Ents In Cimiez, Nice

A drawing of olive trees in the garden at the park in Cimiez, Nice.  They remind me of ents, because they are so old, each has a distinct personality, and they seem to move around, and certainly they look at you.  I would like to do a series. 10x8 inches, pencil on paper.

Next to Allee Miles Davis

Time for a drawing.  This one done at the park in Cimiez, Nice, where there are innumerable ancient olive trees.  This is a tree next to Allee Miles Davis.  The lanes in the park are named after American jazz artists. 8x10 inches, pencil and watercolor on paper.

Bascom Lodge

A quick sketchbook drawing from Saturday of an entrance to Bascom Lodge on the top of Mount Greylock.

At the Beach

It's was a little chilly this morning, but I still went to the beach to paint.  This is Mauserts Pond again.  I've included the little sketch that I customarily do before starting a painting.  The painting is 9x12, oil on panel.  The sketch 6x8 inches.

In the catalog Impression: Painting Quickly In France 1860 -1890 Richard Brettel writes that another probable characteristic of Sisley, unlike the other Impressionists, was his practice of making a small drawing prior to starting a painting.  He bases this assumption upon the survival of one sketchbook, but it makes sense.  "By planning a composition using a rapidly drawn pencil croquis, Sisley could integrate his experimental graphism into the work...Planning the composition before he began to paint freed him from thinking about it later, so that he could then respond immediately and without adjustment to chromatic stimulate as he worked in color."

Completing a Sketchbook

Earlier today I went out to try to "complete" a sketchbook.  Probably like most artists,  I have piles of sketchbooks in which the last couple pages are blank.  I hate seeing a blank piece of paper.  It's hard to "complete" a sketchbook, since it often means carrying at least two when you go out sketching.  The sketchbook I took with me today spans three years.  Here is a sampling of drawings from it with the farmer's gate the latest drawing from today.  By the way,  I wasn't able to do the last blank page, since I had to rush home to avoid a rainstorm.