52 Fridays - Revenge of the Nose

 

Yes, I did have acne as a teenager. Funny how that shit still comes out when I made this drawing. I didn't even realize it until I started writing. We are the sum of all the good and bad in our lives after all.

Happy Friday! This week I decided to riff on last week's subject, but this time only work from memory and give myself free rein to play. This profile is so captivating to me that I could just draw it again and again for the rest of the year...that's an idea! I made a lot of changes, primarily making the ear larger and adding the rings, covering the skin with strange tattoos or maybe lesions, and enhancing the lips. It is also rendered in black and white ballpoint pen in a more comic book style. I loved the magazine "Heavy Metal" when I was a teen and there are echoes of that here too.

See you next week.

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52 Fridays - The Nose Knows

 

I love this guy's nose, reminds my of Sammy Davis Junior's nose. Color again this week, this time no ballpoint ink under drawing, just some pencil to lay it out. I amped up the yellow and slate grey background for contrast. I wasn't able to play with the subtle textures like I normally like to do mostly because I am out of practice with drawing in color. 

This image came from the Instagram account of "lesboisquimurmurent" and is a "Bateba Lobi" or wooden carved figure made by the Lobi tribe of the Burkina Faso region of West Africa. 

When I see my drawing next to the original, I want to draw this again, but next time in black and white and focus on the form. I think I lost that with my the muddy use of color. Always better to try and fail than not try at all, or just watch TV, right?

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52 Fridays - This Week in Living Color

 

Welcome to week fourteen of my "52 Fridays" art project. I'm changing this from a "drawing project" to the more general term art because I want latitude to play with different mediums. Sculpture, painting,  interpretive dance? Stay tuned and see what happens.

This week is a drawing of a wood carved figure of the Gurunsi tribe from West Africa (learn more at Africa 101 Lost Tribes). I found the photo on "Zachary Feere—African Art" Instagram's feed, which has been a treasure trove of amazing stuff and this is not my first time pulling something from there. I was drawn to this piece because of the strong cuts across the face that suggest ritual scarification or maybe, healed wounds. The epic nose and sensual lips and overall shape of the head also attracted me. I decided to add color to this piece and used color pencils to overlay my ballpoint drawing. My girlfriend, Ieva, commented that "He looks bloody.", which I didn't notice, but see that now. I think he looks like a warrior who has been through hell and out the other side and wears has scars proud.

Happy Friday and see you next week!

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52 Fridays - Fast and Loose

 

"I'm better when I move..." A favorite line from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". This week's drawing is of the fast and loose variety. I seem to have two speeds, either "fast and loose" or "slow and tight". It is some insight into my psyche. The F & L drawings drop from a place of confidence and have more life. The S & T drawings rise from an opposite place of careful, too careful, consideration and a desire to disappear into the details. Somehow the F & L drawings manage to capture more of my soul, maybe because I am thinking less and just making marks, which feels good. 

This was drawn from an image found in the book, "African Art" by Frank Willet. This mask is from the Congo basin area of Africa and is called "Ngbangba Ikoro" and was carved by the Ibo tribe. I always include this information so you can research this if it inspires you like it does me. It's a holy act to speak those tribal names and draw their image with my own hand attaching some of my spirit to their's to keep that energy flowing. I'm not trying to appropriate the culture, rather, I hope that it will appropriate me.

Happy Friday amigo,

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