The cell phone, meant to be a means of communication, has also become a device of disconnection.  Lately I've become interested in how the phone shields the face, if only partially.  Go out to eat, and you almost always  will see a group of people, a family, where each person is on a mobile device.  Sometimes even toddlers will be occupied with an iPad.  A friend who works in Special Education at an elementary told me a few years ago that they are seeing more and more children arriving in Kindergarten with delay in both expressive and receptive language skills. She blames the mobile devices, and the research seems to back her up.

Here are four recent works. These pieces were all drawn on my iPad Pro, Apple Pencil in hand, no image loads, using the Sketch Club app for IOS. 

I recently visited the Blanton Museum of Art on the University of Texas campus to see an exhibit of works by American artist Charles White.  I was particularly taken with a large drawing titled "Awaken from the Unknowing," 1961.  Charcoal and Wolff crayon on paperboard. Here is my sketch, drawn freehand on my iPad Pro, using the Sketch Club app. For more info on the work itself, visit: hammer.ucla.edu/now-dig-this/art/awaken-from-the-unknowing

Recently, at the grocery store, I saw sunflowers for sale.  Bought a bouquet of three.  It had been awhile since I drew flowers.  When lacking inspiration, setting up a still life can be a simple way to jumpstart the creative juices.  Here are two sketches, of two different sunflowers. Both drawn freehand on my iPad Pro, using the Sketch Club app, Apple Pencil between my fingers.  As a reminder, "drawn freehand" means no image load involved.

I recently visited the Dallas Museum of Art to see their temporary exhibit of gowns by the house of Dior.  The exhibit includes Dior himself, and the designers who followed him.  You have to buy a ticket ahead of time, and they are timed tickets.  You have 45 minutes to see the exhibit, then you must clear out for the next group.  If you miss your time, oh, well!  I picked a few gowns out of the many  to sketch. These were, by necessity, done very quickly.  I wish I had more time, but, on, such fun!

All drawn freehand on my iPad Pro, using the Sketch Club app.  

Four very quick sketches, done on four different visits.  It's interesting to me to see the varying approaches.  All three drawn freehand.  The first on an iPad 2, the second and third on an iPad Air 2, and the fourth, the most recent, on an iPad Pro. It's intriguing to me that my favorite is the one I did first, 8 years ago. Perhaps I should have stopped while I was ahead! 

A garnet-inspired palette for a portrait of a dog is somewhat counter-intuitive, but I believe it worked out with this piece, "Portrat of Babka."  As always, drawn freehand on my iPad Pro, using the Sketch Club app.

I experimented with the garnet palette in this portrait of my husband, watching TV.  This sketch from life.  Drawn freehand on my iPad Pro using the Sketch Club app.

And, again from life,  here a palette of mostly blues.  Drawn freehand on my iPad Pro, using the Sketch Club app.

Here, a palette of mostly browns.  Again from life.  Drawn freehand on my iPad Pro.

Limited palette can bring a sense of unity to a piece, and is a nice challenge for the artist as well.

I have a habit when I visit art museums of picking one or two artworks to sketch while I am there.  You learn so much by copying the Old (and not so old) Masters. By necessity, each of these were drawn within less than an hour. At a certain point, my back and feet just can't handle standing any more.  All these were drawn freehand on iPad, using the Sketch Club app.

Based on a terra cotta bust of Isabella d'Este by Gian Cristoforo Romanov (1465-1512) at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX,

Based on the painting "Marsh Mallows" by British Impressionist artist Laura Knight (1887-1970)

Based on a statue of a Standing Bodhsattva at the Kimbell Art Musuem.

Based on a sculpted self portrait, by Marion Koogler McNay, at the McNay Museum in San Antonio.

A quick 10-minute sketch of a plaster cast.

Based on the statue of an Angel by Michelangelo in the Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna Italy.

Based on a 6-foot tall ancient Greek bronze at an exhibit in Florence, Italy. Very few of those ancient bronzes survive.  Most were melted down to make armaments, doors, things of that nature.  Breaks our hearts today, but people tend to be pragmatic at the time.  It's only later that we realize what has been lost.