Rubber-Neckers

This is my first sketch in several days, and I'm a little rusty and unsure of myself. It's also the first page of a new Moleskine sketchbook/journal.

I was inspired by a photo that my cousin Ryan shared on Facebook during his trip to Florida this week of a white heron standing on the deck outside a restaurant where Ryan was eating. Apparently, the heron is a frequent visitor begging for food and has been  affectionately named George. He was peering through the window at the patron. Ryan says he was really funny to watch.

Something about George spoke to me and made me want to sketch him, not once, but three times. The page turned into an amusing trio of rubber-necking herons. I'm glad Ryan shared the photo, because I had had absolutely no desire to draw anything for several days and maybe George has gotten me jumpstarted.

I sketched George #1, in the middle, first with a zig permanant marker. As I said, I was a little rusty and unsure, so he looks kind of stiff and rigid. George #2, on the right, is some better, but George #3, on the left, is more fluid and relaxed looking. I was more relaxed by the time I sketched him, and he looks a little more natural.

Anyway, George was fun to sketch, and I hope my little trio made you smile. :)

Ink Experiment Gone Awry...

Leah, who hosts the Creative Every Day challenge, creates wonderful paintings with poured ink shapes. A few months ago I decided to try it. I took a piece of damp 300 lb water color paper and poured and dribbled black and red Sumi ink all over it and left it to dry. It dried into the pale wash in the background. I didn't see any images that I wanted to build on, so I poured more black ink on top and left that to dry. Sumi ink does not dry fast if you apply it very thick. The piece you see above is what I came out with. I still didn't see anything I wanted to build a painting on. So...

after a few days of studying it, I got up the nerve to spray it with water, which dissolved the black Sumi ink, causing it to run and spread all over the paper. I then dropped vermilion and indigo watercolor into the ink and around it, and tilted the paper this way and that to create what you see in piece #2 above. Left it to dry. Still nothing popped out. Hated it...

After a couple of months of trying to figure out how to fix it, I decided that I couldn't make it any worse, so day before yesterday I decided to pour India ink, which is permanant, on it. It was dried up, so I poured some more Sumi ink over it and let it run into shapes. I helped it by tilting the paper and I dried it with a blow dryer. I kind of liked it with this layer on it, but it needed more red, so I poured some red Sumi ink on it. Of course, when the wet red hit the dried black, it re-activated it and they ran together, creating some unusual effects. Still nothing came to me...

Yesterday I gave up on the ink and got out my fluid acrylics. I dribbled blue, red, yellow, green-gold and finally white, tapping the edges of the paper on the table to give them shapes and runs. Before they were quite dry, I sprayed the whole piece with water, stood it on edge, and left it to dry. The water re-activated what ink was still showing, causing it merge with some of the acrylics. I wish all the tiny lines of paint/ink had showed up in the scan. Anyway, what I have now is piece #3. Still not crazy about it, and it certainly looks NOTHING remotely resembling what Leah created, so now what...