This is one of the first pieces I made with calligraphy pens and inks. It’s a view in Christie Pits in Toronto. You get bonus points if you can spot the random Johnny Walker shape.

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6x9 inches

This guy was wearing a full leather biker outfit in summer. He accommodated me and held the pose. The only moving part was his hand so I gave him about three right hands.

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5.5x8.5 inches

There are a bunch of these style sketches on this page. I don’t look at the page when creating the silhouettes. It breaks down very quickly if you never look at the page so I set the starting point and then outline the figure and repeat. I enjoy these pieces -the movement and atmosphere of the style is nice for the viewer.

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3.5x5.5 inches

The not looking at the page style invites the viewer to interpret the forms themselves. I see a red child engaging the art they are seeing (excellent art) with their parent who has come down to the child’s level. I encourage you to look at these and decide what you think these figures are thinking.

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6x9 inches

The crossing of arms (and sometimes legs) conveys to me that these people don’t have high regard for the show. In context it also suggests that they are probably racists.

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6x9 inches

I scanned this piece and it needed editting see all the elements. This post production expands looks so there are two on this page to enjoy. These people are engaged and enjoying the show themselves.

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6x9 inches

Maybe she did ask him what he thought of the piece, maybe she didn’t.

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6x9 inches

This is the second altered photo.

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6x9 inches

Playing with spatial distortion and transparency in this sketch of Paul at the Rhino.

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4x6 inches

Some more spatial distortion here. The title and image portray a barfly pretty evocatively I think.

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3.5x6 inches

Staring at people in public takes some subtlety and I haven’t been punched yet. I took the pose from this guy but I don’t think he was actually fretting. There is a nice ‘moment in time’ feel in this piece for me.

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4x6 inches

This actually looks like Karl -a good job by me. He was an interesting guy who was quick to tell you that although he was German-born, that he was born after WWII.

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4x6 inches

Another illustration of how I oversize hands. I got the soccer celebration pose pretty well.

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3.5x6 inches

Scruffy Murphy’s was a busy place on hockey night. Lots of details in this that regulars would recognize.

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3.5x5.5 inches

Studying has its poses and this is certainly one of them. I loved being a mature university student -it helped me be a better and smarter person.

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4x6 inches

This guy was pretty hip.

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3.5x5.5. inches

There’s a lot going on in this image. The guy in the bottom right was an unsettling character and it was interesting to see him sitting there with all the kids being loud and cheap.

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3.5x6

I think if you had spent any time at the Rhino in the last ten years you would recognize Jo.

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4x6 inches

I have since colored this piece. I like the composition.

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6x4 inches

I look at this sketch (since colored) and see a puffery about the patrons.

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4x6 inches

The guy in the cowboy hat is making a point and you can tell by how he stands his index finger on the bar -”I’ll tell you the problem with…”

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3.5x5.5 inches

Another piece where I didn’t look at the page while sketching. It’s raw but nicely balanced.

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5.5x8.5 inches

I usually retreated from the Rhino as it got busy but not always.

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5.5x8.5 inches

I never envied the staff at the Rhino when it got slammed by cheap young patrons slumming it in Parkdale.

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5.5x8.5 inches

Ted’s is a pretty grungy bar and it has a lot of good, interesting angles to draw. Spock doesn’t actually work there.

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3.5x5.5 inches

I went to Einstein’s between classes at UofT and liked to draw when I wasn’t studying.

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3.5x5.5 inches

Ted’s has interesting layers of depth as this sketch illustrates. Pun intended.

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3.5x5.5 inches

I like this bright, fanciful and fluid sketch.

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11x15 inches

Skeletons of giant extinct animals convey a scariness and even though they were herbivores, I would still be running away.

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8x11 inches

There are a lot of interesting views for sketching at the brickworks.

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3.5x5.5 inches

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3.5x5.5 inches

It’s pretty bonkers that this thing could fly. It’s huge.

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8x11 inches

A still life of jug, pint, tap and bottle of blue.

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3.5x5.5 inches

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6x8.5 inches

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3.5x5.5 inches

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3.5x5.5 inches

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3.5x5.5 inches

I like the way the ‘don’t look at the page’ combines with quick, washy coloring

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5.5x8.5 inches

This simple piece is well framed. I like the simple tone variety as well.

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5.5x8.5 inches

When you don’t look at the page, you get some interesting results to exploit. I like how their arms are so wildly distorted and it still works.

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3.5x5.5 inches

I generally did not like the art they put on the walls at the Rhino so I never drew any of them. So I just randomly sketched and colored these and I would love to actually massively up-size them. I tried to do the one on the right but I fucked it up….someday

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3.5x5.5 inches

You have seen this woman on the subway if you have been on a subway.

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4x6 inches

Again, this method can make the people at the Rhino look sort of high class and I don’t know why. There is a neat looking motion to the figures. like the weird pink guy in the background too.

