First LHB of Summer

LHB stands for left-handed blind, which means I literally drew with my left (non-dominant) and and my eyes closed. Painting is done with my eyes open, in this case still with my left hand. Here are more self-portraits drawn with my eyes closed.

Another Late Night in the Studio

DeKooning Meets Mad Magazine; They Both Have Their Eyes Closed

And Chaos Ensues

Harrison Street

Trapped by the Trees

Me & My Familiars

de Kartooning

Invented Color

Wild Ride

Sometimes I Almost Get It

iDraw: Why Do We Have to do Our Taxes 4 Different Ways?

Because the feds say we're not married but California says we are...

However, I Don't Smoke

Easter Sunday

Still really enjoying my de Kooning immersion....

Sanity is Over-rated

Be Afraid, Very Afraid

I can look at a de Kooning and make these sort of interesting images that don't actually look like de Koonings. But if I look at myself, or at nothing, and try to make a similar drawing - well, it doesn't work. I can see what he drew, and how it relates to reality. But when I look at reality, I can't see what he might have drawn. And I can't see what I might draw in response to what he might have drawn... Never mind, this is getting too complicated.

de Kooning Week Continues

Still Crazy After All These Years

(Left-handed De Kooning)

Trying to Channel De Kooning

...but definitely not getting it. That's Willem de Kooning, though Elaine de Kooning was also an interesting painter. If he was a misogynist, as the feminists claim based on his imagery, not his actions, then I guess I am too. He was a fabulous painter and I think his images of women are really great.

Return of the Handeze

Along with the tingling and pain, when my RSI flares up, it seems like circulation is poor in my arms, and my hands tend to get very cold. Handeze are fingerless gloves made of a stretchy nylon, designed specifically to keep your hands warm while typing. They do come in beige, but I prefer the black.

And That's All I Have to Say About That!

More About My Hair

The Whites of my Eyes (2)

The return of 'left hand blind'...

My Inner Librarian was Frazzled

I was frazzled because although Rawlston has been better about his music, he doesn't seem to have the general idea: don't make so much noise partying at 3 AM that you wake your neighbors. And last night he was at it again. *sigh*. We'll keep trying to work with him...

I Used to Have Big Hair

As for the rest - I think the last couple days shows that drawing with both hands together and eyes closed leads to some creepy self-portraits!

Miss Piggy

Mellow Day

Shucks, No Kiss...

There's no story to this title, it's just what the picture looked like to me.The cerulean blue is behaving better tonight, so it may be that the crystalized chalky stuff needs to be wet into a blob, and then allowed to dry, and then wet again to be used as paint, which is what has now been done to my sample. The first night I just wet the chalky stuff, waited a few minutes for it to dissolve, and tried to paint with it.

Send in the Clowns

Can I Save the Cerulean?

I'm finally going through all the old tubes of watercolors I've collected over the years, including many inherited from my mother, and seeing what I have and what condition it's in. The chemical data sheets for cerulean state that it ' tends to granulate or become chalky in watercolors' and indeed what's in the tube is not the usual sticky mass of dried paint but rather a crumbly powder. It is a fabulous color, and a tube runs about $12 so I'm trying to figure out if I can reconstitute it. I used it here for the 'sky' but it did not apply evenly nor in a proper watercolory manner.

Cap of Blue Hair

Kewpie or Cyclops?

Early Night Cap

I'm tired after a day with three meetings following a night of our neighbor Rawlston Masaniai (Masaniani) of the San Francisco Seals waking us up periodically with his booming loud party music. So I've got my night cap on early and I'm heading to bed - so far it's quiet over there tonight though one never knows when he's going to come home and crank up the volume.

Too Tired to Proceed in the Usual Fashion

Orange You Glad You Aren't Blue?

Tomorrow I'm off to the East Coast for the Annual General Meeting of the American Society for the Alexander Technique. I'll still be drawing every day but I don't know how frequently I'll be able to post.

It's Been a Stressful Week, But Today I Had Some Good News

Traditional 'Blind' Contour

In a traditional 'blind' contour you look only at your subject and not down at the paper. However, you do often have a sense of the paper and where you are on the paper in your peripheral vision since your eyes are open. That's how this was done, and you can see that it's different than the previous 10 days when my eyes actually were closed, and the only clues I had to where I was on the paper came from feeling for the edges. In both cases, the drawing was left-handed and the painting right-handed.

Like San Francisco, My Brain has Been in a Fog All Weekend

Kiss Me, Baby!

The Day Did Not Go as Expected

Finally, the Long Weekend!

I'm Still Congested

I Have the Sniffles

"My God, What's That??!"

My Eyes Are Getting Ahead of Me

What's the Big Deal with Spock Being Able to Raise One Eyebrow?

Left-handed blind drawing, with right-handed, sighted color, to be exact, Captain...

Big Orange Schnozz

This was done 'peeking' again. Specifically, my eyes were open while I mixed paint, dipped my brush, and positioned over the paper. My eyes were closed while I actually painted, guessing when I might be out of paint on the brush and needing to load it up again. Also, this was quite early in the morning - before the dental cleaning which was before school which was before work which was before doing my homework...

Blind and Semi-Blind (Peeking)

Saved by Color

Or full title: Left-handed Cartoon Self in Studio with Massage Table - So-so Drawing Saved by Color.

Rainbow Waif

Something Roman-Egyptian About This One...

... I think it reminds me of those Fayum mummy portraits. This was done left-handed, and without brushes or pens - just wet socks, q-tips and paint.

Look Ma, No Brushes!

Painted left-handed with magic markers and wet socks dipped in watercolour pans.

Funny, You Don't Look Bluish...

Just another evening in the studio telling myself old jokes...

Peanut Breath

And now you know what I had for my midnight snack.