Be Inspired// Blog

A Few of My Favorite Tools

Tools are an extension of our own hands, but we always begin with what we already have. In this post I introduce you to some of my favorite tools!

HEMPEL STUDIOS Year in Review- 2023

While it’s not a hilarious review like Dave Barry likes to write at the end of each year, I break my year down month-by-month and remember the highlights.

How to Commission a Marble Sculpture

A marble sculpture is an original work of art, made by human hands that will last for millennia. The quality of the work depends on careful planning and tremendous patience. How does a work of marble sculpture come to be?

Master Drawing Mondays: Summer Break

This summer, enjoy some time in nature. Don’t forget your sketchbook! Master Drawing Mondays will be on summer break, but please keep drawing. #MasterDrawingMondays

Savory Buckwheat Galettes Bretonnes

One of my favorite foods from France is the savory buckwheat crepes, or Galettes Bretonnes. The French serve these kind of crèpes, after they’re all cooked, by putting them back in the pan (with the more-browned side facing down), and cracking an egg in the center. The egg cooks right on the crepe. They fold the four sides in so they’re just covering the white and revealing the yolk. You can also add ham or cheese or whatever else suits your fancy to the package.

Master Drawing Mondays: Week 20

Study for “Apollo and Daphne”, by John Singer Sargent. Sargent is one of America’s best portrait painters and figurative artists. I love the freshness of this drawing. It could have been a pose we recreated when I was learning to draw back in the 1990s. #MasterDrawingMondays

Some Artworks from my Residency

While at Chateau Orquevaux, I was plucked not only from my everyday life, but my well-equipped sculpture studio. The clay I purchased in Paris was extremely difficult to work with, so I turned to other materials, including aluminum foil and plaster. I let myself play, try new things, and respond to this place in unexpected ways. These sculptures are a response to my environment, the materials available to me, and my own imagination.

Master Drawing Mondays: Week 19

In honor of Mothers Day, here is a beautiful depiction of the Virgin Mary with the Infant Christ. I love that this is a Master Drawing of a Master Drawing. Thomas Vivares drew this “Madonna and Child” after a drawing attributed to Ludovico Carracci in 1823. It’s part of the collection of the Royal Academy in London.

A Voice in Ramah

Somewhere in the US, a police officer is breaking the news to a mother that her child is dead. Opening ourselves to the glory and joys of motherhood also exposes our hearts to the unimaginable possibility of loss; and in that possibility of loss is an endless grief. Praying for all the mothers that are grieving today and praying for an end to gun violence.

“I came to learn about the sculpture; I learned about creativity and confidence.”

Attendant at a talk given at the Rotary Club of Frederick

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