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6x9 inches

When you draw at the bar during the day, you tend to draw the staff. It’s also useful because they tend to come back to the same positions repeatedly.

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6x9 inches

I like how Sara looks like she is conjuring magic as she writes because writing is magical.

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11x15 inches

If you like big oaks in an urban park, Queens Park Circle has a bunch of them.

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3.5x5.5 inches

Ted’s has some really nice vantages. The composition makes itself

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3.5x5.5 inches

Bosco liked to sit at the end of the bar. I think it was his spot -like Cliff and Norm.

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3.5x5.5 inches

These sculptures have lots of great angles to draw.

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9x12 inches

The guy is Mark and I think that was his girlfriend.

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3.5x5.5 inches

I do like the look of Moore’s sculptures from the back view.

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3.5x5.5 inches

there are times when you get the feeling that the people don’t want you looking at them and drawing so you don’t.

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3.5x5.5 inches

This is an example of practice in drawing what is in front of you.

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3.5x5.5 inches

I think this was Ashlynn but she doesn’t look like that really.

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6x8.5 inches

This server had a very cute gap between her front two teeth. I had a bit of a crush.

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6x9 inches

I really enjoy drawing at art galleries. The best part is the people who are looking at the art (or not).

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6x8 inches

The body language of the figures engaging with art is fascinating to observe.

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6x8 inches

This is people waiting for my mom to start a tour at the Gardiner Museum.

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6x8 inches

My mom is awesome. Here she is telling the tour about gold artifacts from South America.

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6x8 inches

This a nicely composed and colored piece.

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6x8 inches

These images show my mom taking charge and informing this group about the exhibit.

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6x8 inches

This is my mom explaining something to some guys who thought they knew what they were talking about but didn’t.

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6x8 inches

I kinda like how the glass cases work.

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6x8 inches

I think you would know this was a guitar if you didn’t see the title which is cool.

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6x9 inches

The pose was inspired by Putin.

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16x20 inches

Toulouse Lautrec had very cool eyes and hand. He has such a distinctive style.

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9x12 inches

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9x12 inches

I drew this from the back of the van when I worked with Cluck and Pike.

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9x12 inches

Bands are pretty good to draw because they hold the pose!

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9x12 inches

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9x12 inches

This was the baseball fencing in the winter. I guess the focal point is the garbage.

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9x12 inches

I’ve only tried this washy technique this one time. It has potential to include a lot of details while also under-emphasizing those details and challenging the viewer to see more.

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11x15 inches

This piece looks like a drawing of a sculpture to me but it isn’t.

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9x12 inches

We can all have a variety of moods.

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9x12 inches

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9x12 inches

Even the devil can be confused.

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9x12 inches

I guess technically the devil’s master is god. And in this case the devil is a horse man.

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6x9 inches

Here is a news anchor with a seventies haircut.

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9x12 inches

This is a nervous French police officer witnessing a drug deal.

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9x12 inches

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9x12 inches

The central figure in this image is inspired by a woman I worked with named Dusty.

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9x12 inches

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9x12 inches

We see China as monolithic and they surely aren’t.

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9x12 inches

If the offense moves consistently through these lanes and controls the puck from behind the net, the goalie is fucked.

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9x12 inches

baseball is good to draw because you get the same views over and over again.

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9x12 inches

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7x9.5 inches

Sports pundits do a lot of talking.

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9x12 inches

These ladies are here for eachother.

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9x12 inches

Thomas Kaberle was a good player but he did not score a lot.

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9x12 inches

The emotions of tennis are great.

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9x12 inches

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9x12 inches

You can stare at this piece a while and see all sorts of things.

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9x12 inches

This piece is the wounding of the peace dove.

pencil crayon on paper

9x12 inches

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9x12 inches

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7x10 inches

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7x10 inches

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9x12 inches

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9x12 inches

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7x7 inches

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9x12 inches

I like the free-flowing energy in this piece. This particular ink bleeds a little when re-wetted which also has a certain effect.

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5.5x7.5 inches

Sometimes I like to distort figures so they basically fill out the dimensions of the page. It has an appealing effect. It has a simple, attractive composition too.

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6x9 inches

I get the pose when I look at this piece. So I did an alright job drawing the drape of the sheet between Sara’s foot and the back of her head.

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4x6 inches

Just a quick sketch from our apartment on Dupont. I believe the pose is called ‘seated air guitar’.

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6x9 inches

I sketched this waiting for laundry on Christie

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6x9 inches

We had a long narrow apartment on Dupont. Looking at this picture, I just remembered that the window looked directly into our neighbors bathroom -they had curtains

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6x9 inches

It just turned out that these people look snooty. People in the Rhino are rarely wealthy.

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4x6 inches

Color version of the staff doing their thing. Color blocks are nice looking -got that Matisse singular spash of yellow.

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4x6 inches