all my virtues

Drawn from life with a Copic brush pen, in around ten minutes.

autoritratto

I drew this self-portrait many years ago, from a mirror in a bedroom in Florence.

4 heads and 1 hand

Each drawn in a minute or so at the Arts Project in London, Ontario.

Chat & Chateau

I made this for the 2015 In the Round fundraiser at Graven Feather in Toronto, which runs until the end of November. Each participating artist received 3 plywood disks, the size of a CD, to embellish as they pleased.

The picture was inspired by one of my favourite childhood illustrators, the amazing Peter Spier. His books enchanted me when I was young, and to be honest, they still do. His simple but evocative landscapes, inhabited with happy children and sparkling architecture, inspired in me a desire to see a world I was too young to even know existed.

My illustration ended up more sombre than its inspiration would suggest - but that often happens in my drawings. But hopefully someone will look at it and wonder where that road leads.

How long must I wait?

Drawn from life at the Arts Project in London, Ontario, with a Pentel brush pen.

get right with me

at the stars

The Field House, Compton

Long evening shadows across the fields of the Surrey hills, in England. The Field House of the title is a late Victorian pile, just visible through the trees.

I drew it with a fine Pigma Micron pen, and a Copic brush pen.

Hypnos

“Apropos of sleep, that sinister adventure of all our nights, we may say that men go to bed daily with an audacity that would be incomprehensible if we did not know that it is the result of ignorance of the danger.”

So wrote Baudelaire, in the translation read by H. P. Lovecraft sometime between 1919 and 1922. It inspired a creepy gem of a short story, which, although it displays some of the faults of Lovecraft's prose (but thankfully not of his personality), is also evocative, sinister and in its own way perfect. You can read it here. It's very short.

It's Halloween, hence this picture. It is on display in Toronto at the Graven Feather, 906 Queen st. West, November 5th to 28th. For the last two years, I've illustrated terrifying tales from history - this one is merely from literature, and therefore less frightening. You can see the others here and here.

I didn't try to represent a precise scene from the story, but rather suggest its events. Here is a body contorted in nightmare, its identity effaced by the placid mask of the Greek god Hypnos, or Dream.

lonely all these years

come as you are

lassitude

life's long wait

Barbara in your face

stand around sam

cameron

that body

beast of burden

take a look at your life

My Body is Ready

Four 1 minute sketches.

read the day away

awake on a sunbeam

because you're young

downstairs dog

come into my sleep

An old drawing, done from life with a china marker.

work in progress

good clean fun

odd decision

A man and his shibari.

mathematical mind

A ten minute sketch.

Secret Garden

A detail of a larger pen drawing.

Aaron

no one is impressed

Drawn with a Copic brush pen, in about ten minutes.

Dorianne

were all stars to disappear

bad baby

Strange Meeting

I drew this from life at a Keyhole Session in Toronto.

Nicole horizontal

Some people are bad at staying still and Nicole is one of them. Hence the missing leg.

when tomorrow comes

Gordes - in progress

I'm currently working on a large drawing of the complicated medieval hill town of Gordes, in Provence, France. I visited a few years back and was fascinated by the heap of interconnected buildings that rise almost organically from the yellow stone.

This is a slice of the drawing, showing the pencil lines and also the beginning of the inks.

Since the drawing isn't finished, I haven't scanned it yet - this is a snap from my tablet camera. I cleaned it up a bit, but there's still a lot of noise in the image.

some hands

I like to start drawing sessions by concentrating on the hands. They combine all the difficulties of the body into a single, conveniently small, unit. Once you feel comfortable with hands, the rest is easy.

Rob

Drawn from life with a Copic brush pen and a Pigma micron.

Castle Mane, in Provence

On a warm day in May I cycled from the village of Gordes to the small town of Forcalquier, across the Luberon, and enjoying along the way some of Provence's more rugged terrain. Just before Forcalquier I passed through the small community of Mane.

From the point of view of someone interested in Medieval architecture, Mane has two things: the beautifully atmospheric Priory of Salagon, and the much less distinctive castle. I made sketches of both.

Forcalquier was effectively the capital of an independent state for much of the middle ages, and the castle at Mane guarded the approach to the city. It was seemingly built in the 12th century, and expanded many times thereafter.

work in progress

Resting on a shelf in Tarragon's studio.

George

Drawn from life with the Collective art group in Toronto, Ontario.

Kristin

I drew Kristin from life with a china marker in the kitchen of a grimy residence in Siena, Italy.

well I know your kind

Annihilation of Time and Space

Tarragon painted a series of the landscapes visible from the window of a high-speed train. Travelling from London to Paris, he was struck by how the broad spaces of northern France were reduced to an impressionist smear by the speed of the train.

The pale form in the left hand sky is a reflection on the train window.

the double

Plate and a Haiku

When shadows are long/ Dim is the day/ In the valley of dawn

My haiku are always in translation so they rarely meet the traditional syllable requirements.

anytime now

Drawn from life with a Copic brush marker.