Laraine Armenti

student of painting

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio

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Death & Marketing There is nothing so fatal to character as half-finished tasks.—David Lloyd George, British prime minister (1916–22). . . . . . . . . . A lot has changed in the 32 months since my last post. For one thing, I thought my hiatus was 18 months, but then did the math. Grasp of time, as others have noted, has been one of many casualties during the Covid-19 pandemic, to … [Read more...]

Summer Drawings

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Drawing means different things to different people. As a practitioner I want to make the approximate specific and say more with less. The most important thing is to draw often, in whatever way possible, to realize its potential. I went to ten extraordinary museums on art trips in New England this summer. Museums usually forbid the use of ink when drawing in sketchbooks from their art in … [Read more...]

Looking at Watteau

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Five years ago, I spent time in Madrid indulging in the feast of the city and in some of Europe's greatest museums. I carried a sketchbook with me to draw in the galleries. A few pages shown here are of Jean-Antoinne Watteau's paintings at the Thyssen-Bornemisza. Watteau was the progenitor of the 'fêtes galantes' genre, theatrical scenes of idylls and pastorals. Other visitors were kind to me, … [Read more...]

Tv Portraits

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Journalists, politicians, reporters, and policy experts are the portrait subjects of the five minute animated gif in this post. Drawings were made while watching tv news shows during the three month period between the presidential election and first six weeks of the new administration. News of the day opportunistically provided subjects for drawings that are presented in roughly the order they … [Read more...]

2016 Review

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I was concerned when assembling this review that I might confuse my readers with disparate series of works from this year. To be a generalist also conflicts with good advice. Mark Twain observed, "Astonishing things can be done with the human memory if you will devote it faithfully to one particular line of business." My amateur values — instincts, sensibilities, proclivities, predisposition, or … [Read more...]

Reporter’s Notebook

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I am among countless fans of Gwen Ifill who were shocked and saddened by her premature death on November 14, 2016. Her wit, warmth, incisive intelligence, and "megawatt" smile are deeply missed. She provided invaluable insights into contemporary politics that I appreciated as a frequent viewer of Washington Week and the PBS NewsHour. Many of the journalists seen on the two shows became subjects of … [Read more...]

Drawing Bruegel

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Drawings from Pieter Bruegel using recently acquired Namiki Pilot Falcon fountain pen with carbon ink in a Moleskine sketchbook, 8x5 inch. Above: Peasants Dancing (1568). Pieter Bruegel, The Dark Day (1565) and other paintings Pieter Bruegel, The Land of Cockaigne (1567) and The Battle Between Carnival and Lent (1559) Pieter Bruegel, The Battle Between Carnival and Lent … [Read more...]

Edwardian Schema

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To celebrate the arrival of a new drawing pen, I used my Moleskine sketchbook to copy lessons from Drawing Made Easy by E.G. Lutz, originally published in 1916. His method is simple. He starts with geometric guidelines of outside shapes, then divides big shapes into smaller ones. Instruction in this type of schematic drawing was largely abandoned in the 1950s and 1960s in favor of supposedly more … [Read more...]