Got a call from Newsday today and was given a story about Pope Benedict and the release of his latest encyclical on the topic of social justice and economy. It appears as if the effort has garnered the Pontiff a number of critics in the business community. Mind you, by simply being the Pope, you're going to take criticism galore. I had a number of solutions, but the final selected was this. I opted for a pen & ink drawing this time as it has been a while since I strapped on a quill (so to speak) and had at it. The image is pretty tiny and will likely reproduce as a one column spot image. It will appear in the Thrusday, July 16th issue of the paper. I might keep up with the pen and ink for a little while longer, maybe even do a sketchbook sketch or two.
Here is a scan of the newspaper page. It is a little small to make out the well written opinion, but you can see how the art was used on the page.

Got out to enjoy the garden with a sketch pad and made the following quick draws. They were all made the same day averaging 20-30 minutes per sketch. I used Pitt's charcoal pencil on what looks to be a fairly decent drawing bond. The pad was a gift from Val and looks to be the sort of thing you'd see at walmart in the art supplies section, but it is a pretty good paper to draw on. I do like to draw the flowers. The top two sketchs are of pots that Val has made arrangments in. Now I'll be able to hang one up and we can enjoy it year long.

Who says you can't still bore your relatives with endless slideshows and home movies of your goings on? Enjoy this YouTube clip which sumerizes our 4th of July. Hope you had a great weekend where ever you were.