June 4, 2009
We just got the news that David Carradine died. I remember seeing him at the Golden Boot Awards several years ago. All the oldtimers were coming up to him and patting him on the back. After dinner, when he took the stage he quipped, "This is the only place I can go where they still call me 'kid.'" He was 72.

The 10,000 Bad Drawings of Bob Boze Bell
Malcolm Gladwell claims in his best-seller, Outliers: The Story of Success that one of the most significant factors for success is what scientists call the "10,000-hour rule." If you want to be a master at anything you "have to practice for 10,000 hours. The brain takes that long to assimilate all it needs to know to achieve true mastery."

When I started out on my quest to do 10,000 bad drawings I didn't know about this rule, but it makes perfect sense. Here are last night's sketches (8,973 to 8,982):

One of the trends that has grown directly from the daily exercise is the corner nicks, or negative space. Not sure when this first appeared but it has evolved from the daily laying in of washes. Over time I have become looser and more confident, allowing gaps to appear in the washes, blending and moving values wherever I want. Still not where I want to be, but it is instructive, no matter how crude it may look.

"I have little interest in teaching you what I know. I wish to stimulate you to tell me what you know."
—Robert Henri, master art instructor and artist