Lincoln Park Conservatory

lincoln-park-conservatoryThis building near the Lincoln Park Zoo is comprised of a bunch of greenhouses and is one of the more interesting looking buildings in the area.  My perspective is all screwed up on this.  Also, I should not have tried to capture such a detailed subject with charcoal in such a small format as my sketchbook.

I’m going to have to give this one another go sometime soon.  Unless the weather doesn’t hold out; in which case, I’ll have to wait til spring.

It’s Honeycrisp Season

honeycrispAs much as I hate to admit it, I learned about Honeycrisp apples from Oprah Winfrey.  It was on one of her lists of her favorite things, and I stumbled across it on the web some time ago.  I thought, “I like apples, what the heck… let’s try these honeycrisps,” and that was it.  I was ruined for other apples.  Now, I look forward to September/October the way a kid looks forward to Christmas.

The season is almost over, though the local grocery stores will continue importing them from some place south of here for a little while longer.  Thought I would capture one so I could daydream until next year.

Cat Toy

cat-toy-pencilcat-toy-penThese pictures of a cat toy were done for my drawing class.

The top one is a pencil drawing and was a study in composition.  We spent a good hour or more sketching out different compositions until we found one we liked.  I liked this one because it is just plain silly… looks to me like the scene of a crime.  There is a cat out there somewhere hiding from the authorities.

The bottom picture was a pen study in shading and line quality.  The gist of the exercise, as far as I can tell, was to demonstrate how lines can be made to simulate shading from a distance.