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.

2 comments:

Jenny said...

Ken, I find what you have done is amazing and very inspiring. In all honestly I don't believe for a moment that I could pull an image out of my mind and recreate onto paper, let alone sketch an image that I have not witnessed.

Again, thank you for sharing not only your talent, but for pushing me to think about observing things more.

Of course I would never be able to pull anything like this out of my mind and put onto paper...but it would be pretty cool if I could ;)

Stay Warm!

Ken Foster said...

Thanks Jenny! A year ago I would have said the same thing. I am surprising myself and having fun learning to draw.