After the wine tasting in Old Town, Julia and I walked down to the library's temporary location, and I again took wheeling step stool and perused the DVDs. I saw a DVD about Alexander Calder, which I immediately grabbed up.

When we got home, and I was about to pop it into the player, Julia said, "But didn't we already see this one?" Only the faintest memories of a prior viewing flitted around in my head. I replied, "Even if we did, we are different people than we were then." And indeed, after having seen his artwork in person and read more about him, the images and the things we were told found a more fertile mind ground this time. I'm sure they'll take root and grow. Into what, I'm not sure, but I'm sure there will be some influence.

I could not let this DVD return without having another go at sketching Calder. (The first was back in March of last year, from an enlarged web photo.) These two sketches are from a frozen scene in the DVD:

Oddly, there are things I like better about the quick sketch than the more detailed one. Perhaps because it seems more like one of his wire portrait sculptures?

"More Calder Sketches"
Friday, August 10, 2007

As I watched the documentary about Calder, I took note of how his body aged in this chronological account. He died while not very old, at seventy eight. No doubt the health conscious blame his love of good food and wine, of which one thin acquaintance spoke.

But he was prolific until the end, "a work a day for fifty years," his grandson said.

I paused the film of him at work to sketch...

And he never lost his childlike enthusiasm:

This was from a brief showing of a still photo...

One thing I couldn't help but note is the growth of his eyebrows. There is only a hint of 'strong willed' and 'virile' eyebrows in his younger days. But as he matured, they practically took on a life of their own: