Hair-Raising Thoughts

8/31/12

In other words...insomnia sucks!

(Wrote this at 4:00am after three sleepless nights.)

I would often watch my grandmother enjoy a cup of coffee and a cigarette.

She would seem so content as she sipped her "nectar of the gods" and slowly exhaled small, gray puffs.

In this insanity we call life, I long for that contentment. I am a health nut, but

herbal tea and a rice crackers don't always cut it. Some days I just dream of doing it grandma's way.

"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.