Day Fifty Eight

Had a nice afternoon with the auntie today. I don’t have much to share about today, so I’ll just start on in on this blog post.

Today’s word was sort of..."hmm"... I looked at it and thought “Aw dang it...well...yeah...alright fine. Let’s do this.” I wasn’t sure I really wanted to illustrate this word, but decided that it could work (in kind of a sick way) with my newer style. Curious about the word?

pain  n.  The unpleasant feeling resulting from injury or disease; any distress or suffering of the mind; sorrow.    v. To cause or experience pain.

I decided to just go all-out with it. Well, not exactly all-out but definitely painful. I was inspired to start on a series of these drawings. I like to create art that is strange or different and I think today’s piece does that. I think the level of discomfort the viewer responds with when seeing this piece is interesting. I don’t really love comfortable art. Okay, now for the photo:

I sketched her in pencil normally to get the proportions as correct as I could, and then re-drew the leg in a broken position. If I were to do this piece again, I would work harder on showing more emotion in her face. I used a fine tipped pen to sketch the detail onto the tights after I had inked the drawing. I hope you enjoyed reading today’s post. Thanks for stopping by!

Xx

-r

Day Forty Five

Did a little linoleum block carving today. I am pretty thoroughly convinced it is not for me. Oh well, I gave it my best. I have one piece I have not carved-that will most likely be my final attempt. Now for some bloggin’

Today’s word brought an image to mind that I knew I had to bring to life. It’s not original, or even particularly interesting. Cute, maybe. Funny, yes. Would you like to know the word before you see the piece? Yeah...that’s probably the order we should go in.

head-set  n.  A pair of headphones.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if I didn’t know what a headset was, this definition probably wouldn’t help me all that much.

Although this scene/character is not at all a new idea, I couldn’t help but create my own version. I started with a pencil sketch...

And then moved on to the paint. 

I decided against inking the drawing; I didn’t want to lose the soft edges and the easy flow of her hair to the deep, clean black of my drawing pens.

Hope you enjoyed today’s piece. Enjoy your night, and sleep in for me tomorrow. Good night, all!

Xx

-r

Day Thirty Nine

Lovely late evening. Had an incredible dinner with our English and Italian neighbors. There was talk of music, politics and burning down the Vatican. I saw my first glass of wine used as a slide for an electric guitar...innovative? I think yes. The night wound down with some slow jazz and gifts of beautiful European clothes (custom Turkish leather coat, dresses and jackets from Spain and Italy...) are you jealous yet?

drift  v.  To be driven or carried along by or as if by currents of air or water; to move along the line of least resistance; to move about aimlessly; to be carried along with no guidance or control; to accumulate in piles , as sand; to deviate from a set course; in the western U. S., to drive livestock slowly to allow grazing.

I think many people, especially those that are my age, struggle with “drifting”. With or without a passion in life it is, in my experience, often difficult to find “direction”. I will stop here; I could write for days on this subject and end up nowhere. I don’t think there really are any big-picture answers on the subject of how to live your life, and I’m okay with that.

Now for today’s piece...

I wanted to illustrate the relaxed and free aspect of the word “drift”. Watercolors seemed to be a good fit. I began with a simple pen and ink sketch (jeez!! if I had a dollar for every time that phrase appeared on this blog...) and then painted over it with watercolor paint.

I hope you enjoyed this piece, your evening, and the wonderful people that surround us all.

Good Night.

Xx

-r

Day Thirty Six!

Holy cow!! I have never before been this close to NOT posting!! Oh boy..came pretty close, there. I was wondering to myself if anyone missed me? I was curious if there had been any readers checking in only to find...nothing... Well, to those readers (if you do exist) I am very sorry.

Would you like to know what happened?

I’ll tell you anyway.

As you may have guessed, The Ink Drop is far from being my only artistic outlet...

Recently, I have been attempting to master (or at least become friends with) the art of silk screening. Tonight, I was finally able to come close. I’d burned a screen with two images on it to save time (before printing one, I’d tape over the other) and decided to do three print runs in one night. The results?

This is a print from a high contrast photograph I’d taken of my younger brother in France. I burned it to a screen and printed it on 5x7 backing board.

This is a print from a photograph taken last year (date unknown) in an alley downtown during a construction project. (Those of you who live in Lawrence: that stupid “night club” called Tonic...this was the construction of their back patio...you know...the one with the giant fake palm tree...)

I decided to play around with some 80’s style pop art colors. I hand-painted the background, did the first layer in pink (or green) and then did another layer over that in black.

I then had to wash out my screen...

My small army of paint:

Now, back to the reason you are here...

Today’s word is PERFECT. I could not have picked a more perfect word for today...

sat-is-fac-tion  n.  Anything which brings about a happy feeling; the fulfillment of a need, appetite, or desire; a source of gratification.

Ahh...just the way to describe my evening.

I decided to use some of the paint that had been sitting around, and draw the sound that came to mind:

I painted the girl (over a pencil sketch) and left her face in pencil-the brush was much too large for that fine of detail.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s post! (Most of you will no doubt read this tomorrow) For now, I will be sinking into bed and not moving for at least 10 hours.

Good night.

Xx

-r

Day Twenty Eight

And now for something completely different...

Today I opted for a simple sketch in pencil, which turned into a multimedia(ish) piece. The word is one that(for some strange reason) always makes me think of an old diner. Sort of a glossy, shiny fifties-style diner...the kind that serves up delicious heart attacks three times a day. You know the one... Okay, well I guess I’ll tell you today’s word (and let you realize just how strange I am for making the connections that I do)...

may-on-naise  n.  A dressing for salads, made by beating raw egg yolk, oil, lemon juice, or vinegar and seasonings.

I guess the dictionary is handy for definitions AND recipes now...

So anyway, I decided to sketch the first thing that came to mind:

For good measure, I added a dollop of white paint to accentuate the mayonnaise aspect of it...

Hope you enjoy!!

Xx

-r