Archive for June, 2011

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FBC

June 8, 2011

After I graduated college I volunteered for a couple years at the Foundation for Blind Children. I helped out in a classroom of toddlers. Mostly I would just play with them and sing and rock them in a swing. One time I went on a field trip with them to a farm.

All the kids had visual impairments as well as other physical limitations, so most of them were in those full body wheelchair things. It was common for some of the kids to have short seizures during the day. You would think it would be depressing, but I really enjoyed volunteering there, and the kids were sweet.

This girl’s name was Yom and she was from a big family that had recently moved here from another country. She was a beautiful little girl.

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Milhouse

June 7, 2011

I did this drawing of some of my workout buddies one night when we went out to dinner after class. The guy in the middle, Ralph, took a look at this one after I was done and said, “Is that Milhouse?”

I said “Who’s Milhouse?”‘

And he said “That looks like Richard Milhouse Nixon.”

I said “No that’s you!”

I may not have captured Ralph’s likeness perfectly, but that salt and pepper shaker look pretty damn good.

By the way, the woman on the left is our awesome fitness trainer, Louise. And the woman on the right is Monique, a dear friend who suddenly passed away a few months after the night of this outing. I am so glad I did this drawing. Had I known, I would have done a hundred more.

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Viewer Discretion Advised

June 6, 2011

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I did these sketches at the Body Worlds exhibit, which is actually the perfect place to bring a sketchbook because Life Drawing is all about studying the construction of the body and learning the bones and muscles and all that.

I remember reading about how renaissance artists would try to learn more about human anatomy in order to better render the figure. The book The Agony and the Ecstasy talked about how Michelangelo tried so hard to get his hands on a cadaver so that he could study it, and how difficult that was because back then they weren’t all that cool about cutting up dead bodies.

We’ve got it so easy nowadays.

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Two Trees

June 1, 2011

Drawing trees is always a good way for me to practice patience.