Category Archive

Two more drawings in my 4×6 sketchbook. Clouds in Geneva, making me wish that I had colored pencils with me.

And something inspired by Paul Klee, who was unafraid to incorporate signs such as arrows, numerals and letters, even stick figures if they served the vision. I would normally be cowed out of using arrows by the inner critic who sneers, “Kind of a shortcut, isn’t it? Don’t you have a way to show motion befitting an artist, or are you just a jumped-up road sign painter?” I tried to be more polite to my inner critic than he was being to me, kindly suggesting that it sounded like he had a bad headache and might want to go lie down. But I couldn’t resist pointing out to him that the great Paul Klee used arrows, and he was no sign painter. He went away grumbling.

Both are graphite pencil on paper.

With time in the Zurich Hauptbanhof before our train to Geneva, we found a store (Flying Tiger,based in Copenhagen) that was like Daiso in the breadth and randomness of its merchandise, many items of which also had Daiso-like little quotes, but in disappointingly flawless English. Also, the packaging was quite uniform, as if everything were manufactured in one place instead of a dozen. There were snacks, including several types of marshmallows, making marshmallows about 50% of the foods on offer (maybe they are as popular in Zurich as Pocky are in SF?). There were kitchen gadgets. There were model traffic lights that really blinked. There were 2023-24 planners in French and German, making Munchkin slightly regret that she already bought her planner. There was a notebook that she opted not to buy despite the built-in calculator on the front cover (of course she doesn’t need a calculator, but she thought that was so cute), and a gel pen that I convinced her to get because she is constantly borrowing mine. I struck it lucky with my sketchbook search, finding one that is a bit heavier than the ideal, being hardcover, but irresistible at six Swiss francs. (I had looked in the museum stores in Zurich and Bern and would have had to pay 30 CHF for one with fewer pages. Yeesh.) (Another small source of annoyance in Switzerland: it isn’t in the EU–something I did not know until I arrived there, though it stands to reason–and so broke the streak of needing nothing but euros all summer. Everyone charges everything, so it made little difference. However, I’m glad to be back in the Eurozone and able to spend cash on small purchases again. I know “the convenience of tourists” was low on the list of concerns in the formation of the EU, but I sure do love the single currency.)

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Rereading: Gilead, Marilynne Robinson

Finished: Oil and Marble

Continuing: Understanding the Fundamentals of Music

A couple of sights recently made me want to try to create something like their luminosity. One was a circular reflection of light on a painted white wall, and the other was a painting I saw when Joy and I visited the museum Ca’ Pesaro yesterday. I thought I would remember the artist’s name, but I have already forgotten it and will have to do some research. I was so taken with how a simple use of line could create such a powerful sense of light and dark. An apt topic for the solstice.

I brought a very small sketchbook with me on this trip, and so these are very small drawings, each about 2″ x 3″. Graphite pencil. I hope the focus is adequate; I photographed them on a moving train (hello, Slovenia!).