Category: Artist’s Sketchbook

Panem et Circenses

A newly completed work on paper, pencil and gouache expressing my confusion, dismay and anxiety concerning multiple new realities, be it social upheaval   identity obsessions , pronoun hysteria , language police, climate vulnerability  , and now martial aggression in Eastern Europe.

Bread and circuses, be it foolish political distractions, petty grievances and mindless entertainment seems to be what society craves most  .

I’m just trying to navigate the onslaught .

Panem et Circenses
2022
pencil, gouache on toned paper
19 by 25 inches

Dense image, some details might be in order:

Detail including self portrait in commedia costume.
Detail, me, telling the White Man he is indeed Dead.

More background detail.
The germ of the work, a quick notebook sketch.
Panem et Circenses
2022
pencil, gouache on toned paper
19 by 25 inches

Yuletide Greetings from Chicago

Here in frosty Chicago , I have felt  the wintry chill for weeks, yet my calendar informs me that true winter isn’t until tomorrow, the 21st of December. So in honor of all manner of frosty solstice cheer  and Yuletide goodwill, I share today’s drawing-painting.

Happy Yuletide, from here, to you.

Glimmers of our first Chicago Christmas follow.

Direct inspiration for one of the characters in the drawing ; I have a passion for collecting these chenille doodads.

@Art Institute, apparently a holiday tradition, a handsome pair.
Yuletide Greetings, 2021
Gouache and pencil on toned paper
11 by 9 inches

 

Daily Drawing : 30th September 2020

I am going to try to be more consistent in posting on this site, even if only one of my daily drawings . I’m trying to avoid Facebook for a number of reasons , most particularly because it frequently leaves me feeling depleted and depressed.

 

So this is the first of what I hope to be an alternative studio routine :

The Secret Ingredient

Backstory to the drawing is that my membership card to the Museum of Witchcraft & Magic in far off Cornwall arrived the other day . I’d love to visit , dearly wish to see that land of Arthur and that rugged coast , but with travel restrictions firmly in place for the foreseeable future , and frankly budget concerns, that isn’t likely anytime soon. So for now , this dedication drawing .