"Some Will Watch From Below" OSWOA pen and watercolor

This, is one of my recent favorites. It's 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 +- pen and watercolor on Bristol vellum.
It's the size of a postcard. OSWOA means, other small works of art, and you can find lots of smaller pieces like this on ETSY. Just search for OSWOA.
I do a lot of ACEO (trading card) sized cards as well but really like this size best. You can get a lot more going on in the picture and framed, they are just lovely. Oh, and you can collect these too just like the ACEOs and put them in postcard collector's albums.
About this drawing,

there have been a lot of stories going around for awhile now, about the elites and wealthy, building shelters to retreat to whenever....something happens.
In the drawing you see a small city with lovely hills and houses beyond. The sky is alive with activity. Most all the skies I paint or draw have some sort of "things" in them, something, going on in them.
It's gotten to the point to where I can't seem to finish anything without something happening in the sky.
I watch the sky a lot and I guess you could say I'm somewhat obsessed by it. It seems somehow different to me now than it did years ago.  I keep waiting for it to do something. LOL

But, back to the drawing. You see the city and houses, one building is sending out signals, warnings, maybe public alerts to let the people know to flee.
On the road, you see the population running.
At the bottom, the faces of the people who have already gone underground to their shelters.
It is debatable whether or not  they will be safe there, depending of course on the intensity of the meteor and CME bombardment. Time will tell.
Oh, and the UFOs. Let's not overlook them. they are represented by the V shaped objects with the red light.
Their role in the disaster is unknown at this time.
I can't say for certain if they are here to help, to reap benefit's of man's demise or, just to observe.
Again, time will tell.
I'm debating whether or not to put this up on ETSY. If I do later, I'll pop in and post something about it. I've done a lot of pictures in the past few months that, I just can't seem to let go of. LOL
I get attached to the little things.

"Bunny Love" graphite drawing

Well, I thought I was going to do some other things but ended up doing another one of these darn things.
This one almost went in the trash more than once too. It bothered me.
It almost felt like I was "channeling" some kind of monster.

I got the feeling when drawing this, that what I was "finding" was a portrait of either a killer or some kind of person that I was really uncomfortable with.
In the image, you see a young man bent over the knees of this terrible looking man. The man has a bunny mask pushed back on his head and is wearing bunny gloves. Like some kind of costume or disguise. It could be someone that appears on the outside, gentle and timid like a bunny, but on the inside is a horrible predator. The dark figure in the background gave me some trouble as well.
It started off pretty much as you see it in the finished piece but something about how his face was coming through, it just wasn't "right", so I put the drawing up for a couple days and let it stew on the backburner and then, while out working in the garden it popped into my head, "He has no face!"
So, I went back to the drawing and indeed, he had no face other than the barest indication. It is of course a spirit or demon that is propelling the man to become a monster and in the picture it seems clear to me that the demon is pleased with the terror and despair he is helping facilitate.
Again, this is done in graphite on 9x12 Bristol vellum and finished off with workable fixatif.
I'm debating putting some of these on ETSY but just can't decide yet. LOL
at any rate, thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave comments critiques or observations! I'm happy to hear from people and hear what their impressions are of these drawings.

"Shopping in Stinky Town" Pen and Colored Inks

I thought I'd post something a little bit different tonight. I did this drawing in Dec. and have just had it put away but thought I'd get it out for you to see. It's kind of a commentary on how we'll put up with anything or do anything to get to shop. LOL
here you  see the lady with her little handbag heading into a thoroughly polluted town to go shopping.
I'm going to put this one and some of the others up on ETSY soon and see if we can't find good homes for them.
This one is done on 9x12 Bristol vellum in pen and acrylic ink washes.
I like the intensity of color you get with these acrylic inks too. This is about as big a picture as I've done with them as they handle differently than say watercolors, and they do better on smaller pieces.
The colors on this one really are a lot more vibrant than the scan shows. 

I hope you like it and as always, please feel free to leave comments.

