message the cosmos
ALT: black and white graphite and ink drawing. abstract.A chain of ovals drift along the right side of the page. In the upper left there’s something that looks like a warped version of a snowman crossed with a caterpillar? It has stick-like appendages, and linked circles bigger on the bottom and smaller as they go up. In softer focus (graphite wash) in the background is a horizontal spiral and a vertical swoosh. Signals sent into space.
lives lived
ALT: ink and crayon drawing. abstract, in pink, peach and soft blue, with black lines, Five vertical sticks like branches float or lie, over softer swirling shapes that flow to a high horizon. there’s a pink dome like a huge rising sun on that horizon, and a few scribbly shapes way off in the distance that could be critters or beings of various kinds.
primordial soup
ALT: crayon and ink drawing. On a speckled ground of pinkish-orange fading up to a warm ochre-ish yellow, a bunch of little creatures are swimming around. There are seven green ones that have long tentacles like octopods or some kind of starfish. Then some assorted ones that look more like bugs or plankton. There’s a white “O” and a white chunky star, for no particular reason other than being part of the soup. Winding between and around are chains of imaginary writing.
joyful defiance
ALT: ink drawing of two flowers standing under a yellow sun. The flowers have spiky radiating petals around central clusters of little circles. The sun has a red spiral on it, and also radiates spiky lines. The whole thing is in primary colors )red, yellow and blue) with a bit of green for one of the flower’s stem and a few extra leaves.
some good doggy
ALT: Water-soluble crayon. portrait-style head of a hound dog with tongue hanging out. It’s kind of abstracted, and I definitely did not have a specific dog in mind.
owlets all in a row
ALT: ink painting showing five fuzzy, yellow-eyed baby owls lined up on a branch. I had fun letting the ink blur on wet paper for the fuzzy down, in contrast to sharper lines for the eyes and beaks. From another old National Geographic photo.
foreshadow
ALT: ink drawing. There’s a horizon line about 2/3 of the way up the page. Above, a stylized sun sits on the left side, just above the horizon, with blue and yellow rays extending out through the sky. Below, there’s a large circle on the right side, as if facing off against the sun. This one also has rays that are alternating purplish and blue, which extend all the way to the horizon. The circle has a red network of strands in it, with the intersections marked. Sort of like a drunken web, or bad dream catcher. The sun reflects yellow into the water. Over the whole drawing there’s a loose tracery of black ink scribbly lines. And maybe a couple of flying birds.
so we did sing, and it was a good howl
ALT: ink drawing of four assorted personages, mouths open and faces uplifted in song. from left to right, there’s something that has ears that remind me of a koala, then a bluish bat-like(?) creature, then something like a purple aardvark, perched on a stool, and on the far right an orange humanoid with flame-like hair holding a glass in one hand and the other draped around the aardvark. They all have squiggly streams of imaginary writing coming from their open mouths and sailing up into the sky.
plant people coming alive
ALT: ink drawing that is a rather chaotic mess of red and yellow splotches on a blue and green sort of background. Black lines define the red and yellows as something like flowers or really big pollen. Really it’s just a mind-wandering doodle of spring.
incoming
ALT: ink sketch of an owl, close approach on the wing. Purple background, yellow eyes, wings furling toward landing or striking. Yes, I am mining my old National Geographics for animal photos to sketch, and yes, it is highly enjoyable.
eyespider 