Could be a preparatory sketch, who knows

A preliminary sketch or maybe this is all I'll do, who knows. It's in the small pocket sketchbook, 5.5"x3.5". I finally got a Franklin-Christoph flex nib and Marietta #20 pen and had to try it out right away. On a more absorbent paper, I can get very fine lines, as well as thicker, but not on this paper. It's a Franklin-Christoph chocolate ink, too. So there's a 6H pencil - this paper cannot do anything lightly and that graphite hardness offers the lightest lines so far. And a Pilot gold gel pen. I haven't put in the shadows yet. I don't think the paper will allow the extra fine nib on the F-C pen to draw delicately enough, and more gel pens is very hard to do. I could pencil it in, but that seems boring. Oh, yeah, the eyes - well I am deeply into podcasts on Greek literature (Homer's Illiad currently) and so their sculptural aesthetic must have influenced. I'm almost afraid to ink in the eyes since there is no option for delicacy or mistake. We'll see. I haven't drawn in so long!

This is an iPhone pic and probably the scanner is better, or a DSLR with direct sunlight. But, ya know, snap it, post. Neva look back!

___

   

Finally have a few paintings sketched in, ready to go. This one is floral, 30”x36”. Hope to break through the block plaguing me for the last 2 years soon. #sketch #painting #art #charcoal #artistoninstagram #flowers #sketchforpainting

via Instagram

Woman Bathing, 7x10” #gelpen on #strathmorepaper

via Instagram

Bloor Subway Sketch April 28th with gel pens - he was very alert and when I began sketching him, he closed his eyes... for a little transit nap. I do a quick sketch & then work on the drawing later from memory. #Toronto #TTC #urbansketchers #ballpointpen #gelpen #gelink #colorink #figurativedrawing #art #art_dailydose #instaart #artist #sketchbook #sketchoftheday #sketching #sketch #sketch_daily #draw #drawing #artistoninstagram #moleskine #moleskinesketchbook

via Instagram

Bloor Subway sketch

Bloor Subway sketch, April 28th - he was very alert and when I began sketching him, he closed his eyes... for a little transit nap (oh don't we know those naps!). I do a quick sketch and then work on the drawing later from memory. 3½" x 5½".
___

   

Video: Bren Clews @ the Art Bar 2018

Direct link: Bren @ the Art Bar

It is always a privilege to read at the Art Bar, Toronto's longest running poetry series, begun in 1990. My novella, Fugue in Green (Quattro Books, Dec 2017), while it has a narrative, is written in a prose poetry. A hybrid style. I begin this reading with a section on how poetry is the vector between the concrete world and the world of the imagination, and end with lovemaking, and what could be more poetic than that? Carl Jung would say to his mistress, 'Let's go and make poetry.'

In the editorial process, the copy editor turned all the sentence fragments in the original manuscript into proper sentences, and combined the one sentence paragraphs into larger paragraphs, removing much of the obvious poetry, but the flow and imagery remained, and I liked the decisive grammar, and so I okayed her suggestions.

But Fugue in Green remains, to me, a book grounded in poetry.

The Art Bar Poetry Series at the Free Times Café in Toronto on April 17th, 2018, hosted by John Oughton.

The original clip was over-exposed with the bright lights, and so I used FCPX's colour vectors and many colour masks to balance the light and skin and colour tones, and did what I could with the sound (which is from the camera).

Praise for my little book, and a number of reviews, and links to all major booksellers may be found at my website.
___

   

Got the Coroner’s Report today. #belovedbrother #grief

via Instagram