ARTIST on the SPOT

Back Bay...Cape May NJ

In the mid seventies, while still fully engaged in my private medical practice, but dreaming of the life of an artist, I began spending time in the streets of Wilmington Delaware with my sketch book. For inspiration and guidance I turned to the works of Paul Hogarth and Norman MacDonald, both prominent professional illustrators. I purchased everything I could find by Hogarth, including old Magazines and out of date books he illustrated, and a new book by MacDonald, published in 1972, called Artist on the Spot. Over the next 30 years I would periodically pull them off the shelf and look at them for the umpteenth time, never failing to be inspired. In preparation for my trip to Italy I began once again looking through the well worn volumes. Sadly, Paul Hogarth died several years ago, but MacDonald? I didn't know, so like any able bodied 21st century man I googled him, and to my great delight found his website and a means of contacting him, which I did. And was rewarded with a very nice response from the artist. It is experiences like this that sustain my amazement of the small world we now live in.

I have not checked to see if the book is still in print (a Van Nostrand Reinhold Book), but if it is, I would recommend it to anyone who loves to sketch.