Posts by Sarah
Memories of Sandwiches and the Seine
I wrote this after returning from my first visit to Paris in 2018. I had dreamt about the City of Light since I was a child. I finally booked airfare for my 40th Birthday, but was derailed by a cancer diagnosis, surgery, and chemotherapy. As soon as I got clearance from my doctor, my family jetted off to Paris. In 2023, I’m packing my bags to head over there a second time for an artists residency. Here are my memories of that first day.
Read MoreMaster Drawing Mondays: Week 11
A Kneeling Man Holding a Staff by Jacopo Tintoretto. I love the movement and freshness of Tintoretto’s drawings. I was not overly familiar with this Venetian master until 2018, when I saw a big exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. #masterdrawingMondays
Read MoreHow I Turned My Regrets into Action
No one lives a life truly without regret. Regretting that we made that unkind remark or regretting our choice in which college we attended. Regret is a useful emotion. “Non, je ne regrette rien…”
Read MoreMaster Drawing Mondays: Week 10
This lovely study of anatomy by Domenico Beccafumi shows us so much into the mind of the Renaissance artist. By the 16th-century, artists were years away from the Medieval model of painting the spiritual. #MasterDrawingMondays
Read More10 Ways Life is Better on Foot
Please walk, if you are able.
In the Lutheran liturgy, when it’s time to stand the minister always says, “Please stand, if you are able. I love that last part….Likewise, it is often the case, that we can stand. Or in this case, walk. Walking is one of the simplest ways for most people, most of the time, to move.
Master Drawing Mondays: Week 9
This 16th-century Italian drawing by a follower of Francesco Salviati of “Christ Falling under the Cross”
was created using pen and brown ink with gray-brown wash and black chalk, heightened with white gouache on brown laid paper. It is the perfect subject matter for Lent, a season when Christians prepare for Easter. One of the spiritual exercises that many Christians do during Lent is walk the Stations of the Cross. #MasterDrawingMondays
Master Drawing Mondays: Week 8
This Study of a Female Nude is by relatively unknown 16th-century Sienese painter by the name of Alessandro Casolani. What I love about it is that it reminds me of the figure drawings that we did in Richard Serrin’s class back in the 1990s. This tradition of drawing the figure from life connects artists through the centuries. #MasterDrawingMondays
Read MoreMaster Drawing Mondays: Grotesques
This week’s challenge is something new: find a grotesque to copy! There are many wonderful examples by Leonardo da Vinci, Francesco Melzi, and Honoré Daumier especially. If you want to take it a step further, see if you can draw your own grotesque. I’m eager to see what wonderfully horrible things you come up with! #MasterDrawingMondays
Read MoreMaster Drawing Mondays: Week 6
François Boucher’s “Danae Receiving the Golden Shower” is a gorgeous figure study to copy. It’s a wonderful opportunity to bring out the red, white, and black chalk! I will be using conté crayons. #MasterDrawingMondays
Read MoreMaster Drawing Mondays: Week 5
This is a tender portrait by Leonardo da Vinci is one of my favorites. Supposedly this study was done in preparation for the ‘Madone Litta,’ now hanging at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. #MasterDrawingMondays
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