Mother and Child

Mother and Child , originally uploaded by askthemoon.

I sometimes feel like this woman, so I drew her. Then I drew the child, who seems to actually be comforting the woman, rather than the other way around. Who is the child? I don't know. Who do you think she is?

Drawn from the Film, Pi ( π )

Traced directly from theTV screen.  From a paused DVD of  "Pi". Sean Gullette plays an obsessed mathematician. Scribble-traced the basic values, then doused the drawing with tea, crumpled it up, smoothed it out, dried it. It didn't seem right to draw upon such an ususual film without being unusual about the art process too.

Humble Offering

I can't go to bed until I draw something," I tell myself. Just a mixture of colored pencil and pastel. The light coming from a lamp on my right, so the shadow falls the other way. Later, I saw a painting of Cezanne apples that so shamed me, I got serious and added a green background, (after also outlining the apple in dark green.) That was a choice I'd never have made but for the Cezanne to guide me. I need to start copying the masters, or I'll be stuck in my bad habits and never learn a thing.

What Else Can You Do With a Book?

The pages of a book that I was about to discard. Better to recycle them this way.

fear makes me

Having an anxious day at work, worried about lots of things. This was the result.

Which one is better?

Original version graphite and soft pastel

Time of the Butterflies, originally uploaded by askthemoon.

I doodled some ideas for a cover to accompany my review of Julia Alvarez's book about "Las Mariposas" - the legendary politically active sisters known as "the butterflies."
Then played around in Photoshop and made another version...which one do you like better?

Photoshopped version

Harp Player Has the Blues

Harp Player, originally uploaded by askthemoon.

An attempt to vary the backgrounds in sketches to see what I like. This isn't particularly dramatic but the meandering lines of the shadow area might set a particular mood. Imagine you can hear the harmonica's sound, all bluesy and sort of sad.