"The Revealing" graphite drawing

Ok, here's another of the graphite pieces. I keep thinking I'll get these out of my "system" soon. LOL
They just keep coming though. I'm working on a bigger one now that will probably take a while to finish.
In "The Revealing", as I was drawing  I thought of something that I'd been hearing about on the forums and recently in an article on Zerohedge. About the Revealing. The uncovering of lies and deception. About how people are becoming more and more aware of the "man behind the curtain" the manipulation that's gone on of centuries, the slavery that this system of living forces people into just to survive.
I was thinking about how now we are finding out more and more about what actually goes on behind the scenes, in those secret meetings in the smoke filled rooms. I was thinking about the monsters inside the monsters, inside the monsters.
Anyway, I hope you like this newest piece.

It's again on 9x12 Bristol vellum, done in graphite with a touch or two of carbon pencil. Topped off with fixatif to keep it from smudging.
I'd love to hear what you think, feel free to leave a comment.

"Guided By Demons, Soldier Uses Ring of Fire Weapon" Graphite

Well, this one was weird, and took a while to do. I started it several days ago and only got it to where I thought it was done this evening.
I'm not sure what to say about this drawing. The demons are visible to us, but I don't think the soldier is aware of what it is that is directing his activities.
The 'Ring of Fire' weapon is also very strange. When I was drawing, it really popped out at me. Perhaps it is some new secret experimental weapon of some kind.
I hope we never have to find out actually.
This drawing is done on 9x12 Bristol vellum like the others, in graphite and on this one, I used just a bit of white charcoal to help bring out the highlights in some areas.
As always, comments are more than welcome as well as critiques or drawing tips.

I will probably have a couple more of these graphite pieces to post over the next few days and then we'll do something different. Some pen and colored inks or watercolors! Time for a break! LOL

oh hey, i just noticed there are some new folks following the blog!
hello and welcome to you and thank you very much!

process pictures "Bride of Frankenstein"

I wanted to go ahead and start this project and show a bit about how these drawings come into being.
In the first scan, it's just the paper with blue painter's tape edging it out. I like using that tape as it leaves a nice clean edge and sort of funnels my attention to the window of paper.

this is 9x12 inch Bristol vellum paper. I really like using it as it carries a bit of chaos and adds to the possibilities for interpretation. For the next step, I use a soft brush and powdered graphite. If you are going to try this, try to relax and just let go. Dip the brush in the graphite, tap off the major excess and let the brush just swirl over the paper. I try to not look actually and let chance and chaos take a role here.
Once you've gotten the most of the paper covered you can always add a bit more if design or balance considerations are important but, it's best to just let it go.
Here's the paper with the graphite on it.

Do you see the faces?
When I first start, I like to find the eyes, there is a really strong face on this paper.  And, if you don't see something right away, turn the paper around, try it sideways, upside down. whatever. If after all that you still can't find the picture either add more graphite or better yet, put it aside and relax. just let your mind wander for a bit and go back to the paper. let your eyes wander over it and sometimes like a bolt, you'll see the picture.
it's quite remarkable how it happens sometimes.
next, what I do is take a kneaded eraser and pick out the highlights of the eyes especially. Once the picture begins to look out it defines itself, you are basically uncovering what is already there.
Here is what I got from the above scan. This is the beginning, just bare bones so to speak.

Notice the strength of the top left face. Her eyes came through immediately and would not be denied.
She seems to be implanted in the larger male profile beneath her. I found a sun-like area, or light in the upper right at this point as well. See the dark area that curves? At first I thought it might be the man's ear but later found it to be something else even more interesting and hopefully, revealing.
If you are doing this, continue along with your kneaded eraser and begin to define edges and outlines with a pencil. At this point I mostly use an H2 drawing pencil.
Here's the piece with a bit more definition. It's starting to really speak now.

