Stencil Art - Illustration Friday: Bouquet

I've never really done stencil art before, so this portrait of a woman in a flower hat is new for me.

I was inspired by the wonderful flowered hats that Ashley Nell Tipton from this season's Project Runway featured in her runway show. They seemed to be the right inspiration for this week's word, "bouquet."

Stencils are kind of like block printing, and there are a number of ways to approach stenciling. It can get quite complicated, especially when you start getting into multiple stencil layers.

It's going to take a while to get the hang of it. However, it was a great day to play with stenciling because I was actually off work, and because I warned everyone that if I didn't get in some art therapy, I would be way too stressed to make it through another week.

They wisely chose to give me that time.

This piece is done with 2 stencils, then colored with acrylics and watercolors, and printed on heavy vintage paper with printing.

Like a lot of my current drawings, you can purchase this piece at ottoblotto on Etsy.

Illustration Friday: Villain

People often ask me if I know the people I draw. The answer is no. I mostly draw from mug shots.

Mug shots are in the public domain, so there is no worry that someone will come after you for use of the image. Still, one never knows how people will feel about these things.

The word for Illustration Friday this week is Villain. While a few of the people I draw could definitely be classified as villains, most are just your garden variety public drunk-and-disorderly types. Would you know a villain if you saw one?

I kind of doubt I could spot a villain in a lineup. Sometimes the tattooed stranger is really an OK guy, while the little grandmother type turns out to be the villain.

Life is funny that way.

The Work of Drawing

Drawing is my comfort food. My hips might have a different opinion, so I will call drawing comfort food for my brain, and maybe my soul. And while I work at it, it doesn't feel like work.

One of the best things about drawing is that it requires very little equipment, is generally not messy, and you can always walk away from it and come back later, and things will be exactly the same as when you left. No worries about things drying and not being easy to rework the way you have with painting, and no monumental cleanup the way you have with printmaking.

Being able to walk away so you attend to the less enjoyable things in life, like work that actually pays you money, is important too. And so it is with my life.

Because my life is so filled with work these days, I have decided to let drawing off the hook, so to speak, by not taking any more commissions. I have decided to draw what I want, when I want, and leave the rest of life to be the work part.

This has been one of the best decisions I have made in a long time. I have quit worrying about trying to make something that has the potential to sell, and just started making things that speak to me in whatever whispered tones they have at the moment.

Of course, I do still like to make a little extra money with art, so I have revisited Etsy, and started putting some of my drawings into products on Zazzle. You can share my joy if you like, but please don't ask me to work for you.

ottoblotto on Etsy
Incomplete Thoughts on Zazzle