Sushi

My cat Sushi usually saunters into the studio half way through the Monday night drawing evening, and settles down near the model (and wood stove) so he appears in a few of my drawings.

I had to snap him this morning, posing with one of the drawings.

Roger

My friend Roger posed for the Monday drawing group last night. I got quite a nice painting out of the evening, though I am not sure how good a likeness it is.

One thing I tend to do, and am criticized for, is cutting off the top of the head. Sometimes it makes a more interesting composition.

Muses and magic

My mother, Frances Stock, was a painter. Soon after I finished my studies yet didn't quite know how I would proceed with my life, my mother commissioned me to paint the family portraits. I started with a painting of her.

The painting progressed well at first, but I was struggling with an overworked mucky face. One evening I came into the room to find my mother working on her portrait! I was livid. At about 4am I stormed back into the bedroom where the painting was set up on an easel and my mother was sleeping and flipped on the lights. I squeezed out a smear of white paint and blotted out the head, flipped off the lights and stormed out.

The following morning, I sketched in the head and face in about half an hour and after signing the painting, put down my brushes.

I have tried to work myself into a similar froth on subsequent occasions when a painting wasn't working but the magic didn't work on command.

Now, working on the illustrations for the Emily Dickinson biography, I find that I can't start work before nightfall. The book is demanding its own quiet time. Sometimes, as now, I have scrubbed off all the work I have done on it, redrawn in the figure sitting at her small desk, and seen it come together almost on its own.

Large ladies

When I was an art student, I was mocked for my fascination with painting large ladies.

But now that I can paint what I want, hey, I paint what I want!

Ron

I promised my friend Ron a portrait two years ago for Christmas. He hated the result. Tonight he posed for my group and I came up with this picture. Something is wrong with it but I can't quite figure it out. The head is just not working with the body.