Wavy African Flute Guy

Here's actually the first of the four I started the other day. This is the one without the mask and spatters (obviously).

Cow Horn Man

When he plays his horn, the children swarm. The five notes of the horn drift across the land and stir everyone's souls. Flies buzz, the adult settle back into their tasks, and everyone feels more connected to each other and the world than they had been before.

I finally started some new pictures, four in all. Is this mass production? I sat around for awhile two nights ago and made sketches, and then put the mask on. The next morning (yesterday), they were all dry, so I did the splatters with the toothbrush, and then yesterday evening that was all dry, so I rubbed the mask off of all three of them (one of them I didn't mask and splatter), and used the technical pens. I must say I'm a bit pleased.

Guitar Guy

I need to be making pictures! It's so hard to start them. Too much going on. Too much stress. Too much tension. I do so much better when I can exercise every day, when I get enough sleep, when I can work in my garden, and when I can MAKE ART!

But as far as this week's Illustration Friday topic goes--LAYER--almost all of my pictures are layered. I start with a pencil sketch, then use a mask over the areas that are going to be white, and then spatter the whole thing with ink, then take the mask off, and use technical pens for the rest. I love layers. I love texture.

I don't particularly like THIS picture, but it's what I do. Layers produce texture, and life is all about textures. Life is not a clear clean arrow through time, but a thick texture of experience.

Skewed Sketches #10 and #11

More of these "skewed" sketches. I would like to do one every day, but it seems two per week is about my limit. Even though they sometimes don't turn out so well, I'm learning a lot by doing them. These are both from photos in the newspaper, though I seriously doubt anyone would be able to recognize them. Certainly the people IN the photos would never say, "hey, that's me" if they saw these sketches.

Portrait with Hat

,Soooooo> What does one say? I started this at the same time as I started the one I posted yesterday, and I kept hauling it to school with me every day, but never worked on it. Last night we went to a friend's house, and after dinner, instead of playing music with everyone I sat on the couch and did this. Very satisfying--to listen to fabulous old time music and work on a pen and ink drawing. This is part of the "portraits of interesting looking people" project, mostly for the purpose of developing my pen and ink skills, but also because they're interesting-looking people.

Disgruntled Fiddler

I have NO idea what to do to "finish" this. It might just have to sit on my wall for awhile, and hopefully, after a few days of fresh looks, I might come up with some ideas. (This one is a LOT bigger than the others....)

Joyous Fiddle Guy

One thing the technical pens are prompting in me, especially with larger pictures, is tightness, and that's something I'd really like to avoid. I know this doesn't LOOK like a tight drawing, but really it is, though I think I overcame it somewhat. And what takes such a long time isn't actually time spent on a drawing, though I did spend a fair amount of time on this, but finding the time (or the wherewithall) to work on them.....