Sometimes I feel like my drawing is similar to composing music. I start drawing just something and hope that it begins its own life.
In this drawing i start from the clouds and doesnt have any idea what it is gonna be at end.
I gravitated towards the fony baobab, a real type of baobab. Sadly, all baobabs are in decline, which informed my composition. I used pastel earth tones and a lot of blacks. Digitally hand-drawn in Rebelle 6
I visited my 6 year old's class las week to talk about what I do. They each made a little drawing and I got to put it tougher into this super fun pattern.
My Vintage blue floral pattern print was designed for fabric. Originally drawn in black & white line, the blue adds a vintage feel and reminds me of the blue and white china of yester year.
Bear was most respected animal in Finnish mythology
It was born in the skies on the shoulders of the seven stars of the Great Bear
From there, the bear was let down to earth in a golden cradle with silver straps, into the forest
” Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul to waste ”
I have had an idea for a long time to illustrate Sympathy for the Devil from Rolling Stones.
This start from free sketching of cloud looking lines and soon i realise they look like atom bomb cloud. Original idea was more landscape version but maybe later.
55 mins
“I Never Noticed The House Was On Fire” This is a painting for an upcoming group exhibition about memories. When I was a kid I grew up in a household where my parents were functioning alcoholics. They gave me toys, put me in front of the tv, and sent me outside to play to keep me distracted from what was going on. When I look back almost all of my childhood memories revolve around these things. I became obsessed with these imaginary worlds and I learned to draw by copying my favorite cartoons and characters from children’s books. It was not until I was much older, that the truth could no longer be hidden from me. The imaginary world of cartoons and books kept me shielded from the harsh realities of home. As I grew into an adult that form of coping grew with me as I created my own imaginary places inspired by the ones I loved as a child. A healthy place to escape.
I drew these guys with a Pilot Custom 823 FA and Platinum Carbon Black ink. The FA nib has a good drawing width on watercolor paper - one of my favorites. It's a soft nib but I don't use the line variation, just some nice shock absorption with each downstroke. The Carbon Black ink is out-of-this-world good, though being pigmented I fear keeping it in too many pens.
In July of 2022, Brianna Grier died falling out of a moving police car while having a mental health breakdown. Since Brianna passed, I have been heartbroken for her twins and family but also reflecting on my struggle with mental health. Mental health needs compassion and empathy, not police and punishment. The brunch strokes are purposeful, but I completed them with empathy in mind. I want to keep the composition simple but filled with meaning. The color theme represents vastness and loneliness, but also kinetic energy found in warm orange tones.
So, I really wasn't going to participate in inktober this year because of time constraints. But I saw some simple line art stuff from others that looked fun. I'll see how far I can make it this year.
My favorite way to eliminate the often paralyzing fear of "ruining" "good" paper is to just paint on any and all junk mail that comes into my house. Higher end catalogs are great for this, they don't use slick, thin paper (and even that gets used in collage or as a desk cover for other projects) and they're already bound for you. Just add marks! Carry it with you. Scan the pages you like. Cut it up later for making other art. It's "just" junk mail, so there is literally no pressure. I have HUNDREDS of these type of things and I run across them all the time, forgotten, in some old backpack or purse or drawer and it's a treasure to look through them again, and add new marks, paints and words.
Here's the sketch for my Draw Your Fear submission. Drawn with a Pilot Custom Urushi fountain pen using deAtramentis Document Ink Black.
Check out https://www.doodleaddicts.com/drawing-challenges/draw-your-fear/ tomorrow to see it in full color!
If it wasn't enough that Ernest Shacletons ship Endurance was crushed by the ice in Antarctika’s, some kind of weird Space Weather phenomenon appeared into the sky(drawing tip:if your drawing looks flat and dull , try to transforming it something different ).
There's a big drop of black ink spilled near the center... It's like that bit of ink just couldn't wait to be part of the art. Sometimes a rough sketch takes on a life of its own.
Three kings stopped a walking man to ask advice about their dreams.
But the man said, "Oh no please, I don't want to hear these things."
"I have dreams of my own although they'll never come to pass...
I just work my life away while all you rich guys sit and laugh."
Bearskullpine
A new bigger version of my earlier drawing
In the Finnish mythology killing of a bear was followed by a great feast in honour of the bear (peijaiset), where a substantial part of the celebrations consisted of convincing the bear's spirit that it had died accidentally and hadn't been murdered. Afterwards, the bear's skull was hung high upon a pine tree so its spirit could re-enter the heavens. The bones of the bear were then buried under the pine.
These are watercolor and pencil and ink drawings. They are 5 of 10 images of my hand from a child's board book from which I peeled the laminated pages and exposed the underlying cardboard. I have always struggled with a very large Port Wine Stain birthmark, and periodically make art about that, this one of two books this year.
