Slowing Down Fast Drawings

 It took two days to do these four drawings.  yesterday I went walking on the river trail right after a rainfall that let the air so clogged with swampy-smelling moisture that I felt like I was dragging the river into my lungs.  I didn't want to linger, so I made the quickest of sketchy maps for the two drawings on the left.  I did a very thin texture strip on each drawing, and then slogged on.  Just as I reached the turn-around point I spotted that crazy doll perched on top of a tall fencepost.  Must have been dropped by one of the families who use the river as a swimming hole for their kids.  I did a quick sketch just because it was funny and so out of context, but no texture strip or anything else.  The whole drawing took about 45 seconds.

It

When I got home I had only half an hour before friends arrived for dinner, and I never did get back to the drawings until today.  Today I finished the two textured drawings, going really slowly and using pointillist dots to build up values as well as textures to build up forms and surfaces.  So much fun!  Such a lot of time to do it!  Then I spotted a zinnia that I had picked yesterday and put in a little vase with some basil.  The flower was so overblown and gorgeous that I drew it carefully in ink, right then and there.  I wasn't going to use any color, but the pinkish red blossom was not to be believed.  I love the shaggy petals that are a millimeter away from drooping and falling off.