In memory of the great John Lewis. (1940-2020)
Original ink and watercolor portrait painting on Strathmore 500 Series 4-ply Bristol illustration paper.
Signed by the artist. Unframed.
mini archival print of my ORiGiNAL mixed media collage (preserved under glass, as a pendant) "We Are, Each of Us, Angels...." with gratitude to the universe. xoxo
The challenging thing with just using pen is that I can't paint over a mistake. I usually redo a face more than once. I didn't mean to make their face so stoic, it makes them look like a statue.
Depicting the young peoples lack of real identity coming from a lack of any real sub culture except looking good on a social platform and trying to become somebody on t.v or on a billboard. This is only led to a lack of respect for each other and the notion that what you own or buy makes you more special than the next person, this in turn leads to robbing each other in chase of a fancy phone that will be out of fashion in 1 year. Human conciousness at this point in time had been completely eroded.
Watercolor/india ink/acrylic 140 lb Strathmore 500 series hot press. First time on this quality of paper, what a joy to paint on great paper. I will be trying my Arches hot press next.
This started as some scribbling with Inktense pencils on large plain drawing paper. Then I was done, I wanted to wet the the drawing to release the "ink," but I found that the paper would not take water without drastic buckling. So, it remains a drawing rather than becoming a painting.
It’s always good to find some drawing time on vacation. We went to some weird random small towns in Washington and a ghost town called Burke with some particularly interesting history. I had Cheers playing on my phone while I drew this but no similarity is intended. It’s a classic show but it would have been better without the distracting laugh tracks.
It's been an interesting week, one of which had events I didn't expect to affect me as much as they did. I'd like to say something that occurred was surprising, but quite frankly, it wasn't. It's concerning how far things have gone and how some seem to feel indifferent to or even support them. We'll see what will happen, 11 days can't pass soon enough... besides that, time ticks on. A bit too fast in my opinion, but it is what it is. I know this drawing isn't my usual style, but something about drawing like this feels mindless for me, it lets me zone out and disconnect.
