Cowboy Rabbi

There is absolutely nothing like having a friend visiting--the longer the better--who thinks nothing sounds like more fun than spending long, lazy afternoons making art. I started four pictures yesterday, the first of which was Illustration Friday's scary "Secret" portrait. This is the second one (and probably my favorite). I thought of him as a rabbi, but it turns out the real person is a cowboy. Regardless, he's an interesting-looking fellow, one whom I wouldn't mind spending some time with, and hearing what tales he has to tell.

Illustration Friday: Secret

Who knows what secrets lie behind people's faces. Edgar Allan Poe was interested in what lay behind the mask of the everyday, in the deep irrational depths of the human mind.

This guy is kindof scary. I have no idea what he is thinking. My son came in and said, "VERY creepy!" Indeed. Yet this is his face. It is the face he presents to the world. It is the face his colleagues at work see, his wife sees, his children see. And if he is an open person, who talks freely about what he's thinking and feeling, what they all see will be pretty much what he is. But to me he looks like someone with secrets that I perhaps don't even want to know about.

Banjo Boy

So here's another picture on that slippy-slidey acrylic paper, that I am so enjoying how the technical pens move over. I like this one better. I tried to avoid overworking things, and I like the mood in this one a whole lot better.

Shiny Paper for a Change

These have to be the most boring portraits in the world. I don't know why I keep doing them. Yes, I do. It's because I SEE really cool portraits, and I'd like to do something like them. This time, it was looking at Stephen T. Johnson's portraits from Time Magazine. I went to high school with him. We took drawing classes together. And he is an incredibly cool illustrator. Here's a link to those illustrations: http://www.stephentjohnson.com/artwork/category/commercial_work/

So this....alas....well......

But as far as "shiny" goes--this is textured paper for acrylic painting. It has a shiny surface, and it's so much fun how my pen glides over it....