Saturday, January 31, 2009

Nasrudin sketches


Lately, the sketching has taken a backseat to another project I'm working on. The above drawing is not from observation or photo. It is an image from my mind that I'm trying to realize on paper. Although I am more or less successful at doing this when it comes to architectural design, pulling an image like the one above out of my mind and putting it on paper is new territory for me.

The image in my mind is of Mulla Nasrudin blowing dandelion seeds. Mulla Nasrudin is the archetypal wise fool, who lived in the Middle East over 600 years ago. I wanted him to have an expression of happiness, joy, peace and acceptance. The first thing I did was search for reference photos on the internet. I collected about 15 photos in a folder on my computer. Images of dandelions, seeds, hands, children blowing seeds, old men in turbans, Mulla Nasrudin , etc.

And this is the first sketch. As the drawing proceeds I hope to post my progress and would welcome your comments, ideas, and encouragement.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year

Today I ran in a 5K race. It was cold - real cold - sub-zero cold. The race was put on by some folks who are trying to raise money for an orphanage in Africa. One of my new years resolutions is to help others more so I thought it would be a good start to the new year. I liked the start time too - 11:09AM. I'm not sure how I did but my time was around 22:30 which was ok for this early in the season - if you can even call it the season... Anyway, Happy New Years to all and I hope you stick with your resolutions for 2009!