially open window.
A quick india ink and watercolor sketch of Bill Burns and Curt Mauk enjoying a beer on the patio of Red Crow Brewing, in Stillwell, KS.
I was looking at and thinking of Witold Wojtkiewicz (1879-1909) and his painting, Christ and the Children, when I was painting this small study for a larger work I have planned, Four Figures.
I was able to make this little drawing of the Burgomaster on the spot from ter Borch’s painting while visiting the Nelson Atkins’ recent exhibition, Reflecting Class in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer.
As I improve as a plein air painter, I one of the things I have begun to better “see” is color, like the late afternoon sun casting royal blue shadows in the white sand of the beach of Fort DeSoto Park, a county park just south of Tampa. Prettier than most state parks we’ve camped in, Fort DeSoto offers beautiful, palm-treed campsites […]
Here are some notes our family made on the return road trip home from our last camping trip to the southwest. We visited Palo Duro Canyon in north Texas, Oliver Reed State Park in New Mexico, Balmorhea State Park and Abilene State Park in Texas.
45-minute sketch in pencil. Not as fine as the bust of the same brute in the Nelson-Atkins Museum collection, but still a treat to draw.
Pencil, watercolor wash. 8 x 10″, 1.5 hours. Today was a cool, overcast day. I did this using a well-loved Rosemary Kolinsky instead of my slightly-more-convenient watercolor pen. Having to recharge in a water glass with a much larger brush forced me to think about the application of water and so, think about the marks themselves. The result was a slower, sparser, better […]
A sketchbook page in watercolor and pencil, 8×5″. After William Blake’s superb 1803 watercolor on the subject of John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
This Memorial Day, our family again visited a gem of Kansas City: Liberty Memorial, the national World War I museum and memorial. It was a beautiful day with speeches and a band and color guards, lots of vets and active duty service members, and reenactment soldiers and nurses in historical dress. During it all, I […]
The Greek theoreo (theh-o-reh’-o) is used throughout the New Testament. Apparently we get the word “theater” from it. It denotes the act of observing at a distance, watching.
Sometimes filling a sketchbook creates strange, unintentional juxtapositions. On the left: Dr. Nicholas Ellen, preaching. Right: damned man wailing from the pit of Hell in Cranach’s Last Judgement, from the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City.
Remember that scene from Pirates Of The Caribbean, where Captain Barbossa leers strangely at the starving Elizabeth Swann as she eats an apple? “The apple is poisoned,” you think. “Or cursed! Barbossa’s trying to kill her!” But nothing about the look on Barbossa’s face suggests prurience or malice. Then it hits you. “He can’t taste food. He’s tasting the […]
This is a small watercolor sketch from my journal, describing an image I had in my head regarding Lewis’s concept of the “weight of glory”. The pathetic man, riding on the back of his flesh, cannot escape the reality of God’s glory. Though I do regret the “superstar!” pose of the nondescript heavenly being, there is some […]