TANKMATES IN SARASOTA

Tankmates, Sarasota, Florida, 8 x 11 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I drew this big green sea turtle from life at the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota last month.  There were two manatees in the same tank, but they wouldn't hold still long enough to be drawn, so I photographed them.  Later I drew one in and then added watercolor.

OLD TRAWLER, TARPON SPRINGS, FLORIDA

Old Trawler, Tarpon Springs, Florida, 8 x 9 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

I drew this old trawler last month from a riverside picnic table in the old fishing and spongeing port of Tarpon Springs, just north of St. Petersburg.  Afterwards I had grilled shrimp for lunch at a restaurant on a pier that had its own shrimp boat tied up alongside.

KOI POND, SARASOTA, FLORIDA

Koi Pond, Sarasota, 10 x 8 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I sketched the ornamental carp in this koi pond at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota about three weeks ago.  It's an amazing place, with the second largest collection of air plants (orchids, etc.) in the world.

VODOU SPIRITS AT THE FIELD MUSEUM

Vodou God Danblewoum, 10 x 6 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

Yesterday I went to Chicago's Field Museum to see the exhibition "VODOU: Sacred Spirits of Haiti," and I sketched some of the objects on display.  This was a polychromed wood carving of the god Danblewoum about three feet tall with a real metal machete. 

Vodou Spirits, 10 x 6 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark    Available

Most of the objects in the exhibition were anonymous folk art created by various hands.  However, there were a number of these 4 foot tall effigies of stuffed fabric painted mostly red and black with pieces of broken mirrors embedded in them for eyes and elsewhere that struck me as being the work of a single artist, although as near as I could tell hardly any artists were credited.  They were strong and alarming images and I sketched a few of them, here and below.  

Vodou Gods, 10 x 6 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

These are the gods Legba Kita Bizango and Baron La Croix.  All these vodou drawings are pages from my sketchbook.

CAMPO SANTA MARIA FORMOSA, VENICE

Campo Santa Maria Formosa, Venice, 29 x 40 inch oil and pencil on paper by George C. Clark    SOLD

This is a big oil and pencil on paper studio painting I made after a visit to Venice.  I sold it to a collector in Lake Bluff from an exhibition I had in Lake Forest in the 1980s. In it I depicted my younger self about to cross paths with Corto Maltese as he emerges from beyond the kiosk at the right.  One of the joys of visiting Europe back then was the opportunity to buy great graphic novels by French and Belgian and Italian artists that weren't available in the States.  I discovered artists like Corto's creator Hugo Pratt, Guido Crepax, Jacques Tardi, Jean Giraud aka Moebius, and Milo Manara.  When I was living in Paris in the summer of 1976 I used to get the magazine Charlie Hebdo for the brilliant satiric Paulette comics drawn by Georges Pichard and written by Georges Wolinski who was murdered recently by terrorists.  The Paulette stories were later published in book form and I still have them all in my library.  Now of course, European graphic novels are easily available here in English translation or their original editions from sources on the internet.

DAYLILLIES IN MINERAL POINT, WISCONSIN

Wisconsin Daylillieds, 6 x 5 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark   SOLD

I sketched these daylillies one morning in July at the Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts when I was neither teaching or taking part in a workshop at the annual Woodlanders Gathering.

"ART SYNTHESIS 2014" EXHIBITION AT INDEPENDENCE LIBRARY IN CHICAGO

Steam (Levee  at St. Louis). 23 x 29 oil and colored pencil on paper painting by George C. Clark   AVAILABLE

My painting Steam (Levee at St. Louis) is currently on exhibit in the ART SYNTHESIS 2014 show at the Independence Branch of the Chicago Public Library located at 3548 W. Irving Park Road in Chicago.  The exhibition will be up through November 29, 2014.  Library hours are Monday and Wednesday from 10am to 6pm, Tuesday and Thursday from noon to 8pm, and Friday and Saturday from 9am to 5pm.