Hi everyone!

I hope everyone has been doing well as the weather has lightened up, this is definitely the time of the year to sit on the porch and do some landscapes (while maintaining social distancing of course). This attitude is how I’m going to take these next couple of weeks when I have free time but of course I need to restock on supplies and grab new materials to play with.

As of now, my main focus is on just doing the kind of art I normally do before I experiment, which is ink primarily.

I feel as though this past year has reinforced better craftsmanship as I work on more intensive projects and rely on the ink rather than graphite to do my work. Of course mistakes happen but they have been less impeding on my vision.

This piece is particularly a way to introduce the topic of my next piece, a clashing of cultures. So backstory, during the 1500’s, the Portuguese had been slowly sailing and colonizing their way to the other half of the world as technology such as the caravel and understandings of trade winds allowed for deep sea travel and across longer swathes of ocean. This piece I am about to show is representing the Portuguese making first contact with the Japanese, this contact had completely changed Japanese history as there was a brutal civil war ongoing in the country and the introduction of matchlocks and Christianity had dramatically shifted the power struggle between the Daimyos/ Governors. I therefore am looking to Velázquez for my reference for two reasons. One, he is an important artist for me to study as he was the primary influencer of my favorite artist, John Singer Sargent, so it is important to follow in his footsteps. And second the composition and story telling itself, this piece is going to take a lot of inspiration from the Surrender at Breda (1634-35) Which is telling a very similar story by how it is composed and somewhat by the history behind the work.

Thoughts? Opinions? Let me know and I’ll be sure to make the adjustments!

The Sketch of the Week

For those who haven’t been reading when I started my blog, the sketch of the week is a small entry in every one of my posts during the summer/winter breaks to highlight some pages in my sketchbook to show not only where my mind is, but also show the importance of the sketch and the routine of drawing. Here is mostly just playing around with the concept I had mentioned above and focusing on how I may illustrate some faces in my piece with a study. Remember, the sketch is for your betterment as an artist, it doesn’t have to be clean or make sense to other people necessarily, as long as you are practicing putting ink on a piece of paper, you are doing the right thing.

Hope you all enjoyed!