regret comes easy

The Professor

A drawing of a professor of plant physiology.

three times

your brother's keeper

Drawn from life with a copic marker, in about 15 minutes.

Plan B

"I've always rejected being understood. To be understood is to prostitute oneself." So said Fernando Pessoa, one of the 20th century's most awkward writers. Also one of the most easily quoted.

He used a thousand different voices to say one thing, and that thing is about human loneliness. Many would prefer to be a prostitute than to be alone.


He said it in The Book of Disquiet, chapter 128. He goes on "I've always rejected being understood. To be understood is to prostitute oneself. I prefer to be taken seriously for what I'm not, remaining humanly unknown, with naturalness and all due respect. Nothing would bother me more than if they found me strange at the office. I like to revel in the irony that they don't find me at all strange. I like the hair shirt of being regarded by them as their equal."

hey you

the professor of medieval studies

Drawn from life, during a lecture on Christian-Muslim relations in 14th century Spain.

The Chandos off Trafalgar Square

Tarragon wrote me to say:

“I took a short holiday and went to the National Gallery to see Inventing Impressionism. It was a good show, except one has to like Renoir's portraits to think so. I really like Renoir. He's an acquired taste I reckon, but presents such a lovely parallel universe I find hard to resist. So I don't try.

Except I wasn't planing to see the show at all, it was news to me. I simply stopped in on my way to the the Sargent show at the Portrait Gallery. It was not the greatest Sargent show that you could imagine. But some truly lovely pieces. It is a bit heart wrenching how good he is. So it was a pleasure. 

In between I had lunch at Chandos, off Trafalgar Square, from whence I drew the attached. Such a lovely pub in the middle of the afternoon.”

la grande odalisque

kara

handsome head

Two heads of the model, drawn from life with a colic brush pen.

Amy

The shadow over the lane

Walking back along the sandy track from the old Tudor manor, I was struck by the deep shadows and the gables of the house at the corner. Beyond the trees, the farmer's field was full of horses, but I didn't put them in the drawing.

on the side

A quick sketch of the model on a damaged sketchbook leaf.

let me sleep

vision of youth

An very old self-portrait, drawn from a mirror with a china marker on textured paper. It was a cold day, and I was bundled up. And as you can see, I took the easy way out when it came to depicting my drawing hand.

Young Beauty Combs Her Hair

I think a problem in making these colour versions is the seemingly endless number of options. Limitations of medium or time or space are useful to many artists because they help in the decision making process. It can be very tiring.

someone to watch over

An offering

Megan drawn from life.

Set of Coffee Bowls

Two thrown and constructed coffee bowls. 9 or 10 cm x 12 cm in diameter.

Made with a black clay/crank mix with porcelain.

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http://tarragonsmith.com/

Barbara again

Swift sketches from a life drawing session.

Tarragon does the dishes

Drawn from life with a china marker.

Sunday Bridge

"An absolutely new prospect is a great happiness, and I can still get this any afternoon. Two or three hours' walking will carry me to a as strange a country as I expect ever to see. A single farmhouse which I had not seen before is sometimes as good as the dominions of the king of Dahomey. There is in fact a sort of harmony discoverable between the capabilities of the landscape within a circle of ten miles' radius, or the limits of an afternoon walk, and the threescore years and ten of human life. It will never becomes quite familiar to you."

~Thoreau

The Girls Are Alright.

With a mind to the difficulty of clearing woodblocks, now and then I draw white on black.

This is a picture of a wedding day between two women in 1880s New York.

Quickly drawn.

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http://tarragonsmith.com/

Aaron

Amy

Laura's head and hands

Three two minutes drawings.

The New Relative

He was being very quiet and cute and only started to cry when I was about to leave... Or did I leave around when he started to cry. I don't remember which.

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http://tarragonsmith.com/

Bridget

Just hanging out.

Along the Arno

A view of the north bank of the Arno, the Lungardo Corsini, painted from the southern embankment. On a warm October day, I sat down and painted this.

It's a bit unusual a choice of subject for me. I like buildings, but not usually this kind of late Renaissance and Baroque architecture, where so much of the effect relies on monumentality and repetition. Who wants to draw fifty-plus windows? Apparently I did.

omne animal triste est

Waiting For Her Man

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http://tarragonsmith.com/

your cruelty is an astonishing gift

jeans and a sweater

An old drawing, done on toned paper from life. It probably took about 40 minutes, although something obviously went wrong with one of the hands.

peace and quiet

authority figure

The Varying Opinions on the Residual Effects of Suppressed Trauma

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http://tarragonsmith.com/

those lines

Here's one I particularly like. It has just the right contrast between emptiness and detail to make me put it in the favourites folder.

Yes, I'm listening

Drawn from life in the student centre at the University of Toronto.

sight of you

A drawing of Dan, done from life in about 5 minutes. I liked the way this turned out.

Reinisa takes a standing pose

A portrait of the Toronto artist and designer, nom-de-guerre Varethane, whose long-running webcomic, Chirault, will soon be getting its first book.

This was drawn from life in probably around 20 minutes, using a pigma micron. I added the colour later. The lunch box in front of her was full of art supplies, but I didn't get around to drawing those.

High Windows

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http://tarragonsmith.com/

knowledge is a curse

standing alone

dorianne again

Korean Tea Bowl

White slip and glaze over black clay.

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http://tarragonsmith.com/