Mark Friday-Lewis Art

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Mark Friday-Lewis Art Welcome to Mark Lewis Art! I seek to capture the essence of a moment — the way a place feels, the quiet pulse beneath its surface.

My work is driven by a search for connection, between what is seen and what is felt, between discipline and discovery.

A peek into a process I’ve recently adopted as I scale up my abstract work.I’m painting on 30 × 40-inch sheets of mixed-...
10/24/2026

A peek into a process I’ve recently adopted as I scale up my abstract work.

I’m painting on 30 × 40-inch sheets of mixed-media paper stretched over 4 × 4-foot drawing boards I built. Nearby, two 9 × 12-inch sketchbooks (taped and gessoed) serve as color tests and a place to use up leftover paint. They become finished works as well.

With two boards, I can work on one while preparing the other—stretching paper or applying gesso. It’s a simple rhythm that keeps the studio moving and gives each painting room to evolve.

Now I just need more time.

Last night I joined Urban Sketchers Cincinnati for their boUrban Sketchers event at Tokyo Pie!What a great space to sket...
10/23/2026

Last night I joined Urban Sketchers Cincinnati for their boUrban Sketchers event at Tokyo Pie!

What a great space to sketch! Paper lanterns and colorful Japanese banners filled the room, neon signs added to the atmosphere, and One Piece played on multiple screens.

A fun evening of sketching and a little visual chaos!

My latest stone lithograph is taking shape! This time, I'm planning a three-color print, adding a new challenge to a pro...
10/22/2026

My latest stone lithograph is taking shape! This time, I'm planning a three-color print, adding a new challenge to a process I'm really enjoying learning.

This is the stone after its first etch. Next up is the roll-up etch, and then I can begin printing. I'm excited to see how the three colors come together and what surprises the process brings.

Every new medium comes with a learning curve, and stone lithography was no exception!I completed my first lithograph bac...
10/08/2026

Every new medium comes with a learning curve, and stone lithography was no exception!

I completed my first lithograph back in July, but somehow never got around to sharing it.

The process challenged me to think differently about drawing, texture, values, and how an image translates from stone to paper. I'm particularly pleased with the rich textures and range of values I was able to achieve.

Seeing the image emerge in the first prints was incredibly rewarding. There is something almost magical about the process, even when you understand the chemistry behind it.

I'm currently working on my second lithograph and looking forward to applying what I learned from this first experience. Each new print brings a little more understanding of what is possible.

This month’s Street View World Tour session featured a demo by Eduardo Bajzek. I was fascinated by how carefully he cons...
10/04/2026

This month’s Street View World Tour session featured a demo by Eduardo Bajzek. I was fascinated by how carefully he constructed the scene ... using angles, negative shapes, comparative measuring, and perspective to find the position and proportion of everything before committing to the drawing.

Then came the challenge: trying to hold onto that deliberate approach with only 20 minutes for each sketch. My instinct is to loosen up and start drawing more intuitively once the clock is running.

The last two images are where I stopped at the end of the 20-minute sessions. The first two are the same sketches after I spent more time developing them afterward. Looking back, simplifying the scenes or zooming in would probably have been a better strategy for the time limit. Still, I like where both drawings eventually landed.

10/04/2026

One painting becoming another.

Marks accumulate, disappear, get buried, and come back as something else. I rarely know exactly where a painting is going while I’m making it. Looking back at the stages, though, you can see it finding its way.

Paint. Destroy. Respond. Repeat.

Spent a beautiful fall day at Gorman Heritage Farm with Urban Sketchers Cincinnati, filling a couple of pages with the f...
10/03/2026

Spent a beautiful fall day at Gorman Heritage Farm with Urban Sketchers Cincinnati, filling a couple of pages with the farm’s buildings, fences, and a few very patient goats.

After sketching, Melissa and Dylan met up with me and we made a day of it—picking sunflowers, taking a tractor-wagon ride, and grabbing lunch from the food trucks.

Great weather, good company, and a sketchbook with a little more life in it. Hard to ask for much more.

My last view of Washington, D.C., became a two-page sketch.I penciled and inked this view from Ronald Reagan Washington ...
09/27/2026

My last view of Washington, D.C., became a two-page sketch.

I penciled and inked this view from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport while waiting for my flight home. The color had to wait. Sixteen days later, I finally came back to the sketchbook and finished it.

I like that urban sketching doesn’t always have to happen in one sitting. Sometimes you capture what you can while you’re there and finish the conversation later.

Miguel’s has become part of the ritual.I’ve been backpacking in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge for years, and a stop at Migu...
09/22/2026

Miguel’s has become part of the ritual.

I’ve been backpacking in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge for years, and a stop at Miguel’s in Slade for lunch before heading home is practically a tradition. After all those visits, I finally had the chance to slow down, pull out my sketchbook, and capture a place that holds a lot of memories for me.

Sometimes the best subjects are the places that have quietly become part of your own history.

A new view of Cincinnati.I joined Urban Sketchers Cincinnati at Mt. Storm Park, my first time visiting the park. It was ...
09/20/2026

A new view of Cincinnati.

I joined Urban Sketchers Cincinnati at Mt. Storm Park, my first time visiting the park. It was a beautiful day, and I quickly captured the Temple of Love before making a multimedia sketch looking out across the valley.

I’ve spent a surprising amount of time crawling Google Street View looking for good vantage points of Ivorydale, the industrial area where Ivory soap was once made. I’m always drawn to it when driving south on I-75—the tangle of pipes, smokestacks, and old industrial buildings rising out of the valley.

Mt. Storm gave me a view I hadn’t considered before. I was glad to finally get some of that landscape onto paper.

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Blue Ash, OH

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