A day in my life. Drag myself to Natural History Museum. Begin drawing. Explain to 6-year-old why I chose a monkey to sketch. Show tourist my watercolor set. Explain how I stain blank pages to a teacher. Let 8 people look through my sketchbook. Hand out endless squirrel stickers. Sneak quick 10 minutes of drawing. Have long discussion on urban sketching with a couple from London. Describe what pens I use over and over. Proceed to draw a little. Cover up a few mistakes with trickery. Field incoming compliments. Smile a lot. Head home tired but satisfied.
Titian
I just finished “Titian, His Life” by Sheila Hale. An 860-page biography. It basically tells the story of every single day of his 87-year life. Not sure how you can pack so much information into a single book. The Renaissance painter always maintained a large studio with tons of assistants. He could crank out many paintings with his art assembly line. As a result, he accumulated a large amount of wealth. It was needed to keep the operation going. The parts of the paintings he did himself were very arduous and time consuming. Sometimes he’d do the entire painting himself, depending on the client. Other times, the assistants he taught did much of the work and he added his touches as needed to finish. He was an intense perfectionist. He pushed his style very hard to be compared with his rival, Michelangelo. They lived at the same time but never met. Over time, hundreds of his paintings were lost, stolen, burned in multiple fires, forgotten, damaged, or just misplaced. Luckily hundreds have survived. No one will forget this portrait I did of him though.
Veggies
When we were in the Berkshires, I’d go to the corner farm stand to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. I decided to make a little wallpaper style illustration. Some fruits were very upset with me for not being included. The last straw was when I was yelled at by some watermelon slices and a fig as I was attempting to buy some plums. I don’t think I’ll do a drawing like this anytime soon. It was hard to be in the center of so much squabbling between kumquats and lemons.
A New World
America now has more dogs than children. We indulge dogs and abuse hogs. Someone mistreats a dog and we call 911. But if a company tortures millions of hogs as a business model, we dine on its products, invest in its shares and honor its executives. People are horrified by the idea of eating dogs, but pigs are just as intelligent and make fine companions too. When meatpacking plants closed during the pandemic, 240,000 hogs were euthanized by raising temperatures to 130 degrees. 31 states have laws making it illegal to leave a dog in a hot car but it’s no problem to torture and kill pigs that way. Female pigs often spend their adult lives confined to coffin-sized pens so narrow that they cannot turn around. They don’t go outside, touch soil, see the sky or exercise. Excerpts from a New York Times opinion piece by Nicholas Kristof.
Maine
Recently went to Portland, Maine to visit some friends. Checked out the Portland Museum of Art. Spent an afternoon at Winslow Homer’s art studio and house. Had lunch in Kennebunkport. Drew some obscure objects I found around my pals apartment. People scratch their heads at seeing the odd things I choose to sketch.
Rubin & Met
These are art objects I selected to draw in two important New York museums. It may seem like I draw the same things over and over making a dumb drawing you’ve all seen a thousand times before from me. Well, I plead guilty. Sometimes, I’m like a musician who has to go out and do his greatest hits each night at some god forsaken club. Occasionally, I’m that guy.
Ikabana
I do one of these flower drawings when I’m in the woods of Massachusetts each year. Hopefully this sparks joy. I think I was born with Ikebana skills which enable me to draw without a plan. Cosmically, I have a feel for what plant to place where next while creating a little artsy frame on my page. I’m the king of the without a clue method. Works for me every time.
Tree
While hanging out in the Berkshires this August, I had some free time to draw another tree. I chose a complex one with lots of branches in an old horse pasture. The field where I drew this was close to the Norman Rockwell Museum. They have a current show featuring original artwork from the old Mad Magazine. This was my biggest art influence as a kid. Seeing the actual paintings up close blew my mind. That would explain why this tree looks like it was done by an illustrator who worked for Mad in 1967.
Temperature Size Rule
The temperature-size rule is an actual phenomenon that describes many species of fish that are getting smaller as their habitats get warmer. Unlike humans, fish cannot regulate their body temperature well. When the water temperature goes up, so too does the oxygen they require. I’m not sure scientists have it fully figured out. It’s not so cut and dry, but clearly climate change is playing a part in it.
Dinan
I found a little corner shop in Dinan, France that I wanted to illustrate. My friend Jean-Christophe has drawn the entire town over the years. That’s right, he’s sketched every building. I was inspired to paint one in the style that he does. This crazy structure seemed to make a good victim. I surprised myself a bit by how well it turned out. Only a few minor blunders here and there which are easy to hide in plain sight, being the magician I am.
Tigers
I started this by drawing tigers at the Museum of Natural History in New York with Steve Petronis and Kanaka Rajan (who was drawing in public for the first time). A few weeks later, I was in a tiny Natural History museum in the outskirts of Charlotte, North Carolina while visiting family. I found a few cats to add to my drawing. At one point, I was strolling down a hallway when someone approached me with a shocked look on his face and said, ”are you Tommy Kane?” Turns out I am. His name was Aldo and he was a big fan of my work. He just couldn’t fathom meeting me in Gastonia, North Carolina. We had a lot of laughs about how small the world is. I gave him some Tommy Kane swag. As he walked away, other people approached me and asked who I was, wondering if I was some minor celebrity in their midst. I answered honestly and said, “I was nobody in particular.”
Boar's Head Recall
Boar’s Head recalled 750,000 pounds of processed meat. A deadly food poisoning outbreak of the bacteria listeria was found in the popular deli cold cuts. A week later they recalled an additional 200,000 pounds. Now they announced that they are recalling another 7 million pounds of this garbage. You read that correctly, 7 million. 2 deaths and 33 hospitalizations in the first week. That’s an awful lot of animals who were raised and killed for no reason. Plus, the American Institute of Cancer recommends avoiding processed meats anyway. They are considered carcinogens and eating them increases your cancer risk. No vegans were affected.
Domestika
Recently, DOMESTIKA approached me to teach an online art class. They are the dominant juggernaut in the world of digital art classes. I was totally shocked, never thinking I’d be on their radar. The artists on their roster are way out of my league. Carlo Stranga, Marco Mazzoni, and Don Kilpatrick to name a few. Unfortunately, I had to turn them down. I’ve dealt with a lifetime of anxiety and panic attacks which thankfully I now have under control. I just can’t do things out of my comfort zone. Flying to Madrid, getting up in front of strangers with a camera rolling and trying to explain what I do is a major problem for me. No matter how much I really do want to do it, I just can’t. So, for health reasons, I had to say no. They were very understanding and supportive. I don’t dwell on the down side. I’ll look on the positive aspect, which is how great my ego felt when they asked me. I was able to come away with a smile on my face and not beat myself up over my limitations. Plus, I can brag a little.
