Tag: line art

LA6 – Water Lilies

My Line Art

My wife was in charge of the flower beds and I commanded the veggie gardens. And never the twain shall meet. We each kept to our assigned domains. These water lilies were planted outside after Easter.

I had almost given up on the idea of Line Art and especially its Essence. It was just dragging me down, but like many of the challenges I have faced, I decided to fight back. I know that this is kinda crude, but I will get better. It just takes practice.

The jerkiness of the pen will disappear and my determination to find the “essence” from each photo I choose will improve.

I just won’t give up

Simplicity – Getting to the Essence of what you see.

My Line Art
The 1st Artist – 75,000 BC

I am learning everyday now just what simplicity is all about. For some reason I have been attracted to that word all my life. In fact I have numerous placards around my RetCom apartment as I write these words.

What presently brought this word to the surface of my mind is my decision to focus on line art as my artsy project for 2026. To me, getting to the essence of what I see is the ultimate challenge in my artsy world, but maybe the hardest part is then putting that essence in an artsy form. Accomplishing that is difficult, but once I learn it I believe I will truly understand what simplicity is all about.

Line art is the oldest form of art. It was discovered about 75,000 years ago in the form of images of life in cave-dwelling walls.

Since I am an “elder orphan”, I spent all of yesterday studying what line art is all about. Unfortunately, I have not been able to yet learn as much as I want. But, since

Never Stop Learning

is part of my life mantra, I will not give up this new project.

LA2 – 1st Serious Attempt

My Line Art
MLA2 – Indy Skyline

I’m not sure just when I did this line art drawing. I think it was in 2024. It took several hours to complete. After it was done I guess I let it fall through the cracks so to speak. Or maybe it was just lying in the embers in the back of my mind waiting to get resurrected.

Now its time has come. I have decided to make line art my official project for 2026. So you will see more coming soon. I am currently studying various artists to see what they can teach me concerning line art. Matisse and Picasso are at the top of the list right now. It is not in my nature to “copy” them but I maybe want to use some of their methods in creating my own style of line art. We will see.

LA3 – A Little Line Art, A Little Watercolor

Digital Doodles

My definition of a doodle is extremely broad it seems. With that in mind I give you some line art and watercolor for today’s doodle. The inspiration was taken from a hillside view from my third visit to Mount Vernon, which was the homestead of our first president. If you don’t know who that was google it to have a history lesson you missed out on.

DD53 – Aflight

Digital Doodles
DD53

For those of you who know “line art” you will certainly tell me this is not that. Yes, I admit that I broke many rules in making the image above. But who am I if not a “rules breaker”? I did this piece a few months ago and have been reluctant to show it to you. But I finally decided

What The Heck

This image originated from a photo I took a while back at the Wright Brothers National Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

DD29 – Empty Shells

Digital Doodles
DD29

No, the title of this post is not about me as a person. My shell is always so full it is constantly overflowing. Instead, I am talking about the image above, which is another beginning attempt at line art. I know I am not supposed to add color to line art, but something inside me just insisted I add some to this one. I don’t see any reason to obey rules that don’t make any sense to me, so making changes like this just comes naturally.

The inspiration for the image was a photo I took in a small gulf shore town in Louisiana in the Spring of 2022. During that 6,000 mile trip I was determined to partake of local oysters along the way. I always lived by the rule to only eat oysters when I am within 100 miles of a coast line. Otherwise the freshness, which is critical to a flavorful oyster, is in question. I have to say here that Gulf Coast oysters are good but just not just as flavorful as the Chesapeake Bay version.

During this trip, I did learn something about myself that I hadn’t learned before, and that is

Too many oysters too close together is not a good thing.

Here are a few pictures from that day.

LA1 – I Give You Line Art

My Line Art
DD40

I give you my first serious attempt at Line Art. I have struggled for the last couple of months with how to approach this new artsy project. But, in a recent Sunday morning shower, it all came to me in a flash. For some reason many of my epiphanies occur during Sunday morning showers. I don’t know why, but I am certainly grateful for that fact.

I look forward to giving you regular doses of Line Art in the coming year. I hope you are up to it. 😎