Thursday, April 23, 2009

Grace

Grace is the absence of everything that indicates pain or difficulty, hesitation or incongruity.

William Hazlitt

It's been a long time since I've done any figure drawing. I thought this woman's beauty and in particular her pose exemplified Hazlitt's definition of grace. Charcoal pencils are one of my favorite things! This one was done in one sitting so unfortunately I have no "in progress" shots to share.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Going Fishing 2
























If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure, as if thou shouldst be bound to give it back immediately; if thou holdest to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to Nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this.

Marcus Aurelius



The outlook on life presented in the quote above is what I hope comes to mind when one views this little painting. Set upon one task, carrying his fishing pole to the river, the young fisherman is solely dedicated to that purpose. Live simply and live well. Focus on the task at hand and it give your all ~ not an easy task with the way our minds jump around, but worth trying anyway.

I've darkened this painting up considerably which intensifies the brightness of the sunrise. There's still a lot of detail to be added but it's coming along.