Danielle

Weigh your words

drawing

Juliana in pencil

A portrait drawing made from life.

my heart

Drawn from life with a china marker.

The Gallery Manager

Sketching the sketcher

I've made a lot of portraits of Tarragon over the years. Here I took the opportunity to draw him while he was drawing a still-life of flowers. It was done with a Copic brush pen, and probably took 20-25 minutes.

The Professor

A drawing of a professor of plant physiology.

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.

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.

self-portrait with glove

I found a pair of huge buff leather cavalry gauntlets in a second-hand market in Florence, and just had to make a picture of myself wearing them.

It was done with china marker on a large sheet of textured paper. You can see the laid lines of the paper through the marker strokes.

Portrait of Rachel

One part of a portrait triptych by Tarragon, who was channelling Alex Katz when he painted it.

sharp-eyed card

the detective

I wanted to make a picture about a detective. But everyone is a detective, at some point or another.

Therefore, I drew my father.

The Professor

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

The story of Tess is one of my favourites. Most women distrust the expectations of men who have fallen in love with the protagonist of this book. Well they might. Most men respond to that distrust with the blunt retort of, "baby, I'm no Angel."

Please excuse the glare. It's the aura of light that follows Tess around. She can't help it.

Tarragon and War and Peace

A few days ago I posted a drawing of Danielle reading War and Peace. Or more accurately, taking a break from reading it. Here's a picture of Tarragon reading the very same copy.

The difference in their apparel in down to the season. Tarragon read it in March, which can be cold, even in Florence. Especially in Florence, to be honest. Those big marble buildings are designed to keep the heat out and the cool air in, and there was a lot of the latter. Danielle read it in June, and by that time nothing could keep things cool. The Arno valley is humid, mosquito-ridden, and generally squalid in summer.


The drawing was done with china-marker on a large piece of textured paper, with the watercolour added immediately afterwards.

A Sazerac and Danielle, II

And here's the original line drawing that served as the base for yesterday's picture. Not radically different, of course. Some may prefer the simplicity of the penwork. I'm a bit divided, myself.

It was done with fine tipped micron pens, plus some Copic brand brush markers for the boots and the hair. She had to sit still for quite a while; 40 minutes maybe. Which was enough time for at least three Sazeracs.

A Sazerac, and Danielle

A fairly detailed life drawing, in which I failed to restrain my love of rendering clothing. I made the drink by way of bribing my model to keep still after a long day of clomping around in those boots.

For the purists out there, the Sazerac that day was made with bourbon, not rye, so it's not 100% authentic. But it was delicious.

I've been experimenting with photoshop of late. It's a bit too easy to go overboard with colour using the computer, so I've been conscientious about keeping it to a minimum. I'll post the original line drawing tomorrow.

self-portrait...

...with china marker in hand. I was much younger when I did this.