illusion of transparency

"The novels that attract me most," Ludmilla said, "are those that create an illusion of transparency around a knot of human relationships as obscure, cruel, and perverse as possible."

- Italo Calvino, If upon a winter's night a traveller, 192.

I drew this from life with a Pigma micron, a Copic brush pen, and a china marker.

galaxies

One day I made some small linocuts and printed them out on newsprint. It was a rough and hurried process, and I don't think I have any of them left. This one was about as big as the image on your screen.

something small

Amy

don't be thinking that

A sketch of Kathleen done with a Copic brush pen. It's nice to have a clothed model for a change.

hand over head

dirty dog's heart

Drawn from life at the Arts Project in London, ON, with a Pentel brush pen. It took around 20 minutes.

the young curator

A beautifully restrained woodcut by Tarragon Smith. Note the woodgrain visible in the pictures on the wall.

under the lonely moon

A drawing made in about 20 minutes using a Copic brush pen and some china markers.

turn the lamp down low

tree and Saint Peter's

I drew this in a matter of minutes, standing in the window of the Vatican Pinocoteca. There was a Raphael near by, but sometimes real life outweighs the greatest masterpieces.

You can see the arch and stairway reading to the garden pavilion begun by Pope Paul IV in 1558, now known as the Casina Pio IV after the later pope who competed it. In the distance, the huge dome of Saint Peter's, and between them a beautiful pine tree that deserves a name of its own - to judge by its size, it may be as old as the buildings.

I don't think I will

refuse every offer

Drawn from life with a sigma micron.

everything in due proportion

Drawn from life with a pencil. It probably took around 20 minutes.

drawing in the dark

A homage to jet lag. I had just arrived in Italy, from Toronto, and sleep was out of the question. So I walked out into the night, crossed the Arno on an easterly bridge, and strolled up into the hills. I had with me a pot of india ink, a nib and pen, and an old brown sketchbook. It was enough.

abandon that solution

sky colour

One of Tarragon's beautiful tea bowls.

rest your voice

A pencil sketch of Tarragon, pausing between songs. As much as I love to draw clothes, I hate musical instruments - their shapes obey a logic of their own that denies them easy compatibility with the people who carry them. In pictures at least, because in pictures depicted objects have a much closer and more causal relationship to each other than real objects do in space.

face to face

Working out concepts on the iPad.