Somehow I missed the sad passing a month ago of the inspiring Richard Merkin, an artist and professor I had the opportunity to meet during my bid at RISD. I'm not going to go into too much detail about who the man was or any experiences I had with him; he said and did many memorable things in classes and left a strong impression on all of us. As a young'un in school I was barely aware of his sartorial gifts, although his look remains in my mind's eye more than that of any other professor I had there.

One thing I remember him saying to me, which had a sort of existential ring to it and pops in my head every so often: after looking at a drawing I had made, he said, "be careful when you draw a line that runs off the edge of the paper because that line will go on forever."

Here's a selection of his famous pastels and works on paper:Read The New York Times' obituary here.