Sketches November 18, 2008

Here are a few sketches of personal projects in the works.

Mechanical pencil with watercolor and white colored pencil highlights.

Pow Wow Dancers

On a whim ML and I attended a mini pow wow at the Southfield Civic Center. It was hosted by various Michigan Indian tribes. It was an interesting experience, and we received a sampling of native American culture and history. Unfortunately there were a lot of cheap trinkets and kitsch to weed through. I don't take the time to do too much sketching of the world around me, but it was fun to try and capture the essence of the dancers. I really had to focus on the movements of their bodies and not be distracted by the adornments. I added the color references later with colored pencil, and not paying attention, smeared the sketch of the girl dancer slightly. I'm sure the dances and outfits are more impressive with the right lighting and atmosphere. Halogen lighting in a civic center doesn't induce the most spiritual experience. The fry bread was delicious by the way!

The Taming of a Maverick

I like John McCain. I wish he could have won the Republican nomination for president back in 2000. He really showed his true colors during his concession speech.

Between the two campaigns Obama seemed to have a clear vision of his campaign and how it should be run. That clarity of vision helped rally the Democratic party to him after winning the nomination. Whereas the Republican party wanted to shape McCain, forcing him to continually change to meet the requirements of the moment. He couldn't be himself. It would have been nice to have seen him run the kind of campaign that he wanted to run rather than what his party wanted. He probably would have still lost, but it would have been a more interesting race.

Barackas Obamanous, Giftedous Oratorous

Congratulations to Barack Obama! The man is a gifted orator. He is someone I actulally look forward to hearing speek. I am anxious to see how his speeches are received by Congress and the UN.



The following sketches were made while waiting in the polling line for forty-five minutes, which wasn't too bad compared to many places. Obviously nothing too serious was on my mind.