Left: North Falmouth, Massachussets. Right: LaQuercia, Italy.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been creating pictures. Sketching onsite, however, is relatively new to me. As an illustrator, I’ve spent the better part of my professional life creating imagery to communicate, entertain and inform, the primary focus being on imagination and message. Later in life, I became interested in painting from observation, and started creating still lifes. What a luxury it was to consider and reconsider my every work from every angle, without the tight deadlines of the illustration world.
And later, still, came my interest in creating work about my life, and my foray into the sketching world. Sketching more directly addresses my surroundings and my life, and I’ve found that there is nothing quite like the challenge of capturing a witnessed scene and an experience, with limited time and materials. Each July, I sketch with my travel class in Viterbo, a small city in central Italy, and for the rest of the year, I can be found in and around Boston, and often on the sidelines of a soccer field, hunched over a Moleskine as my children play.”
• Fred’s art on Flickr.
• Fred’s students blog Drawing Viterbo.
• Fred’s website.
Previously on the site: Sketching in Viterbo, Italy.