52 Fridays - I Didn't Draw This for You

 

Just sayin'. Not you specifically, but anyone, everyone. If I start thinking about an audience, I get self-conscious and the drawing is dead. All the magic and mystery leaks out onto the floor. This week's drawing is called "I dreamed I disappeared, but I was wrong." It's built from the leftovers of last week's drawing, those splotches are the bleed through of the India ink on the page below. The ink went through several more pages creating ever smaller and fainter shapes, so I will continue to harvest this randomness. I like how the ink has warped the paper creating a subtle series of dunes, like a desert. 

See you next week.

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52 Fridays - The Headless Troll King of the Free Flat Land

 

Greetings friends and welcome to another happy Friday! This week's drawing is an original piece I call, "The Headless Troll King of the Free Flat Land". I used a technique of randomness beginning with a couple of drops of brown India ink on paper charged with clean water. I let it dry and then looked at it from all angles, seeing different things. A process not unlike looking for shapes in clouds. This strange troll, orc thing was what I found. Somebody call a psychiatrist! I enjoy drawing from real life objects (or photos thereof), but part of that exercise is to add layers to the compost pile; build a vocabulary of mystery to articulate my own thang. 

See you next week!

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52 Fridays - Teotihuacán Head Mexico

Welcome to week ten of this 52 Friday's drawing project. This week I was inspired by an image from a book called "Before Cortes Sculpture of Middle America" from the MOMA online library.  Great site to visit if you have a few hours, days or weeks to burn. I find the I'm compelled to draw pieces that have some damage; chips, cracks, worn surfaces; something that has a bit of character. This is the face from a female figure carved from greenstone. I think I will draw her again sometime as I'm not completely satisfied with this one. I drew the forehead to high and the eyes are too small. I also think my tones are too flat. I took too much time and over thought it a bit. Even so, I had fun making this drawing. Not a bad way to pass a Friday evening...

Have a good one,

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52 Fridays - Ibo Mmaji Mask

 

Happy Friday once again and the last one of February. This week's drawing is a "Mmaji (or maji or ma ubi) mask from Ibo, Nigeria I found in a book called, "Masks of Black Africa", that is in my personal library. Sometimes I prefer to draw from a book and take a break from the screens that dominate my life now (computer, phone and TV). I chose this mask because it is so weird and wonderful and just makes me smile. It is abstract and goofy and kind of cyberpunkish. I used a basic black Bic ballpoint ink pen.

I noticed that since I've begun this project that I am doodling more. I crave drawing. I'm compulsively making marks everyday now. It's my natural state. Go with the flow...

I hope you are safe, healthy and can go with your own flow.

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