The theme was 'tension' in which we had to create a work of art using brown paper bags. In the midst of high school drama and stressful testing seasons, I created this mixed media drawing of a woman screaming and pulling at her hair. The hair is made of the brown paper bags to give it depth and texture. The drawing was created on brown paper with white pen highlights.
Trying out some drawing on a slightly bigger scale( it's still only 8"x12, but I usually draw in a tiny scale). It was fun and interesting because it made me try new things.
When I was a teen, my grandfather had alzheimers, a failing heart, and half of one lung. He was covered with scars and sometimes muttered at walls.
I was asked to keep an eye on him, briefly, one afternoon, while my grandmother did something else. While I was alone with him, he looked at an empty space right next to me, and whispered: "Mom? Dad? Is that you?"
With the exception of getting hit by a car, that was the most terrifying moment of my life.
This is the book I made which contains the educational paper I wrote and illustrated about my trip to China in the summer of 2017. I gave a lecture entitled, The Sketchbook: Let's Connect at ICON10, The Illustration Conference in Detroit, MI this past July. I gave a few of these books out along with pocket sketchbooks to the audience. Below are a few spreads from the 40-page book.
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.