I found another eye for the lower face and noticed that the almond shaped area was not his ear after all but, at this point had no idea what it was.
After a break and some relaxation, i looked again, brushed it some with my brush and saw something.
It looked like 2 more faces. I wasn't too keen on that idea, mostly for design reasons and wasn't going to put them in but, they were intent on becoming, so, I picked them out with the eraser and defined them with the pencil. I used some B pencil as well in that area. Here's the result.

once I "gave in" and allowed that area to have it's way, I was pleased with the result.
The drawing is beginning to tell me it's name now as well. If you are doing this, you may find that you "hear" something, a name or something that comes to you while working.
This next scan shows more of the detail coming through. When you get to this point, take your time, look for places where structure shows through, giving you an idea of location or mood etc. a bit of stonework was in this picture and, the streams of light are becoming more like a streaming veil, entangling and in some ways defining the figures. Maybe it's a wedding veil?

also, I like to use one of those paper pencils, I forget what they're called, that you smudge and blend with, it makes drawing more like sculpturing I think. also, another tool I like is an eraser pencil. The one I have now has a small vinyl eraser in it and it extends when you click it like a mechanical pencil.
I also like to use a bit of carbon pencil to help define the darkest shadows.
The drawing is almost finished. A few final touches and it will be done.

Here, the veil is more defined, I've used a bit of carbon pencil to help deepen the darkest areas, I've used a soft small brush to smooth and blend as well as the blending paper pencil thing. LOL
a few more touches and it's done.
finally, here is the finished drawing sprayed with fixatif and the tape removed.

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did. It's a good way to contact that part of yourself that deals in images and feelings only. It can be very enlightening.

Bug Bites

Thought I'd go ahead and post this new graphite piece while I'm thinking about it and have a bit of time.
This one was interesting, it started with the head and I saw what appeared to be a giant insect devouring it, and then saw the other insects. I've piddled with it for 3 days now. Sometimes it takes awhile, carrying it around, sitting in different places, different light, to see all there is to see.
I guess this one comes from my worry that genetically modified plants and even now insects, released into the world, will be one of those things with unintended consequences.
anyway, I'm thinking about doing a series of scans showing the progression of one of these kinds of drawings. That might be interesting. Maybe in the next post here I'll do that.
anyway, here is "Bug Bites".

kind of an analogy of man's science gone awry and coming back to bite us?
Do feel free to post any critiques. I'm always interested in how others interpret these particular drawings.

Thank you! March 7, 2012

Just wanted to say thank you to Periol and Emeline for their purchaces the other day.
Even as we speak, "Wedding Flight" is winging it's way to it's new home with Periol and "In the Future We Ride in Balloons" is floating towards Emeline!
I hope you guys love your new artwork.

Went by the gallery today and met the nicest lady. She is a fiber artist and we had a great time talking about art stuff. LOL So, a shout out to Kristy!
I put up a new gallery page, it's all paper mache sculptures. Hope you like it. I hope to do more this summer when the weather gets nice and warm. That's the best time for paper mache I think.

Here's a color pencil drawing that's in my new sketchbook I got from my friend Becky at Artopia, just a few doors down from Mr. Nelson's gallery.
Not sure what to call it yet, or whether or not to call it anything at all, but I hope you like it.

As always, I'm interested in hearing whatever you have to say about these pictures. I like hearing about techniques, or materials to try, any kind of pointers or things like that. I never got to take any lessons so I'm always interested in learning new things.
Will post again soon with a new graphite piece, if I don't tear it up that is. LOL

New Graphite Work March 2, 2012

Sitting here listening to the storm pick up outside and praying the roof stays on, I thought I'd finally scan these new graphite pieces and post them.
These drawings for some reason are very important to me. It's in the way they are done I think that makes them special. I don't plan them, I find them, and that to me makes a big difference and makes them special.
I'll put all 5 of them on the graphite gallery page.
I'd like to show you a couple of them in this post though.
This first one, i called "Wedding Flight"

These are done on 9x12 Bristol vellum in graphite.
I love this picture, I'm sure that somewhere in the vast universe, some alien race is breeding in flight just like in the picture.
This next one is done on the same kind of paper and is called, "Moon in the Water"
It's got a lot going on in it I think. LOL

These pictures and the other ones I'll put on the graphite page, are really visits into the backroom of the subconscious where images and dreams live. That's what makes them special.
I'd really like to hear what you think of these so please, comments are welcome.
Also, scanning graphite for some reason, never really shows the picture as well as I'd like. I've read other artists talking about the same problem and some say it's because the graphite reflects light and makes it harder to get a good image. Could be.
Maybe someone will have suggestions, I'd love to hear them.