Studio

Tools are an extension of our own hands, but we always begin with what we already have. In this post I introduce you to some of my favorite tools!

This drawing, A Triton Blowing a Conch Shell, by Jean-Baptiste Nattier was presumably done as a study for a painting. Nattier used black chalk heightened with white chalk on gray-brown laid paper. It is the size of a typical sheet of paper, 11" x 8 7/8". The toned paper from Canson would be perfect for this. #MasterDrawingMondays

The challenge of Master Drawing Mondays is to set aside time to copy a drawing. You can either choose from one of the Dover books, or I will provide a weekly prompt from a museum collection. If you are on social media, use the hashtag #MasterDrawingMonday and tag me on Instagram @SarahHI. Let's see how many out-of-practice artists we can encourage to take up a regular practice of copying the old masters!

Tête de satyre by Michelangelo Buonarroti. Since I have Paris on my mind, here is a fascinating portrait by Michelangelo found in the Louvre's collection. Michelangelo used brown ink for this drawing. #masterdrawingmonday

A Kneeling Man Holding a Staff by Jacopo Tintoretto. I love the movement and freshness of Tintoretto's drawings. I was not overly familiar with this Venetian master until 2018, when I saw a big exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. #masterdrawingMondays

This lovely study of anatomy by Domenico Beccafumi shows us so much into the mind of the Renaissance artist. By the 16th-century, artists were years away from the Medieval model of painting the spiritual. #MasterDrawingMondays

This 16th-century Italian drawing by a follower of Francesco Salviati of "Christ Falling under the Cross" was created using pen and brown ink with gray-brown wash and black chalk, heightened with white gouache on brown laid paper. It is the perfect subject matter for Lent, a season when Christians prepare for Easter. One of the spiritual exercises that many Christians do during Lent is walk the Stations of the Cross. #MasterDrawingMondays

This Study of a Female Nude is by relatively unknown 16th-century Sienese painter by the name of Alessandro Casolani. What I love about it is that it reminds me of the figure drawings that we did in Richard Serrin's class back in the 1990s. This tradition of drawing the figure from life connects artists through the centuries. #MasterDrawingMondays

This week's challenge is something new: find a grotesque to copy! There are many wonderful examples by Leonardo da Vinci, Francesco Melzi, and Honoré Daumier especially. If you want to take it a step further, see if you can draw your own grotesque. I'm eager to see what wonderfully horrible things you come up with! #MasterDrawingMondays

François Boucher's "Danae Receiving the Golden Shower" is a gorgeous figure study to copy. It's a wonderful opportunity to bring out the red, white, and black chalk! I will be using conté crayons. #MasterDrawingMondays

This is a tender portrait by Leonardo da Vinci is one of my favorites. Supposedly this study was done in preparation for the 'Madone Litta,' now hanging at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. #MasterDrawingMondays

This was one of the first Master Drawings I ever copied. It's a beautiful study of a man in a seated position. I love how you can see where Pontormo moved his lines to another spot. It really gives the drawing movement and kinetic energy. #MasterDrawingMondays

The challenge of Master Drawing Mondays is to set aside time to copy a drawing. You can either choose from one of the Dover books, or I will provide a weekly prompt from a museum collection. If you are on social media, use the hashtag #MasterDrawingMonday and tag me on Instagram @SarahHI. Let's see how many out-of-practice artists we can encourage to take up a regular practice of copying the old masters!

Master Drawing Mondays: Week 2. Gustave Caillebotte's Self-Portrait with a Hat. Gustave Caillebotte is one of my favorite French artists and I love the idea of getting to spend a little time with him while working on this drawing. Caillebotte drew this self-portrait with graphite on off-white, medium-weight, moderately textured paper. #Masterdrawingmondays

Let's begin with Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres! He is one of my favorite draughtsman and I just love this study of a nude female figure dancing, for the painting 'The Golden Age' (L'Age d'Or), drawn in 1839-1862 using graphite. #masterdrawingmondays

The challenge of Master Drawing Mondays is to set aside time to copy a drawing. You can either choose from a book, or I will provide a weekly prompt from a museum collection. If you are on social media, use the hashtag #MasterDrawingMonday and tag me on Instagram @SarahHI. Let's see how many out-of-practice artists we can encourage to take up a regular practice of copying the old masters!

They picked up the marble sculpture and plaster carver's model from the US Customs inspection office in New York, trucked it down to Potomac, placed the stone and finished the job by dinner time. These big events tend to build in your mind and then they happen. Just like that, they happen on an ordinary day. A Thursday, for example.

Sure, I designed the sculpture and sculpted it, but without the help of several models, the mold-maker and enlarger, Malcolm the stone-carver and his crew, and Andrew and the crew at Canal Street Studios, and not to mention the generous donor who has been gracious enough to give such a lasting gift to the church- none of this would have happened.

How many people does it take to move a two-ton sculpture of the Blessed Virgin out of the studio, onto a truck, drive sixty-five miles down the road and into a niche in a church? We had quite a crew out there!

For the people who visit Our Lady of Mercy, the sculptures point us to the Divine. The Stations of the Cross illustrate the Passion. They don’t merely retell an historical event but attempt to uncover some of the deeper spiritual truths. The Virgin Mary is celebrated as the mother of God but also as a woman whose act of faith changed the world. Her husband, St. Joseph, stands as a reminder to fathers and husbands of the important role that God has for them.