I decided to try a fast sketch. “Fast” being a relative term, to me. I was agonizing over each chicken-scratch millimeter line and found it frustrating. Maybe “loose sketch” is a better description. I chose this bottle to use because of its nice lines.
Fast (?) sketch
Roman, 1st century CE
Sketch 047: Glass Perfume Bottle, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76
E.T., martini up!
For a long time while I was sketching, I thought this looked like the aliens in Independence Day. When I added the flower, it started to look a bit like an opaque martini glass.
Terracotta Kylix (drinking cup) with flower, ca. 1300–1225 BCE
Sketch 046: Terracotta Kylix (drinking cup) with flower, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Greek Government, 1927
Straw decoration sketch
This sketch was surprisingly hard; another one where I just finally stopped erasing, deciding to leave it alone. I fall into the category of “chicken scratch” sketchers. I put down short, quick strokes, lots and lots of them. If I don’t like the first few dozen, I press a little harder and make them darker, as if that’s the problem. Well, that’s one of the problems, but not the problem. While I’m sketching with my right hand, I’m kneading the eraser in my left hand, getting it ready.
Straw, 1230-1250, German, silver
What fascinates me about this straw is the time frame: 1230-1250. There are a gazillion things in the world that I never took any time to consider, and straws being invented around 3,000 BCE is one of them. If anyone had asked me as to when straws originated, I would have guessed in the 20th century, after plastic was invented. Straws have always been plastic, right? I was wrong, wrong, wrong, about 5,000 years wrong.
Sketch 045: Straw, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection, 1947
Another sketch based on an illustration, as opposed to the object itself or a photograph. This isn’t a specific wing, but an idea of a wing. Lots of artists throughout history have painted wings of all kinds, so I may have to look up some of them and try it again. In the meantime, use your imagination here, squint, or both.
An imaginary wing
Fish
Sketch 042: Fish
It's a long story ... 