the professor of medieval studies

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

Francis the cartoonist

The incisive cartoonist of sketchy musings, stopping to consider his next drawing. Or maybe his next cookie. I don't recall.

Victoria

A drawing from my daily sketchbook, done - as usual - with china marker.

A quick ballpoint sketch of a scholar of early medieval Anglo-Saxon politics and intellectual history.

Sara

Drawn from life during a lecture by Chris Berard on King Edward III of England and his manipulation of the King Arthur legends.

at the grad club

Some games are bigger than others

Jacki and Rob, dawn from life in 60 seconds.

Portrait sketch

A portrait sketch by Tarragon. An easel painting in oils is not a light undertaking. It takes time and effort, of course, but also requires space for longstanding messiness. Oil does not dry swiftly. Nor is the rather factory-like perfume it exudes the sort of thing you want to keep in your kitchen.

Which is why Tarragon, like most painters in oils, makes small sketches in order to plan out larger paintings. That way you can be confident of the composition before breaking out the big guns.

A professor of Ottonian manuscripts pays close attention.

Appropriation and desire

Danielle went to Egypt and all she got was this galabiya:

The intricacies of fashion are a never-source of delight for me. I could happily draw different outfits all day long. It helps, too, that fashion is such a responsibility-free business. An individual can own a design, but a culture has no property beyond that which people concede to it. And as a general rule, fashion never concedes anything.

This has its downsides. Had the t-shirt remained a culturally specific garment, people all around the world would be dressed better. Or at least more interestingly. As it is, half the outfits in Athens, Georgia, are as boring as in Athens, Greece. Luckily, the other half provides more than enough subjects for me to draw.

Mirza and his hat

Joel

Courtney on the couch

I left out the couch.

lassitude

Chris

Uncle Michael

A throwaway portrait of my uncle Michael, done with china marker and gouache on a piece of scrap board. He's passed away since, and I wish I'd taken the time to make more pictures of him. But he was never very keen on staying still.

Even as I was doing this one, he was always on the verge of getting up.

Danielle and War and Peace

An old drawing, showing Danielle with the even older copy of War and Peace that she, I, and my brother passed around in the spring of 2001. We were all very caught up in the adventures of Prince Andrei and Natasha and the others - they kept us distracted during long Italian nights in the days before internet. Don't mention the television. Italian television is dire.

That book is one of the few I wish I still owned for purely sentimental reasons, but it has long since fallen apart.

Frances

Just a random sketchbook page today, showing a few 30 second warm-up drawings of my friend Frances.

time for dessert

Pastry chef and all-round dessert overachiever Courtney has one of the symbols of her profession emblazoned on her arm.

I say, why stop at one? The tools of the pâtissiére are many and various.