Hair-Raising Thoughts

8/17/12

"Hair-raising Thoughts Ghosts"

The tracing paper transfers of previous HRTs hang in my studio keeping me company.

I started this blog on February 8, 2012 as an artistic experiment,

challenging myself to post a Hair-raising Thought illustration (for better or for worse)

every Friday—resulting in a total of 50 within a year's time.

Despite the fact that life is full of derailments and everything else tries to

take priority over my art, I am proud to say that I have reached the halfway point.

So here is #25!

Thank you to all my supportive followers. You keep me going each week

(especially when it is Friday morning and I haven't finished yet).

Only 25 more to go...oy vey!

In honor of the heartbreak in Aurora, Colorado.

I thought I would share a bit of my artistic process with you.

I've been struggling with my transitions from sketch to finish. Often the emotion gets lost

as I go to a finish. A slight change of an eyebrow angle or the curve of a lip

can completely change a facial expression. If you scroll down,

you can see my sketch as it appeared in my journal. The written thought has changed

(that was just a stream of consciousness to fill in the hair), but I have worked hard

to maintain the "sketchiness" of the face. I also decided to use

watercolor for the first time and have a change of gender and hairstyle.

Below, is the sketch for HRT #22. I liked the sketch so much better.

Her attitude was just what I wanted to express, but it got lost in the final.

I will have to try that one again.

It use to feel good to see the garbage get hauled away. Now I just feel guilty.

(An honest friend brought it to my attention that I have made a grammatical error here.

Back to the drawing board—literally. Stay tuned for a revised drawing.)