I have had this sketch in my portfolio for a long time. It’s india ink on paper with a caligraphy nib. I love the immediacy of it and I have used it before on greeting cards. I bought a font a while ago called Modernissimo. I love this font but could not find a use for it until today. When I saw the sketch, I remembered the font and put them together. So much of making things is like doing puzzles. You are always trying to fit things together the best way. I thought about adding color but I think it will work on it’s own. The elements are strong and black and white is simple and strong. Here’s the link to see it on TeePublic.
Once upon a time in a city or state I was living in that I can’t remember, there was an exhibit of many original drawings of Toulouse-Lautrec. I had always admired his work but really never known much about his life. The exhibit was downstairs in a kind of basement setting. I remember it was very dimly lit down there to prevent light damage to the art. All the works were small and intimate. This was fascinating as most of us know he painted very large paintings and posters, depicting Paris life and the can can as we know it. This was because he was not just a painter but an illustrator and just as importantly, a caricaturist. The exhibit feature many caricatures of the everyday people in his life.
The drawings seemed to jump off the paper and hit me hard. They hit me in my head, in my stomach and I immediately loved him. I stayed for a very long time, reveling in the idea that when you die, you will not be dead. I had just met a truly great man. The idea grew in my head that If you were born to connect with the history of the world, you would leave something behind. Here in front of me was a little miracle of sorts. This tiny man with his mangled body and his ill fate somehow managed to make his whole life a statement. Tragic though it was, he somehow turned this disabilities into something wonderful people could use as an inspiration. It left a mark on history. He left a permanent mark on me. I hope he will never be forgotten .
This little drawing was actually two that I put together. I was just learning photoshop and combined the Paris background with the pen and ink. It was a lot of fun to do. I don’t know why but I ran across it in my files and it brought back memories.
It got me to wondering that if you were born with the stack of cards this man was dealt, would you do as well in history or would you be as forgotten as the tiny spec of sand on an ocean shore? Is the world the same now or is it completely different: more cruel, more hostile? Is there more hate and bigotry or is it more exposed? I think it’s the world is the same but the language of survival is different.
This is an exotic angelfish from my imagination. I never started out drawing a fish. These were just brush marks with black ink on white paper. Just a doodle for sure. Then when I looked at it later I thought it looked a bit like a fish and it might be fun to enhance on the Cintique. Well, the little guy kept growing and getting stranger and stranger as I went along. In the end though I think those long wavy things hopefully look like part of his flowing body in the water.
There is nothing like drawing and doodling for fun. I think all he needs is some floating bubbles around him. I watched “My teacher Octopus” film on Netflix and loved it. I admit I cried. Definitely. I think the film is still in my head. I loved the sea in that film too as well as the photographer, and the way he documented the whole process. Here’s the link if you want this.
Artists view themselves pretty differently than the way the world in general sees them. I am bringing you a little series I originally drew sometime in the mid 1980’s. Pretty old, huh. I found the sketches packed away in some dusty box. I brought them into my computer and am redrawing them on my Cintique tablet.
I think this will be a lot of fun to create a new take on an old issue of how artists view themselves. Young or old, beginner or master, artists are colorful people. Their personalities are reflected in what they make and do. I tend to be kind of goofy sometimes and that is the best part of me I believe.
So here goes a new way of sketching. Enjoy.
Here’s my link to find this image on a bunch of stuff you might want to buy. I can’t ship anything from Mexico reasonably, practically or otherwise and for this reason, I use POD sites.
Painting Mexico 
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