Happy Mother’s Day!

Pen and ink portrait of Native American heroine Sacagawea with her infant son on her back. Blue ink and blue wash featured.

  Happy Mother’s Day! In developing a pen and ink portrayal of Sacagawea, one famous mother, I created a lot of “good try’s” (those images that didn’t make the grade). First off, I was working from my imagination, because there are no photos of Sacagawea. There is a painting of her with Lewis and Clark,…

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Selfie, Sorta

Detail from A sketched "selfie" of artist Melani Grube. Red hair, bobbed, glasses, face.

  A selfie, sort of. A sketch of me, if I looked a little different. So, really, it’s a character sketch based on me. Sketching seems to be a series of choices. Which features do I include? Which features do I imply? How close to reality do I take this? How much do I let…

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The Girl Who Left Home to Learn David Hockney

A detail from Melan Grube's sketch of David Hockney's etching of Rapunzel, the Older, for his book, "Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm". A woman with incredibly long hair, flowing down her back and piled on the floor behind her. She wears a long gown and carries two white, long-stemmed lily flowers.

  Oh, I had such a fantastical afternoon, once upon a too bright Saturday. I found my way into the strangely dim, yet clear light of a brand new art center and its surprising gem of a show: David Hockney‘s Etchings from his book, “Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm“. These fairy tales are…

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Journey of Hope 2017 Exhibit: Work in Progress, Pencil Sketch

  A peek behind the scenes for you, a Work-In-Progress sketch for the painting for the Journey of Hope Exhibit. I work out some of the concept for the piece on a separate piece of paper. I spatter paint on paper for the actual painting, then look for the image that expresses the theme I…

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Afternoon, Revisited: A Couple Characters

  A couple characters in study mode. Drawing loosely in doodle mindset often yields the best personalities. I tend to be shy, but I’m trying to loosen up and share. Are you shy or free-and-easy-going? See the evolution of this piece from sneak peek to color study to initial idea to character studies to characters…

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A Sunday Study

  Did you guess the painting that inspired the piece I am starting here? It’s George Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”. You can see the original below.     Before I started painting and inking my version of Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”,…

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