Sketchy Discipline

[Steven Sweeney]

Let

[Richard Bingham]

Wow, what a heart-felt, inspiring confession. Hallelujah, brother! I, too come forward to repent!! I am a sinner who hasn't drawn daily, but thanks to your post, I've seen the light and will mend my wicked ways!! Y'all pray for me, brothers 'n' sisters! Hallelujah!!

Two things really made me chuckle . . . being seduced by extremely nice drawing "kits" is a thing in itself. They end up being far too nice to use unless you're going to grace 'em with world-class drawings! (a ream of hammermill bond is probably the best stuff to draw, draw, draw!) And, one afternoon last June, I walked out of the Met to find several sketch-artists offering to draw a portrait head for $10 . . . Sure puts things in perspective!

Thanks for writing this, Steven!

[Steven Sweeney]

I admire any artist who gets out there and draws real life. No controlled lighting, no projectors, no ambient oboes or French horns.

Here are a couple I've run into, one in Florence, Italy, the other on the Great Wall, in China.

It was difficult to resist the charge of excitement, standing there, watching the real thing.

[Steven Sweeney]

Who knew?

A colleague just handed me a tearsheet from an early-2006 issue of Smithsonian magazine, in which it is reported that a landscape painting by singer Tony Bennett has been acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Bennett says:

[Ngaire Winwood]

Praise the lord for Steven, for he has shone the light for us sinners.

Praise the lord for Steven has come out of the closet so that we may all learn from our misgivings to our careers.

From this day forward Lord, forgive me for my sins and cleanse my thoughts to be pure for this day forward I pledge to honour the creed of all artists who have become before me with sketchbooks and pencils in hand for their daily incremental, that I an artist (in waiting) can uphold this honourable feat to the best of my abilities, whereever, whenever for at least one hour daily.

Lord please send Steven more paper than he needs so that he can have some spare when critters use it for blotting paper, so that he can continue to shine the light for those of us who at times lose our way.

Amen.

[Anthony Emmolo]

Steve,

You probably remember the old men in the parks and the streets of Taipei and Mainland China playing cards and Chinese chess. They've always been my favorite subjects. There is a playful quality to them, particularly the men of the mainland who roll their tee shirts up to their chests and their pant legs up to this knees on a hot summer day.

I do carry my sketchbook everywhere. But I went through a period of not doing so, and missed sketching during those days. I was slowed up by the fear of not doing perfect work for the people who came by and watched me. How many artists has that fear crippled?