I broke out the acrylic paints to make a mess in my sketchbook. What better way to use the color, Pantone Vegan Green, than paint a Kale leaf and a pepper. A lot of nooks and crannies going on in that leaf. Took a little patience. When folks look through this sketchbook, they won’t anticipate these healthy pages coming.
Minerva
Hippies, freaks, and fringe characters. My life drawing class is full of oddball extras from a David Lynch film. I’m sort of the normal guy. Newcomers are beginning to take notice of my sketches. I’ve held a few Q&A sessions for the inquisitive student. Seeing as I'm the only one ever drawing with a pen, folks can’t quite grasp what I’m doing. They always approach me with the same question, they point at my drawing and say, “did you do that here?” They seem to think I did it at home from a photo and then brought the book in to leave open on my chair in the drawing studio. I have a love-hate relationship with the place. Most times I don’t want to go but some strange curiosity pulls me back into the place and I leave not wanting to go back. I can’t figure it out.
My Aunt and Uncle's House
This was the house of my Aunt Mary and Uncle Arthur. My cousin, Nancy, asked me to do drawing of it so she could gift it to her sisters. I said I’d give it a go. Our whole family spent many happy days hanging out together there. Made me feel good while painting this one.
Dumplings
I was in Vanessa’s Dumpling House in Chinatown and I noticed a Buddha statue. I drew him. Now, I had this floating statue on my sketchbook page. It seemed lonely. So, I drew a child’s block and cat under him to ground the whole image. I finished the sketch off by drawing items I found around my sister’s house, which I stacked one on top of the other. A strange compilation indeed. Not sure if this is how artists went about painting still life’s during the Renaissance. Maybe.
One Hour
I went to my old life drawing class in New York for the first time since the pandemic. It’s the legendary and wacky, Minerva Drawing Studio. Not all the same faces were there. A few folks had passed away in the ensuing years. The diehards remained. I settled into my old spot and picked up where I left off. The joint was still full of art freaks.
Bluefin
I just finished reading “King Of Their Own Ocean’” by Karen Pinch. It's the history of bluefin tuna, a fish no one ever ate until it somehow became the most expensive seafood in the world. A tale of overfishing and fighting with conservationists. The author writes, “After spending years of my own life chasing bluefin around the world, I’ve ultimately come to believe that as a global community, we are collectively only a few terrible choices away from wiping out any ocean species. The bluefin’s astronomical value also makes fishermen especially vulnerable to greed. In the absence of meaningful public policies limiting catches, fishermen will simply catch more fish than our oceans can support, and species will collapse in an unpredictable trail of dominos.” It seems governments are cracking down and have been imposing limits on catch numbers and sizes. This has helped to stabilize things somewhat with the bluefin.
Vermont House
My wife’s friend has an interesting house in Vermont. I felt compelled to draw it. It made for a nice surprise holiday gift for her husband.
Ornaments
Every year at Christmas, I go through the same drill. I get to a family member’s home and there is not much for me to draw, so I end up doing Christmas ornaments. The theme I came up with this time was floating ornaments. The flowers I added were in my sister’s kitchen. It all makes for an unusual urban sketch. It’s almost as if there is some backstory to the image but there really isn’t. I’m quite shallow in that regards.
Moses
In our neighborhood in Rome, we were staying a block from the church of San Pietro in Vincoli. Inside this unassuming joint lives the sculpture of Moses by Michelangelo. You just wander in and there it sits. There is no safety glass or any real security. It’s sort of roped off ten feet away. One day I was practically in there alone gaping at it. Weird and wonderful at the same time. He carved it when he was 38. He’d already done Pieta and David by the time he was 23. Many think this is his real masterpiece. Hard to disagree. If Moses was to stand up, he’d be the same height as David.
Rome Again
This was an old building I spotted in the Esquilino neighborhood of Rome. It was dripping with ancient texture. I may have embellished the amount of antennas a bit. I took some artisitic liberties. This was right where the beautiful multiethnic emporium at Piazza Vittorio is. A big indoor market selling many unusual vegetables, fruits and fresh seafoods. A nice tourist free zone.
Rome
I managed to do a second round of drawings in Piazza Navona. I topped it off with some sketches in the church where Bernini is buried. The weird thing about Piazza Navona is that there are two giant advertising billboards overlooking the square. One for a car and the other for a clothing brand. The giant images seem totally out of place. Not sure why they don’t get rid of them. I bet Bernini would agree with me.
Popolo
This is my drawing of Santa Maria in Montesanto church at the entrance to Via del Corso in Piazza del Popolo. Now that was a mouthful. Speaking of mouthfuls, I ate a lot of spaghetti Pomodoro, spaghetti aglio e olio, artichokes, salads, and cicoria. Rome is somewhat limiting for vegans. We did eat in a fancy vegan restaurant right off Via del Corso on the lane that Gregory Peck’s character lived in Roman Holiday.
Coincidence
I received an interesting email yesterday. It read, “I’m a longtime fan of your artwork. I am also visiting Rome and noticed your Tommykane.com written on the blackboard of our Airbnb on Via Urbana! Quite the unusual surprise.” How crazy is that. Life’s coincidences are amazing.
