Nudibranch

A Nudibranch is also called a "sea slug" and it lives in the ocean all over the world. Its species shows  an amazing variety of designs and brilliant colors. They are not very big and cannot be kept as pets as they don't survive in captivity. If you want to see Nature's creativity (or God's creativity, if you wish), take a look at the wonderful color and design of these creatures. With the nudibranches, it is always Carnival. The image shown here is not a real nudibranch, just a doodle inspired by them.

Ink wire-frame drawing, colored in Photoshop, 2 1/2" x 2", March 7, 2019.

Good Habit

I was already seriously into Catholicism in my first year at Brandeis, 1971. I joined the only Catholic special interest group at the Jewish school, and made many friends including the Catholic chaplain, who was bemused by me and my behavior. It would be difficult for him if a Brandeisian of Jewish background converted to Catholic Christianity! But lots of professional Catholics - priests, Sisters, monks, Jesuits, theologians visited our group and gave talks. This robed Friar was a Franciscan who was one of the visitors. He was in seminary, not a priest yet, but he had his official brown Franciscan Friar robe which he brought to show us - at my request, my being such a costume and garb fan. He said his group didn't wear the robe all the time, usually they just wore ordinary clothes. But he put on the habit long enough for me to draw his portrait. I wonder what became of him.

Colored pencil on sketchbook page, 5" x 8", autumn 1971. Click for larger view.

Little Monster Doodle

It's tiny but it fits in a sketchbook journal page in between text blocks. Never let graphic design get in the way of your self-expression such as it is. This little monster (in gray) is inspired by various neo-Lovecraftian concepts and it is also a trial of "clear line" comic book art and Photoshop coloring. There are more on the page to create and they will also be colored in Photoshop, then re-mixed with colored pencil.

Black tech pen line drawing on sketchbook page, colored in Photoshop, 1 1/2" x 3 1/2", March 5, 2019.

Hottenroth Costume Book Find

It is back to 1972 and I am at the Boston University summer school program in Tanglewood, the famous arts center in western Massachusetts. The nearest town to the arts campus was Lenox, where we students could go to shop, socialize, and enjoy a bit of luxury. We got around the beautiful countryside by hitch-hiking, believe it or not - people were happy to give rides to students and summer arts residents did not behave with modern savagery, at least in this little place of cultural aristocracy.

There was a library in Lenox which  we were welcome to enter if they had something we could use. I went in and looked through it and found, in the art section, to my thrill, an old original edition of "Hottenroth's Book of Costume." This German treasure was a big heavy tome filled with old engravings in color, documenting the way people dressed all the way from pre-history to the middle 19th century, which was the time of its composition. I had no idea how such a find could show up in a small country library, but this was no rural area; some rich art history academic must have donated it.

As an illustration-minded costume fan, I badly wanted this book. I wouldn't steal it of course, but I wanted the illustrations for my resource collection. But how to get them? The library would not lend this treasure out, and copying machines were rare and in Lenox non-existent. My camera would not take usable pictures. So I resolved to copy the costume illustrations I most wanted. I spent many afternoons there with my pencil and sketchbook, until I had the ancient Middle East and Persia and Byzantium well-drawn. This is one of my copies, representing the Biblical Near East. Nowadays, many of these Hottenroth illustrations have
been re-printed in facsimile, but not the whole set. 

Pencil on sketchbook page, 10" x 7", summer 1972. 

Kitchen Bits

On a cold winter night I drew in my kitchen. Pictured here is another "domestic abstraction." In it are a pile of plastic dish covers, a plastic-covered ceramic bowl, a knife sharpener, the microwave oven, and parts of the counter. There's plenty more clutter to draw until spring comes. 

Photoshop composite of 2 new sepia brown drawings, 6" x 5", March 3, 2019.

Ruffled Summer Baby

When I said on this Blog a few postings ago, that this baby never met me, I meant that outside of her infancy I had never met her. Here is the infant in question, in summertime wearing a ruffled sun dress. There are two "short takes" above one of which shows the baby holding a teething ring. This time the baby was active so I didn't get much detail or likeness. It occurs to me that this girl probably has a family and children of her own (she is 29 years old) and I'll never know about them, either.

Black tech pen ink on sketchbook page, 3 1/2" x 6", August 26, 1990. Some touch-up in Photoshop.

Hair Salon Stuff

When I get my hair done, I make a drawing to pass the time as the red dye does its work restoring my magic powers. This is part of the Salon, where people sit in tilt-back chairs to get their hair washed. Note the unusual three-headed lamp that looks like an alien being, and the row of swoosh-shaped wooden chair arms. That's right, anything can look good if you choose what you draw and draw it with interest.

Sepia brown tech pen on sketchbook page, 5" x 6", February 28, 2019.