Because it's you that sets the test...

Some people certainly know how to set a challenge. A request which has evolved into this hybrid creature sprouting tree antlers and cradling the pale moon (which has proved to be a bit too pale and delicate to survive the scanning process, grrr). I've been told that February's full moon is known as a snow moon because it brings cold weather with it and lights up the snow. That thought must have crept in and germinated while this drawing was in progress, although it doesn't take much for me to crowbar the moon into a drawing (or conversation for that matter).

This drawing was meant to capture the essence of a challenge or demand for respect but I feel like I'm being given an almost accusatory stare by that dead but alive eye...I love how even though I make this stuff, it never truly feels like it's come from me...

The places you don't go...

This morning I came across some little black cards with nice crinkly edges. I don't know what they were originally for but they're for this now. In theory, I love drawing in white on black paper...in reality, it's a bit of a mare. Theory does not agree with experiment. Unforgiving is the word I'd choose for it. The main problem is that the pen people haven't really come up with a white pen yet that suits my purpose, to be honest I'm still awaiting the invention of the white biro. But it was a nice mental interlude from something else I'm working on at the moment that's taking a really long time. 

These dandelions are quite tiny, the cards are slightly bigger than a business card. I was going to add a third drawing of the seeds floating away but they weren't turning out so well. So I've left it at two because it was a doodle just to use the cards for something rather than throw them in the recycling box...Note to self: don't sweat the small stuff. 

Just gotta know if I'm wastin' my time...

This wasn't what I had planned today. This isn't even the skull I'm meant to be drawing at the moment. Ignore what they say about procrastination...white ink is the real thief of time. There I was wrapping a parcel when this little light bulb flashed on, a skull in white ink on that brown, scrappy paper. And then all other items on the agenda ceased to be. (Just to clarify, I didn't draw this on the parcel, that would be some freaky ebaying!)

I started off with just a skull shape brushed on in diluted ink, which looked quite ethereal and ghostly and sort of worked in it's own way. I suppose you want to see it now? Here you go:

Then I remembered a sepia coloured pen I never really got on with and thought "where are you, my old nemesis?" (Yes I do talk to inanimate objects, what of it?) Pen found and many dots later I had a little skull. I'm not sure on the perspective but I wanted to use the natural way the ink had settled as the cracks and fissures in the bone, maybe some shadow underneath would have helped to anchor it down...I quite like how the paper has wrinkled though. It gives it energy, it was done quickly and it's nice that that shows. It's not perfect and neither am I. 

PS, if you're a pen weirdo, here's the pens I used:

Love without your heartbeat...

This is horribly unoriginal but after poring over the beautiful illustrations by Henry Vandyke Carter in Gray's Anatomy, I got the feeling that I wanted to draw a heart. Once I'd had a look at a few, (pictures that is, I've not branched out into amateur surgery) I tried to draw as much as I could from memory and imagination without checking the details, which is partly why my aorta is very similar to the way I'd draw twigs. I thought about inking it up but I couldn't find the red bottle and magenta wasn't going to cut the mustard so I've left it mono. It works well enough, I think. Do you know, I can't find an actual illustration of a full heart in Gray's book? Disappointing.
Anyway, look after your heart; eat fibre, don't smoke and if you must give it away, be sure it will be gratefully received. Happy Valentines.

Your head will collapse if there's nothing in it...

Lately, when I don't know where to put myself, I've started to draw dead heads. I was getting to a point this week where my mind was going to explode if I didn't put pen to paper, so I channelled the energy into this cow skull. I like the contrast of my head being too full and this one being completely empty and yet it still feels like it's watching me, casting a critical eye. It brings to mind this story by Annie Proulx.

This is actually something that I never normally do...practice. A preliminary sketch for another skull drawing that I'm going to be starting soon (I hope). I just needed to make sure I could do it, an exercise in satisfying the curiosity. I'd usually just go for it and to hell with the consequences. I must be losing my edge...